Klevgrand’s DAW Cassette

[Guenon]

This isn't totally related to how you can use a VST plugin, but still: I enjoy using my Sony TC-K555 or Technix RS-BX606 as insert effects in Live when I need to imprint some material with a cassette vibe

Also, quality cassette decks are very different from the horrors surprisingly many people believe (or "remember") cassettes were!

I never had a deck like the TC-K555 back in the day, but now you can find machines like that (which, when adjusted to inflation, cost plenty over $1k back then) , just for the price of going to the grocery store, if you're somewhat lucky. So if you're interested in experimenting with stuff like this, now is a great time to do it.

Me, well, I was really surprised how pleasant the coloring actually is, on a nice machine. It's also fun to play a/b versions of tracks in realtime, switching on the fly between "Okay, now it's going through tape... now it isn't... or is it? Which one do you prefer? Can you tell when it's going through tape?" Usually listening on Genelec 8040As, surprisingly many have a) not been able to tell which one was tape , and/or b) actually preferred the tape version.

Somehow it's down to this idea of what tape artefacts sound like, as in, people having specific ideas on how the tape is supposed to be crappy, and in what way, and so on, and those effects usually being quite exaggerated in tape coloring plugins and the like. The reality, as I found out myself just a couple of years ago, is a bit different and can be very pleasing. Of course it's a subjective thing in the end, and depends on what sort of material you work with, and won't suit everything, yada yada , so if you're interested, try it yourself!

[plexuss]

I like it. Nice range of unique textures. I think you dial in a cassette tape sound. I was just recently digitizing some of my cassettes. I tried to dial in a cassete tape-like sound on this mix. It's very nice to adjust the mix control and then with the motor quality control you can get some interesting modulation. But thats me... I don't mind noise and distortion - it can be used in some interesting and creative ways.

I am not going to say its a perfect cassette emulation but I will say it's cassette-ish and more and I think worth buying for myself. Which I did.

I guess I should also point out that I am not saying the Cassette processed track is better - I am saying, there it is - that gives you a sense of what Cassette sounds like on a fill mix.

Heres the mix through the plugin and dialed in to sound cassette-ish (to my ears):

https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/in ... pe/s-cXqhs

Here's the original master:

https://soundcloud.com/musicofplexus/in ... de-of-grey

[Bodhisan]

You of all people should know since you lived through the Cassette era. I can see some kid thinking there was magic in Cassettes but anyone who used them should know better.

I was the first teen in my small town to have a cassette deck in my car. Yeah, if the player or tape wasn’t clean, demagnetized or aligned correctly, they could suck. But when they ran properly - there was little difference in fidelity compared to albums - of course, that would depend on your sound system and is obviously subjective.

Recording 4-track with cassettes was quite a bit different - that, I would never go back to. But the “good” sound of commercial cassettes was simply pure analog tape.

I’m curious about this new plugin and plan on checking it out.

[deastman]

Back in the days of cassette recording, that was all we had. Digital came along and sounded cleaner (sometimes). 8 bit samplers gave way to 12 bit and to 16 bit. Now there is no challenge in obtaining a pristine, clear recording. We don’t look back at the sound of tape or vinyl or Edison cylinders with nostalgia because they sound better (or at least I don’t). Now we can appreciate the aesthetic tonal palette that these technically inferior formats can bring to our music, just like different colors of paint. Maybe you don’t want to throw this on the master bus, but it can add interest to make certain sounds or sections of a song sound as if they come from another era.

[Doc Brown]

I've found nothing better than the Interruptor's wow and flutter. It does everything I need for that tape sound and it's free.

[cprompt]

A good recording on quality metal tape on a calibrated Nakamichi Dragon and you would not tell it apart from a CD. Most people remember tape as those crappy TDK C90s on some equally crappy boom-box, or recording the top 10 off the radio, or copying your mate's album he just bought. Compact Cassette had the potential to sound great (if you had the money to buy the Dragon) but also could sound dreadful.

But, a plugin like this sounds different and interesting and if used wisely, brings another tool to the toolbox. I'm enjoying it a lot.

