But something is strange with the phaser!? ..Can't get it to blend very well, and the rate needs to be set very high to even kick in...but then it acts very strange
Yeah, I don't know if the Phaser unit is supposed to be more subtle or what. It certainly doesn't sound the same as the Wurli Phaser.
A lot depends on exactly what phaser Arturia modeled. Some real world phasers only have a speed control (MXR Phase 90 for one), some have a very limited depth and width controls (MXR Phase 100), and some have a full complement of controls for speed, depth, width, number of stages, etc.