Tape Emulator Plug-Ins...Suggestions??

[themachinesneverdie]

I'm looking for a plug-in that does a good job at emulating various tapes/tape machines. Anything from a subtle warming up of the overall mix, to making the mix sound like it was recorded on a crummy tape machine 40 years ago. I've read about Crane Song's Phoenix and McDSP's Analog Channel. Both sound good in words, but I've never had the chance to try either of them out for real. Any of you tried, and liked or disliked any of them? Any other suggestions? Thanks a lot.

[Jim Roberts]

I'm looking for a plug-in that does a good job at emulating various tapes/tape machines. Anything from a subtle warming up of the overall mix, to making the mix sound like it was recorded on a crummy tape machine 40 years ago. I've read about Crane Song's Phoenix and McDSP's Analog Channel. Both sound good in words, but I've never had the chance to try either of them out for real. Any of you tried, and liked or disliked any of them? Any other suggestions? Thanks a lot.

I use McDSP Analog Channel every day. Great plug in! I believe you can download a demo to try it for yourself. Also recently got the Massey Tape Head plug. Another excellent plug in and a free demo so you can check it out for yourself.

Jim

[minister]

CRANESONG PHOENIX

[jeremyroberts]

phoenix

[cmaynes]

I love both AC and Massey's Tapehead-

Phoenix is well loved as has been stated-
cm

[uno1234]

Massey Tapehead! Nothing like it. Phoenix is nice too.

[themachinesneverdie]

cool, thanks everyone. i've downloaded trial versions for analog channel, phoenix, and tapehead. so far it seems like a toss up between any 3 of those based on your answers. i've read reviews about phoenix being pretty subtle, which is great, but like i said i also want to do use the effect pretty heavily sometimes. do any of those do anything that make it sound like it was recorded/being played back on an old tape machine that doesn't play at a constant speed, distorts, fuzzes, etc? i guess i'll find out soon enough once i get those demos. cheers.

[Stig Eliassen]

Analog Channel emulates analog input channels and various tape machines. You also have DUY Tape as an alternative, but I haven't tried it. I like DUY Valve, though.

Every plugin has its own sound, so happy demoing.

[K.I.]

I Like massey Tape head ,McDsp AC2.

[Jim Roberts]

cool, thanks everyone. i've downloaded trial versions for analog channel, phoenix, and tapehead. so far it seems like a toss up between any 3 of those based on your answers. i've read reviews about phoenix being pretty subtle, which is great, but like i said i also want to do use the effect pretty heavily sometimes. do any of those do anything that make it sound like it was recorded/being played back on an old tape machine that doesn't play at a constant speed, distorts, fuzzes, etc? i guess i'll find out soon enough once i get those demos. cheers.

None of the tape emulators mentioned do what you're looking for completely. You would likely need to combine a couple of effects to get the sound you desire. AC2 allows you to select tape machine type, tape speed, bias, etc. TapeHead has a simpler interface and gets you musical tape-like saturation very easily. You can push them both and get it to distort, but I'm not aware of any of them that simulate inconsistent tape speed.