Greetings. Here is something from Analogue Heaven by Juergen Haible about
a compact phaser that he has cloned. He hints about another phaser. Hint
hint. Interesting device.
Fred
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 16:01:03 +0100
From: Haible Juergen <
Juergen.Haible@...>
Subject: [AH] AW: Compact Phaser
>Got the Compact (8-stage) Phaser running last night. Rather unusual unit in
>many ways. Big power light flashes in sync to the sweep, which is a nice
>interface feature. The sound is interesting and very much reminiscent of a
>swept all-pass fitler, mainly because the thing can be driven into howling
>self-oscillation like your favorite analog VCF. This occurs when you
turn the
>feedback knob up to "11". (I love that). Rather deep phasing sound,
though not
>as intense as a (rackmount) Moog 12-stage phaser, although I wonder how
much of
>that is due to the companding that occurs in that design? Very interesting
>"fade-in" of the effect when it is turned on (by the foot switch). 2
>(different) multi-pin DIN jacks on the rear panel for footswitch, pdeal
and high
>level inputs and outputs.
>
>Idiosyncratic, characterful and cool.
It has a very special character indeed. While it's not the world's most
versatile phaser with its 4 knobs, it has a few ∗very∗ typical, unique
sounds that cannot be emulated with any other phaser I've heard. Best
described as a blend of Band Pass filtering (you really meant that when you
wrote all-pass, didn't you ?) and phasing (i.e. all pass filtering). I
like the self oscillation a lot, too. When I listen to some early Klaus
Schulze records, I wonder if some of the typical chirping sounds were
actually made by a Compact A rather than the Synthi A, but of course this
is only speculation. The trademark phasing and BPF sounds on these albums
are clearly Compact A, though.
I've been waiting to lay my hands on such a device for years, and when I
finally found one, I made a clone immediately. As I already posted a few
weeks ago, chances are good that this clone will soon be manufactured by
Touched by Sound (They have to check the legal stuff and make the necessary
calculations first, of course.)
Here's the adress for a picture again:
http://home.debitel.net/user/jhaible/compact_clone1.jpgThe original had a different shape and slightly different knobs, but I
prefer a combined Stompbox / Tabletop enclosure, and standard 1/4" jacks
rather than weird DIN multipin connectors. The original lamp is still there
- I thought it looks cool (;->).
(Mind you, the picture shows my own version, not what TBS will probably build.)
As for the "most versatile phaser" I mentioned above (with a lot more knobs
and a more typical phaser approach), you might want to keep your eyes open,
too. (Can't tell more at the moment (;->) )
JH.
PS.: When you're the lucky owner of an original Compact Phasing A you might
want to experiment with an adapter cable from DIN to 1/4" jacks. There
∗are∗ a couple of 1/4" jacks on the original, but these are intended for
very different signal levels (The signal is boosted by approx. 20dB, run
thru the phaser, and then attenuated with a resistor divider. The DIN jack
gives you direct access to the phaser core.)