Reels - LoFi Reel-to-Reel + Tape Start/Stop FX - Update 1.5

[audiothing]

Can this be used just for wow/flutter without other lofi degradation taking place?

Unfortunately not. As said by Lesha, Reels is a LoFi processor.

This looks fun, but as Johnny hints, bypassing all but the circuit you need would be a great option.

The thing is that all the tape controls, except the Pre-Emphasis and the Crosstalk, are tied to the selected tape, so they actually change (and slightly affect each other) according to which tape is selected. You can of course tune them down, but yeah you can't turn off the tape response. I don't think it would make really much sense in this type of plugin, but I'll think about it.

[audiothing]

We have modeled three different 1/4” tape frequency responses and saturations, along with all the analog imperfections of tape recording/playback.

Could you describe the modeling process here, and whether you used any metrics to determine the accuracy of the models? Thanks!

Sure! Just a bit of context, a few years ago I used to scout the local fleamarkets to buy all sorts of unusual musical instruments/equipment. I always wanted one of those Geloso consumer tape recorders but instead I got my hands on a Japanese model. It came with a Japanese tape inside (with a super creepy recording of a child singing...), then I also got my hands on a French tape (very used and probably poorly stored), and also 2 Italian (Geloso yay!) tapes that were actually NOS (new old stock).

I spent several months throwing all sorts of test tones (but also instrument recordings) to the tapes trying to understand what was going on with spectrum analyzers, oscilloscopes, and also my ears essentially reconstructing the frequency response of each tape.
I also managed to manually control the speed of the motor with a simple potentiometer, to emulate different tape speeds since that unit has a fixed speed.
Regarding saturation, I already researched that during the development of Outer Space. And although there are differences, it's usually some kind of sigmoid shape.
The "compression" effect instead is actually a result of all the different elements combined, so there isn't a real compressor section in the emulation.
What was really interesting instead was that thing that pushes the tape towards the heads (not sure about the name), was really loose and the foam-like material was coming apart. While trying to fix it I noticed the different kind of "harshness" that can induce to the tape/heads if pushed too much (and of course some slow down effect that later I decided to include as a proper tape-stop feature).

Strangely, the Geloso tape which was unused (NOS), had a poorer response compared to the Japanese (used) tape, while the French one was the worst, due to the multiple re-recordings and definitely poorly kept (lots of stickiness and ripples in several parts).

This is one of the pic of the unit with the tapes:

[cprompt]

Talk about dedication and passion! Awesome stuff, gonna have to give this a go tomorrow.

[acYm]

what a fantastic, incredibly techno plugin. rarely have I rushed to the store to get a new effect so quickly after firing up the demo. this is probably the first time my subconscious doesn't command me to "turn that shit off" when a vst generates an idle noise. well, technically the second time, as there was the equally miraculous T7E by audiority, but surely the first from a "normal" tape source.

I only have two concerns, a little one and a bigger one.
for the minor issue, on the smaller GUI, the font quality takes quite a big hit. I think this could be improved upon.
more importantly, pluginboutique has ran out of serials and I'll have to wait for who knows how long before I can activate, possibly until after the weekend. doh!

[audiothing]

what a fantastic, incredibly techno plugin. rarely have I rushed to the store to get a new effect so quickly after firing up the demo. this is probably the first time my subconscious doesn't command me to "turn that shit off" when a vst generates an idle noise. well, technically the second time, as there was the equally miraculous T7E by audiority, but surely the first from a "normal" tape source.

I only have two concerns, a little one and a bigger one.
for the minor issue, on the smaller GUI, the font quality takes quite a big hit. I think this could be improved upon.
more importantly, pluginboutique has ran out of serials and I'll have to wait for who knows how long before I can activate, possibly until after the weekend. doh!

Thank you! I'm glad you like it
About the font quality, do you mean the font of the preset selector or the labels of the controls? This is actually something that's driving me crazy as the whole UI is now HiDPI and works really well on a 4k monitor but can be hit and miss on smaller resolutions. What monitor and what resolution are you using?

Regarding PluginBoutique, please send me a message with proof of purchase/email/transaction id: https://www.audiothing.net/contact/

[rasmusklump]

It is not completely clear for me from the manual: Is this challenge/response protection ?

[fceramic]

Love lofi effects! Really do hope you will add some filter control as the thinning is pretty severe. Would be nice to able to use this on bass.

[Harry_HH]

Not bad at all, as said here, a lo-fi tape emulator.

