Voxengo PHA-979
In a market saturated by modeled plugins and 'unique concept' plugins, Voxengo continues to maintain a niche right in the middle. Their plugins are functional, stable, easy to work with and have a natural organic sound. They are not emulations of 'prized' classic gear, nor are they bloated A.I driven multi-tools with masking meters and fancy 'learn' buttons; they are easy to use affordable problem solving tools that sacrifice nothing in sound quality or euphonics.
The PHA-979 is a an excellent example: it is a phase and time correction plugin - the kind of tool one uses to reduce or eliminate phase cancellation between microphones or other problematic multi-channel sources.
But PHA-979 is not like other phase correction plugins. For one thing, it is Linear Phase, which means that phase adjustments are equal across the spectrum; LP rotation makes it possible to correct phase cancellations across the frequency spectrum, unlike 'analog' (minimum phase) tools, which typically force a compromise.. (if you still want to use minimum phase correction, PHA will do that too).
Second, it has a time (distance) adjustment included, so you can deal with all your phase issues in one plugin. It also has a handy calculator that converts samples to milliseconds, and applies the result to the appropriate knob (you can zoom in on two sources in your DAW, determine the number of samples between the two, enter it into the handy calculator and hit 'enter,' and your sources will have the same start time).
And for good measure, PHA comes with an FFT style phase indicator, so you can see which frequencies are in phase, which ones are out and which ones are in between.
PHA-979 is a lifesaver with poorly recorded drum kits; its unique combination of tools and meters greatly reduce the time required to make a kit sound like it was miked up properly in the first place.
I have yet to see another phase correction tool that does linear phase rotation, much less one that is this easy to work with.
Did I mention that it sounds good?
George PiazzaThis last week, I upgraded one of my computers from Windows XP to Win7. I did this by completely reformatting my partition, and installing everything from scratch.
When it came time to install and authorize all my Voxengo plugs, I was delighted to find something no regular user encounters on a day to day basis - that there is a means to authorize all my licensed Voxengos in a single action. That is some very clever and very considerate programming, and greatly appreciated by someone faced with the tedious task of installing and authorizing dozens of programs and plugins.
Voxengo plugins are an integral part of my working process now, and just about everything I turn out has been touched in one way or another by your work. Thanks very much for the great sound, and the little touches that are the product of great programming.
Frank Lockwood