TB Reelbus 4 - How do the Modes Work?

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I would agree that it is a little confusing - as far as I am aware of it, most tape-machine emulation plugins that also have delay-capabilities work like Reelbus 4's "recorder mode" (Sknote Roundtone, Waves J37 & Kramer Master Tape) and this is the sound of the original tape delay/flanger effects which were created by using conventional studio tape-machines. In this case both the direct and the delayed signal went on tape.

Then later on dedicated tape-machines appeared and tbh I have no real idea in what way the "dry" signal was processed or if it wasn't really at all - I would assume there are a lot of differences between the individual devices.

Personally I clearly prefer the sound I achieve using the "recorder"-mode for both flanger and delay-effects and I would say it basically comes down to being a mere matter of taste which to prefer (and subsequently use).

I think it's great that Reelbus offers this choice.
"Preamps have literally one job: when you turn up the gain, it gets louder." Jamcat, talking about presmp-emulation plugins.

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cpsmusic wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 2:09 pm
AdvancedFollower wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 1:30 pm
cpsmusic wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 1:15 pm
If there's a mode for a specific use case, it almost certainly means the mode makes the plugin behaviour more suitable for that use case, so to my mind, it makes sense to use it.
I agree completely but I'd like to understand the differences that make each of the Modes suitable for different uses.
The text you quoted explains the difference.

If you want to use it to simulate a tape machine/cassette player (with the hiss, flutter, saturation etc.), use "Recorder" mode. That way there's no "dry" (unprocessed audio) coming through. Everything on that track will go through the tape simulation (as long as you use it as an insert), just as if you were playing the track on an actual tape machine.

Send FX removes the dry signal and only produces the flanger/echo effect. This is just like taking a reverb or delay plugin and moving the Mix to 100% wet, like you would do when putting a reverb effect on an aux/send.

Insert FX is like taking your reverb plugin and setting the Mix to e.g. 50% wet - which is what you'd do if using it as an insert, because you don't want to hear just the reverberation, you want to hear the source sound too (most of the time).

Maybe the confusion arises because ReelBus can act both as a tape simulation and as a flanger/echo (either, or both at the same time).
So am I right in the following:

In Recorder Mode the Amount control acts as a dry/wet control.
In Insert Mode the Amount control acts as a dry/wet control.
I checked this by using the 30IPS preset and switching between Recorder and Insert Modes

In Send Mode the Amount control acts as a Gain for the wet signal.
That seems to be correct. The practical difference between Recorder and Insert mode is that in Insert mode, the whole "Tape" section is ignored/silenced and it just acts like a flanger/echo.

I just tried it, and the Amount doesn't seem to just act as a simple Output Gain or Dry/Wet control. It seems to be more like an Input Gain. Turning it up to 100% and activating the Echo mode created a feedback loop, while turning the amount down to 50% broke the feedback loop. So it's not just affecting the output of the device but rather the whole processing chain.

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AdvancedFollower wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 9:31 pm The practical difference between Recorder and Insert mode is that in Insert mode, the whole "Tape" section is ignored/silenced
Nonono! Just for the dry signal!
"Preamps have literally one job: when you turn up the gain, it gets louder." Jamcat, talking about presmp-emulation plugins.

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Thanks Folks,

I think I'll ask the developer. If I find out anything I'll post it here.

Cheers,

Chris

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I contacted the developer and after a bit of discussion this is how I think the Modes work:

Recorder Mode: Dry signal combined with Wet signal. Dry signal is always present. Amount control sets Wet signal percentage.
Send Mode: Wet signal only. No Dry signal present. Amount control sets Wet signal gain.
Insert Mode: Dry signal combined with Wet signal. Amount control sets Balance of Dry and Wet signals.

I tried to confirm this however the developer hasn't responded.

Cheers!

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No no no!

Recorder:

The main Amount is a dry dry/wet crossfade

tape/drive processing on the full wet signal


insert:

The main Amount control determines how much wet signal is added to the dry signal

tape/drive processing only on the feedback of both the delay and the flanger (the amount of feedback is set with the "Amount" controls of both the flanger and tape respectively)

I.e.: here the dry signal is always there

send:

insert minus the dry signal i.e. only the feedback-signal is available at the output.

Main Amount controls how much signal is passed on to the output stage.

Come on, it's not that difficult to grasp. Besides you can easily enough verify that for yourself.
"Preamps have literally one job: when you turn up the gain, it gets louder." Jamcat, talking about presmp-emulation plugins.

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Which part is wrong?

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This:
cpsmusic wrote: Wed May 22, 2019 9:44 am Recorder Mode: [...] Dry signal is always present.
Or maybe you meant with "dry" the processed signal that is neither going through the flanger nor delayed

Besides it seems you do not differentiate between "wet" signal and "feedback" signal.

In Reelbus 4 there is no "wet" signal per se.

There is:

a) the entirely unprocessed "dry" signal

b) the normal tape emulation path

c) the level (I called it feedback in my post above) that goes to kind of a simulated duplicated machine that I think has kind of additional speed fluctuations in addition to the normal wow&flutter i.e. the "Flanger" section/amount

d) the level/feedback that goes to two additional simulated duplicates which are delayed


Dang, it's a lot more complicated to describe/explain it than to use it, I think - it might very well be that we mean the same. And this might explain why the manual doesn't explain it better.
"Preamps have literally one job: when you turn up the gain, it gets louder." Jamcat, talking about presmp-emulation plugins.

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Maybe we need a diagram to clarify this?

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