New for autumn 2012, the Stomp King SK-8 Jet Flange is a straight-down-the-line freeware virtual flanger pedal for the VST environment. It’s simple to use, and it sounds like a stereo flanger – not a chorus, or a micro-delay. Whatever you do with the dials on this effect, you’ll get cool flanger sounds.
There are just three parameters to adjust: Rate, Depth and Resonance. The Rate governs the speed of the flanger’s sweep. As is the goal with all Stomp King effects, it’s not possible to set the parameter so low that it doesn’t do anything, or so high that it sounds bad. The higher the value, the faster the sweep. At the highest settings you’ll get a pseudo-vibrato sound. As with all effects of this type, the sounds will be more usable if you keep the Depth at lower values when the Rate is high.
The Depth determines the width of the modulation. Greater Depth values will equate to more spaciousness. However, higher Depth settings will be more usable if you keep the Rate at slower speeds (lower values).
Finally, the Resonance knob controls how much of the modulated signal is looped back into its own path. This is what most differentiates a flanger from a chorus. Increasing the Resonance value intensifies the ‘jet’ sound up to a really powerful resonant sweep. On the SK-8, even at the minimum Resonance setting the feedback loop remains active, so you never lose the impression of flanging. The problem I’ve found with many VST flangers is that they’re much too complicated, and it’s too easy to end up with straight chorus sounds, or settings which don’t appear to do anything at all. The way the parameters are geared on the SK-8 should make all the classic flanging sounds much, much easier to find.
If, however, you haven’t used a flanger before, here are some example settings to demonstrate the typical ‘jumping off points’…
EXAMPLE SETTINGS
Rate: 33, Depth: 79, Resonance: 3. A spacious jet flange sound. There’s lots of width in the pitch movement, but there’s a moderate rate of resonant soaring which prevents the effect sounding like a chorus.
Rate: 22, Depth: 22, Resonance: 6. Superjet. High resonance gives this effect a very strong soaring quality, which runs on a fairly slow sweep.
Rate: 48, Depth: 53, Resonance: 2. A fast sweep with plenty of depth and a low Resonance setting gives a powerful swirling effect which works well if you kick it in to accentuate a short passage on keyboards or guitar.
Rate: 96, Depth: 13, Resonance: 1. This sound would probably have been described in the 1970s as a futuristic vibrato. It has a very synthy quality, but in other respects mimics the fast, cyclic warbling of a vibrato unit. Increase the Depth to make the effect more wild and synthy. Decrease it to make the effect more typical of a standard vibrato.
Rate: 7, Depth: 10, Resonance: 5. Slow jet. A sweep speed close to the minimum, coupled with minimum Depth and fairly high Resonance produces a subtle jet sweep with no perceptible pitch modulation. This can work well on high frequency percussion, such as high hats and cymbals, over relatively short passages.
DOWNLOAD, INSTALLATION AND USE
To download, click the download link at the bottom of the page. You'll get a .dll file of around 2.1 megabytes.
Place the .dll file in your VST Plugins folder, and when you start your VST host it should detect the new software. If you normally have to add your VST instruments and effects manually, you’ll need to use the same process here.
Please be aware that the Stomp King effects are home-made products, released as freeware, with no guarantees of any kind. Every effort is made to ensure that the effects work well and enhance your recordings. However, they cannot be tested on a wide range of systems, and therefore there exists the potential for problems. In downloading, you agree to absolve Planet Botch of all responsibility should a problem of any kind arise as a result of you downloading, installing and/or using the .dll file.
Once the effect is installed, simply switch on the SK-8 by clicking its On/Off stomp component, then use the three parameter knobs to adjust the effect to taste. The SK-8 has digital readouts under its parameter knobs, allowing you to note your settings (and perhaps pass them on) when you dial in a combination you really like.
DOWNLOAD NOTICE
The software is no longer available from this, its original release venue. It was hotlinked here both via Google Sites hosting and via GitHub.
Google - "the cHaMpIoN oF aNtI-cEnSoRsHiP" - decided to censor everyone's files on Google Sites by deleting every last one of them. Except... when Google itself deletes shit, it's no longer called "censorship" - it's called "sunsetting". How cute.
Then Microsoft informed me it would lock me out of GitHub if I didn't cave to its bullshit "2FA" surveillance racket. So the GitHub has gone too. These were not the first hosting options I used for VST instruments on this blog, and there's a point beyond which one has to draw the line on repeatedly re-uploading and re-linking totally free contributions, on an unmonetised site.
