Are there any real good VST flanger FX plugins?

[Dirtgrain]

From Wikipedia:

As an audio effect, a listener hears a "drainpipe" or "swoosh" or "jet plane" sweeping effect as shifting sum-and-difference harmonics are created analogous to use of a variable notch filter. The term "flanging" comes from one of the early methods of producing the effect. The finished music track is recorded simultaneously to two matching tape machines, then replayed with both decks in sync. The output from the two recorders is mixed to a third recorder. The engineer slows down one playback recorder by lightly pressing a finger on the flange (rim) of the supply reel. The "drainpipe" or subtle "swoosh" 'flange flango' effect "sweeps" in one direction, and the playback of that recorder remains slightly behind the other when the finger is removed.

So that's why it's called a flanger. Some of you maybe did it the original way back in the day, ya?

[ChamomileShark]

A couple of videos on tape flanging I watched last night





I'd be surprised if any of us old timers did it, I'm over 60 and there were already flangers available when I was in my late teens.

[jens]

The guy in the first video is great - it's fantastic how he gets it right around 2:24-2:37 with the dead-on sync, the perfectly-timed speed-up of the right reel before and then the right amount of pressure in the right moment on the left reel - bull's eye! Good luck trying to do that digitally...



But this all of course is not at all what the OP has in mind.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

The guy in the first video is great - it's fantastic how he gets it right around 2:24-2:37 with the dead-on sync, the perfectly-timed speed-up of the right reel before and then the right amount of pressure in the right moment on the left reel - bull's eye! Good luck trying to do that digitally...



But this all of course is not at all what the OP has in mind.

That did indeed sound great. Closest to that in VST I've heard is Satin.

But totally different than what the OP was asking for. Then again, there's been a lot of answers to that question already.

[ChamomileShark]

The guy in the first video is great - it's fantastic how he gets it right around 2:24-2:37 with the dead-on sync, the perfectly-timed speed-up of the right reel before and then the right amount of pressure in the right moment on the left reel - bull's eye! Good luck trying to do that digitally...

But it took them 90 minutes to get it right.

[electro]

UAD MXR Flanger/Doubler and the Eventide Instant Flanger (how does this fall short?)

[jens]

The guy in the first video is great - it's fantastic how he gets it right around 2:24-2:37 with the dead-on sync, the perfectly-timed speed-up of the right reel before and then the right amount of pressure in the right moment on the left reel - bull's eye! Good luck trying to do that digitally...



But this all of course is not at all what the OP has in mind.

That did indeed sound great. Closest to that in VST I've heard is Satin.

I didn't really mean the sound itself, for which there'd probably a few adequate options.
I meant this manual aspect of basically playing the tape like an instrument. This plays a huge part in
creating the final result. I think even if you'd automate a tape-emu that would offer the required parameters (is there any?), you'd be hard-pressed to come up with something of that kind of quality.

It's like those plugins that aim to sound like (say) a real guitar.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

I didn't really mean the sound itself, for which there'd probably a few adequate options.
I meant this manual aspect of basically playing the tape like an instrument. This plays a huge part in
creating the final result. I think even if you'd automate a tape-emu that would offer the required parameters (is there any?), you'd be hard-pressed to come up with something of that kind of quality.

It's like those plugins that aim to sound like (say) a real guitar.

Satin's flange can be played like an instrument. It has no LFO at all. The flange is one shot only. Either triggered, or controlled manually. If you wanted to control it manually and play it like an instrument, you'd just assign it to a knob or something like a motorized fader (where you can combine it with touch automation to have it drop out when you release the fader). Wouldn't take 90 minutes to setup either.

[jens]

But then it's of course still not the same at all...

[Unaspected]

I'd be surprised if any of us old timers did it, I'm over 60 and there were already flangers available when I was in my late teens.

Yeah, I discovered it before my teens (I might have been 10) as I had a tape deck with two compartments that could both play at the same time and lightly pressing one of the pause buttons would cause the tape only to slow and drop in pitch. So I naturally played around with it and found myself copying one tape to another one day just to see how it would sound when played together and I discovered "aeroplane sound" - which I later learned to be flanging.

[zerocrossing]

From Wikipedia:

As an audio effect, a listener hears a "drainpipe" or "swoosh" or "jet plane" sweeping effect as shifting sum-and-difference harmonics are created analogous to use of a variable notch filter. The term "flanging" comes from one of the early methods of producing the effect. The finished music track is recorded simultaneously to two matching tape machines, then replayed with both decks in sync. The output from the two recorders is mixed to a third recorder. The engineer slows down one playback recorder by lightly pressing a finger on the flange (rim) of the supply reel. The "drainpipe" or subtle "swoosh" 'flange flango' effect "sweeps" in one direction, and the playback of that recorder remains slightly behind the other when the finger is removed.

So that's why it's called a flanger. Some of you maybe did it the original way back in the day, ya?

I never did it, but I was in a class where it was demonstrated.

[zerocrossing]

The Uhbik Flanger...

That reminds me... I downloaded an alpha build of Uhbik 2 and I could not get it to work at all in Bitwig, so I just abandoned it, but I should have a look to see if some progress has been made, because Uhbik 1 is really an excellent suite of effect plugins.

[pdxindy]

The Uhbik Flanger...

That reminds me... I downloaded an alpha build of Uhbik 2 and I could not get it to work at all in Bitwig, so I just abandoned it, but I should have a look to see if some progress has been made, because Uhbik 1 is really an excellent suite of effect plugins.

I haven't had any trouble with Uhbik 2 (alpha) in Bitwig. OSX here...

[zerocrossing]

I didn't really mean the sound itself, for which there'd probably a few adequate options.
I meant this manual aspect of basically playing the tape like an instrument. This plays a huge part in
creating the final result. I think even if you'd automate a tape-emu that would offer the required parameters (is there any?), you'd be hard-pressed to come up with something of that kind of quality.

It's like those plugins that aim to sound like (say) a real guitar.

Satin's flange can be played like an instrument. It has no LFO at all. The flange is one shot only. Either triggered, or controlled manually. If you wanted to control it manually and play it like an instrument, you'd just assign it to a knob or something like a motorized fader (where you can combine it with touch automation to have it drop out when you release the fader). Wouldn't take 90 minutes to setup either.

Your DAW might have a way to add a LFO. Bitwig has this.

[zerocrossing]

The Uhbik Flanger...

That reminds me... I downloaded an alpha build of Uhbik 2 and I could not get it to work at all in Bitwig, so I just abandoned it, but I should have a look to see if some progress has been made, because Uhbik 1 is really an excellent suite of effect plugins.

I haven't had any trouble with Uhbik 2 (alpha) in Bitwig. OSX here...

Windows 10 here. Some of them worked, some of them made no sound at all. I forget which now... but I just abandoned them and reinstalled the originals, which are great. Maybe I’ll try again. Seems to be the same alpha build, but Bitwig’s had many revisions since then.