When you’re looking to bring movement, interest and spectacle to guitars, keyboards, percussion, synths and other musical parts, modulation effects – specifically, chorus, phasing and flanging – should be among your first ports of call. Here are six of the best plugins available today in that department.

ValhallaDSP UberMod

At its core, UberMod is a 32-tap delay with LFO modulation applied to each individual tap, but while it’s certainly capable of an infinite spectrum of wild echoes and reverbs, for our purposes here, the main draw is its ability to conjure incredibly rich and ear-catching chorus, flanger and ensemble effects.

The number of delay taps and modulation LFO waveforms are established by the selected chorus algorithm, of which there are nine to choose from – ‘2TapChorus’, ‘4TapEnsemble’, ‘SuperSix’, etc. From there, you have control over a wide range of parameters, including delay tap timing, panning and envelope shape, diffusion, overdrive, EQ, and the speed and depth of UberMod’s two LFOs – Slow and Vibrato (fast) – as well as global modulation depth, stereo width, base delay time and delay line feedback.

Decked out in Valhalla’s proprietary minimalist GUI styling, UberMod might look relatively unassuming and austere alongside the other entrants in our list, but make no mistake, this is a monster of modulated delay processing, serving up everything from lush chorusing and flanging to strange delay/reverb hybrids that you simply won’t find anywhere else.

Cableguys LiquidShaper

One of nine Shaper effects (plus the Compressor and Oscilloscope Tools) running in Cableguys’ recently released ShaperBox 3, LiquidShaper is a dual-mode phaser/flanger in which the centre peak/notch frequency and feedback amount are each modulated by their own fully editable LFO and/or deeply configurable envelope follower. Up to 16 all-pass filter Stages are on offer in Phaser mode; polarity is switchable between positive (peaks) and negative (notches); and stereo offset can be dialled in for widening effects. The LFOs can run in sync with the host DAW, or be triggered by MIDI or sidechained audio input, and as with all Shapers, drawing their waveforms is an absolute joy, the intuitive breakpoint-based workflow and versatile Pen tools making any imaginable shape possible. Oh, and the whole thing is multiband, too, so you get all of the above independently within each of three adjustable frequency bands!

A supremely creative phaser/flanger in its own right and an empowering addition to ShaperBox, LiquidShaper represents the state of the art in modulation effects.

Soundtoys PhaseMistress

For many producers, Soundtoys’ extraordinary plugin stands as the definitive phaser, thanks to its diverse array of modulation systems and beautiful ‘analogue’ sound. 69 Style presets define the virtual phasing circuit by setting up a variety of fundamental parameters behind the scenes, including the number of filter stages (up to 24, including odd numbers!), the number of resonant peaks and their relationship to the peak/notch frequencies, phasing polarity and more; and you can alter all of them in the Style Edit panel if required. Modulation of the all-pass filter peaks and resonances is applied via LFO, AR envelope follower, ADSR envelope follower with manual/MIDI trigger, S+H (cyclical or triggered) or the groovy Rhythm mode, in which custom LFO shapes are drawn and sequenced; and seven Analog Style options open up a broad gamut of colouration treatments.

The PhaseMistress interface is a little fiddlier than it needs to be in places, but that’s a minor niggle and doesn’t detract from a truly superb phaser plugin that delivers the goods all the way from vintage pedal emulation to spectacular rhythmic sound design.

D16 Group Syntorus 2

Released in 2020, ten years after the launch of the original Syntorus, the second generation of D16’s gorgeous virtual analogue chorus effect improved on what was already a winning formula in various ways, most notably upping the number of bucket brigade delay lines and LFOs from two to three each, and inserting a multimode filter into each delay line. The LFOs house six waveforms (including S+H) and all the usual timing parameters, plus separate left and right Phase controls and a bipolar Amplitude knob, and can be assigned to modulate the delay lines in any of three routings: Independent, Summed and Mixed. This modulation can also be pointed at the filter cutoff and volume level (Tremolo), thereby opening up further signal-shaping possibilities; and the mixer section makes it easy to balance and pan the delay lines prior to the final output.

With its three powerful delay lines and flexible LFOs, Syntorus 2 presents plenty of scope for ‘classic’ synth- and pedal-style chorusing; but with filter and volume modulation also in play, all kinds of funky sequencer-style processing and general sonic weirdness is on the cards, too. And the staggeringly authentic analogue quality of the sound will come as no surprise to anyone who’s ever heard a D16 plugin before.

Togu Audio Line TAL-Chorus LX and Blue Cat Audio Blue Cat’s Flanger

Finally, if you fancy saving your cash and/or don’t actually need the considerable bells and whistles of the four modulation powerhouses above, you might find that Togu Audio Line and Blue Cat Audio’s excellent free plugins are enough to scratch those chorusing and flanging itches.

TAL-Chorus-LX sees the chorus section from Togu’s TAL-U-NO-LX Juno-60 emulation broken out into a dedicated plugin effect. Select one of two ‘intensity’ modes (or activate both at once for maximum depth), dial in the Stereo Width and bask in those warm Roland-esque vibes. Simple but highly effective.

Blue Cat’s Flanger, meanwhile, is rather more involved, with up to 10ms of base delay time on tap, a choice of sine and triangle LFO waveforms with which to modulate the delay, at up to 20Hz, and controls for Feedback, Feed Forward and stereo Spread. It sounds awesome and could easily be all the flanger you ever need. Go get ’em!

What are your favourite options when it comes to chorusing, flanging and phasing? Let us know in the comments.