PSP Wobbler—A Mix Real-World Review

New York, NY (May 27, 2025)—Software developer PSP Audioware has partnered with legendary producer, engineer and musician Alan Parsons to create PSP Wobbler, a unique modulation plug-in largely based on a hardware processor from Abbey Road Studios called the Frequency Translator, which was a frequency shifter. The unit was designed in the early 1970s by an engineer named Keith Adkins and was intended for feedback reduction.

During sessions for Pink Floyd’s classic album The Dark Side of the Moon, Parsons experimented with the device and discovered that it also had potential as a creative effect, and he ended up using it on vocal backing tracks on the album.

A frequency shifter works differently than a pitch shifter. Whereas the latter moves the entire signal up or down by a specific interval, a frequency shifter only shifts a specific frequency. Depending on how you set it, the results can sound similar to various modulation effects, including phaser, flanger and rotary speaker. It can also produce filter effects like sweeps and auto-wah.

But PSP Wobbler is more than just an emulation of the Frequency Translator. The Polish software company built in additional features, including Drive, an analog modeled effect, and Spread, which adjusts the stereo image width.

SHIFTY BEHAVIOR

The user interface features several parameters that impact the frequency shifting (aka “the Wobble effect”). The two most prominent are the Rate and Feedback knobs, each of which has a numeric display above it.

The Rate knob sets the frequency to be shifted and ranges from -25 Hz to +25 Hz. As with a delay, the Feedback parameter causes the signal to modulate itself, which adds more resonance and complexity. A Wobble knob functions as a wet/dry control governing the amount of frequency shifting in the signal.

The Wobble effect has three modes governing the speed of the effect: Rate follows the setting of the Rate knob; Note follows the song tempo and can be set to rhythmic divisions. Sync is similar to Rate, except it starts the modulation on the downbeat and, therefore, sounds more rhythmically precise.

Several other control knobs are available on the lower row. Drift lets you add frequency fluctuations. Glide impacts how quickly PSP Wobbler transitions when you manually adjust the Rate. Phase allows you to adjust the phase by plus or minus 180 degrees. The Lo and Hi Range controls set upper and lower frequency boundaries for the Wobble effect.

DRIVING AGE

PSP Wobbler’s Drive circuit adds pleasant, analog-like saturation. You can modify its amount with the Drive knob and change its character with the Age knob—higher Age settings are sharper and brighter.

The Wet and Full buttons let you choose whether to apply the Drive and Age to the entire signal or just the processed part. With the Full button on and the Wobble knob turned all the way down, you can even use PSP Wobbler as a standalone saturation processor.

In addition, you can adjust the width of the stereo image—plus or minus 180 degrees—using the Spread knob. Even with all that range, you don’t want to exceed 90 degrees in any direction or it might impact mono-compatibility. To alert you when your setting is too extreme, the label and numerical display of the Spread knob turn red.

Overall, the GUI is well-designed and intuitive. PSP has also included a whopping 121 factory presets, organized into categories, to help demonstrate PSP Wobbler’s sonic possibilities.

On sources like drums, percussion, vocals, guitars and synths— anything I tried it on—I found PSP Wobbler to be easy to use, excellent-sounding and creatively inspiring. Whether I was going for subtle modulation or more extreme effects, it provided a unique and versatile palette. The collaboration between PSP and Parsons was clearly fruitful. Let’s hope they create more plug-ins together in the future.