Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Friday Tips: The Best Flanger Plug-In?

28/06/2019

Well maybe it actually is, and we'll cover both positive and negative flanging (there's a link to download multipresets for both options). Both do true, through-zero flanging, which sounds like the vintage, tape-based flanging sound from the late 60s.

The basis of this is-surprise!-our old friend the Autofilter (see the Friday Tip for June 17, Studio One's Secret Equalizer, for information on using its unusual filter responses for sound design). The more I use that sucker, the more uses I find for it. I'm hoping there's a dishwashing module in there somewhere meanwhile, for this tip we'll use the Comb filter.

Positive Flanging

Figure 1: When set properly, the Autofilter's comb filter can make a superb flanger.

Flanging depended on two signals playing against each other, with the time delay of one varying while the other stayed constant. Positive flanging was the result of the two signals being in phase. This gave a zinging, resonant type of flanging sound.

Fig. 1 shows the control settings for positive flanging. Turn Auto Gain off, Mix to 100%, and set both pairs of Env and LFO sliders to 0. Adding Drive gives a little saturation for more of a vintage tape sound (or follow the May 31 tip, In Praise of Saturation, for an alternate tape sound option). Resonance is to taste, but the setting shown above is a good place to start. The Gain control setting of 3 dB isn't essential, but compensates for a volume loss when enabling/bypassing the FX Chain.

Varying the Cutoff controls the flanging effect. We won't use the Autofilter's LFO, because real tape flanging didn't use an LFO-you controlled it by hand. Controlling the flanging process was always inexact due to tape recorder motor inertia, so a better strategy is to automate the Cutoff parameter, and create an automation curve that approximates the way flanging really varied (Fig. 2)-which was most definitely not a sine or triangle wave. A major advantage of creating an automation curve is that we can make sure that the flanging follows the music in the most fitting way.

Figure 2: The Cutoff frequency automation curve used for the audio examples.

Negative Flanging

Throwing one of the two signals used to create flanging out of phase gave negative flanging, which had a hollower, sucking kind of sound. Also, when the variable speed tape caught up with and matched the reference tape, the signal canceled briefly due to being out of phase. It's a little more difficult to create negative flanging, but here's how to do it.

Set up flanging as shown in the previous example, and then Duplicate Track (Complete), including the Autofilter.

Turn Resonance all the way down in both Autofilters (original and duplicated track). This is important to obtain the maximum negative flanging effect. Because of the cancellation due to the two audio paths being out of phase, there's a level drop when flanging. You can compensate by turning up both Autofilters' Gain controls to exactly 6.00 dB (they need to be identical). This gain increase isn't strictly necessary, but helps maintain levels between the enabled and bypassed states of the Negative Flanging FX Chain.

In the duplicated track's Autofilter, turn off the Autofilter's Automation Read, and turn Cutoff up all the way (Fig. 3).

Figure 3: Settings for the duplicated track's Autofilter.

Insert a Mixtool after the Autofilter in the duplicated track, and enable both Invert Left and Invert Right (Fig. 4). This throws the duplicated track out of phase.

Figure 4: Mixtool settings for the duplicated track.

Temporarily bypass both Autofilters (in the original and duplicated tracks). Start playback, and you should hear nothing because the two tracks cancel. If you want to make sure, vary one of the track faders to see if you hear anything, then restore the fader to its previous position.

Re-enable both Autofilters, and program your Cutoff automation for the original track (the duplicated track shouldn't have automation). Note that if you mute the duplicate track, or bring down its fader, the sound will be positive flanging (although with less level than negative flanging, because you don't have two tracks playing at once).

So is this the best flanger plug-in ever? Well if not, it's pretty close listen to the audio examples, and see what you think.

Both examples are adapted/excerpted from the song All Over Again (Every Day).

The Multipresets

If you like what you hear, download the multipresets. There are individual ones for Positive Flanging and Negative Flanging. To automate the Flange Freq knob, right-click on it and choose Edit Knob 1 Automation. This overlays an automation envelope on the track that you can edit as desired to control the flanging.

Download the Positive Flanging Multipresets Here!

Download the Negative Flanging Multipresets Here!

And here's a fine point for the rocket scientists in the crowd. Although most flangers do flanging by delaying one signal compared to another, most delays can't go all the way up to 0 ms of delay, which is crucial for through-zero flanging where the two signals cancel at the negative flanging's peak. The usual workaround is to delay the dry signal somewhat, for example by 1 ms, so if the minimum delay time for the processed signal is 1 ms, the two will be identical and cancel. The advantage of using the comb filter approach is that there's no need to add any delay to the dry signal, yet they can still cancel at the peak of the flanging.

