I love this plugin. I grew up with my dad owning an Akai reel to reel and there was always something very warm and cohesive about the sound of those tapes. Used in the mastering chain I found that cohesiveness again. A little warmth, a little compression, a little X factor that just makes everything sound more "together" and musical.
Thank you for the excellent review. I'm not sure anyone on here can speak with authority as to how well this models the Studer. I produced a lot of records in the 70s and am more familiar than most with the characteristics (and inherent limitations) of the real stuff. There were of course no alternatives at the time and Studer machines were state of the art for mixdown. Mastering was something else again in terms of limitations. It was next to impossible to get everything that was on the tape onto the lacquer. Direct to disk recording was a way of leapfrogging some of those limitations. There is a direct to disk Tower of Power recording that was definitely the best sounding album I had ever heard at that time. A huge difficulty in making any meaningful comparisons as to whether this plugin accurately models is that there was of course no digital back then--everything started and ended at analog. You obviously couldn't A/B the two formats like you're doing here. And everything relating to what you can achieve depends on the source material anyway. But to my ears, as long as you don't push the plugin to stupid extremes, this creates a nice, round analog sound that hits the tape hard, not to mention that the thing also gives you fantastic tape delay effects that would take ages to re-create on the real machines. I'm sold on this plugin.
Stop talking at the same time we are tryin to listen to the kickdrum warmth presets subtility and difference between the bypass mode and engaged and every time you click bypass you start talking LOL
Still never heard a digital saturation that comes close the magic of actual analogue sat/dist. They're all ok. But they never make you cream your pants.
Seriously, have you ever read the comments on any of your videos, or are just infinitely stubborn? You _never_ give the listener time to observe the outcome properly. It's like watching football with an annoying kid nearby, that places something in front of your face on every interesting event. And the vocal ducker is something a radio moderator uses. You use it to bring the voice into focus when the backround sound isn't important. It has absoultely no place in a video that tries to demonstrate sound. It could be useful if you had a terrible microphone with a dull and distorted sound, but that's not the case. You really seem to put some time into these videos, yet you totally destroy them.
Man, it was so much more fun doing all of this physically running tape around chair legs to get long loops and delays, saturating eq results only, cutups and true speed variations.But then again I am a dinosaur, and this plugin is for the masses, does not cost much (for what it does) and I am indeed extremely impressed. Just not as much fun. Thnx for the demo.
Thanks again for a great demo clip! One really cool way to compare settings is to use the A/B bar placing one preset on the A bar and another on the B bar gives you the opportunity to do a literal A/B test to determine the comparisons and contrasts between each setting.
I really like the J37. I have this, Kramer Tape and VTM. I would buy the J37 first, VTM second and Kramer last. Although I'm not a big fan of digital tape and tube saturation, the J37 has some musical qualities about it and it's a fine send fx mod/delay. Download the demo and put it through its paces. Like I said, great fx unit. Decent tape saturator (not as clean as VTM).
Some truth there, but as a home recordist, working in the box in different genres, I've really come to appreciate the value of getting to know and utilise Tape emulations & Saturation plug-ins to get get some body and dirt back into the mix at a price that is do-able. Recently picked up this plugin for £30 ($39) - it's a 'no-brainer'
Sorry about the ducking, I was trying it out in response to other complaints and it didn't sound as extreme on the original. If RUclips weren't so wanky at not allowing videos to be replaced then I would have fixed the thing and uploaded it again. Russ
Well tape in does that in it's nature... I got this plug-in and when listening to it on good monitor out of pro tools it did not muddy it. I did a review on this plug-in where you can actually download the video so youtube compression and all the other bad things youtube does to the audio doesn't mess it up.
the compression on this video is so extreme that it's difficult to tell what the plug in is doing vs what youtube's (or possibly the posters) compression is doing. sounds like FM radio compression. not a good comparison to these ears.
I always found it quite ironic really that people are hellbent on plugins that emulate very old recording gear, when a lot of the great music recorded on these things were trying to push things forward musically, not going back in time like people now seem to want to. Also, back in the day at Abbey Road, they weren't fawning over gear, it was simply a tool to get the job done. Like the RS124 compressor, they were old hat and thrown in a cupboard at Abbey Road once they started using newer gear and before Waves modelled them for a plugin. People get way too hung up on these kind of plugins, a lot is a placebo effect, there's nothing magical happening. Some are good plugins for tone shaping though, but tape they are not. You could recreate these plugins yourself with simple EQ and saturation plugins, if you know what you're doing.
