Filter MS-20

Punchy Sound Energizer

Filter MS-20 is a stereo filter and distortion effect modeled on the infamously abrasive MS-20 synthesizer. Pump destructive crunch, roaring filter sweeps, and ultra-fat stereo depth into your mixes with an audio plugin that’ll make anything sound massive.

99$/99€ Buy Now
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Filter MS-20
99$/99€ Buy Now

Make anything
sound massive

Turn any sound into huge, colorful, unstoppable textures and timbres that’ll give your DAW production the edge you’ve been looking for.

Filter MS-20 extracts the sonic character from an iconic instrument, distilling and enhancing it into a go-to effect for creative mixing and radical sound exploration.

Punchy filter, edgy distortion

From soft rubbery bass to howling resonant sweeps, subtle fuzz to outright destruction, sculpt your sounds with the grainy filter sweeps, crushing bass, and abrasive distortion that put Filter MS-20’s namesake synth on the map, courtesy of our TAE® technology.

Push it further

Set Filter MS-20 loose into your mix and savor wild, exciting results. Modulate and animate its virtual circuitry, reroute its filter and distortion sections, and explode the stereo width of any sound with an array of enhanced modern features.

Simple to use

Fire up Filter MS-20 and enjoy its gritty, addictive sound immediately with a knob-per-function interface, macro-style controls for quick sweeping changes to your mix, and deep sound design controls just a click away.

Your mix, your style

With a sound ranging from warm to mean in a flash, this is a filter that you can count on to bring heaps of character and crunchy fatness to any style of project. It’s famous for French house, industrial metal, techno, and beyond - you decide what’s next.

The soul of
a monolith

In the ‘70s, analog synthesizers reigned supreme.

Rich in their sound, powerful in their versatility, playful in their design, these instruments all but defined popular music of the time. But in 1978, a menacing semi-modular black box appeared on the horizon that changed the face of analog.

Aggressive and mysterious in equal measure, the heart of the MS-20's sound was a powerful filter and external signal processing module that handled both bark and bite. Filter MS-20 deconstructs these modules and rebuilds them as an effect enhanced for modern production.

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Filter MS-20:
a closer look

When your sound needs some extra bite or boost, get hands-on with an enhanced classic filter that’ll deliver the goods, and then some.

With 3 simple tabs, discover 3 intuitive modulation sources that can be assigned to any parameter with a single click - propelling Filter MS-20 to maximum sonic velocity.

Here’s a closer look at its features:

  • Overview

    Filter MS-20

  • 1

    Distortion

    Crank Filter MS-20’s virtual ESP input and summon instant analog crunch, right up to molten fuzz fully clockwise. Great for adding subtle clipping saturation to vocals, crushing drum loops into oblivion, and everything in between.

  • 2

    Input filtering

    Retain the depth of your lows or the harmonic detail in your highs by focusing your overdriven crunch on a specific frequency range - a little extra precision can go a long way.

  • 3

    Routing

    Sometimes a single click can make the biggest difference to a sound. With Filter MS-20’s Routing switch, flip the behavior of your sound on its head by swapping the direction of the signal: distortion into filter or filter into distortion.

  • 4

    Master Cutoff

    Control both Low Pass and High Pass in perfect sync for dramatic sonic effects by applying a relative offset to both cutoff controls, unlocking borderline-Band Pass functionality.

  • 5

    High Pass

    This High Pass doesn’t just cut out the lows and give you suspenseful sweeping build-ups: with resonance cranked, it can bring out a surprising amount of rumble and swell your sound almost to bursting point.

  • 6

    Low Pass

    Suppress higher frequencies and emphasize the depth and weight of your sound with Filter MS-20’s abyssal Low Pass range.

  • 7

    Stereo

    Go beyond simple filtering and distortion and add extra stereo width to any sound with a subtle Cutoff offset between the left and right channels. Better still, you can modulate this parameter for non-stop stereo movement, great for adding texture and variety to simple sounds.

  • 8

    Output controls

    Balance Filter MS-20’s level and prominence in your mix with familiar Dry/Wet and Level controls.

  • 9

    Movement

    Keep your sound on its toes with a smart macro that reduces the effect of Filter MS-20’s modulation sources, completely removing them from the equation when fully anticlockwise.

  • 10

    Envelope Follower

    Get this filter speaking to your mix in perfect sync by triggering its envelope with incoming audio. Perfect for quacking auto-wah sounds, pumping percussive loops, and slowly-decaying sweeps of resonant noise.

  • 11

    Step Sequencer

    A familiar sequencer that can be synced, randomized, scaled, and more, allowing you to quickly create melodies, repeating movements, and never-ending patterns.

  • 12

    Function Generator

    Create custom movements anywhere from smooth to jagged to completely automate and animate any of Filter MS-20’s features in your own unique way.

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Try it out

Click the knobs to engage the Filter & Distortion sections, and swap the routing to hear the difference in Filter MS-20's hard-hitting sound.

Interactive demo

Click to begin

Preset
library

Just a handful of examples of Filter MS-20’s sonic potential, taken from its library of dozens of instantly-satisfying mix-ready presets.

