The Eventide Instant Flanger Mk II is an emulation of the company’s original Eventide Clockworks Instant Flanger unit that I remember using in 1975. Before the 2U Eventide Instant Flanger came along, flanging by using two tape recorders worked great but it was in no way “instant”. In comparison to the earlier version Instant Flanger plug-in, the MK II plug-in adds some new creative features and functionalities not thought of in the 1970’s.
The Mk II plug-in has three depths of flanging: Shallow for subtle and pretty, Deep for intense, and Wide for very stereophonic treatments. I like the Manual control for my personal touch when implementing the “combing” effect in just the right way for the musical instruments or voices. I would always automate this control in Pro Tools using the Remote feature and my MIDI keyboard’s CC data. Something new is the Side Chain input for triggering the Envelope Follower—a definite sound designer’s tool!
The Oscillator mode is for a constantly sweeping effect and can be sync’d to the session tempo grid. I used the Shallow intensity to constantly change room ambience behind a pair acoustic guitars.
The Effect Modifier section has been streamlined to just two controls. Bounce simulates a tape recorder’s capstan coming to speed and Depth sets the intensity of the effect. The Feedback control with its Invert button has its own section in homage to the original 2U hardware unit!
Other changes are Input and Output level controls with a Limit LED, Low Cut filter for only the flanged signal and Retrig resets the LFO sweep.
Instant Flanger Mk II version 1.1.2 sells for $129, but it’s free to registered owners of Eventide’s Anthology X and Anthology XI software bundles. This new version is well worth getting for the authentic sound of tape flanging delivered instantly!