I see what you're saying but the old style music is coming back. Artists like Leon Bridges and James Bay are bringing back that hissy tone and I've always loved that. I've always loved recording straight to tape also. So a plugin like this is a nice touch for any situation that the studio I'm at throws at me!
Francisco Salcido Old style music has never gone away. Don't get me wrong, most of my favourite music was made in the 60's but the reason it was great was because they were trying to be progressive. I do think it's something missing from most bands these days. There are other genre's of music trying new things but i think guitar bands are basically too tied to the past, i'd just love someone to come along and really shake things up.
+Lenny Henry Hmmm.... I'm thinking of buying this plugin, BUT, if you can lead me to a "simple EQ and saturation plugin" chain that can match this sound cheaper, then I am all ears my man...............if it's junk, why didn't Abbey Road throw the shit away? Not in "cupboards" but in the trash bin. Haul this crap out'a here.....you know - what were they thinking by using a Studer tape machine?
Piedscooter1 Well it's totally true that the things like the RS124 were just left in a store room Abbey Road once they got new gear. I never said it was junk, i just said they felt there was no use for it. Also, if you can't emulate this software with some simple saturation and the right EQ curves on almost any EQ, then you should probably learn a bit more about your craft. The delay on this is pretty good though but again, nothing you can't do with other plugins if you know what you're doing. This thing sounds NOTHING like a Studer.
If you replaced the graphics on this plugin with the graphics of a freebie plugin, all these people who are praising it now, would be criticizing the sound. It's placebo. Some people fall for pretty graphics and start hearing magical things. Other people don't fall for it and they know how to achieve the same sound with other, standard plugins.
My god I'm going through about 20 of these J37 review/demo videos and every single one of them either has poor voice/music level ratio, or distorted narration., or the narrator won't stop yapping over the audio demos so you don't even get a chance to hear the difference. HOW HARD IS IT TO GET THIS STUFF RIGHT! And EVERYONE complains about it in the comments. So frigging annoying.
Thanks for the review. I would kindly request that you don’t talk during the actual “switching” from Bypass to Engage. For me that’s the critical time, actually hearing the FX during the transition from operate to bypass. Secondly, you would you compare the J37 to the Waves Kramer Tape emulation?
Very good review, but please Russ, It will be better if you don't speak when you "A/B test" cause your voice decrease the test volume and we can't hear the difference between bypass and not bypassed.
It's really strange but I prefer the plugin-bypassed drums, its tighter more modern and the plugin degrades the drumsound, makes it 'dragging and dirty and beatles'. So I think if u want beatles go 4 it, but if you want a great drumsound, leave it alone. The recorded track sounded great as it was.
It does have tube saturation and the sound is definately more vintage/loose, I find the saturation a little fizzy especially the saturation control when demoing but it is cool, sounds interesting on guitars but maybe isn't a put on every track get a tape sound or for more smooth fx (I use Cubase's Magneto II for more smoother tapey sounds and lo-fi fx).
Nice 'show and tell' Russ, but I have to be honest and say this plug-in might be a fairly nice saturation and delay effect but it has nothing to do with the original J37. I was lucky enough to have a stereo master tape sent direct from Abbey Road in about 1983. I listened to it for months on end through many different systems, and it was punchy, dynamic, clean and clearly referenced to an operating level our Revox machines could barely handle! (+5dB, I think.) There were none of these soggy aberrations this plug-in produces. It's also worth remembering that the J37 was a stereo tape recorder, so whatever you get from that pull-down menu with names like 'ambient overheads' is beyond the original machine's functions.
Word of advice - play the dry sample first before showing us the wet. I have no idea what that kickdru, and snare are supposed to sound like - for all I know you're running a dry 808, because it sounds like something recorded on a 1940s radio.
Drums sounded way better without this tape plugin. Still don't understand why do most of engineers want to degrade sound quality with old technologies that everyone wanted to get rid of as soon as something more accurate was introduced. Just listen how drums lack punch and depth with j37 plugin on... Sounds like listening through distorted laptop speakers.