Kick Absurd Saturation

A heavy 808-style kick obliterated by distortion and filter movement, leaving only the crunchiest sonic remnants behind.

Pad Slow Stereo Movement

Pleasant FM-style pad harmonics delicately spun around the stereo field and subtly shaped with resonant filter sweeps.

Guitar 7 Ping

Soft vowel-like chord stabs transformed into rusty mechanized rhythms with locked-in stereo movement and distorted degradation

Drums Beefy 16th

An otherwise simple drum-kit loop is accelerated into pulsing 16-note momentum, with a touch of distortion in the low end.

Synth Polymetric Pulses

A crunchy synth loop is crushed and sent through a time-warp with a modulated low-pass sequence, complete with sporadic accents.

Drums Pulsar Disturbance

Fluttering filter resonance, animated by Filter MS-20’s modulation, injects an energetic drum loop with subtle sci-fi texture.

Artistscorner

  • Andreas Kleerup

    Producer

    The sequencer is awesome. If I had to choose one filter to knob-twiddle it would be this one´s low pass filter. Classic. Arturias MS-20 V is the perfect example to showcase how good it gets when technology actually works for us.

  • INVT

    Producer

    The ms20 has great creative filtering automation and distortion. So much control over parameters, especially with the built in sequencer. It’s excellent for enhancing textures and timbres.

PressClippings

  • Create Digital Music

    On Filter MS-20

    “Having this to pop into software signal chains is brilliant”

  • Gearspace

    On Filter MS-20

    “A very fun, very powerful/flexible filter.”

Included in
FX collection

Effects you'll actually use

This effect is part of FX Collection, a suite of essential audio effect plugins empowering musicians, producers, and artists to get creative with their production. From iconic recording gear modeled with breathtaking accuracy, to cutting-edge contemporary effects, the collection includes the most sought-after studio tools, rare guitar pedals, modern mix enhancers, and beyond. Elevate your production and add color to your mix like never before.

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The features
you need

  • DAW ready

    However you use these plugins; for the amazing tone of their reverb, for the gritty preamps, or for their incredible sound design abilities, you'll be safe in the knowledge that they are fully compatible with your setup. These plugins work with all major DAWs, and on both Windows and MacOS.

  • ASC

    Arturia Software Center lets you download, organize, and update all of your Arturia software titles in one place, as well as manage all of your licenses across multiple devices. Keep it simple.

  • Resizable GUI

    Whether you want the full visual immersion of our classic effects emulations, or to save precious screen real estate, the interfaces for all of your Arturia plugins can be resized to a scale that suits you.

  • Real-time control

    Every parameter in every FX Collection plugin can be mapped to your favorite MIDI controller for instant, hands-on control of your mix. Sweep a filter, crank a preamp, or warp your modulation on the fly.

  • In-App Tutorials

    Every plugin in FX Collection comes with built-in tutorials, guiding you step-by-step through the crucial parameters, adjustments, and mixing hacks to get the most out of your sound. The tutorial panel also explains the controls you’re using in real-time - so you’ll never miss a tweak.

  • Preset browser

    FX Collection’s streamlined preset browser lets you filter, organize, and save your favorite presets for instant recall. Search by instrument type, genre, production technique, and much more - so you can quickly find the tweak you need and save valuable creative time!

TAE® Powered

The exclusive analog modeling technology that makes our emulations indistinguishable from the originals.

By accurately mimicking the characteristics of analog oscillators, filters, and soft clipping, we can provide astonishing component-accurate detail and authentic analog charm in equal measure.

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Gallery

Main Features

Emulated stereo analog filter and distortion effect

Circuit-accurate modeling with exclusive TAE® technology

Resonant Low Pass, High Pass modes

Master Cutoff for Band Pass-style functionality

Stereo offset for widening filtered sounds

ESP distortion circuit with input filtering

Switchable routing (Distortion > Filter, Filter > Distortion)

Output Mix and Level controls

Envelope Follower

Function Generator

16-Step Sequencer

Movement macro for attenuating / boosting modulation

A/B comparison

Platform Specifications

Windows

  • Win 10+ (64bit)
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 4 cores CPU, 3.4 GHz (4.0 GHz Turbo-boost)
  • 1 GB free hard disk space
  • OpenGL 2.0 compatible GPU

Required configuration

  • Works in Standalone, VST, AAX, Audio Unit, NKS (64-bit DAWs only).

Apple

  • Mac OS 10.13+
  • 4 GB RAM
  • 4 cores CPU, 3.4 GHz (4.0 GHz Turbo-boost) or M1 CPU
  • 1 GB free hard disk space
  • OpenGL 2.0 compatible GPU

Work with ASC

  • An elegant and simple solution to help you install, activate, and update your Arturia software instruments

All manufacturer and product names mentioned on this page are trademarks of their respective owners, which are in no way associated or affiliated with Arturia. The trademarks of other manufacturers are used solely to identify the products of those manufacturers whose features and sound were studied during the development. All names of equipment, inventors, and manufacturers have been included for illustrative and educational purposes only, and do not suggest any affiliation or endorsement by any equipment inventor or manufacturer.

*NKS ready