The Orb by AudioThing formant filter plugin interface

The Orb: Formant Filter Plugin by AudioThing Free Download

Rated 4.5/5 on Plugin Boutique (2,704 ratings)

The Orb is a formant filter plugin from AudioThing that simulates the characteristics of the human voice. It uses three band pass filters to turn any sound into a vowel-like, formant-filtered sound.

VST3VST2AUAAXCLAPWindowsmacOS64-bit

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Free trial available from the developer

01Overview

The Orb is a formant filter that imitates the resonances of the human voice, so the vowel-like character it adds can be applied to synths, drums or any other source. Its three band pass filters are built on a ZDF design. Three LFOs can modulate the vowel, the emphasis (resonance) of the formants and the drift, which shifts the frequency of each formant up or down. The plugin is available in VST3, VST2, AU, AAX and CLAP formats for Windows and macOS.

Best for

Vowel-like synth sounds
Formant sound design
Modulated vocal textures
Creative filter effects
Experimental sound design

Developer: AudioThing
Category: Filters
Store: Plugin Boutique

02Key features

What you get

Three band pass formant filters with ZDF design
Vowel sets: Male, Female, Child and Custom
Three LFOs targeting Vowel, Emphasis and Drift
Per-formant emphasis and drift controls on the orb interface
Editable custom vowel names and formant frequencies
Presets save custom vowel sets
Preset system with randomizer
Lightweight on CPU

03In depth

Sound Character and Vowel Control

The Orb works by splitting the signal across three formant band pass filters, each tuned to a vowel. Clicking a sector of the orb changes the vowel it represents, and the vowel sets include Male, Female, Child and Custom options.

The distance of each dot from the center sets the emphasis, or resonance, of that formant filter. The angle inside each sector sets the drift, a value in Hz added to or subtracted from that vowel's formant. Together these controls let you move from subtle coloration to pronounced, speech-like tones.

Custom Vowels and Modulation

The Custom Vowels window lets you rename each vowel and change the frequency of its three formants. Each custom set is saved with the preset or DAW session, so you can keep several vowel designs by saving to new presets. The default set matches the Male settings.

The three LFOs can be routed to the vowel, the emphasis and the drift, which makes it possible to animate the formant movement over time. A built-in preset system includes a randomizer for exploring new settings quickly.

04Specs

Will it run?

Formats, systems and requirements as listed by Plugin Boutique. Missing details are left out, not guessed.

Developer	AudioThing
Type	Plugin
Category	Filter
Formats	VST3, VST2, AU, AAX, CLAP
Operating systems	Windows, macOS
Architecture	64-bit
Free trial	Yes

05FAQ

Questions, answered

What is The Orb?

The Orb is a formant filter plugin by AudioThing that simulates the characteristics of the human voice. It uses three band pass filters to create vowel-like sounds from any input.

Which formats and operating systems does The Orb support?

The Orb is available in VST3, VST2, AU, AAX and CLAP formats, all 64-bit. It runs on Windows 7 through 11 and on macOS 10.9 through macOS 14, with a Universal 2 binary for Apple Silicon.

What do I need to run The Orb?

On Windows you need a 2 GHz CPU and 4 GB of RAM. On macOS the requirements are the same, with a Universal 2 build that runs natively on Apple Silicon M chips.