Tape echo is an anachronism which doesn't belong in 21st Century music. It's a marketing ploy by Waves to make you believe it is desirable. The same with desk emulations. Honestly, there are a handful of excellent freeware VSTs that give you the same quality and sound as this tape-echo plug-in. OK, if you have the moola and you want 'that particular retro sound', go for it, but otherwise I'd suggest: easy-supa-delay, DVS Space Echo, Delay Studio from Minimal System Instruments, Brigade Delay, Bionic Supa Delay, YSD-dELAY, WatKat, Shuttle-Echo, Elottronix etc. I've used them all for various projects. Free download at: www.vst4free.com
hi dear, do you know where can i download modelings of microphones , saturations of tapes, and pre and compression tubes plug ins? for full function? (could be cracked version, is for hobby, not comercial use) so thanks if u can help me, here in Brazil everything is much dificult and expensive, i would be very glad if u can clear me! i liked the Waves Abbey Road J37, very realistic, i bought all my hardware used was so dificult, and starting to study, but without some plug ins helpers, the sound is not so harmonic in digital recording (my equipaments>mxl 9000, behringer t1951, behringer composer pro and cl1 interface.
top players mix with basic stuff 80% of the time, you dont need all this fancy, expensive, compression and eq in one plugin looking like tape mashine...
This is nothing new. It doesn't affect the sound other than EQ, Compressor and Saturator in a regular effectchain. IMO we have enough of the SAME "analog style" approaches. It's time for waves to push the boundaries a little harder with new algorithms and technics like Steven Slate does with his latest plugins. "VCC" for example: THAT thing really adds the analog vibe to your tune just by activating it :D
Don't know I prefer Satin from U-He alot more then this... I mean this is quite easy and nice to setup.. well and it's not bad (if you don't overdo it like in this vid)... but don't know Satin gives me this special tape "ffppft" don't know how to describe that.. as you could hear the magnetism...which I miss in every other tape emulation yet... and has quite alot more options... which is maybe a bit fiddelier to dial in... but I like the end result more... also I am often the guy who likes having lot of options...(but I can understand the otherside too) so maybe this is the right thing.. if you want that especially that machine as a software... when it is emulated good (which I would think from waves) but if you don't need just THAT machine... I would take a look at Satin... it's funny that shortly after U-He released satin.. waves comes also with a tape machine in quite a similar way but quite shaped down in comparision (although tape machines are ofcourse nothing new in generel)
yes, otherwise it would be quite disapointing for a waves plugin... the thing is.. I am not on the search for just THAT tape machine...which is 100% accurately recreated... the nice thing with satin is that you build your self more or less the tape machine you want... it's much more open (in terms of setting it up) in every direction... and I like things that I can dial in exactly like I want... I am one of these the more knobs the better guys :D but I can understand very well people who prefer a simpler solution..or more limited solution... sometimes to have no limits is worse then to have limits... and I also do sometimes prefer the more simple things.. like a simple leveling compressor with an just in and out knob... but usually thats very rare in my case... but sometimes it fits... for example on vocals on a good singer... where I don't want to compress it strongly... just a decent nice smooth watch of the level plug or so... and smooth knob in knob out compressors are great for that... but like I said often I prefer the more complex tools... (not complex in terms of user unfriendly guis (where buttons are just all over the place without logical placement..user unfriendly guis is what I hate :D .. but complex in terms of functions and possibilities...)
NoNameLeft1500 I completely understand. Though I have never used physical hardware in terms of compressors, with the exception of effects processors, I have a friend who graduated from Colombia here in Chicago with a BA in sound design. He has some physical hardware, the essentials to record crystal clean vocals and a large array of mics. I am the one who uses VST's. I play my instruments so I always need the highest quality. Anyways, I was speaking with him over the phone the other day and I asked him how he likes the SSL and API's from waves. He said maybe he's a bit biased, but he misses turning the knobs on the API's and SSL's but he loves them. Being that I grew up with 80's metal, I knew exactly what I was expecting from a tape machine, without the experience of actually using one. I love the J37. I mostly use it with my piano tracks. Especially the more emotional sadder tracks and use an upright rather than the average studio grand that everyone always uses in their tracks. I mean, the studio grand only sounds right with certain songs and same goes for the upright. I do love VST's, but they don't always get it right 100%. THey have recently been getting pretty damn close.
I think Slate's tape saturation sounds WAAAAAYYYYY more "real"...to my ears...in my studio environment. Something doesn't sound entirely natural about Waves' tape. Lack of even order harmonics maybe, but much harsher to listen to than Slate's. It's hit or miss with Waves. Their Fairchild and Pultec emulations are horrific compared to UAD's and sound NOTHING like the hardware...but their SSL G channel is actually pretty decent.
Yes, sorry to carp, but the ducking when you speak is very irritating, because we are trying to focus on the sound, so when it seesaws up and down it is just confusing, then there is not enough time to hear it properly.
