Soundtoys PhaseMistress - Manual (Page 23)

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A Word of CAUTION! – Extreme settings of the Resonance controls can create
VERY high signal levels…enough to fry your tweeters and blow out your woofers if
the volume is way up. You may want to turn down the output level of PhaseMistress
when cranking up the Resonance. We cannot be responsible for any damage done
due to being dopey enough to listen REALLY loud while cranking the Resonance!
So please…be cool and careful.
lowest to highest setting. You will hear the standard "phaser" effect across the full
frequency spectrum. However, it is pretty common to set the Frequency knob to a
specific setting somewhere midway between the lowest and highest setting and then
add modulation with an LFO or envelope to modulate the frequency.
So to get your standard phasing effect set the Frequency knob at 12 o’clock and then
add some modulation with the "Mod" knob (set it to 11 o’clock) and the Rate set fairly
low, (say around 7 o’clock). You can then move the Frequency knob to "tune" or bias
the phasing effect more towards higher frequencies by turning it up, or more towards
the bass by turning it down. As we said before, there ain’t no right nor wrong way; it
just depends on what kind of effect you want.
Of course most of the really cool effects available with PhaseMistress happen by
either clicking on the Frequency knob, yanking it around and recording the changes
with Pro Tools automation, or, more likely using the PhaseMistress’s extensive built-
in modulation section (Discussed in the Modulation Section) to automatically modu-
late the phase effect in a multitude of different and bizarre ways.
Resonance
The Resonance control greatly enhances the effect of the phase shift effect by creat-
ing "resonant peaks" in each of the notch filters, "boosting" and "enhancing" the
harmonics contained in the input signal that fall around each of notches. As you
increase the Resonance and sweep the frequency the harmonics that fall into and
around the various notches are exaggerated, "picked out" and become more pro-
nounced. This significantly enhances the phasing effect giving it a much sharper,
"churning" quality. Cranking the Resonance all the way up will drive PhaseMistress
into oscillation and can actually obscure the input signal as the filters in the phase
effect are actually creating a signal on their own.
It is also important to note that the number of stages and the phase (positive/nega-
tive) of the resonance (located under the Tweak menu and discussed shortly) will sig-
nificantly affect the character and overall tonal quality of the resonance and greatly
increases the variety of phasing effects available in PhaseMistress.