PhaseTwo User’s Guide Audio Damage, Inc. Release 1.
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Introduction The Mutron Bi-Phase, made by Musitronics Corp. in the mid to late 70s, is the most sought-after hardware phaser in existence. Highly prized for its wide dynamic range and the liquid, subtle phasing provided by its two six-stage phasers, the Bi-Phase is the benchmark by which all other analog phasers are judged. Unfortunately, these original units are quite rare, and if one is found in good working condition, it commands a premium price. Enter PhaseTwo.
For use with Apple Macintosh: Mac OS X version 10.3.9 or later. 256 MB RAM G4 500 MHz CPU Display capable of “thousands of colors” Installation Double-click the PhaseTwo Installer icon, and follow the instructions. During the installation process the installer will ask you to enter your registration code. The code can be found in your account in the Audio Damage store.
Operation By today’s standards, the Bi-Phase is not a terribly complicated signal processor. It has no presets, no MIDI control, no digital displays, no memory cards, and never needs firmware updates. For the sake of historical perspective, though, we’ll reproduce a passage from the introduction of the Bi-Phase’s manual: The Mu-Tron Bi-Phase is a sophisticated and versatile sound modification device which consists of two independent six-stage phase shifters.
Sweep Generators The Sweep Generators control the two phase shifters in PhaseTwo. A phase shifter creates its distinct effect by introducing a series of notches or cancellations in the frequency content of the signal passing through it. The Sweep Generators move these notches higher and lower in frequency, producing the upward and downward “whooshing” effect usually associated with phase shifters. 1, 5 The RATE knobs control the speed of the Sweep Generators.
switch, and the manual describes the two positions as “sine-wave and square-wave sweep”. These terms are somewhat misleading in that the hardware does not really produce either sine waves or square waves. When the switch is in the sine wave position, the Sweep Generator oscillator actually produces a triangle wave. When the switch is in the other position, the oscillator produces a square wave.
8 The SWEEP switch allows you to choose whether the phase shifter is controlled by Sweep Generator 1 or by the Sweep Control. Set the switch to GEN 1 to produce the usual up-and-down sweeping effect. Set the switch to CC if you wish to sweep the phase shifter with the Sweep Control (described in detail below). Phasor B Phasor B is the second phase shifter. It has the same filters and hence the same timbral effect as Phasor A, but it has more signal-routing and sweeping options.
signal. Recall that Phasor A always receives the input signal when the plug-in is used in a mono context. The input switch works as follows: If the switch is set to IN A, Phasor B receives the same signal that Phasor A receives. Phasor B’s output is mixed with Phasor A’s output, and the mixed signal is sent out of the plug-in’s output. This configuration is not available in the Bi-Phase alone, and would require an external hardware mixer to add the two phase-shifted signals together.
the same source—either GEN 1 or CC—then the two phase shifters will sweep together. Note that they will sweep over a different range if their DEPTH knobs are not at the same position. If the SWEEP switches are set to different sources, then the two phase shifters will move independently. 12 The DEPTH knob works the same way as Phasor A’s DEPTH knob (see #6 above). 13 The FEEDBACK knob works the same way as Phasor A’s FEEDBACK knob (see #7 above).
set one or both of the Sweep switches to CC and then manipulate the Sweep Control, you’ll hear the phase shifters moving in response. The Sweep Control itself is not visible in PhaseTwo’s user interface. You can use the alternate, generic plug-in interface provided by your host to manipulate it, but the real fun is had by using a hardware MIDI controller such as your keyboard’s Mod wheel to twiddle it.
2. Move the MIDI controller to send a continuous controller message—turn the knob, press the button, move the slider, whatever is appropriate. 3. The white box will disappear. Now PhaseTwo’s control will move when you manipulate the MIDI controller. PhaseTwo waits until it has received two consecutive continuous controller messages with the same controller number before it makes an assignment. This filters out extraneous data sent by some MIDI controllers.
And Finally… Thanks again for purchasing PhaseTwo. We make every effort to ensure your satisfaction with our products, and want you to be happy with your purchase. Please write support@audiodamage.com if you have any questions or comments.
