Which one do you prefer to use? & why?. I try them both to see which one sounds better for what kind of song you are making.

 

I've never used any tape sim that I didn't eventually decide was wrecking some aspect of my mix. I have tried Acustica Fire The Pump and it's pretty killer when applied gently to many things. So I tend to shy away from all that, but I guess my answer is harmonic saturation.

 

Last edited: Jan 29, 2024

if its with plugins, tube; it affects the overall frequency less. tape usually rolls off too much high end for some reason

on hardware its a lot more complicated. ive worked in a lot of high end studios and it usually seems like tube, is a lot harsher and tape is just unpredictable with harmonics overall; but they all work differently. just have to know which studios to go too if i want to use a specific machine for a specific sound. i usually like physical tape ones better, tube hardware distorts too easily, i forgot why; it was explained too me - but tape reels usually makes things brighter, its not the same

but yeah i havent found a plugin that sounds like the real things; but there are ones that are dope, like Saturn 2 with band frequency - wish some physical units had that

 

Full tape simulations have so much going on - several stages of roll off, dynamics, saturation, crosstalk, feedback, wow, flutter, dropouts, slew limiting etc. I like knowing what I do to my tracks. Tape emus are too much of a magic black box for me.

 

99% of the saturation in real tape machines comes from the pre-amp, which are generally transistor or tube based. I'm guessing that the transformers in the machine also add to that a lot. There is some slight saturation caused by the magnetization process of the tape itself AFAIU, but it's so slight that you would never notice it (and it's overpowered by the noise anyways). It does have a significant effect on frequency response of the signal though.

Tube based equipment tend to give you stronger even harmonics than transistor based tape machines, but it also depends a lot on the design of the circuit. Some cheapo tube gear (e.g starved plate) can sound very sterile and boring, while some well designed transistor based gear can sound very "tube"-like.

If you are talking about plugins, then saturation is saturation. The difference is how much control you have over the mix of odd and even harmonics, how many distortion stages (some only produce 2nd and 3rd order harmonics while others produce up to 6th or 7th order harmonics), and if the saturation is frequency dependent or not. Some also include compression or a compander, an overall EQ curve (IR based or otherwise), multi-band saturation etc.

My best suggestion is to use something like Fabfilter Saturn 2, which can emulate a bit of everything. They have some great factory presets that model everything from guitar amps and pedals, tape machines and famous compressors to stuff like old radios and PAs. It can also be good practice to use something very simple like TBProAudio GSatPlus which gives you individual control over the mic of even and odd harmonics, the saturation stages, and which is not frequency dependent. It will give you a good grasp on what it sounds like to add only even and odd harmonics without all of the other stuff that people usually associate with "tube" or "tape"-saturation.

 

Yes i still find SPL Twintube & PSP vintage warmer are good!! but although Saturn is the go to! [sounds abit too harsh]

 

You probably don't appreciate your track that much if you're contemplating applying such sound-deteriorating changes to it.

 

That's one thing Acustica seems to have really figured out is hardware saturation. The preamps do seem to have the mystic and elusive "analog" sound. As to solid state vs tube... well, tube generally, although something FET based can be nice. Whatever works, really. What good saturation I've heard usually translates to my ear as more of a gentle eq tweak. I don't want anything my ear perceives as distortion unless it's an effect.

 

Nothing wrong with a bit of saturation! It's been happening for years!

 

still waiting for a Tape EQ plugin T_T

 

A harmonics producing plugin which gives you an option to blend between odd and even harmonics slightly in favour of tubey even ones, and has oversampling, is a very good option when there's no quality hardware available. Saturn is one of the best for that.

 

I agree. Good presets on Saturn 2 that I use the most. Very rarely dial them up manually, presets are good enough. Most of the time, just 10-20% and adjust the "DRIVE" slider on the modulation section to taste.

TAPE - 456 Demo MdB, Phat Tape and Comp bM
TUBE - The Tube bM, Warm Tube Base SM
TRANSFORMER - Magic bM
COMBI - Mythical 3D bM

 

some time tested plugins are still the best. For saturation, Soundtoys Decapitator. For tape, Waves Kramer Tape or U-He Satin. For all the hoopla about it, I was not impressed by Taupe in the slightest bit.

 

Sometimes little tube saturation is just the ticket for the kicks or the bass, not a fan of tapes in any form or use, not my cup of tea, especially in lo-fi sense.

 

I guess it depends on what plugin/hardware thing is doing the saturation, but i find tube saturation to be more "general purpose" than tape, and i like that. I rarely reach for tape plugins unless i really want the "tape sound", with exceptions of course.

 

I use tape plugins for three purposes: high end/slew limiting, crosstalk and bump. Most of times i'm not looking for 'tape color' or distortion from tapes. And i go for tubes only for vocals, bass and for low level input gain material. Don't ask me why, BC i don't really know, but i only like tubes at those things. Don't see any purpose on using tubes on a snare close mic, for example.

 

@Riddim Machine - No tubes, not even on God forsaken sterile disgusting piezo pickup live acoustic guitar tracks?

 

Why not both and some more? Some tape plugins are so subtle most of the time you'll only hear a difference in transients (depending on the tape type) or if you disable it across all instances. I don't do the whole noise, wow and flutter thing anymore if it's not meant to be there. My tape of choice is the Softube one, and sometimes I'll even add Kelvin for tubes AND transformers over that tape. I even keep the SSL console session-wide emulation from PreSonus on all the time in all channels. If it sounds good, it sounds good. Once I stopped thinking about music in subjective terms such as that analog esotericism, I stopped caring. Turns out the only people who care about tape and tubes are nerds like us here.

 

LOL There are some problems that no tubes, transformers, tapes and op-amps could solve

 

No preamp or saturation can help that, just eq (maybe) or IRs (maybe).