Select your favorite tape machine Type, and adjust the Amount knob to taste. Lastly, Type C is based on a British tape machine with a distinct vintage vibe. Type B is much more colorful-it's a transformer based machine which adds extra weight and cream to the low end. Type A is based on a classic Swiss high end reel-to-reel machine, known and loved for its precision and linearity. Tape includes three different tape machine types in one plug-in. With the Softube Tape plug-in, you can have all that and more. Why? Because even when used subtly, analog tape has a smoothing effect and adds cohesion and weight to a mix-it takes the recording from a collection of individual tracks into a song where everything is connected and works together.
REIVIEW SOFTUBE TAPE PROFESSIONAL
Product Description Even in this day and age, it's common practice for computer based professional studios to run their mixes through at least one generation of analog tape. Digital Adapters & Miscellaneous Cables.Also worth mentioning is that Presonus’ Studio One DAW can load Tape as a Mix FX plugin (called Tape Multitrack), with the Crosstalk control (see boxout) bleeding discrete tracks into each other rather than just left and right channels.Ī dazzlingly authentic tape emulation plugin that you’ll want to build into your template DAW project for use on just about everything (particularly if that DAW happens to be Studio One), Tape is unmissable. On the master bus at 30 or 15ips, it warms the mix and glues its component tracks together beautifully, with each Type yielding very different results while on individual instruments and vocals, it’s ideal for subtle saturation or creative effects, thanks to the slow speeds and wet/dry flanging.
Satin might have the advantage in terms of power and configurability (not to mention its deployment as a delay effect), but Tape just sounds incredible - as close to the real deal as we’ve ever heard. Having worked the aforementioned Satin deeply into our retro production workflow some time ago, Tape had its work cut out impressing us, but we fell in love with it pretty much instantly. The VU meters respond smoothly and accurately to changes in Amount and Input gain, showing you exactly how hot you’re running your virtual tape, and can be flipped to THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) mode to visualise the weight of saturation being brought to bear. As the speed decreases, the top end response rolls off, the distortion increases and the signal progressively deteriorates, from bright and smooth at 30ips to dark, lo-fi and fabulously crunchy at 17⁄8ips. The Tape Speed knob steps between five settings, starting at the studio standard 30 inches per second, halving down through 15ips and 71⁄2ips, then dropping all the way to 33⁄4ips and the snail-like 17⁄8ips. High Frequency Trim boosts or attenuates treble response, rather like a shelving filter while Crosstalk bleeds the left and right channels into each other, profoundly boosting central punch and weight at high settings.įinally, activating Noise adds in emulated tape noise that increases in loudness and low- end emphasis as the Tape Speed is reduced, but is effectively imperceptible at high speeds and the Run and Stop buttons trigger very cool tape start and stop effects, the lengths of which are, annoyingly, entirely dependent on the Tape Speed setting. Speed Stability simulates wow and flutter, dialling in wholly convincing pitch and volume wobbling, and opening Tape up to flanging and chorus effects when used in conjunction with the Dry/Wet mix knob above. Clicking the Remote Control bar down Tape’s right hand edge slides open a panel containing an additional set of parameters.