Slate Digital Storch Filter for Mac

A filter plugin designed with Scott Storch that turns a single sweep into a complete production gesture, linking cutoff and resonance to a chain of built-in modulation effects.

Cutoff — the tonal focus
Sweeps from open air to a tight, focused band; the response is musical rather than clinical, adding weight as it closes.

Resonance — the edge
Pushes the cutoff point with a vocal-like peak. At low settings it adds presence; cranked, it rings with an almost acidic bite that sits forward in a dense mix.

FX Boost — the colour slider
A single slider that drives the onboard effects chain into saturation and widening. Small moves add polish; larger throws warp the stereo field and introduce harmonic grit.

In short: a processor that treats filtering as a performance control rather than a static setting, with the FX Boost slider tying the modulation directly to the cutoff and resonance behaviour.

Conveniences: details easy to overlook

A few design choices inside Storch Filter reward attention. The six LFO wave shapes are not merely cosmetic: the random stepped shape, in particular, produces a rhythmic gating effect when assigned to cutoff, closer to a sequenced pattern than a smooth sweep. Holding Option while dragging any knob switches to a fine-adjust mode, halving the pointer sensitivity for precise resonance tuning — useful when you are dialling in a narrow peak on a vocal bus without pushing it into ring.

The FX Boost slider interacts with the wet/dry balance of each onboard effect individually, not globally. Saturation enters early in the throw, while the phaser and chorus bloom later. This means a modest Boost value around 20–30% can warm a signal without obvious modulation, something the manual does not spell out. Double-clicking any knob returns it to its default, which is faster than hunting for a reset command in a menu.

Workflow: thickening a sampled piano loop

Start with a dry piano sample that feels too clean for the arrangement. Insert Storch Filter on the channel.

• Set the filter type to low-pass and bring the cutoff down to roughly 800 Hz — enough to shave the brittle top end without losing the hammer attack.
• Add a touch of resonance, around 15%, to give the remaining frequencies a slight forward push.
• Engage the chorus effect. Keep the rate low; you are after subtle pitch drift, not a warbling 1980s wash.
• Bring the FX Boost to just under 25%. Listen for the saturation arriving before the chorus thickens further.
• Assign an LFO to the cutoff using a sine wave at a slow rate, roughly a quarter-note cycle. Set the depth shallow — no more than a semitone of movement — so the filter breathes gently with the tempo.
• Add a second instance on a parallel bus, this time with a band-pass filter and higher resonance, panned slightly left. Blend it underneath for stereo interest without obvious doubling.

The result is a piano that sits in the midrange with warmth and motion, leaving the high frequencies open for cymbals and air without cluttering.

FX Boost past 60%: when saturation and phaser collide

The most frequent mistake is treating the FX Boost as a simple volume fader. Pushing it past 60% while all five effects are active often results in a congested midrange, as the saturation and phaser compete in the same frequency band. A better approach: activate only two or three effects at a time, and use the Boost to shape their combined intensity.

Another error involves the LFO depth. Because the cutoff knob itself remains static when an LFO is assigned, it is easy to forget where the centre frequency sits. Beginners sometimes set a wide depth with a triangle wave at high speed, then wonder why the track pumps unnervingly. Check the depth by temporarily muting the LFO and noting the base cutoff position; aim for movement you feel rather than movement that announces itself.

Applying Storch Filter directly to a full drum bus without engaging the adjustable low pass filter slope is also common. The default 12 dB/octave curve is gentle, and on a busy kit it can leave too much high-frequency clutter. Switching to the steeper slope tightens the effect immediately, especially when the goal is a filtered breakdown rather than subtle tone shaping.

In practice: a beatmaker’s transition tool

A producer working on a trap beat with a sparse verse needs the eight-bar intro to feel like a curtain pulling back. They load Storch Filter on the master bus, select the low-pass filter, and set cutoff to 400 Hz — the whole mix muffled, kick reduced to a thud, hi-hats barely a whisper. Resonance sits at 10% for a small presence bump. The LFO is set to a downward sawtooth synced to a half-note, pulling the cutoff lower before it snaps back, creating a rhythmic breathing effect against the 808 pattern. Over the eight bars, they automate the cutoff upward, landing at full open on the downbeat of the verse. FX Boost, parked at 15%, adds just enough saturation to keep the filtered section from sounding thin on phone speakers. The transition lands with impact because the filter release is musical, not linear.

• macOS 11 or later
• Apple Silicon architecture