This is cool, and il download the shit out of it but.. I also bought two tape machines recently, one shitty portable one with max 3-3/4 ips and another on an island in Philippines with 7.5 ips. Only 2 heads on them though so can't do tape delay.. So there are some technical simplicity's to using the software.. I'm sure all three will sound dope together.
i don't like what he's done with the drums. they sound distorted. guitar is a little too much but bottom end, and especially bass guitar sounds amazing with this!
Most bass lines sound familiar when listened to out of context...if they are played right. It's only there to hold a groove and play the root on the change. Most songs in rock, blues, or pop are vary very little between a I-IV-V or II-IV-V progression. You play those three roots in time, congrats, you're now a bass player. People overthink bass. It's the simplest instrument to play but the most important next to drums.
i prefer the kick and snare without the effect then this would be perfect... with it on the drums seems like it loose its punch and intimacy and does not compete with the guitar and bass i would probably only put it on the overheads and room mics ....IMPO
+Noinclusions No ur talking about harmonics affecting the characteristics. I have the same type of studer this is modeled on and I think it does a fantastic job at emulation certain aspects. Id have to go to a whole lotta think trouble to et up my studer for tape dalay.
nublackmusic No, don't. It's fantastic. People with small home studios can now have reasonable simulations of world renowned hardware. I couldn't be more happy about it.
responsibleparty good for you. keep buying these fake 'simulations' as you call it. you should be going to a good studio and using that plugin money to market and promote your music.
nublackmusic What a stupid thing to say. Stop for a minute and think. What percent of people who play music and record themselves are doing it as a business with budgets for all the latest hardware devices and professional studios? Having these plugins doesn't affect in any way those people who want to use real hardware. Yet you seem to have a problem with the people that don't. Do you think you are king of everyone or something? Even though I've been playing all my life, it's just a hobby for me now. I just spent around $10k for my home studio and that's plenty for me. The idea that it makes sense for me to spend $100k+ to have racks and racks of all the latest cool hardware is just plain silly!
I love this plugin. I grew up with my dad owning an Akai reel to reel and there was always something very warm and cohesive about the sound of those tapes. Used in the mastering chain I found that cohesiveness again. A little warmth, a little compression, a little X factor that just makes everything sound more "together" and musical.
Good demo, but please don't change the music level when you are talking, it is very disturbing...
Thank you for the excellent review. I'm not sure anyone on here can speak with authority as to how well this models the Studer. I produced a lot of records in the 70s and am more familiar than most with the characteristics (and inherent limitations) of the real stuff. There were of course no alternatives at the time and Studer machines were state of the art for mixdown. Mastering was something else again in terms of limitations. It was next to impossible to get everything that was on the tape onto the lacquer. Direct to disk recording was a way of leapfrogging some of those limitations. There is a direct to disk Tower of Power recording that was definitely the best sounding album I had ever heard at that time.
A huge difficulty in making any meaningful comparisons as to whether this plugin accurately models is that there was of course no digital back then--everything started and ended at analog. You obviously couldn't A/B the two formats like you're doing here. And everything relating to what you can achieve depends on the source material anyway. But to my ears, as long as you don't push the plugin to stupid extremes, this creates a nice, round analog sound that hits the tape hard, not to mention that the thing also gives you fantastic tape delay effects that would take ages to re-create on the real machines. I'm sold on this plugin.
Just bought it Pedro, this combined with the REDD17 add a pretty amazing creaminess to the current job I'm working on. I'm convinced.
Stop talking at the same time we are tryin to listen to the kickdrum warmth presets subtility and difference between the bypass mode and engaged and every time you click bypass you start talking LOL
annoying as hell lol...
hahahahah yeah
agreed...
That was a quick review. I have it already (well on release day) and love it...
Still never heard a digital saturation that comes close the magic of actual analogue sat/dist. They're all ok. But they never make you cream your pants.
Seriously, have you ever read the comments on any of your videos, or are just infinitely stubborn?
You _never_ give the listener time to observe the outcome properly. It's like watching football with an annoying kid nearby, that places something in front of your face on every interesting event. And the vocal ducker is something a radio moderator uses. You use it to bring the voice into focus when the backround sound isn't important. It has absoultely no place in a video that tries to demonstrate sound. It could be useful if you had a terrible microphone with a dull and distorted sound, but that's not the case.
You really seem to put some time into these videos, yet you totally destroy them.
