PSP Wobbler — A Mix Product of the Week

If you listen to the background vocals on the Pink Floyd song “Time” from the 1979 album Dark Side of the Moon, you’ll hear the impact of an effects device called the Frequency Translator. A frequency-shifter, it was designed by Abbey Road technical engineer Keith Adkins as an anti-feedback device. Alan Parsons, who engineered that classic Pink Floyd album, recognized the device’s creative potential and used it to produce “whooshy” and “phasey” effects.

Parsons recently collaborated with PSP to create the Wobbler plug-in, a modulation that emulates Frequency Translator and adds additional capabilities. According to PSP, the plug-in “uses frequency shifting to create non-harmonic phase differences that form a unique ‘wobble’ with elements of phasing, flanging, and even a rotating speaker feel.”

Note that frequency-shifting differs from pitch-shifting in one critical aspect. The frequencies are shifted equally in the former, whereas in the latter, they are shifted proportionally to preserve their harmonic relationships. Thus, frequency-shifting sounds less musical and more effect-like.

Two large knobs dominate the center of the Wobbler GUI: The right one controls Feedback in the frequency-shifting circuit. Higher settings accentuate the effect. The left-hand one has a display above it that shows one of three values based on the setting of the Mode switches, which sit in the lower row of controls.

Using those, you can set the Wobble effect to sync with the song’s tempo, the initial song tempo only (where it won’t follow subsequent tempo changes) or not at all. The red Pulse LED flashes in time with the frequency-shifting effect.

One of the additional effects the plug-in offers is saturation, which is controlled by the Dry and Age knobs, and can be applied independently of the frequency shifting. The Dry knob controls the amount of saturation, and the Age knob its frequency emphasis. The lower you set the Age knob, the smoother the sound, and the higher it’s set the sharper.

The Drift knob simulates thermal and voltage drift for the frequency-shifting. Glide affects how quickly Wobbler adjusts to a tempo change. Phase controls the phase of the modulation effect. It can be set from its default of 0 degrees to plus or minus 180 degrees.

The Spread knob controls yet another effect, stereo image widening, which the plug-in achieves by changing the phase spread between the left and right channels on stereo, dual mono or mono-to-stereo instances of Wobbler.

Because extreme widening can impact the mono compatibility of a stereo mix, PSP designed the label and numeric readout for the Spread knob to turn red when the phase spread is set high enough to subject the signal to phase cancellation when summed to mono.

You can set the frequencies affected by the Wobble effect by using the Lo and Hi Range knobs. Also included on the plug-in are a power switch for bypassing and an Output level knob. As typical with PSP plug-ins, Wobbler offers an extensive collection of categorized presets.

PSP is offering Wobbler for $49.99 until February 14. After that, the regular price of $99 kicks in. Find out more at the PSP website.