Phaser plugin shootout

Phaser plugins

This time around I´m putting phaser plugins to the test. Going into this test I imagined I would roughly be able to get the same sound from all of the contenders, but they were in fact very different beasts. 

As always, you´ll find samples below.

How I tested

This time around I used a guitar and a piano loop, and played these through the plugins while monitoring the output in order to level match them at approximately the same loudness level (the phase peaks did introduce some challenges). 

I typically used presets and went for a subtle/standard, slow and fast effect, and sometimes I had to tweak the preset slightly to fit the material.

Phasing revisited

A phaser is yet another delay based effect, but this time it produces the effect by changing the phase of a signal using an LFO, and mixing it back in which introduces phase cancellation. As the LFO sweeps, notches will appear at different frequencies and adding further stages will introduces even more notches. It´s an instantly recognizable effect. 

Most plugins allows you to set a number of parameters such as the number of filter stages, amount of signal mixed back in, focus frequency, modulation depth, peak resonance and so on. I won´t go into details, but the effects of the controls can be dramatic so I suggest you experiment. 

The round up

Eventide Instant Phaser Mk II

This is based on an Eventide classic hardware effect unit form 1971, and itself was an attempt to replicate the typical tape flanging effect that was popular at the time. 

This plugin is the most organic and unpredictable of the bunch, but in a good way. The sound is very colored and I found that it emphasized the mid range more than the others. One of the standout features for me was the ability to trigger phasing based on the (volume) envelope, but there are lots of other tweaking possibilities and you should be able to achieve a wide range of effects with this plugin. 

The only negative really is that it has a very distinct sound, so you may not want to use this as your only phasing effect, and the LFO sometimes jumps a bit unexpectedly (by design presumably). 

I also tried a bunch of phaser plugins on a heavily distorted guitar track, and no other plugin was even close to creating the aggressive mid range sound I was going for. The bottom line is that you should get this plugin if you want that classic (and awesome) Eventide sound.

Native instrument Phasis

Native instruments have a bundle they call the mod pack which includes the very capable Phasis plugin. 

Phasis isn't your typical vintage emulation plugin, but rather a creative effect which can achieve all kind of lovely weirdness. I used it more subtly for my tests, but rest assure that this plugin can turn your audio into an absolute mayhem. The sound is a bit cleaner than some of the others, but this by no means a criticism, and I quite liked how easy it was to make it sit in a mix. This is a great creative effect and a good workhorse plugin that will cover your phasing bases. 

Softube Fix Phaser

Fix Phaser from Softube is a replica of a rare hardware device made by Paul Wolff. This plugin too has a lot of options and has a seriously phat tone that takes you right back to the 60s/70s. 

To me this plugin has the warmest and most organic of them all, and I couldn´t get any of the others to sound quite like it. It´s simply a perfect character effect for that classic phaser sound. 

Blue Cat audio Phaser

Blue Cat offers a completely free phaser effect (a chorus and flanger is also available). The plugin is supposedly modeled based on a vintage effect but Blue Cat don´t say say which one. 

It´s not as viby as the other modeled ones from Eventide and Softube, but you can get a wide range of usable sounds from it, and it offer far more control than the typical stock phaser. My only gripe with it was that it also emphasized the movement slightly more than I normally like. Get this if you'restill stuck with your bundled phaser.

Soundtoys PhaseMistress

Soundtoys are famous for creating inspiring and colorful effects, and PhaseMistress is no exception. Just like their delay plugin Echo boy, this plugin offers deep control over parameters and can emulate a wide range of classic sounds. In fact, they bundle it with about 75 (!) styles based on classic phaser effects. You can tweak just about everything, and it includes a number of saturation options as a bonus. 

The interface is a bit unintuitive at times, like some of the other Soundtoys plugins, and I feel that everything could have been presented in a more accessible way.

That said, this is an absolute workhorse and you can get tons of classic and far out effects from this plugin. It may be the only phaser plugin you need

Waves metaflanger

Waves Metaflanger has been around for at least 10 years, probably longer, and has probably appeared on numerous tracks you've heard over the years. Don´t let the name fool you because this plugin can create a range of different modulation effects (chorusing, flanging etc).

MetFlanger is straight forward to use, but the movement is sometimes a bit too obvious and it doesn´t provide much character.  That´s not necessarily bad though, and it often gets used on things like synths for that reason, because it´s so clean and simple to use, plus it hardly takes any CPU. 

Stock Phaser plugin

The next runner up is the Cubase's stock phaser plugin (version 9.5), which has been around for years. It has a very basic but functional interface (but it did received a face lift with version 10).

It´s actually a very usable effect, but it has a narrower stereo field than the others and offers less control over parameters. I suspect this is because it offers less stages (just one?) and has less control over feedback etc. This plugin will no doubt cover your basic phasing needs, but you may want to get something like fix phaser, PhaseMistress or Instant flanger if you really going for that classic phasing effect. Soundwise it was relatively close to MetaFlanger - it´s clean.

Sound examples