PHASE DISTORTION

>Phase Distortion was developed by Casio in the 1980s as a rival approach to Yamaha’s FM synthesis. It works by rapidly altering the phase of an oscillator – ie the position within the wave cycle. Put in ridiculously overly simplified terms, it’s a little like cutting and pasting elements of a simple waveform in order to shape a more complex one. Creating a new version by compressing or stretching elements of that existing waveform. Casio’s much loved CZ synths also added in a hard sync effect that allowed the oscillators to emulate the squelch of a resonant filter. Phase distortion ultimately lost the popularity war to FM, but you can still find CZ-inspired plugins such as VirtualCZ, Arturia CZ V or KiloHearts Phase Plant.