Man, it was so much more fun doing all of this physically running tape around chair legs to get long loops and delays, saturating eq results only, cutups and true speed variations.But then again I am a dinosaur, and this plugin is for the masses, does not cost much (for what it does) and I am indeed extremely impressed. Just not as much fun. Thnx for the demo.
I always chuck it on the master, have the Wow rate at 7 oclock and depth at 3-4 oclock - Makes everything I do sound like Boards of Canada.
Thanks again for a great demo clip! One really cool way to compare settings is to use the A/B bar placing one preset on the A bar and another on the B bar gives you the opportunity to do a literal A/B test to determine the comparisons and contrasts between each setting.
Your videos are very good. I must say. This whole music and recording business is so interesting and exciting. huh huh. Cheers.Take care.
I really like the J37. I have this, Kramer Tape and VTM. I would buy the J37 first, VTM second and Kramer last. Although I'm not a big fan of digital tape and tube saturation, the J37 has some musical qualities about it and it's a fine send fx mod/delay. Download the demo and put it through its paces. Like I said, great fx unit. Decent tape saturator (not as clean as VTM).
Brilliant video. Very helpful. Thank you.
Ive been using the J37 for "printing" my tracks, and my my, it is a unique piece of work!
Good Review, Thanks for demoing
no one uses tapes anymore,but everybody wants to sound like a tape..:)
weird......
thats the reason why i keep my old gear....
Some truth there, but as a home recordist, working in the box in different genres, I've really come to appreciate the value of getting to know and utilise Tape emulations & Saturation plug-ins to get get some body and dirt back into the mix at a price that is do-able. Recently picked up this plugin for £30 ($39) - it's a 'no-brainer'
Sorry about the ducking, I was trying it out in response to other complaints and it didn't sound as extreme on the original. If RUclips weren't so wanky at not allowing videos to be replaced then I would have fixed the thing and uploaded it again. Russ
Well tape in does that in it's nature... I got this plug-in and when listening to it on good monitor out of pro tools it did not muddy it. I did a review on this plug-in where you can actually download the video so youtube compression and all the other bad things youtube does to the audio doesn't mess it up.
the compression on this video is so extreme that it's difficult to tell what the plug in is doing vs what youtube's (or possibly the posters) compression is doing. sounds like FM radio compression. not a good comparison to these ears.
I still prefer Magneto. Simpler, better, easier. And the sound is unbeatable.
I always found it quite ironic really that people are hellbent on plugins that emulate very old recording gear, when a lot of the great music recorded on these things were trying to push things forward musically, not going back in time like people now seem to want to. Also, back in the day at Abbey Road, they weren't fawning over gear, it was simply a tool to get the job done. Like the RS124 compressor, they were old hat and thrown in a cupboard at Abbey Road once they started using newer gear and before Waves modelled them for a plugin. People get way too hung up on these kind of plugins, a lot is a placebo effect, there's nothing magical happening. Some are good plugins for tone shaping though, but tape they are not. You could recreate these plugins yourself with simple EQ and saturation plugins, if you know what you're doing.
I see what you're saying but the old style music is coming back. Artists like Leon Bridges and James Bay are bringing back that hissy tone and I've always loved that. I've always loved recording straight to tape also. So a plugin like this is a nice touch for any situation that the studio I'm at throws at me!
Francisco Salcido Old style music has never gone away. Don't get me wrong, most of my favourite music was made in the 60's but the reason it was great was because they were trying to be progressive. I do think it's something missing from most bands these days. There are other genre's of music trying new things but i think guitar bands are basically too tied to the past, i'd just love someone to come along and really shake things up.
+Lenny Henry Hmmm.... I'm thinking of buying this plugin, BUT, if you can lead me to a "simple EQ and saturation plugin" chain that can match this sound cheaper, then I am all ears my man...............if it's junk, why didn't Abbey Road throw the shit away? Not in "cupboards" but in the trash bin. Haul this crap out'a here.....you know - what were they thinking by using a Studer tape machine?
Piedscooter1 Well it's totally true that the things like the RS124 were just left in a store room Abbey Road once they got new gear. I never said it was junk, i just said they felt there was no use for it. Also, if you can't emulate this software with some simple saturation and the right EQ curves on almost any EQ, then you should probably learn a bit more about your craft. The delay on this is pretty good though but again, nothing you can't do with other plugins if you know what you're doing. This thing sounds NOTHING like a Studer.