Just a couple of details here bug me: namely the tape stop effect, once again, implemented without the "tape start" - effect.
For some reason all the latest tape stop plugins have left that out, which was very well modelled in the years old free plugin, called TapeStop.

Once you stop the tape, and re-start it immediately, the real (cheap) tape machine flutters in the re-start, too, as it flutters when you stop the tape.

In addition, the tape rewind/forwind sound, and stop after rewind sound emulations are missing.

All rather easy to modell, I presume. So, why not complete this plugin?

As a owner of 4 other tape emulation plugins (plus that great little free one) , the above defects may create an obstacle for me, to invest this, otherwise great effort.

[acYm]

Thank you! I'm glad you like it
About the font quality, do you mean the font of the preset selector or the labels of the controls? This is actually something that's driving me crazy as the whole UI is now HiDPI and works really well on a 4k monitor but can be hit and miss on smaller resolutions. What monitor and what resolution are you using?

Regarding PluginBoutique, please send me a message with proof of purchase/email/transaction id: https://www.audiothing.net/contact/

it's all good, I just got my license added and it's now registered in my account.

so, yeah I was referring to the labels on the interface, those below the knobs and selectors, and also on the buttons. I'm on a 1080p monitor. 27" in size and normal Win7 dpi. when a plugin has big knobs and buttons like this one I tend to keep it small so I can fit more on the screen. in the browser it looks fine.

as you can see here, for example the "i" in IT all but disappears.

reelssmall.PNG

[audiothing]

It is not completely clear for me from the manual: Is this challenge/response protection ?

No, it's not challenge/response. Our plugins require a license file to be activated, you can download it from your user area, and can be used on offline computers as well. Our new and recently updated plugins have an option to automatically authorize the plugin by logging in from the plugin window, automatically downloading and applying the license file in the background.
If you manually backup the license file, you can authorize the plugin forever on all your future computers. No online access required. No user area required.

[audiothing]

Love lofi effects! Really do hope you will add some filter control as the thinning is pretty severe. Would be nice to able to use this on bass.

Well, this plugin is not a generic tape emulation, the frequency response of the tapes/heads of the machine we have used is indeed very limited. You can always try to balance it with the Mix knob, but of course that might not be ideal

[audiothing]

Not bad at all, as said here, a lo-fi tape emulator.

Just a couple of details here bug me: namely the tape stop effect, once again, implemented without the "tape start" - effect.
For some reason all the latest tape stop plugins have left that out, which was very well modelled in the years old free plugin, called TapeStop.

Once you stop the tape, and re-start it immediately, the real (cheap) tape machine flutters in the re-start, too, as it flutters when you stop the tape.

In addition, the tape rewind/forwind sound, and stop after rewind sound emulations are missing.

All rather easy to modell, I presume. So, why not complete this plugin?

As a owner of 4 other tape emulation plugins (plus that great little free one) , the above defects may create an obstacle for me, to invest this, otherwise great effort.

The idea was to use the tape stop as that usual hiphop/EDM effect that then requires a "sudden" playback again. I'm not sure yet, but if I get enough requests for it I may consider it. I've actually got already a few requests to remove the doppler effect caused if you start Reels again with the echo section enabled. Rewind/forwind is definitely out of the scope I wanted for this plugin, although you can probably fake that by modulating the time parameter of the Echo section.

[audiothing]

it's all good, I just got my license added and it's now registered in my account.

so, yeah I was referring to the labels on the interface, those below the knobs and selectors, and also on the buttons. I'm on a 1080p monitor. 27" in size and normal Win7 dpi. when a plugin has big knobs and buttons like this one I tend to keep it small so I can fit more on the screen. in the browser it looks fine.

as you can see here, for example the "i" in IT all but disappears.

reelssmall.PNG

Oh I see. That shouldn't happen of course. The issue might be that you don't have a HiDPI resolution/monitor so the plugin is already internally scaling at 50%, then if you resize it smaller, it's even more scaling. I'll look into that.
All this new HiDPI/4k thing has really got me thinking of moving away from skeumorphic renderings (PNG strips etc..) and instead do everything in vector graphic.

[crystalmsc]

This is a great time for tape emulation, I own most of it but Reels has a very nice spot. It has a kind of relaxing vibe, with it's unique lofi tone which is different from the other.

[audiothing]

This is a great time for tape emulation, I own most of it but Reels has a very nice spot. It has a kind of relaxing vibe, with it's unique lofi tone which is different from the other.

Thank you!