Why do phase, flange and chorus plug-ins sound thin?

If you own a hardware delay line effects device you will already know how rich and thick they can sound and how easy it is to set them up to create classic short delay time-domain effects such as phasing, flanging and chorus.

Although you can use almost any delay line device, manufacturers, especially of guitar pedals, have long produced devices devoted to one type of effect with controls devoted to creating variations of that effect. Such devices include ..

Roland Dimension D chorus
Boss CH1 chorus
Boss PH3 phaser
MXR Flanger
DOD phaser 201
Shin-ei Uni-Vibe phaser
Electro-Harmonix Small Clone chorus
etc

Of course you don't need any of these devices to create great effects, almost any simple analogue or digital delay line with modulation will do. The essential parameters you will need to adjust are ..

1. Delay time (between 0 and 30ms)
2. Feedback (adjustable)
3. Hi-cut (adjustable low pass filter)
4. Modulation frequency control
5. Modulation width control

Many delay lines offer additional parameters to try and differentiate themselves but you don't need more than the essential 5.

Popular devices include ..

Korg SDD 1200
Korg SDD 1000
Korg SDD 3000
Yamaha E1005
Yamaha D1030
Roland SDE-1000

The great news is that because so many people are moving to music production entirely in the box, plenty of these devices are available second hand at low prices.

Using plug-ins has many advantages including convenience, the ability to use many instances, and additional parameters, but somehow they fail to produce the dramatic and rich effects that hardware outboard is capable of.

There may be many reasons for this, perhaps the primary ones are ..

1. the algorithms are too precise
2. unnecessary additional parameters make it harder to create what are essentially simple effects
3. editing with a mouse is a chore
4. lazy users rely too much on presets which are designed to demonstrate a plug-ins capabilities rather than be genuinely useful in a mix

The truth is that if you take the time to understand tape delay and what the parameters are really doing to the sound wave, it's easy to take control and produce exactly the effects you are after.

And of course that is exactly what we are attempting to do with our current time domain effects video playlist .. http://www.projectstudiohandbook.com/videos/playlists/time-domain-effects/introduction-what-are-time-domain-effects/introduction-what-are-time-domain-effects-video.php

Thanks for reading
FairFax