Stunning Phaser is an extremely high quality, stereo (or mono), internally oversampled, VST/AU phaser effect plug-in. In addition to the usual LFO, Stunning Phaser also offers a very organic and dynamic sounding envelope follower, multiple LFO waveforms, and our very own Gliss-quanti™ — an automatic sample-and-hold function that divides LFO waveforms up into discreet steps for exciting new possibilities you’ve never heard a phaser do before!
Currently in its final public Beta release, the big 60% OFF Buy-it-in-Beta deal will be ending very soon when we release version 1.0 (we just have to re-do the graphics/layout, add some preset patches, and finish the manual — all of which are already almost completed). The best price you’ll see for this plug-in for quite some time is right now, so try it ASAP before the Beta ends and see what you think.
And don’t be scared off by that Beta word. Our code-base is extremely well tested at this point, and all features are now finalized and stable (pending testing of this last 0.5.2 Beta update). And as with all our products, our Upgrade Protection Policy means your license is not only good for this major version (1.x) but all the way through the next major version number as well (2.x)! Considering that after 13 years in business we haven’t taken a single product to a version 2 yet (although we do continue to grow and maintain them) you shouldn’t need to worry about upgrade fees for quite some time!
What features are missing? What’s coming?
We’re done! At least as far as features, sound and behavior go. We will very soon be ending the Beta series (and with it the big 60% OFF offer) and releasing version 1.0.0, which will have all new graphics (clearly needed at this point — it’s grown a lot since the original minimalist design!), a selection of preset patches, and a user manual.
What if a feature I like/use changed during the Beta?
This was entirely possible so we recommend that you keep all the Stunning Phaser Beta installers you used so that, should a feature or parameter you used before change, you can go back to the earlier behavior. (Please note that we never break the behavior of a product once it’s out of Beta. Sound and program/project compatibility are always guaranteed once our products are out of their original 0.x Beta series. After release of version 1.x, we only ever add features, never take them away or change the sound of existing ones.) If you use the VST version you may be able to have many different versions of Stunning Phaser installed at the same time just by renaming the StunningPhaser.dll (or on OSX, StunningPhaser.vst) files to different numbered names, like StunningPhaser000.vst, StunningPhaser001.vst, etc. Not all VST hosts support this though, so if you only see one version you’ll have to move the versions you currently don’t want to use out of your VST plug-ins folder. Unfortunately, Apples AU (Audio Units) format doesn’t allow for plug-ins with duplicate IDs to co-exist, so you’ll have to pick only one version of Stunning Phaser to use at any one time. Just move the StunningPhaser.component files you currently aren’t using to any location other than your /Library/Audio/Plug-Ins/Components folder.
Where do I send my feature requests/suggestions/bug reports?
Email them to us at info@admiralquality.com, please.
Stunning Phaser Changes list:
Beta 0.5.2 2018-11-28
Added: Resonance soft-clipping level control. Turn fully counter clockwise to deactivate and return to the unclipped resonance behavior of earlier versions. Turn up to control level of resonant peaks by applying non-linear distortion to the resonance signal.
Tweaked: Reduced LFO depth range to +/- 200% from 400%.
This final update in the Beta series completes Stunning Phaser’s features and behaviors which will be locked down from the next update on. Coming soon: Completely re-done graphics (it’s grown a lot since its first conception and needs a complete re-design!), preset patches, and user manual. Catch it quick while it’s still in Beta to take advantage of the big 60% OFF deal!
Beta 0.5.1 2018-11-15
Fixed: Crash bug related to wrong number of parameters reported to host.
Beta 0.5.0 2018-11-13
Added: MIDI CC# selection in Options Dialog and MIDI Mod Amount knobs on the front panel for the Center Frequency and LFO Rate controls. MIDI CC# preferences are global and the front panel depth settings are saved per-patch/project.
Beta 0.4.0 2018-04-20
Added: Quality (oversampling multiplier) control. 5 modes: 1X, 2X, 4X, 8X, 16X. Defaults to 4X which previous Beta versions were hard-wired to. This has a subtle yet powerful effect on the quality of sound. Reduce to save CPU during tracking and turn up during rendering for best results. (Though sometimes less is more, for some applications the lower quality sound might be exactly what you want. Your choice now!)
