If you buy a tape vst today.

[perpetual3]

I have:

satin
wowcontrol
softube tape
black rooster magneto
totape 5
and a few others...

here's what I think:

for authentic Tape: Satin wins for me. But, I don't think most people, when they are going for a tape "sim" they are going for authentic sounding studio tape machine. I think they are going for an effect, a vibe. Calibrated studio tape machines were very expensive and precise instruments that sought to minimize the sound of tape.

For vibe and sound I think that Ghz Wowcontrol is the best it has far and away the best pitch modulation options. I think that Softube Tape when pushed has a marginally better sound. I would put Black Rooster's sim somewhere in there, too. Totape is not my cup of tea -- more like Satin and than effect.

Best tape sim? Get a 3-head deck and bounce things out and back in again through it.

Last thing is that recently I've been using echo/delay effects that color the sound with a 0ms delay time to get some tape effects and these may even beat Ghz. ValhallaDelay can be used this way. set it to 100% wet, 0ms delay (or low as you can go) and then play through. EchoBoy is also awesome in this way (it has a lot of different profiles for tape and BBD and tin can delays.)

VDelay and echoboy are the best bang for the buck plugs out there.

No their not.

You can use them as a drive, reverb, chorus (all sorts of mod effects), and tape effect. I got EB for $29 “new” and VD is $50.

But you’re right - I should say that they’re two of the most bang for the buck plugs. There are quite a few nowadays but I wouldn’t say any that are better. I’m not aware of an Airwindows Delay, but it’s hard to keep track of Chris’ plugs.

EDIT: I clearly forgot about Toneboosters. Reelbus 4 does give you incredible BFTB.

[Noumena]

best bang for the buck is to use your daws saturation, limiter, mod-delay and eq for vibe. if you want simulation/magic glue go uhe. if you want wow and flutter and vibe w tons of control and a stellar sound go Ghz.

[perpetual3]

best bang for the buck is to use your daws saturation, limiter, mod-delay and eq for vibe. if you want simulation/magic glue go uhe. if you want wow and flutter and vibe w tons of control and a stellar sound go Ghz.

I dunno man.

I use Ableton 9, without question I find Valhalla Delay, Echoboy, Reelbus and Modnetic to do things (sound) in ways that I can’t reproduce using the stock effects.

If you can, more power to you.

[rod_zero]

best bang for the buck is to use your daws saturation, limiter, mod-delay and eq for vibe. if you want simulation/magic glue go uhe. if you want wow and flutter and vibe w tons of control and a stellar sound go Ghz.

I dunno man.

I use Ableton 9, without question I find Valhalla Delay, Echoboy, Reelbus and Modnetic to do things (sound) in ways that I can’t reproduce using the stock effects.

If you can, more power to you.

Most people in this topic are talking about tape recording simulation, not tape delay

[perpetual3]

best bang for the buck is to use your daws saturation, limiter, mod-delay and eq for vibe. if you want simulation/magic glue go uhe. if you want wow and flutter and vibe w tons of control and a stellar sound go Ghz.

I dunno man.

I use Ableton 9, without question I find Valhalla Delay, Echoboy, Reelbus and Modnetic to do things (sound) in ways that I can’t reproduce using the stock effects.

If you can, more power to you.

Most people in this topic are talking about tape recording simulation, not tape delay

So was I, man. Brought up the plugs as being flexible and possible to be used as tape saturation. Good bang for the buck. Was told to use the DAW instead - specially referenced mod Delay.

[Noumena]

best bang for buck = free, of course. whatever. boring thread is boring.

[perpetual3]

best bang for buck = free, of course. whatever. boring thread is boring.

Boring as in making false equivalencies, yeah that’s true.

[exmatproton]

Satin

[s28]

best bang for the buck is to use your daws saturation, limiter, mod-delay and eq for vibe. if you want simulation/magic glue go uhe. if you want wow and flutter and vibe w tons of control and a stellar sound go Ghz.

I dunno man.

I use Ableton 9, without question I find Valhalla Delay, Echoboy, Reelbus and Modnetic to do things (sound) in ways that I can’t reproduce using the stock effects.

If you can, more power to you.

Most people in this topic are talking about tape recording simulation, not tape delay

Set ValhallaDelay to 100% wet and 0 delay time and it can be used for some really nice saturation flavours, it's good fun.

A ValhallaTape or ValhallaDistortion would be most welcome!

[perpetual3]

best bang for the buck is to use your daws saturation, limiter, mod-delay and eq for vibe. if you want simulation/magic glue go uhe. if you want wow and flutter and vibe w tons of control and a stellar sound go Ghz.

I dunno man.

I use Ableton 9, without question I find Valhalla Delay, Echoboy, Reelbus and Modnetic to do things (sound) in ways that I can’t reproduce using the stock effects.

If you can, more power to you.

Most people in this topic are talking about tape recording simulation, not tape delay

Set ValhallaDelay to 100% wet and 0 delay time and it can be used for some really nice saturation flavours, it's good fun.

A ValhallaTape or ValhallaDistortion would be most welcome!

Exactly - hence my comment.

[Noumena]

i love how i contribute the most info to a thread, including the recommendation of valhalla, then respond to a sane request for a cheap alternative with the suggestion of a free one and get shat on by people that didn’t read the thread. good lord.

[Noumena]

also OP use search. there are at least 25 threads on same topic. this forum is borderline useless anymore.

[Skyfall72]

Did I guys notice when you use tape it blurs the transients and clarity ?

[perpetual3]

i love how i contribute the most info to a thread, including the recommendation of valhalla, then respond to a sane request for a cheap alternative with the suggestion of a free one and get shat on by people that didn’t read the thread. good lord.

My message was not intended to shit on you.

[Lotuz2019]

Did I guys notice when you use tape it blurs the transients and clarity ?

Yes, when you use a tape plugin on the master, you must be careful not to overdo it, because indeed sounds like drums can get pushed back in the mix.