Finally, I'd like to mention my latest eBook-More Than Compressors The Complete Guide to Dynamics in Studio One. It's the follow-up to the book How to Record and Mix Great Vocals in Studio One. The new book is 146 pages, covers all aspects of dynamics (not just the signal processors), and is available as a dow
LINK: https://blog.presonus.com/index.php/2019/06/28/friday-tips-best-flange...
See more stories from presonus

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

02/05/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Search, Faster Editing, and an AI-Ready Foundation for Modern Media

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

01/05/2026

NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to Integrate Dolby's Full Suite of Premium Picture and Sound Innovations

January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...

03/04/2026

TNT Sports and CBS Sports To Reunite Michigan's Iconic Fab Five' for Special NCAA Men's Final Four Altcast on truTV and HBO Max

Michigan's Fab Five will reunite for an alternate presentation of the Mich...

03/04/2026

NAB 2026: Avid To Showcase Content Core and AI Workflow Innovations

Avid will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (April 18-22, Booth N2226, Las Vegas Convention Center), demonstrating its Content Core platform and new AI-driven workflow c...

03/04/2026

MRMC Appoints Nick Barthee as Chief Operating Officer

Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) has announced the appointment of Nick Barthee as Chief Operating Officer. The announcement follows MRMC's transition fro...

03/04/2026

Elite Media Technologies Selects Interra Systems' BATON for File-Based QC

Interra Systems has announced that Elite Media Technologies has selected its BATON file-based QC solution for media workflows. Elite Media Technologies speciali...

03/04/2026

Moldtelecom Deploys Ateme Technologies Across Full Streaming Workflow

Ateme has announced that Moldtelecom has deployed Ateme technologies across its streaming workflow, covering encoding, delivery, operations, and analytics. Mol...

03/04/2026

NAB 2026: Grass Valley To Demonstrate Framelight X Content Management

Grass Valley will demonstrate Framelight X, its content management platform, at NAB Show 2026. The platform connects capture, ingest, editing, and publishing in...

03/04/2026

NAB 2026: Encompass Digital Media and Techex Launch Cloud-Based Master Control Service for Live Events

Encompass Digital Media and Techex have announced a cloud-native Master Control ...

03/04/2026

Peacock Debuts Its New Vertical-Video Experience for Live NBA Games on Monday

Live Vertical Video automatically track the action on the court via AI technology and delivers a fully optimized, 9 16 live feed for viewers...

03/04/2026

Illinois Creative Team Captures Men's Final Four Run With Trust, Timing, and a Few Water Guns

As the Illini make their first trip to college basketball's biggest stage si...

03/04/2026

Hook 'Em: University of Texas Athletics Produces Digital Content for a First-Person Experience

After last summer's Softball National Championship victory and last week'...

03/04/2026

Don't Be Lame: Arizona Men's Basketball Social Team Aims To Catch the Attention of Wildcat Fans

The University of Arizona's Men's Basketball team has only loss twice th...

03/04/2026

During Packed Weekend, Van Wagner Covers In-Venue Shows for Championships Across Indianapolis

Eight games across four tournaments will be played in three venues; accommodatio...

03/04/2026

Ottawa Senators and Bell Media Extend Regional Broadcast Rights Agreement

The Ottawa Senators and Bell Media have announced a long-term rights extension for regional Ottawa Senators games on TSN and RDS. TSN Radio 1200 remains the exc...

03/04/2026

ESPN's Women's Final Four Playbook: Bigger Compound, Bigger Trucks, Biggest Production Yet

Massive production in Phoenix running out of Flagship Mobile unit, Features 50+ ...

03/04/2026

Electro-Harmonix release EHX Classics Bundle

Iconic guitar pedals now available in plug-in form Guitar effects experts Electro-Harmonix have teamed up with MixWave to turn a collection of their most pr...

03/04/2026

FAC launch Bandit 2

New multi-band AUv3 plug-in announced Fred Anton Corvest (FAC) offer an extensive range of AUv3 plug-ins and iOS/iPadOS Apps, and their multiband effects pr...

03/04/2026

Pulsar-23: 1984 from SOMA Laboratory

Just 84 units to be released in the US Experimental synthesizer and sound-machine extraordinaires SOMA Laboratory have revealed an upcoming special-edition ...

03/04/2026

Iconic Instruments release Model 350 Tube Preamp

Emulates the input section of an Ampex 350 One of the latest arrivals to the Iconic Instruments range delivers a new tube preamp plug-in inspired by the cir...

03/04/2026

TelevisaUnivision and Nielsen Agree to New Media Intelligence Deal Covering Streaming, National and Local TV, and Radio

New York April 2, 2026 TelevisaUnivision, the world's leading Spanish-la...

