KVR Audio

Aryaroman · Post by **Aryaroman** » Wed Jun 29, 2016 9:44 pm

krabbencutter wrote:If you're interested in Waves definitely try the demo first. Kramer Tape was a bit on the high CPU side in my experience.

Waves is not an option, heard too many bad things about them. Besides, judging from the marketplace, everyone's busy getting rid of their plugins.

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll have a look at Toneboosters ReelBus and the Snapin.

MogwaiBoy · Post by **MogwaiBoy** » Wed Jun 29, 2016 9:54 pm

Are you specifically looking for subtle tape colouring or a full on dirty-upper? The free Saturation Knob is good for gentle harmonic excitement to blown speaker sounds.

klinik · Post by **klinik** » Thu Jun 30, 2016 4:43 am

Reelbus!!!

Elektronisch · Post by **Elektronisch** » Thu Jun 30, 2016 5:08 am

No alternative. Satin has sound of his own. Also i had SDRR and the sound is different.

BDeep · Post by **BDeep** » Thu Jun 30, 2016 11:41 am

Hardly a surprise given that SSDR isn't a tape sim

It's definitely good, and can work in some overlapping applications, but it's different.

electro · Post by **electro** » Thu Jun 30, 2016 2:35 pm

Satin is a deeply emulated analog tape machine sim, not just a distortion box. I don't think there is any alternative on the same level.

soulone82 · Post by **soulone82** » Thu Jun 30, 2016 2:38 pm

electro wrote:Satin is a deeply emulated analog tape machine sim

And so is ReelBus. Don´t let the price tag fool you...

ObsoleteAcc99 · Post by **ObsoleteAcc99** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 2:42 am

soulone82 wrote:
electro wrote:Satin is a deeply emulated analog tape machine sim
And so is ReelBus. Don´t let the price tag fool you...

surely you can't seriously be comparing the sound of reelbus to satin? No offence intended, but satin sounds far superior as far as a tape emu is concerned.

Aryaroman · Post by **Aryaroman** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 3:21 am

MogwaiBoy wrote:Are you specifically looking for subtle tape colouring or a full on dirty-upper? The free Saturation Knob is good for gentle harmonic excitement to blown speaker sounds.

Subtle colouring without backround hiss/noise. Something to age and colour the sound in the master bus, preferably CPU-lightweight. Could be a bit over-the-top even, with rate-adjustable pitch modulation.
I have IVGI and Izotope's Vinyl, but either are not very intuitive.

amaze2n · Post by **amaze2n** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 4:03 am

Aryaroman wrote: Subtle colouring without backround hiss/noise. Something to age and colour the sound in the master bus, preferably CPU-lightweight. Could be a bit over-the-top even, with rate-adjustable pitch modulation.
I have IVGI and Izotope's Vinyl, but either are not very intuitive.

Here's a few ideas:

Urs Saturation is very CPU friendly. It has 2 tape settings, one at 15ips the other at 30, as well as various other saturation styles. I prefer Satin or VTM over it but it's worth a try, maybe you'll like it.

Antress Analoguer, included in their free (!) Modern Plugins bundle, is apparently a tape sim. It's only for 32-bit Windows though, IIRC. So unless you have jbridge/bitbridge you wont be able to use it on an x64 machine.

If you're on Mac, AirWindows has a sim called ToTape 4. I've heard very good things about this company, but alas, I'm a Windows user. Wish they ported their plugins.

Nomad Factory Magnetic is a tape sim, never tried it though.

Slate VTM is a really great sounding, slick plugin. It doesn't use that much CPU on my machine either. So if you have problems with that, I suggest the best investment you can make is to update your computer specs.

Good luck

JerGoertz · Post by **JerGoertz** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 4:06 am

TheoM wrote:
soulone82 wrote:
electro wrote:Satin is a deeply emulated analog tape machine sim
And so is ReelBus. Don´t let the price tag fool you...

surely you can't seriously be comparing the sound of reelbus to satin? No offence intended, but satin sounds far superior as far as a tape emu is concerned.

