Apogee’s latest collaboration with Bob Clearmountain is Phases, a new plugin that promises to recreate the producer/engineer’s coveted vintage analogue flanger and phaser modules, which date from the mid-’70s.
As is customary with these things, Phases gives you not only the original feature sets, but also some expanded controls.
So, in the case of the Flanger you can adjust the manual sweep, sweep oscillator and mix, just as you could on the hardware, but then go further and play with feedback, LFO phase, high-pass filters and polarity reverse.
These bonus controls can be found on the Phaser, too, which also comes with a Stages knob. This enables you to reproduce the sonic characteristics of a variety of hardware phasers - everything from stompboxes to vintage hardware units and contemporary plugins.
There’s also an Analog feature that even more closely models the original hardware’s feedback implementation, and an Age trimpot that can be used to recreate the ‘mellowing effects’ of aging hardware.
If you’re feeling a touch more ambitious, you can make use of the Module Config option, which enables you to send your tracks through both modules. You can flange the phaser, phase the flanger, or apply both and mix.
To demonstrate what Phases is capable of, Bob Clearmountain has put together a bank of presets that show how it can be used to recreate some classic studio sounds. These include the phased drums from Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir, the flanger piano from Chic’s Good Times, and The Rolling Stones’ Heaven vocal sound.
Find out more and download a demo on the Apogee website. Phases is available now priced at $149 and runs in VST/AU/AAX formats.
