BLEASS Peaks - Playable Polyphonic Filter

BLEASS Peaks is a powerful playable polyphonic filter plugin that transforms traditional filtering into an expressive sound-design and performance tool. Built around an advanced multi-peak filter engine, BLEASS Peaks lets you create complex resonant filter curves with up to 32 peaks or notches, then animate and perform those filters using MIDI, modulation, and real-time controls.

More than a conventional filter plugin, Peaks can turn incoming MIDI notes into playable filter frequencies, allowing you to perform the spectral movement of your audio like an instrument. Use it to tune drum loops to chord progressions, create harmonic pulses from pads, generate rhythmic frequency movement, or transform static sounds into expressive, evolving textures.

A Filter You Can Actually Play

The defining feature of BLEASS Peaks is its MIDI mode. Instead of relying solely on a fixed filter frequency, incoming MIDI notes control the filter’s root frequency. With support for up to eight simultaneous filter voices, Peaks becomes a genuinely polyphonic creative effect that responds to chords, melodies, and live performances.

This makes Peaks ideal for creating musical filter effects that follow the notes you’re playing. Turn a simple drum loop into a harmonically tuned sequence, make pads respond to chord changes, or use MIDI to produce complex resonant textures from almost any audio source.

Build Complex Multi-Peak Filter Shapes

At the heart of Peaks is its advanced multi-peak filter engine. In Internal mode, you can create a filter curve containing up to 32 resonant peaks or notches, with detailed control over their frequency distribution, resonance, gain, polarity, and overall range.

Choose between different peak distribution modes to create logarithmic, harmonic, or evenly distributed frequency relationships. Adjust the number of peaks, their ratio and spacing, and the frequency boundaries to create everything from subtle tonal shaping to highly resonant, comb-like filtering.

The interactive filter visualization makes these complex filter shapes easy to understand and manipulate, giving you an immediate visual representation of how Peaks is transforming your audio.

Deep Modulation for Evolving Sound

BLEASS Peaks includes an extensive modulation system designed to bring movement and expression to the filter and effects. Three LFOs, four different envelope types, four Macro controls, and MIDI performance sources can all be routed to multiple parameters.

• 3 LFOs for cyclic and tempo-synchronized modulation
• 4 envelope modulators including Envelope Follower, Gate, Pitch Tracker, and MIDI-triggered ADSR
• 4 Macro controls for controlling multiple parameters from a single knob
• MIDI CC and MPE support for expressive performance control
• Multiple modulation destinations for creating complex evolving effects
• Host-synchronized modulation for rhythmic and tempo-based movement
• Stereo modulation and phase controls for creating width and spatial movement

Use the Envelope Follower to make the filter react to incoming dynamics, the Pitch Tracker to make processing respond to the pitch of your source, or MIDI-triggered envelopes to create precise performance-driven movements. With sidechain-capable envelope sources, Peaks can also respond to external audio signals for more advanced sound-design applications.

Creative Filter Sweeps

The built-in filter sweep system lets the peaks and notches move automatically across the defined frequency range. Choose between free-running or DAW-synchronized timing, control the sweep direction and curve, and introduce stereo phase offsets for animated left/right movement.

Synchronize sweeps to your project’s tempo for rhythmic effects, or use free timing for independent, continuously evolving movement. Combined with the multi-peak filter engine, the sweep system can produce anything from subtle animated coloration to dramatic spectral transformations.

Five Flexible Effects Slots

Peaks isn’t limited to filtering. Its five assignable effects slots allow you to build a complete processing chain around the filter. Add distortion, compression, limiting, bit crushing, delay, utility processing, or additional high-pass and low-pass filtering to further shape your sound.

• Distortion for overdrive, saturation, and aggressive harmonic coloration
• Compressor for controlling dynamics and shaping transients
• Limiter for controlling sudden volume peaks
• Bit Crush for lo-fi, digital, and destructive textures
• Delay for rhythmic echoes and spatial effects
• Utility for gain and panning control
• High Pass / Low Pass filters for additional tonal shaping

Each stage can be incorporated into the modulation system, allowing you to create effects that continuously evolve rather than simply applying a static processing chain.

From Precision Filtering to Extreme Sound Design

Use BLEASS Peaks as a sophisticated tonal-shaping tool, a resonant creative effect, or an entirely new type of playable instrument. Its flexible architecture makes it equally useful for subtle spectral enhancement and extreme experimental processing.

Producers can use Peaks to add movement to synths and pads, create tuned effects from drums, animate vocals, generate resonant bass textures, build evolving transitions, or introduce complex harmonic movement into otherwise static recordings. Sound designers can push the resonance, modulation, pitch tracking, and multi-peak processing into unusual territory to create metallic, robotic, rhythmic, and futuristic sounds.

Designed for Performance

With MIDI control, polyphonic filter voices, MPE compatibility, macros, modulation sources, and real-time visual feedback, BLEASS Peaks is built for hands-on sound manipulation. Rather than setting a filter and leaving it alone, you can perform the filter itself and make your audio respond directly to your playing.

This performance-focused approach makes Peaks especially powerful for electronic music, experimental production, live performance, ambient music, sound design, techno, house, cinematic production, and any workflow where movement and expression are important.

Key Features

• Playable polyphonic filter designed for expressive MIDI performance
• Up to 32 resonant peaks/notches in Internal mode
• Up to 8 simultaneous filter voices in MIDI mode
• MIDI-controlled filter frequency
• MPE and MIDI CC performance control
• Internal and MIDI filter control modes
• Log, Harmonic, and Even peak distribution modes
• Extensive control over resonance, gain, polarity, frequency, ratio, and spacing
• Custom peak/notch polarity patterns
• Adjustable filter frequency bounds and smoothing
• Built-in filter sweep with free and host-synchronized timing
• 3 flexible LFO modulators
• 4 envelope modulation sources
• Envelope Follower, Gate, Pitch Tracker, and MIDI ADSR
• 4 programmable Macro controls
• Multiple modulation routing destinations
• Stereo modulation and phase controls
• Sidechain-capable envelope processing
• 5 assignable FX slots
• Distortion, Compressor, Limiter, Bit Crush, Delay, Utility, High Pass, and Low Pass effects
• Real-time filter visualization
• Designed for studio production and live performance
• Available as a desktop plugin and iOS AUv3 instrument/effect