+Lenny Henry You're right, I have a lot to learn. Show us how it's done..........with other plugins
If you replaced the graphics on this plugin with the graphics of a freebie plugin, all these people who are praising it now, would be criticizing the sound. It's placebo. Some people fall for pretty graphics and start hearing magical things. Other people don't fall for it and they know how to achieve the same sound with other, standard plugins.
That's a very good point. The placebo effect is powerful.
I like it best on the whole mix but not both it gets too smooshed but it sounds amazing 🤩
My god I'm going through about 20 of these J37 review/demo videos and every single one of them either has poor voice/music level ratio, or distorted narration., or the narrator won't stop yapping over the audio demos so you don't even get a chance to hear the difference. HOW HARD IS IT TO GET THIS STUFF RIGHT! And EVERYONE complains about it in the comments. So frigging annoying.
First of all wonderful demonstration Quick question: I noticed you are using the j37 mono instance, is there a particular reason why?
Great review dude.
Thanks for the review. I would kindly request that you don’t talk during the actual “switching” from Bypass to Engage. For me that’s the critical time, actually hearing the FX during the transition from operate to bypass.
Secondly, you would you compare the J37 to the Waves Kramer Tape emulation?
Thanks. Enjoyed it.
Bloody nice, the results are night and day. How is it on CPU Russ..?
Like with most plugins you have to play with it and find the sweet spot for that specific track. So no instant gratification...
You can't talk over the "after" and expect us to hear it. Just bypass on and off without talking please.
14:00 reminds me of me going mad with Cubase's Karlette, which was an awesome Effect for those Trip Hop vibes.
Very good review, but please Russ, It will be better if you don't speak when you "A/B test" cause your voice decrease the test volume and we can't hear the difference between bypass and not bypassed.
It's really strange but I prefer the plugin-bypassed drums, its tighter more modern and the plugin degrades the drumsound, makes it 'dragging and dirty and beatles'. So I think if u want beatles go 4 it, but if you want a great drumsound, leave it alone. The recorded track sounded great as it was.
It does have tube saturation and the sound is definately more vintage/loose, I find the saturation a little fizzy especially the saturation control when demoing but it is cool, sounds interesting on guitars but maybe isn't a put on every track get a tape sound or for more smooth fx (I use Cubase's Magneto II for more smoother tapey sounds and lo-fi fx).
Nice 'show and tell' Russ, but I have to be honest and say this plug-in might be a fairly nice saturation and delay effect but it has nothing to do with the original J37. I was lucky enough to have a stereo master tape sent direct from Abbey Road in about 1983. I listened to it for months on end through many different systems, and it was punchy, dynamic, clean and clearly referenced to an operating level our Revox machines could barely handle! (+5dB, I think.) There were none of these soggy aberrations this plug-in produces. It's also worth remembering that the J37 was a stereo tape recorder, so whatever you get from that pull-down menu with names like 'ambient overheads' is beyond the original machine's functions.
If you really want to hear how it sounds head over to Waves and download the demo. Then you can try it on your own material.
Has Waves commented on the similarities or differences between this and the Kramer Master Tape (aside from the fact theyre different tape machines)??
The pumping from your vocal ducker makes this demo unlistenable. Sorry.
QUIET when you are making us compare FX or Bypass... Chill and let us hear it please. Let it sink in!
Why do my mix get muddy when I u a e it on all channels 🤔
grat vid as always
ALT + CMD Click on a Mac
Thank you for this video! But seriously, dude, stooop t a l k i n g once in a while, while you're demoing the effect ;)
Word of advice - play the dry sample first before showing us the wet. I have no idea what that kickdru, and snare are supposed to sound like - for all I know you're running a dry 808, because it sounds like something recorded on a 1940s radio.
Drums sounded way better without this tape plugin. Still don't understand why do most of engineers want to degrade sound quality with old technologies that everyone wanted to get rid of as soon as something more accurate was introduced. Just listen how drums lack punch and depth with j37 plugin on... Sounds like listening through distorted laptop speakers.
Waves took this one seriously. Not bad at all for a plugin.
8:11 that really makes the guitar pop.
