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This thread is about a flanger effect

Those who know this stompbox know what I'm looking for -- a smooth thick flange sound like a jet aircraft taking off. Popularized by Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, etc.

Is there any plugin even remotely capable of this sound?

Comments

k.w.blackwell Thu, 11/07/2002 - 10:49

Originally posted by robin746:
...a smooth thick flange sound like a jet aircraft taking off ..... Is there any plugin even remotely capable of this sound?

Well, it might not be what you're after, but I've used the Dynamic Delay built-in effect of Cool Edit Pro to get something very much like the flanging sound of a jet aircraft taking off. You can probably do this with any sort of lengthening (dynamic) delay that goes smoothly enough. Even use a "stretch" function to make a copy of the signal become just a tad longer (according to the desired maximum delay) than the original, and mix the stretched copy with the original. You might even apply a bit of HF rolloff or some tape emulation to the stretched copy before mixing. Well, at least, that gets the flange going outward; if you want it to cycle (coming and going) then this method would be somewhat more inconvenient. All of this is somewhat inconvenient, for that matter. Any plugin that does flanging that allows you to enter really low modulation frequencies (like less than .1 Hz) and which tries to do a really good interpolation might get you just as close. But then, I can't hear your mind (kind of like reading your mind) to know what sound you're really thinking of. Just trying to bounce some ideas around....

anonymous Thu, 11/07/2002 - 20:43

You know, the coolest flanging I ever heard was during a mix session for a live concert video. The stereo mix from the video cassette was playing back along side the separate tracks on a 2 inch reel on a Studer 80 (the stereo tracks were supposed to be muted, but...). When the play button was depressed it took about 5 seconds for the lumbering Studer to catch up, and the most incredible flange started coming out of the speakers.
Obviously you don't want to go to all that trouble, but try using a reel-to-reel machine to hand-flange. I think it sounds the best. Doc.