MOTM

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.jpg

The 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.)