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Chapter 3 ES2 55
Compensate for high resonance values with the Fat(ness) parameter
m Click to turn on the Fat(ness) button—below the other lter slope buttons.
An increase of the resonance value results in a rejection of bass—low frequency energy—when
using lowpass lters. Use the Fatness button to compensate for this side eect and to obtain a
richer sound.
Overdrive ES2 lters
The lters are equipped with discrete overdrive modules. You can set the overdrive intensity by
rotating the Drive parameter.
Drive aects each voice independently. When every voice is overdriven individually—like having
six fuzz boxes for a guitar, one for each string—you can play extremely complex harmonies over
the entire keyboard range. Each voice sounds clean, without unwanted intermodulation eects
spoiling the overall sound.
Certain Drive settings can lead to a dierent tonal character for the following reason: the way
analog lters behave when overdriven forms an essential part of a synthesizer’s sonic character.
Each synthesizer model is unique in the way its lters behave when overdriven. ES2 is very
exible in this area, allowing tonal colors that range from the most subtle fuzz to the hardest
of distortions.
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If the lters are connected in parallel, the overdrive circuit is placed before the lters.
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If the lters are connected in series, the position of the overdrive circuits is dependent on the
Filter Blend parameter. See Cross-fade between ES2 lters.
Tip: Because Filter 2 can cut away the overtones introduced by the distortion, Drive can be used
as another tool for deforming oscillator waveforms.
Polyphonic distortions in the real world
ES2 provides a dedicated distortion eect in the Eects section. Given this inclusion, you may wonder what
benet the lter’s Drive function oers.
The Distortion circuit in the Eects section aects the entire polyphonic output of the ES2. Every rock guitarist
knows that more complex chords—other than major chords, parallel fths, and octaves—sound “rough”
when using distortion. Therefore, distorted guitar playing generally involves few voices or parallel fths and
octaves. Because the lter Drive parameter aects each voice individually, you can play complex chords without
introducing the unpleasant intermodulations that the Distortion eect can add to your sound.