Tape echo is an anachronism which doesn't belong in 21st Century music. It's a marketing ploy by Waves to make you believe it is desirable. The same with desk emulations. Honestly, there are a handful of excellent freeware VSTs that give you the same quality and sound as this tape-echo plug-in. OK, if you have the moola and you want 'that particular retro sound', go for it, but otherwise I'd suggest: easy-supa-delay, DVS Space Echo, Delay Studio from Minimal System Instruments, Brigade Delay, Bionic Supa Delay, YSD-dELAY, WatKat, Shuttle-Echo, Elottronix etc. I've used them all for various projects. Free download at: www.vst4free.com
is this just for beats or vocals and beat ?
hi dear, do you know where can i download this pluging for full function? so thanks if u can help me
sounds nothing like tape, there are better freebies out there made in synthedit, I would cry if I paid for this
But the As Flat As Possible presets do give instant gratification:).
hi dear, do you know where can i download modelings of microphones , saturations of tapes, and pre and compression tubes plug ins? for full function? (could be cracked version, is for hobby, not comercial use) so thanks if u can help me, here in Brazil everything is much dificult and expensive, i would be very glad if u can clear me! i liked the Waves Abbey Road J37, very realistic, i bought all my hardware used was so dificult, and starting to study, but without some plug ins helpers, the sound is not so harmonic in digital recording (my equipaments>mxl 9000, behringer t1951, behringer composer pro and cl1 interface.
if you're working entirely in the box, where in the signal chain would this go? For both audio and midi channels?
thanks!
-Jamie
top players mix with basic stuff 80% of the time, you dont need all this fancy, expensive, compression and eq in one plugin looking like tape mashine...
That's quite excellent.
I love it!
This is nothing new. It doesn't affect the sound other than EQ, Compressor and Saturator in a regular effectchain. IMO we have enough of the SAME "analog style" approaches. It's time for waves to push the boundaries a little harder with new algorithms and technics like Steven Slate does with his latest plugins. "VCC" for example: THAT thing really adds the analog vibe to your tune just by activating it :D
Don't know I prefer Satin from U-He alot more then this... I mean this is quite easy and nice to setup.. well and it's not bad (if you don't overdo it like in this vid)...
but don't know Satin gives me this special tape "ffppft" don't know how to describe that.. as you could hear the magnetism...which I miss in every other tape emulation yet... and has quite alot more options... which is maybe a bit fiddelier to dial in... but I like the end result more... also I am often the guy who likes having lot of options...(but I can understand the otherside too)
so maybe this is the right thing.. if you want that especially that machine as a software... when it is emulated good (which I would think from waves)
but if you don't need just THAT machine... I would take a look at Satin...
it's funny that shortly after U-He released satin.. waves comes also with a tape machine in quite a similar way but quite shaped down in comparision (although tape machines are ofcourse nothing new in generel)
This has that also. This guy missed a lot.
yes, otherwise it would be quite disapointing for a waves plugin...
the thing is.. I am not on the search for just THAT tape machine...which is 100% accurately recreated...
the nice thing with satin is that you build your self more or less the tape machine you want... it's much more open (in terms of setting it up) in every direction...
and I like things that I can dial in exactly like I want... I am one of these the more knobs the better guys :D
but I can understand very well people who prefer a simpler solution..or more limited solution... sometimes to have no limits is worse then to have limits... and I also do sometimes prefer the more simple things.. like a simple leveling compressor with an just in and out knob... but usually thats very rare in my case... but sometimes it fits... for example on vocals on a good singer... where I don't want to compress it strongly... just a decent nice smooth watch of the level plug or so... and smooth knob in knob out compressors are great for that...
but like I said often I prefer the more complex tools... (not complex in terms of user unfriendly guis (where buttons are just all over the place without logical placement..user unfriendly guis is what I hate :D .. but complex in terms of functions and possibilities...)
NoNameLeft1500
I completely understand. Though I have never used physical hardware in terms of compressors, with the exception of effects processors, I have a friend who graduated from Colombia here in Chicago with a BA in sound design. He has some physical hardware, the essentials to record crystal clean vocals and a large array of mics. I am the one who uses VST's. I play my instruments so I always need the highest quality. Anyways, I was speaking with him over the phone the other day and I asked him how he likes the SSL and API's from waves. He said maybe he's a bit biased, but he misses turning the knobs on the API's and SSL's but he loves them. Being that I grew up with 80's metal, I knew exactly what I was expecting from a tape machine, without the experience of actually using one. I love the J37. I mostly use it with my piano tracks. Especially the more emotional sadder tracks and use an upright rather than the average studio grand that everyone always uses in their tracks. I mean, the studio grand only sounds right with certain songs and same goes for the upright. I do love VST's, but they don't always get it right 100%. THey have recently been getting pretty damn close.
