My newest addition to the family

check this out: it's a hardware, analogue tape simulator
"The Stereo Tape Simulator is an analog processor that recreates the sonic imprint of vintage tape recorders. The effect provides the roundness, the punch, the compression and the saturation of magnetic tape."
http://www.soundskulptor.com/uk/sts.html


no idea what is go on here. but the samples sound pretty good.

Stepping it up a notch or two.

http://www.anamodaudio.com/ats1.html

Stepping it up even further...



They are supposed to give some sweet results, but i've read in numerous places that if you want the real deal, a real tape machine is what you want.

- ATR Magnetics makes great new tape. 50 bucks a reel for 2500'/30 mins at 15ips. You can reuse plenty of times, doesn't leave a ton of resdidue on your heads.
[Edit] I take back the ATR Magnetics comment, you might not be able to bias the machine to match the tape. http://audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=48377 Tube pres FTW.

- You can rig up a compander of your very own in your DAW instead of buying a DBX unit. In logic you can use Multipressor using the downward expansion part, and especially the Expander plug in. Dials the hiss right out on anything that doesn't have high frequency sustaining sounds (cymbals, for ex.).

tapedeck wrote:nice snag!
let me be the first to tell you some very important things to keep in mind:
1) if at all possible, use only new tape - or 'new' old tape.

if you use old, dirty tape, it will leave a residue on every part of the machine it touches, which will then transfer to every tape you have, and will eventually kill your machines.

2) if you do use old tape (it's ok), CLEAN the heads and the capstans and the rubber, every part that the tape touches, very often!

again, this is very serious. my friends have called it 'tape aids', cause your machine will get it from nasty tape, and spread it to every other tape it touches, which then spread it to more machines, etc etc.

finally just an opinion, i would think the newer digital stuff would sound best through it since the older stuff (60 etc) already have some nice sound coloring going on. but just experiment.

atestarr wrote:You can rig up a compander of your very own in your DAW instead of buying a DBX unit. In logic you can use Multipressor using the downward expansion part, and especially the Expander plug in. Dials the hiss right out on anything that doesn't have high frequency sustaining sounds (cymbals, for ex.).

i figure you can simulate this in software - do you know of or have a project template?

and isn't dbx reduction different or is that dolby?

ryssen wrote:Stepping it up a notch or two.

http://www.anamodaudio.com/ats1.html

This is the closest you'll get to sounding like real tape. Many shootouts have been done with hardware emus and countless software-and the ATS-1 kills em all.

Fess wrote:This is the closest you'll get to sounding like real tape. Many shootouts have been done with hardware emus and countless software-and the ATS-1 kills em all.

The only setback with it seems to be the sudden disappearance of all your money.

ryssen wrote:

Fess wrote:This is the closest you'll get to sounding like real tape. Many shootouts have been done with hardware emus and countless software-and the ATS-1 kills em all.

The only setback with it seems to be the sudden disappearance of all your money.

If you wanna hang with the big boys, it's par for the course man.

Here's the wikipedia page for DBX type noise reduction (Compander=compression/expansion)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dbx_(noise_reduction)

Here's the link to the logic expander:

http://manuals.info.apple.com/en/Logic_ ... ffects.pdf

What has been working for me is I start off by dropping the Threshold slider all the way down, and the Ratio slider all the way to the left. Then I raise the threshold to just under where I hear some hiss in the quiet parts, and nudge the Ratio to the right to taste. I like the attack and release settings pretty fast.

FWIW, dbx ii is for consumer gear running up to 15ips, and type i is for pro 15ips and up. Type ii anecdotally is more forgiving. I'm not sure how the different dolbys work vs dbx, but I've read that your machine alignment really needs to be perfect to get the most from it. And who is perfect?

I would love an Anamod, but I can afford a used reel to reel. So I went with that.

tapedeck wrote:

atestarr wrote:You can rig up a compander of your very own in your DAW instead of buying a DBX unit. In logic you can use Multipressor using the downward expansion part, and especially the Expander plug in. Dials the hiss right out on anything that doesn't have high frequency sustaining sounds (cymbals, for ex.).

i figure you can simulate this in software - do you know of or have a project template?

and isn't dbx reduction different or is that dolby?

Cool thread, Ark...I've been tossing around the idea of getting a tape recorder for awhile now but just haven't jumped on one...keep us posted on the results when you start tracking to it.

If any one wants to hear what a good'ish cassette deck is capable of here are some examples:

WAV file
http://wtrns.fr/EjmQ4aOf1vyebGw

1. Chrome Tape No NR > The Fatback Band (CD)
2. Metal Tape No NR > Nina Simone (Vinyl)
3. Ferric Tape Dolby C > John Lee Hooker (CD)
4. Ferric Tape Dolby C > Janet Jackson (CD)
5. Ferric Tape Dolby C > Mario Fabriani (WAV)
6. Chrome Tape No NR > John Martin (CD)
7. Chrome Tape No NR > John Martin (CD)
8. Chrome Tape No NR > John Martin (CD)

terry towelling wrote:check this out: it's a hardware, analogue tape simulator
"The Stereo Tape Simulator is an analog processor that recreates the sonic imprint of vintage tape recorders. The effect provides the roundness, the punch, the compression and the saturation of magnetic tape."
http://www.soundskulptor.com/uk/sts.html


no idea what is go on here. but the samples sound pretty good.

After clicking around a bit and doing a little bit of reading, this thing is pretty interesting. They also offer them in kits for you DIY folks out there.

b.read wrote:hey also offer them in kits for you DIY folks out there.

suddenly interested - thanks for letting us know.

.... (1 min later)

Price: 375.00 € (448.50 € Inc. VAT)

...and they're ONLY kits, btw.

Had I been more familiar with the company, it would have been a no-brainer...they actually offer all their gear assembled, or in kits- of differing degrees of difficulty. Full kit, with everything, and mini kits, which let you "roll your own" so to speak...pretty neat shtuff if you ask me.

Nice purchase. Same with the tape deck mentioned above. Nothing like tape saturation. I recently found some old cassette tapes of demos. I put them into Logic and added a bit of compression & just couldn't believe how good the sound was.