[wagtunes]

Well, this is living proof that I have way too much stuff. I went to the Reaktor user library to download VHS and it says "Download Again". So I checked and sure enough I had already downloaded it. Never used it but I downloaded it.

Anyway, I went to YouTube to hear what this thing sounded like and yeah, I don't need this cassette thing. There is one thing, however, that I don't like about VHS and it has nothing to do with the way it sounds.

There is no wet/dry mix. So the only way to go from processed (maybe at the beginning of a song) and have it slowly morph to unprocessed is to automate each individual parameter that's been altered and bring them down to levels that would make the track sound "normal." That's a lot of automation and extremely time consuming depending on the preset you're using. That's the one thing DAW Cassette has over Reaktor VHS. It's easy to go from wet to dry. It's automating one button.

Otherwise, sound quality wise, VHS is DAW Cassette and more.

So now I essentially have to decide if the automation headaches make it worth it for me to get DAW Cassette.

[olepro]

It says on the DAW casette site
While there’s no real rational logic to it, the sound color gives us chills down the spines

Well i agree that everytime i heard a piano recording on casette tape with wow, flutter and pumping dolby, it really gave me chills down the spines... the bad way

I LOVE digital.
We can allways destroy it afterwards, but not easy the other way around

[cprompt]

Otherwise, sound quality wise, VHS is DAW Cassette and more.

Except that you need to buy Reaktor to run it, which is more than $20.

[wagtunes]

Otherwise, sound quality wise, VHS is DAW Cassette and more.

Except that you need to buy Reaktor to run it, which is more than $20.

Well, I've already got Reaktor 6 so for me there's no additional expense as the ensemble is free. But yeah, if you don't have Reaktor 6, DAW Cassette is certainly good enough to essentially do the same thing within limits.

[Russell Grand]

I love this! I do wish the user had more control over the level and color of the noise though, and some extra goodies like a tape stop & rwnd effect would be really cool. But for $20, it's a fun plug that is instant nostalgia (both good and bad)!

Nice job, Klevgrand!

[Russell Grand]

Well i agree that everytime i heard a piano recording on casette tape with wow, flutter and pumping dolby, it really gave me chills down the spines... the bad way

And my chills from hearing those sounds were in the good way.
My first experience with hearing albums was on cassette tape, so they have a special place in my heart. Sure, cassettes had terrible audio quality and the constant noise was annoying...but it's a lot like a movie that I loved as a kid only to grow up and realize it wasn't a good movie at all, yet I can't help but still love that movie.

[Captain]

There is no wet/dry mix. So the only way to go from processed (maybe at the beginning of a song) and have it slowly morph to unprocessed is to automate each individual parameter that's been altered and bring them down to levels that would make the track sound "normal." That's a lot of automation and extremely time consuming depending on the preset you're using. That's the one thing DAW Cassette has over Reaktor VHS. It's easy to go from wet to dry. It's automating one button.

If we talk about a simple wet/dry mix control, VHS being a Reaktor ensemble, it's really easy to add it yourself (just tried it). But since many presets include some wow/flutter type stuff, a mixture of dry and wet causes chorus-y and phase-y effects which might not be nice. I have never used Reaktor's preset morphing, but I guess that would come in handy here.

[wagtunes]

There is no wet/dry mix. So the only way to go from processed (maybe at the beginning of a song) and have it slowly morph to unprocessed is to automate each individual parameter that's been altered and bring them down to levels that would make the track sound "normal." That's a lot of automation and extremely time consuming depending on the preset you're using. That's the one thing DAW Cassette has over Reaktor VHS. It's easy to go from wet to dry. It's automating one button.

If we talk about a simple wet/dry mix control, VHS being a Reaktor ensemble, it's really easy to add it yourself (just tried it). But since many presets include some wow/flutter type stuff, a mixture of dry and wet causes chorus-y and phase-y effects which might not be nice. I have never used Reaktor's preset morphing, but I guess that would come in handy here.

Well, I'm not too good with messing with Reaktor ensembles so I wouldn't even attempt it.

[Scotty]

I bought it. I like to add a little wobble and noise to material, particularly synth pads and this has a nice flavour. Worth the $20.00.