KVR Audio

Leo1999 · Post by **Leo1999** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 9:41 am

They sound sound quite similar 2 me,
I can't tell when better 2 use a phaser or a flanger, I have no clue, what about you? Do you? I don't.
I know a Flanger also has chorus presets, is flanger a chorus?
I use Eventide Instant phaser, rarely ADA Flanger. Are there general applications, when it's better 2 use a Flanger than a Phaser?

__Karlo__ · Post by **__Karlo__** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 1:26 pm

I use phaser more, set to stun.

El°HYM · Post by **El°HYM** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 1:43 pm

https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/unders ... ction.html

mothra · Post by **mothra** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 5:25 pm

Flanger for life.

They are quite different.. One is shifting phase, the other is shifting delayed pitches.

kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 7:30 pm

As a wild generalization, phasing is more of a soft whooshing filtery sound whereas flanging has a distinct metallic character. Personally I almost never use flanging on synth sounds...I just don't like it or find it adds anything useful. Flanging can sound far more interesting on drums/percussive sounds and obvs can work on guitars which are a metal-based sound to start with. Phasers work really well on pads and anything you want to be swirly...I like phasers in delays for example. At extremis you can essentially use phasers as a replacement for filters, so they can work as movement on most synth sounds...personally I think they're most effective in lower mid ranges.

All personal taste obvs. Some will no doubt love flangers on synths, YMMV.

kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 7:45 pm

Addendum to above...for vocals, I don't particularly like either. Flangers only sound OK for vox when it's overdone imo, which takes it into robot voice territory. For robot voices other FX are far better, either ring mods or vocoders. Phasers can make vox swirly but then you lose any semblance of clarity, and I find it makes voices just muddy. I used to play around with flangers years ago but found the longer I've been doing it the less I use flangers...almost completely out of love with them now. But I'm synth based with almost no guitar stuff.

A really slow high feedback jet flanger is about the only flanger fx I'd use nowadays probably.

Choruses though related to flangers (at least in that they're delay based) I class them as separate FX. Choruses classically thicken things up, make them fatter, but can actually make some sounds have more clearer impact & bring them upfront without making them sound wet and taking them back into distance. Can also make lovely thick delays.

Actually I still use the odd flanger for that - rather than the classic metalising effect, I occasionally like flangers with multiple delays stretched out to give almost a fluffy reverb type effect. Valhalla Ubermod or whatever it's called can do that beautifully. They have some presets under "reverbs" which is really flangers with longer than usual delays and lots of them. So actually I do like flangers...as long as they don't sound like flangers.

kritikon · Post by **kritikon** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 7:51 pm

Bloody tablets - I had to go back through and edit above posts as in every single instance it had put in "Flanders" for "flanger" every time. Ned has no place in my music...

kidslow · Post by **kidslow** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 8:24 pm

Hidely Ho Flangerooni

vurt · Post by **vurt** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 8:38 pm

if a phaser and flanger sound similar, you are using at least one of them incorrectly.

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 9:02 pm

A phaser uses allpass filters, which introduce a frequency-dependent phase delay. This is shifting the phase of a particular frequency band as it is swept. It has a sound similar to sweeping a resonant notch filter.

Chorus and flanger are related to each other, both being created by modulating the delay time on a duplicate signal of the input, creating a comb filter effect through phase cancellation. Flanger has a shorter delay time range, usually around 10ms, and not longer than 20ms. Suitable delay times overlap between the two, but chorus is typically longer, from around 15ms up to the edge of the haas effect (approx 40ms.)

Flangers can be “thru-zero” where the duplicate signal doesn’t just sweep from 0ms to 10ms or so, but will go to less than zero, and be ahead of the original signal. This creates a pretty intense mind-warping effect.

Unlike flanging, chorus has feedback, where the delayed signal is sent back into the delay, creating a cluster of shifted delay lines. The higher the feedback, the thicker the chorus effect.

A chorus occupies the territory between a flanger at one extreme, and a modulated reverb at the other.

SpankyGoalie · Post by **SpankyGoalie** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 9:45 pm

IIRC, flanging was originally used on vocals back in 60s. you needed 3 tape machines. but they are different

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flanging# ... effect.png

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 10:15 pm

Btw, As much as I love phasers, I don’t know how that

ended up at the beginning of my post.

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 10:19 pm

So, back in the day we used to put the same record on both turntables, play them at the same time but put your finger on one to slow it. Created quite an effect. That's phasing, right?

jens · Post by **jens** » Sat Feb 11, 2023 10:34 pm

jamcat wrote: Sat Feb 11, 2023 10:15 pm Btw, As much as I love phasers, I don’t know how that ended up at the beginning of my post.

a Freudian emoticon slip...

maanga · Post by **maanga** » Sun Feb 12, 2023 2:11 am

In BBD chip version, only the delay time is different.
All circuits employ same feedback circuit and mixing.
So technically, by changing the delay time, a phaser can be turned in to a flanger or a reverb or a echo.
(When the delay range is increased, lower delays are reverberation, longer delays are echos)

Regards.

Phaser vs Flanger