they had T-racks on sale earlier this year. Almost bought it, but i found IK stuff to be too CPU heavy for me.

 

what is decapitator doing in the poll?

 

this one is definitely a "you forgot....." so thanks for adding that you ran out of space. I think Satin is the best or right up there. But I really like Waves Kramer Tape, Baby TAIP, Fabfilter Saturn 2, Logic Tape Delay, and a few others. I'm not as demanding about the details of it as many users, because I know they never replace tape so far. I don't use them in hopes they are fooling anyone, so I dial them back to where I could probably use any of them and get the same amount of tape effect.

 

Well, I don't care for tape modelling as such, no yearning from me to go back to tape, but for various kinds of dirtying I like

ChowDSP - Chow Tape Model - https://chowdsp.com/products.html
BPB - Dirty VHS - https://bedroomproducersblog.com/free-vst-plugins/bpb-dirty-vhs/
James Peck - VHS Audio Degradation Suite - https://www.native-instruments.com/en/reaktor-community/reaktor-user-library/entry/show/11003/
NI - Kolor -https://www.native-instruments.com/en/pricing/guitar-rig-standalone-effects/

First three free, but worth it. Third requires Reaktor. Last one is cheap or part of Guitar Rig.

So for me, authenticity matters not one iota as should be obvious

 

I'd love to listen to a comparison and AB test made with all these tape plugins, along with real tape machines. This is a rather complex subject to measure, I'd say most of the opinions here are a mix of personal taste and bias, it's hard to be objective about it without any sort of data, I personally like Satin and the ones from IK Multimedia, mostly because I'm familiar with them.

 

Softube Tape on every track. Softube Tape on every bus. Softube Tape on everyone.

 

wrong poll

you cant put Waves's tape emulators or UAD's like being ONE THING, same for other developers. J37 is VERY VERY different than the Kramer master tape and the 3 UAD models are very very VERY V E R Y lol different animals

would be more useful is everyone lists his own favourite and HOW uses it, but it's impossible to end up something absolute

I read that IK multimedia are very good but very cpu demanding, and I agree (even if I can use em flawlessly on my system I feel they are heavy)

I use the 3 UAD in a very different way: ATR on masterbus, Studer 800 on single tracks, Oxide a lot on pads

I use J37 as slap delay or on SENDs return of delays to give color and tape wow. It's also cool for lofi coloring single tracks

Kramer master tape is cool on drums but when you really drive it, so when you want some kind of vintage, distorted flavour

I like AA Taupe for a lofi flavour

Slate is very very subtle but so effective on busses

Softutape is also cool but very very often its phasey so hard to use in parallel or busses

magneto also is cool on single tracks

but I can only say one "absolute thing", on my stereo buss I would only put UAD ATR, nothing else (and very very rarely for certain genres)

 

XLN Audio
Baby Audio

 

Ik, UAD, Softube or Satin by U-he are all good products but don't underestimate Reelbus v3 and v4 (different GUI and algorithm) by Toneboosters: great plugin! I don't use it very much these days, I used it a LOT in the past but when I do it I get results very fast and with very little CPU consumption (IK on the contrary is a CPU hog, great sound though)

 

ChowDSP
Chow Tape Model

 

ugh, i always forget about satin. Satin is extremely well done. can be very deep too. Chow tape is also a great one. good for more effecty type stuff

 

I use Slate Virtual Tape Machines with Stevie Dude's presets a lot. (available on the sister site. Just search for the plugin and scroll through the comments.) Also UAD Studer A800.

 

Not a plugin, but AnaMod ATS-1.

 

IK Multimedia 80 for me. Had a phase of testing and trying every tape plug-in under the sun, did the same with console emulations too.

Went down the rabbit hole of wanting to run all my tracks through the console emulations and then set my DAW up like a tape machine with the routing set up to emulation different "generations" of bounces. Found that there comes a point of diminishing returns and you up end fixating more on that than actually just doing a good mix. I don't recommend doing this.

I get way better results mixing through analogue emulations (the usual suspects like Lindell 80 and Arturia 1176/STA-LEVEL) and then placing the IK on the master bus and hitting it hard enough to hear it get grimey, then back it off a bit to taste. It's CPU intensive for sure, but if you're just using it on the master bus it's not that big of a deal. Even my old(ish) PC can handle it. Gives me that tape sound I want.

If I couldn't use the IK 80, I'd go for the UAD offerings. Then probably Softube Tape.

 

Satin is good as its own thing, but it doesn't sound or behave like any tape machine i've ever used. granted. my first hand experience with tape decks is mostly of the "prosumer"variety like Tascam and Otari R2R's, and some higher end cassette decks and portastudios, but i have heard Studer and Telefunken during mastering sessions with tape transfers going to vinyl. i haven't as of yet heard a single plugin i could say 100% nails the sound of tape for both R2R or cassettes especially at the extreme end of the sound.this isn't a deal breaker for me personally, as i am not as enamoured with the sound of tape like some people are. just giving my 2p's worth

 

If you're looking for a range of options to try out you could get the IK Multimedia T-Racks MAX v2 Bundle for $41.99 at JRR Shop with the Coupon GROUP

It includes all their tapes:

• TASCAM 388
• TASCAM PORTA ONE
• TEAC A-3340S
• TEAC A-6100 MKII
• Tape Machine 24
• Tape Machine 80
• Tape Machine 99
• Tape Machine 440

Plus all the other plug-ins it has that aren't tapes are a bonus!

Personally, the first tape plugin I owned is the Softube Tape and I always seem to toss it on my mix bus because it's so lightweight and adds some subtle warmth.

I've recently gotten my hands on U-He's Satin and UAD's native offerings (Studer A800 & Oxide) but have yet to give them a good run-through so I'm all ears if anyone has any love/hate for them

 

my bad ,indeed .

 

must be that framework used by ik plugs which need so much cpu .

 

Personally? I'd yank Audiothing's spot on the list and add Fuse Audio Labs. Also, some others on the list could get knocked as well as they're clearly sub-par with nothing unique to bring to the table. All in my in my less-than humble opinion, of course.

I prefer using tape/saturation to alleviate the need for taming compression, so I've tried nearly every tape plugin around. I've adopted or found uses for these, though the first three (four?) *easily get the most use (parenthetic is why some don't get as much use):

Fuse Audio Labs Flywheel for utilitarian tape, every-channel topper
Kiive Audio Tape Face for glue and general Buss duties
NEOLD Warble for heavy tape effect, without venturing into "FX" territory
Safari Pedals Rabbit Tape for tone, squash and cohesion (needs more legit parameters, less effects)
FerricTDS mkII not quite glue as much as goop with knock (arguably a compressor, even minus the limiter)
Voxengo CRTIV Tape Bus if you want the 1's and 0's of magnetic tape (heavier CPU usage)
Klevgrand DAW Cassette if you want that dusty-box-o'-tapes from-the-90s sound (very specific cassette tones, limited uses)
Baby Audio TAIP ... is TAIP (it hits the gym three times a week—no cardio, no leg days, all max—and calls everyone "bruh")

Also, as it's been mentioned—at some point I'm going to grab Satin cuz it's sexy as hell, even if its non-sale price is ugly.

 

would yank an unvoted entry and put fuse in but cant edit the poll cause of the % calculation i guess.