03/04/2026

2026 NAB Show Exhibitor Insight: Techex

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/04/2026

TelevisaUnivision Signs New Nielsen Media Intelligence Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/04/2026

The WNET Group, JIB Launch NHK World-Japan in New York

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/04/2026

NAB Leadership Foundation Welcomes New Board Members

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/04/2026

EverPass Media Expands Distribution Deal with Netflix

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/04/2026

Versant Acquires AI-Data Platform StockStory

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

03/04/2026

CVP Grows European Footprint with Strategic Expansion in...

CVP, one of Europe's leading suppliers of professional video and broadcast solutions, today announces the launch of its new German operation and the formati...

03/04/2026

MRMC Announces Appointment of Chief Operating Officer

Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) today announces the appointment of Nick Barthee as Chief Operating Officer, strengthening its leadership as the company conti...

03/04/2026

Net Insight Introduces Programmable Trust Boundaries for...

Net Insight introduces programmable Trust Boundaries that make live media interconnection predictable as traffic moves between facilities, networks and cloud en...

03/04/2026

Winning in the new media economy: Avid showcases AI-powered, connected intelligence to unlock media value at NAB Show 2026

Winning in the new media economy: Avid showcases AI-powered, connected intellige...

03/04/2026

NUGEN Audio CEO Dr. Paul Tapper to Lead Presentation About Dialog Intelligibility and Loudness at NAB 2026

NUGEN Audio CEO Dr. Paul Tapper to Lead Presentation About Dialog Intelligibilit...

03/04/2026

NAB Show 2026: PlayBox Neo Highlights Workflow, Security, and IP Advances

NAB Show 2026: PlayBox Neo Highlights Workflow, Security, and IP Advances Brie Clayton April 2, 2026 0 Comments PlayBox Neo will showcase the latest i...

03/04/2026

For Taku Hirano, Everything Is Connected

For Taku Hirano, Everything Is Connected From touring and composition to teaching and instrument design, the in-demand percussionist sees it all as one body o...

03/04/2026

Berklee Honors Humberto Ramirez with Master of Latin Music Award

Berklee Honors Humberto Ramirez with Master of Latin Music Award The alumnus and acclaimed trumpeter is honored for his influence as a performer, composer, an...

03/04/2026

Competition Heats Up with Intrigue and Spices: Netflix Unveils Trailer for New Drama Made with Love'

Back to All News Competition Heats Up with Intrigue and Spices: Netflix Unveils...

02/04/2026

HBO and NFL Films Announce Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Seahawks, Debuting August 11

HBO and NFL Films have announced Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the Seattle Sea...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: Haivision Unveils Makito ONE Video Transport Platform

Haivision has announced the Makito ONE, a single-blade video encoding and decoding platform, at NAB Show 2026. The platform combines dual-channel video encoding...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: Telestream Introduces UP.Lens Cloud-Based Multiviewer and Monitoring Service

Telestream has introduced UP.Lens, a cloud-based multiviewer and monitoring serv...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: MRMC to Showcase Robotic Camera Technology and Mark 60th Anniversary

Mark Roberts Motion Control (MRMC) will exhibit at NAB Show 2026 (Booth C5220, April 19-22, Las Vegas Convention Center), marking the company's 60th anniver...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: Net Insight Introduces Programmable Trust Boundaries for Live Media Interconnection

Net Insight has introduced programmable Trust Boundaries, a feature integrated i...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: Bitmovin Adds SGAI Support to Playback Products

Bitmovin has announced support for SGAI (Server-Guided Ad Insertion) in its playback products, using HLS interstitials. SGAI combines elements of client-side an...

02/04/2026

Binghamton University Athletics Adds Riedel SimplyLive RiMotion R12 for Student-Run Productions

Riedel Communications' SimplyLive RiMotion R12 replay system is supporting B...

02/04/2026

NAB 2026: LTN and Ateme Announce Integration of Video Processing with IP Transport

LTN, a managed IP video transport company, and Ateme, a video compression and de...

02/04/2026

TDF Expands Channel Capacity on Terrestrial Broadcast Network with Harmonic

Harmonic has announced that TDF, a broadcast infrastructure operator in France, has deployed Harmonic's XOS Advanced Media Processor and ProStream X Video S...

02/04/2026

United Rugby Championship Reports First-Year Results with Eluvio Streaming Platform

Eluvio and the United Rugby Championship (URC) have announced first-year results...

02/04/2026

Kansas City Current and Scripps Sports Announce ION as Broadcast Home of 2026 Teal Rising Cup

The Kansas City Current and Scripps Sports have announced that ION will broadcas...