I think Slate's tape saturation sounds WAAAAAYYYYY more "real"...to my ears...in my studio environment. Something doesn't sound entirely natural about Waves' tape. Lack of even order harmonics maybe, but much harsher to listen to than Slate's. It's hit or miss with Waves. Their Fairchild and Pultec emulations are horrific compared to UAD's and sound NOTHING like the hardware...but their SSL G channel is actually pretty decent.
I use this and the Kramer Master Tape and the Kramer wins BIG TIME. Although I prefer the J27 for fat sounds like Bass or Kicks :)
Yes, sorry to carp, but the ducking when you speak is very irritating, because we are trying to focus on the sound, so when it seesaws up and down it is just confusing, then there is not enough time to hear it properly.
Alt+Shift+Ctrl+click to bypass inserts in all selected, Alt+Shift+Start+click to disable inserts in all selected tracks.
This is cool, and il download the shit out of it but.. I also bought two tape machines recently, one shitty portable one with max 3-3/4 ips and another on an island in Philippines with 7.5 ips. Only 2 heads on them though so can't do tape delay.. So there are some technical simplicity's to using the software.. I'm sure all three will sound dope together.
i don't like what he's done with the drums. they sound distorted. guitar is a little too much but bottom end, and especially bass guitar sounds amazing with this!
+coffeehigh420 please tell us ur arbitrary opinion that in no way relates to the product! thats why I read posts!!
EXACTLY. I use this with Bass and kicks and use the Kramer Master Tape with anything else :)
Marty Squire are you 100% or on medication? what i pointed out has EVERYTHING to do with the "product".
this song, the bassline mainly, sounds so familiar...
Most bass lines sound familiar when listened to out of context...if they are played right. It's only there to hold a groove and play the root on the change. Most songs in rock, blues, or pop are vary very little between a I-IV-V or II-IV-V progression. You play those three roots in time, congrats, you're now a bass player. People overthink bass. It's the simplest instrument to play but the most important next to drums.
How hard is it on CPU in PT10 Native?
i prefer the kick and snare without the effect then this would be perfect... with it on the drums seems like it loose its punch and intimacy and does not compete with the guitar and bass i would probably only put it on the overheads and room mics ....IMPO
tape is infinity Khz, how can a 44.1, 48, or 96khz sound like 100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000""" khz?
this is pure fuckery.
+Noinclusions No ur talking about harmonics affecting the characteristics. I have the same type of studer this is modeled on and I think it does a fantastic job at emulation certain aspects. Id have to go to a whole lotta think trouble to et up my studer for tape dalay.
how much is it? 5 million pounds plus way behind universal audio waves plug ins are a rip off stick with universal audio they sound better
What's the best setting for tracking? Anybody?
please don't speak when you split the bypass ... i can't hear well the changing
*Ok but the sound is no better J37, J37 without it has more punch, with J37 it sounds muddy and washed out.*
Obviously you have no ears
IT'S DOPE
sounds better in by pass on drums
Time for listen, please.
Is this reviewer biased? Boom boom.
Guitar needs reverb. :)
It is mildly irritating that's all.....great review nonetheless in my book . Thanks! :-)
Please stop the plug in madness.
nublackmusic No, don't. It's fantastic. People with small home studios can now have reasonable simulations of world renowned hardware. I couldn't be more happy about it.
responsibleparty good for you. keep buying these fake 'simulations' as you call it. you should be going to a good studio and using that plugin money to market and promote your music.
nublackmusic What a stupid thing to say. Stop for a minute and think. What percent of people who play music and record themselves are doing it as a business with budgets for all the latest hardware devices and professional studios?
Having these plugins doesn't affect in any way those people who want to use real hardware. Yet you seem to have a problem with the people that don't. Do you think you are king of everyone or something?
Even though I've been playing all my life, it's just a hobby for me now. I just spent around $10k for my home studio and that's plenty for me. The idea that it makes sense for me to spend $100k+ to have racks and racks of all the latest cool hardware is just plain silly!
responsibleparty thats whats wrong with the world today 'no civility'. go play with your toy plugins.
nublackmusic No, what's wrong are know-it-alls who want to tell other people what to do.
"LSD Style" loool
12.12 r.i.p. headphone users
Fast talker...
☻yes, its very nice... thanx ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻
satin. j.
sounds not good
if you tracked better you wouldn't need plugins like this. These drums here sound absolutly terrible , the bass sound is just as bad
Dear god that sounds horrible...
You talking to much
This guy, 'Russ', literally does some of the worst plugin demos I've ever seen.
Sounds better without it
I don't think so