Phaser vs Flanger

[jamcat]

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?

No. That is quite literally flanging.
(Thru-zero type)

It’s how flanging was invented. By alternately pressing on the tape “flanges” of two reel-to-reels.

The first use of tape flanging was by The Beatles on Tomorrow Never Knows. (Though Les Paul actually experimented with this, using variable speed record players in the 1940s.)

[jens]

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.

No, there is no delay in analog phasers (i.e. there is no BBD-phaser).

When Eventide developed their Phaser, they actually wanted to make a Flanger, but BBD-chips were too expensive, so they instead went with a phaser precisely because it does not require any delay lines.


And no, you won't get a reverb out of a simple BBD-delay either. It's theoretically possible to make a BBD-network that creates respectable reverberation, but that is very rare and certainly far from being a conventional BBD-delay.

[osiris]

I quite liked the Flanger that came with Soundforge.

[subterfuge]

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.

Flanger circuits definitely have feedback, sometimes exposed to users as a feedback, regeneration or resonance control. Apart from the delay times, one notable difference between phaser and flanger is that in flanger the notches produced by the phase shifts are spread in multiples of frequencies.

The technology of phase shifters and flangers
RG Keen - Geofex

First flanging effect I know of was on 1959 Toni Fisher song The Big Hurt.

[DCrown]

I like U-he Satin for Flanger effect

[CrystalWizard]

The difference between chorus and flanging is the delay time and that flanging uses negative feedback (as noted- often called regeneration) while a chorus uses positive feedback.

[jancivil]

I remember at around 15, I went into Reliable Music and asked about the sort of jet plane taking off sound on a Hendrix record, & the guy brings out a gizmo, ‘Yeah, it’s a phase shifter’. It was just disappointing. No, that isn’t it.

[Shabdahbriah]

I have this and love it to bits:

Pittsburgh Modular Phase Shifter has a single 16 stage audio signal path. Phased audio outputs are tapped from stages 7, 8, 15, and 16. Stages 8 and 16 each have a mix output that allow the phased signal to be mixed with an attenuvertable dry signal.

[mothra]

I remember at around 15, I went into Reliable Music and asked about the sort of jet plane taking off sound on a Hendrix record, & the guy brings out a gizmo, ‘Yeah, it’s a phase shifter’. It was just disappointing. No, that isn’t it.

The tape flanging at the end of Axis Bold As Love is still some of the best ever.

[maanga]

[/quote]

No, there is no delay in analog phasers (i.e. there is no BBD-phaser).

When Eventide developed their Phaser, they actually wanted to make a Flanger, but BBD-chips were too expensive, so they instead went with a phaser precisely because it does not require any delay lines.
And no, you won't get a reverb out of a simple BBD-delay either. It's theoretically possible to make a BBD-network that creates respectable reverberation, but that is very rare and certainly far from being a conventional BBD-delay.
[/quote]
I think you have not experimented with BBD chips.
A phasing will not happen if there is no delay.
The delay is small that a multistage opamp with RC network can be used.
The LFO modulating a set of FET or LDR on the RC filters in the opamps.
Many early electronic reverbs were made with 512 0r 1024 stage BBD chips.
My first BBD reverb were made from SAD 512 or philips 1027/1097 cips.
There are more roads to Rome.
Regards.

[plexuss]

My first BBD reverb were made from SAD 512 or philips 1027/1097 cips.

https://www.audiodamage.com/collections ... ack-reverb

[jancivil]

I remember at around 15, I went into Reliable Music and asked about the sort of jet plane taking off sound on a Hendrix record, & the guy brings out a gizmo, ‘Yeah, it’s a phase shifter’. It was just disappointing. No, that isn’t it.

The tape flanging at the end of Axis Bold As Love is still some of the best ever.

if you mean the title cut, that was specifically what I wanted

[Biome_Digital]

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?

I find flangers have a more metallic sound and phasers have a more hollow sound. You can definitely tell them apart though.

[jens]

At their most extreme, they are totally different... however there is a lot of middleground where they can be difficult to tell apart. A phaser however always tends to have that sort of... quack?... to it - it's almost a bit WahWah-like (which is why I find phasers a lot more funky than flangers) and somewhat irregular, while a flanger will - just as its sibling chorus - affect the signal rather evenly...

[mothra]

if you mean the title cut, that was specifically what I wanted

That's the one!