Dynaflanger - Dweezil and Frank Zappa?

dehnewblack

Member
Does anyone have a Dynaflanger preset?? The dynaflanger was special flanger that had a built in envelope capability that flanged according to how hard you hit the strings. It was used to get that crazy sound on Frank Zappa's "Shut up and Play yer Guitar" album. Also Dweezil Zappa made great use of this effect on his new album "Live In the Moment". I know Dweezil at one time used his Fractal rig to reproduce the effect, then more recently I spoke to him on the rockline radio show and he said he was using Frank's old dynaflangers currently to get the effect. Since i can't find any dynaflangers online I'm going to try to make the effect using my fractal, but it would be great if someone already had a preset for one!!!
 
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Fractal's Matt did write that Fractal were successful in replicating the Dynaflanger in the Axe-Fx.
The settings haven't been posted AFAIK.
 
I too would be very grateful to anyone who can take a stab at this sound...

These two pages discuss how the sound is produced:

I<3Fuzz &bull; View topic - Flanger for that 80's Zappa sound
Zappa Plays Zappa > ZPZ Blog


Relevant parts:

To get the sound Frank got on those records you need 2 Dyna Flangers and 2 Aphex Expressors. The Dyna Flangers have to be set a very specific way or they don't even sound close to the sources I mentioned. In stereo, one unit needs to be set for flange with maximum modulation, (which makes it sound out of tune - in a good way) and the other following the high frequency envelope, (almost like a phaser mixed with a formant filter), then they need to be squeezed with considerable compression from the Aphex units. Once you do that, you play with your wah pedal and it further tweezes the phase of the signal resulting in that unique sound we're all familiar with.

What kind of effects did you use on the guitar throughout the album?

I used a MicMix Dynaflanger and Aphix compressors. The signal is compressed after the flanging. And the flanger is set to follow the envelope of the high-frequency decay, rather than the amplitude envelope.

What kind of difference would that make?

It gives a totally different sound. It makes a more pillowy effect from that particular device?

Why would you compress the signal after the flanger?

Well, for one thing, you would compress it if you didn't want more flanger cycle. And flangers boost certain frequencies in the midrange that go hog-wild if you don't control them. So, we started off just to control those frequencies, and then by cranking that Aphex compressor to some ridiculous extent we got this other kluge sound.
 
Do you have a youtube link or audio clip of that exact sound you want to create? as a big Zappa fan I want to give it a try.
 
I think a good example would be "Drowning Witch" on Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch. It's that kind of pillow-y sound... it can be found here and there on his albums from the 1980s.

Thanks for giving it a shot!
 
it is a SUPER cool sound and when you hear Dweezil play it in stereo it's a real mind blower. Stereo hard panning is also key, you need two flangers, one panned each side I'm pretty sure, set up differently from each other. Entasis is on the right track. You can set up modifiers to control one with envelop, and another to control slight delay time.
 
Godlyke is working on developing a clone of the Dynaflanger at the moment, Dweezil is currently doing some of the beta testing of the prototype. Unfortunately they are still in the early stages of development, the product won't be released for quite some time. Also they are considering doing the dual-flange option so you won't have to buy two of them to recreate Frank's sound (depending on complexity and cost).
 
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I think a good example would be "Drowning Witch" on Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch. It's that kind of pillow-y sound... it can be found here and there on his albums from the 1980s.

Thanks for giving it a shot!

That is also the song I had in mind. I am also a big flanger fan. Really like this sound. When I have the time I will give it it try. Not sure if I will succeed and if it is possible on the Axe fx though.
 
Ok, here is a very quick try. The wah is bypassed but can also be used. Amp and drive settings can be adjusted to taste.
Hope someone chips in and improves this patch.
 

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  • Zappa Flange(2).syx
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I can't open this.

PS: Power specifically as it pertains to MOTION...
 
I understand the motion part, but I don't really hear what's moving... the depth, rate, phase? One is fixed and the other phases in and out of the other...

Furthermore, how do you get one of them to follow the high frequency envelope? Do you EQ one side and forget the bass and mid frequencies and have that control something in the flanger or is there some sort of side-chain way of doing that?

Thanks for your help Matt!
 
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