phase

I want to know the same thing- it sounds good, but how often and when should we use it? I usually use it on the whole final mix, with a low setting- just enough to make the mix sound a little wider.

what about the phase part??? it kind of makes the sound appear out of the mix, but don't know if that's right to do or not

0.0002 cents:

I'm thinking you can apply phase alterations to help prevent/fix comb filtering when track cloning and adding delays. ("a comb filter adds a delayed version of a signal to itself, causing constructive and destructive interference" --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comb_filter)

--Comb filtering is a common evil. Your sweet transients are converted into distortion and pure noise. Ouch!

The problem with adding phase alterations is that there may still be levels of comb-filtering, though not as drastic. It may be a solution to help allow delays to thicken your cloned guitars and voxes. Chorus effects, widening, etc. require phase alterations, stereo recording mics that are not parallel, mics that are different brands, etc.

Your goal is to make your music ambient (rich with transients) and atmospheric. Applying phase alterations to 2 similar signals may help your goal. But its oft better to have separate sources of samples.