Taupe for me

Satin if you wanna go algo

 

@MMJ2017: I get your theory and the thinking behind, but I don't agree with the bottom of it. Just out of curiosity (i mean really no disrespect here): have you ever use a real tape machine and shoot the result against your "50 plugins atomic channelstrip"?

Most Tape plugins manufacturers have modelled all thoses "tiny parts" you show on the diagram (those are capacitors, OPamp, coils, transformers, etc), and more times than none manufacturers have modelled them in a way that exagerate their effect on the sound. Because a real quality tape is very subtle (almost inaudible at first), but a very subtle plugin wouldn't do great marketing wise....
So what you say is you take emulations that already exagerate the sound of all those elements, and then stack those emulations, no less than 50 of them (increasing with each one the preringing and aliasing, by the way).

Don't get me wrong, I find it great that you share your workflow and the theory behind it, just don't present it as a scientific proven way to emulate real tapes with plugins, because it's not.

As for tape emulation, best one for me is the SoundSkulptor Stereo Tape Simulator (I cheat a little because it's hardware, but it's an emulation and not a lot more expensive than a good plugin...). As for plugins themselves, I go with Softube Tape, airwindows ToTape & Fromtape, Massey TapeHead, and Satin. Depending on what I need, I always end with one of those.

 

Super good, also in larger amounts. I use it as a wonky vibrato for guitar or as an instant-BOC-machine for synths. Goodhertz' Wow Control is really cool for this.

 

good to kno thx a lot

 

All above mentions are excellent, but I didn't read anybody mentioning Toneboosters Ferox (and ReelBus) they are true gems, lovely sound and character especially Ferox and hugely underrated plugins for very small price.
I reckon if they would have Softube or UAD sticker on them, they would cost dozen times of a price

 

@Friggy mentioned ReelBus before. I def like ReelBus v4, my goto together with Satin & Vintage Warmer 2 actually.

 

Oh, sorry, my bad then, anyhow, tools definitely worth mentioning here. ReelBus is more complex than Ferox (it contains Ferox algo among others) so if you need to pick one, it's ReelBus, but I use Ferox ,more for it's simplicity and sounds great, too

 

As it hasn't been mentioned: Hornet's Tape is super useful on drums. It doesn't have as much "vibe" as Satin, but for softening transients and moving things a little further back it works very well.

 

I believe yes! But as you said, only in really, really tiny amounts, and that's because when you record in magnetic tape it has this little oscillations, but the these are really subtle and you can't really hear it, but it helps by introducing some variation and randomness, as tapes naturally do

Unfortunately I feel like most devs don't pay attention to thinks like W&F and noise, and just use simple algos (that don't really translates what a tape does) for the first and loops for the second (Waves )

But W&F ultimately it's probably just one of those things we musicians like to believe as affecting the sound in a positive way but in the end it's just placebo, unless you have a real tape machine

 

I don't like any of them having worked with tape, so glad to never ever have to use it again, none of them are accurate of real tape. I feel the manufactures have created this myth that tape is somehow magical. Ask anyone who ever worked with the stuff, friggin nightmare! So the secret to plugins is not thinking of any of them as the 'real world' counterparts but using them for what they do to the sound you need to create. Think this way and you'll no longer care about plugin simulations of 'real gear' or what manufacturer is best and instead use your ears not your eyes for mixing. Happy mixing everyone.

 

all those harmonic distortion shit makes me sick.

 

Satin is my favorite tape plugin. Vintage Tape Machine by CDSoundMaster is cool too.
Satin is the most versatile and powerful I know. (I’ve never tried the version of “UAD”).
J37 by Waves is cool too, but it's not my cup of tea.