They did a mini shoot-out on Gearslutz a while back. Reelbus held its own quite well against Satin et. al.

Check it out: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/gear-sh ... elbus.html

Aryaroman · Post by **Aryaroman** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 4:10 am

amaze2n wrote:
Aryaroman wrote: Subtle colouring without backround hiss/noise. Something to age and colour the sound in the master bus, preferably CPU-lightweight. Could be a bit over-the-top even, with rate-adjustable pitch modulation.
I have IVGI and Izotope's Vinyl, but either are not very intuitive.
Here's a few ideas:

Urs Saturation is very CPU friendly. It has 2 tape settings, one at 15ips the other at 30, as well as various other saturation styles. I prefer Satin or VTM over it but it's worth a try, maybe you'll like it.

Antress Analoguer, included in their free (!) Modern Plugins bundle, is apparently a tape sim. It's only for 32-bit Windows though, IIRC. So unless you have jbridge/bitbridge you wont be able to use it on an x64 machine.

Nomad Factory Magnetic is a tape sim, never tried it though.

Slate VTM is a really great sounding, slick plugin. It doesn't use that much CPU on my machine either. So if you have problems with that, I suggest the best investment you can make is to update your computer specs.

Good luck

Yes, should just update. Should just get Satin. But budget is too tight.

But thanks, I'll take that in consideration.

amaze2n · Post by **amaze2n** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 4:20 am

Aryaroman wrote:Yes, should just update. Should just get Satin. But budget is too tight. But thanks, I'll take that in consideration.

I've been reading up on tape sims now and there are surprisingly few actually. In case you haven't noticed, I edited in a bit about AirWindows' ToTape4 sim, which is Mac-only. I don't know what OS you're using tho.

DJbrimLo · Post by **DJbrimLo** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 4:24 am

I have a few preferences for "Tape style" saturation. Some more expensive than others. I will hit the Devs I use most and what I like.

Universal Audio: I'm a fan of UAD's Oxide. It is a lot cheaper than their Studer or Ampex Emulations. One of the things I like is that as soon as you pop it on instance difference. Oxide has very few options to calibrate, which I prefer. Because I never actually worked on a tape machine I not super familiar with all the options to tweak. It is an investment to be on the UAD platform, but well worth it to me. I usually purchase my plugs in June and December. Their regular sales.

Softube: there Saturation plug is free and not to long ago they made the VST version. I do not recall if it was AU also. It is a great option to be a free saturation plug. Not advertised as a tape plug but it is great. I like it because it is simple. A knob to turn and a selector are the only options as I recall. Can't be simplicity. My opinion.

Waves: I'm a fan of Kramer Tape. J37 is cool, but I still haven't figured out all of the quirks behind it really. One of the things I figured out with Some of the emulations from Waves is proper gain staging. I haven't found it in any documentation on a Waves site, but hitting their plugs hard isn't always a pleasing sound. Saphira from Waves new "cobalt" line of plugs is a nice tool. I grabbed it during a sale. Because it has all of the different options I don't always know what I'm doing with it, but the presets are great.

Slate: VTM is another great Tape Emulation. It is subtle, especially @ 30 ips. I feel like if I had some years of experience with the actually hardware I would know what I was listening for when inserting a tape plug. But I don't, so therefore I just play it by ear and use saturation. I am very found of the "body" and low end hump I can get out of VTM when I use it on a drum buss. Lately, I just send everything to a 2-Buss but I still have some old session with individual busses feeding a 2-Buss.

DJbrimLo · Post by **DJbrimLo** » Fri Jul 01, 2016 4:26 am

I also meant to mention I often Print or Freeze Tracks with Tape saturation to help my CPU or UAD DSP chips.

Low-cost/CPU-friendly alternative to Satin