What's your favorite phaser VST?

[sinkmusic]

As said, Fazortan2 is really great. Also, D16 Godfazer sounds gorgeous.
I also like the Audiothing PhaseMotion2. I can't tell if it sounds close to the SmallStone (i never bothered to compare side by side), but it sounds good

[4damind]

Maybe I'm wrong... but Eventide doesn't have the L/R offset option to set the amount of stereo spread?
I saw that there is also a new phaser by "112db", which is supposed to be a Smallstone phaser emulation but lacks tempo synchronization and also L/R offset?
So I'm still wondering: why is it almost impossible to develop an accurate Smallstone phaser emulation (except for ArtsAcoustic's Bigrock) and add some useful features?

Why you wanna add stereo features to a classic mono modulation effect itself like the mighty EH Small Stone is beyond me. All you get is a big mono soundstage as an outcome. Wasn't it good enough for Jean Michel Jarre as it is?

The idea should not be what you cannot do, but what you can do to add useful functions to an emulation.
Tempo Sync and L/R Offset are some of these functions that make absolute sense since phasers are also used as stereo effect plugins today.
Jarre also used an Eminent 310 organ at that time, would you still do that today? Even Jarre uses different tools today...

[4damind]

"Fazortan" comes relatively close, but does not sound as lush and smooth as Bigrock. I'm testing the Eventide Instant Phaser right now, this has a very pleasing and lush sound I like a lot. Stereo phase is a bit limited to 3 presets but I think this is not a big limitation.
"Stunning Phaser" has great potential and is not expensive, the sound is lush and thick as Bigrock. GUI is horrible and not only too small. The invert L/R mod is a bit limited. There is only mono or stereo (if I understand this correctly it's also a Beta version)

Crazy... this 10 year old Bigrock phaser is still hard to beat

[chk071]

@4damind: Did you try the Softube Fix Phaser? Best phaser I've tried, so, I'd be interested what you think about it.

Not sure if it's anywhere near the Small Stone phaser though. I have no idea how that one sounds.

[4damind]

Unfortunately I cannot test the Fix Phaser again, I had already tested it some years ago. I honestly can't remember it Since I didn't buy it, I guess it didn't convince me that much.
But with Softube you can assume that it is pretty good. Currently also quite cheap (I mean it's on sale for 50€)

[4damind]

I bought the Fix Phaser and after some problems it now works for me, I also disabled the OpenGL option.
It sounds very analog and smooth. The Bigrock allpass filter seems to be steeper because it can dampen the signal a lot more (which is of course a matter of taste). This typical filter resonance of the Smallstone doesn't work with the Softube. It sounds quite different... Fix Phaser needs more CPU than the other phaser.

IMO Bigrock is still the king, there is no better phaser. Even Eventide, D16 or Softube or NI will not replace it for me.

[sqigls]

i hear you about BigRock.
but how do you deal with the random crashes and denormal problems?
or are you just lucky to not have them?
I've had the exact same above mentioned issues on both Windows and OSX.

[chk071]

Fix Phaser needs more CPU than the other phaser.

Yep. That's the main thing which put me off from buying, TBH.

I'll give Big Rock a try in the next days (think I already demo'd it once, but, can't remember really...).

[4damind]

i hear you about BigRock.
but how do you deal with the random crashes and denormal problems?
or are you just lucky to not have them?
I've had the exact same above mentioned issues on both Windows and OSX.

The crazy thing is, the ArtsAcoustic Reverb doesn't have this problems with the 64Bit version. It's still the preferred reverb by a lot of known guys (eg Jono Grant "Above & Beyond")
Yes, the Bigrock 64Bit is crap, it crashes Cubase instantly and this was never fixed since... hmm... 2011 I guess.
But I have no crash since I bridged the Bigrock (jBridge 64 Bit to 64 Bit). Its rock stable now.

[sqigls]

for a while i would CONTROL + S, then add an instance, with some amount of success. but then loading a project, or even opening the GUI would generally deliver an instacrash (blue screen of death on windows) both Win + OSX. Generally the issue upon loading a project was the denormal noise blast. It's very dangerous.
anyways, ArtsAcoustic should be removed from the database, or a warning posted right next to their header. I own all of their plugins and have support tickets out from more than 5 years ago, JUST TO GET MY SERIALS SENT TO ME.

Hideous. Also considering he's still coding for Vengence or whatever.
Expensive endeavour for me.
So stay away kids. You've been warned.

[sqigls]

Big Rock and the compressors both crash and blast noise, but i think it's true Frank, that the reverb is ok to use. Not sure if it's caused me too many problems, but i shy away from their stuff now... you know the saying... 13 or 14 times bitten

[4damind]

Sometimes you have to bite the bullet.
Bigrock is the only plugin where I am still willing to get it working somehow, for example with jBridge. If there is a real alternative, that would be great.
That's why I always like to test everything that's new. I'm testing the 112dB Mikron Phaser (a Smallstone emulation!) right now.
Sounds good but there is a lot missing from the implementation. No host synchronization (!), Afaik no L/R phase offset etc. It seems that the developers often do not test their own plugins...

[Ploki]

Uhbik-P phaser and D16 Godfazer.
The insane 42 pole option in the uhbik phaser is just too fun to pass, also with its newly added mod options. also ezpz syncing and offsets.
Godfazer has some amazing algos in there + love the envelope follower.

[4damind]

The phaser included in Diva is quite nice... I don't know if Uhbik shares some of this code, but it could be one more option. Godfazer sounds different, Fazortan 2 sounds for me better and is easier to use. But both sounding IMO more like a digital phaser. Completely different than Eventide, Softube or AA (to be honest I don't like the D16 plugins)

[sqigls]

i like the phaser in Stealth Delay.
It's possible to set the FX to post mix and turn the delay module down to 0%.
It's quite lush.