Tweaked: Center Freq and all HPF/LPF filter cutoff frequencies now consistent across all host sample rates and Quality settings.
Added: 2 and 4 Stage settings added to Stages knob. Maximum is still 32, default is still 16.
Added: Negative Resonance range is now possible! While this sounds somewhat faulty to our ears, it is a different sound and doesn’t hurt any of the other behavior, so we’re giving you the option.
Added: Turning the Wet HPF or Envelope Follower HPF/LPF to off will clear their memory. Useful if an envelope follower goes out of range. Setting Envelope Follower depth to zero does the same.
Fixed: Envelope Follower negative range actually goes negative now.
Tweaked: Envelope Follower no longer subtracts a DC offset when HPF is deactivated. Eliminates audible bump when Env HPF is activated.
Tweaked: Envelope Follower HPF and LPF knob curves adjusted to compensate for above changes and put sweet spots roughly in the middle of the knob range.
Beta 0.3.0 2018-03-11
Added: LFO Range control. Far more range on the low end in Free mode as well as much longer numbers of beats in Host-Sync mode.
Tweaked: Curve (now curves) on the LFO Rate control.
Beta 0.2.0 2018-02-15
Added:Input and Output Mono (sum) buttons.
Added:Input Gain control.
Added:Stage Detune control. Spreads phaser stage tuning in a non-even pattern to simulate inconsistencies between stages in analog phasers.
Added:Stage Saturation control. Adds a smooth saturation to the phaser input.
Tweaked:Increased range of Output (and new Input) Gain controls and adjusted curves.
Tweaked:Increased range of LFO Depth control to +/- 400%.
Tweaked:Increased longest possible Free LFO Rate.
Added:Envelope Follower’s DC cut switch replaced with a HPF Cutoff Frequency control to allow full control over DC Cut and “sharpening” behavior.
Added:Exposed the Envelope Follower LPF’s Cutoff Frequency control to allow full control over “smoothing” behavior.
Tweaked:Greatly increased Envelope Follower Amount range to +/- 1000%! Control curve also adjusted. Allows for a much greater range of response to adapt to the now user-adjustable LPF and HPF cutoff frequencies.
Tweaked:Reported filter and phaser Center Frequencies in Hz should now be more accurate.
Beta 0.1.0 2018-01-11
Fixed: Config file location no longer conflicts with SCAMP folder. (OS X users will still need to manually create the folder where the “Stunning Phaser.ini” will be automatically created to make the non-fatal warning dialog go away. Create /Users/(Your_User_Name)/Library/Application Support/Admiral Quality/Stunning Phaser/ You only need to do this once. This is also the location your “Stunning Phaser.key” file will go in after license key purchase. Please note that this is not the same /Library folder that’s in your system root. If you can’t find your User ~/Library folder, please see the instructions here to reveal it. Sorry about all this hassle, Apple changed permissions a few versions back that broke our automatic folder creation behavior.)
Optimized: CPU usage should now be a bit less. New features don’t add any CPU load when not activated.
Fixed: (OS X) “Demo Mode” message was interfering with proper functioning of program number menu, name edit field and increment decrement buttons at top. Moved down over Stunning Phaser logo.
Fixed (we think, please let us know): (OS X) Non-fatal error message in Logic Pro X. And preset programs now all set to “init”. (We will be adding preset programs in a later Beta update after the feature set has stabilized. Please send us your favorites!)
Added: Envelope Follower “DC Cut” filter switch. A selectable, preset -24 dB/Oct high-pass filter that causes the envelope follower to fall back towards zero when input levels are unchanging. Greatly increases Envelope Follower dynamics and eliminates need to compensate for DC offset with the Center Freq control. Try it!
Added: A 5th mode for the Envelope Follower Source selector knob, L-R (Left minus right), which lets stereo-correlation be an envelope source. Very powerful, experiment with panned signals!
Added: Output High-pass Filter knob. -24 dB/Oct filter with full-range cutoff frequency adjustment. Very useful for eliminating DC or excessive bottom-end.
Added: Output Dry/Wet Mix knob. Normally phasers are 100% wet, but you requested it, so there you go!
Added: Output Gain Trim knob.
Tweaked: Changed “Inv” control label to “Mod Inv” for clarity.