Nothing approaches IK Tape BUT it hates my computer! Alternatives? SOLVED!

[jens]

I tried using Softube Tape in Studio One as a Mix FX (it's a special Studio One thing where you insert it once and it gets automatically applied to all channels that feed the one you inserted it and truth to be told, I think it sounded really really shitty.

I don't get that, but it's REALLY CPU intensive that way. I just put one on the master. It's easy, sounds really good to me, just kinda vibby.

The master-track is the only channel I haven't put it on as I never put anything on the master-channel - unless I'm mastering, of course.

But putting a tape-plugin on each individual channel is a completely and radically different thing to only putting it on the master-channel, of course.

[jens]

yeah IK 80 is my favorite and sadly i own all four lol. the other three get no use.

I almost only use the 24 and the 440 - the 24 for suble mojo, the 440 when I want something a lot more obvious...

[MadDogE134]

i have used tape sims to 'track' somewhat but not in real time. and it is kinda like what jens was talking about on each track. with what i do creating will be using virtual instruments in midi and many times i will place a tape sim on them and print audio then remove instrument, effects and midi tracks once i have things to my liking. so theoretically i am 'tracking' with tape and do not have to worry about latency

[hitherepeople]

I did not mean to open a can of worms, but to my knowledge there is no latency in tape and it just makes everything sound better.

[jens]

if i am not mistaken IK Tapes use IRs of sorts and IRs are basically .wav files and you can't compress real audio waveforms without losing something somewhere

First I ever heard this as far as I can remember.... I thought It was highly detailed physical models (they always run internally @384khz) - if it was simple IRs on the other hand, down-sampling would not be as much of an issue, I think.

[briefcasemanx]

Instead of spending money on more and more plugins, spend it on a REALLY nice CPU. My 5950x is fine running IK Tape. Buying this CPU has been way more useful than more plugins.

Or bake the tape sound into the track...like you would with actual tape.

[jens]

I did not mean to open a can of worms, but to my knowledge there is no latency in tape and it just makes everything sound better.

Yeah, Softube Tape only has 4 samples of latency, the IK ones however introduce almost 600 samples and the Ozone one even more than 2000...
really not sure about the "makes everything sound better" at all when we talk about the Softube one though...

[hitherepeople]

I have only myself to please

[jens]

My 5950x is fine running IK Tape. Buying this CPU has been way more useful than more plugins.

That CPU is total overkill ATM though...

my 4800h is certainly already more than capable enough - and yours is more than twice as powerful.

But we've been there already - he's running a dedicated intergrated studio device that was very very expensive and is - CPU aside - a mighty tool so he'll quite understandably refrain from upgrading his machine for as long as possible.

[jens]

I have only myself to please

Hasn't anybody told you that we need to approve anything and everything you do? You basically signed that when you registered here - should have read the fine-print.

[_leras]

Not mentioned this far as this is KVR, but UAD offer some great tape.emulations. Also, they don't take CPU.

Sounds like the IK tape is better for bus and master channels, or bounced 'to tape'.

The problem with fully baking in tape is that if you have overcooked it, that's a bunch of stuff to rerender at lower levels.

[MadDogE134]

don't take my word as gospel but i think i heard that (IR) back when IK Tapes first came out but IK is kinda secretive about how they do things... so take my comment with a grain of salt 'cos i may be wrong and quite frequently i am lol

cheers

p.s. when i say IRs... i mean 'sampling' of components... basically 'imaging' sorta like Acustica Audio plugins which would answer the heavy cycle demands and sound quality

[briefcasemanx]

Yeah, I think IK tapes is (by my *completely unsubstantiated* guess) doing "sampling" the way that Acustica does or similarly. Acustica doesn't have the patent on math that was created a hundred+ years ago and used in engineering way before Acustica was a company. The IK implementation is likely improved too, not the super buggy algos that Acustica uses.

I think Waves might be using some sort of sampling too, cause some of their latest plugins sound amazing and use up a ton of cpu.

To that I say great. Give me super cpu-heavy stuff that sounds like hardware. I don't need any more new plugins that are 3% better than the last. It's almost pointless to care at that point. Blast my CPU to smithereens.

[MadDogE134]

yeah imaging is taxing but dang it sounds nice

[MadDogE134]

maybe i am overthinking things lol... but when i say 'imaging' it is akin to photography... not in anything visual mind you but as in "snapshots in time" which is a phrase that has been attached to photography since it's inception. the same thing happens when sampling hardware in this case or the components of that hardware... the recorded sample taken is only a 'slice in time' (fixed) but it is as realistic as it gets at least for the present without using the actual hardware. pure algorithmic code cannot do this. code is only a 'facsimile of the same' or 'best guess'... the sample or 'image' IS the real thing just not physically at least in my opinion and i prefer using images no matter how taxing it is on the system. just one cannot think they should be able to use as much imaging as they do pure code based. concessions have to be made... at least for now.

cheers