UVI Tape Suite

[tobiasnz]

I use the individual installers for each product and I couldn't see any way to choose the plugins to be installed.. perhaps I missed a step?

If you select the 'Customise' button on the third install screen (Install location), you can deselect any plugin formats you don't want to install.
It is easy to miss in these installers. I am forever manually deleting AAX plugins from my system.

[Gam456]

I own Falcon and few of them. I'm afraid UVI are not the best for effects.
There is way better competitor for a analog vintage sound

Few alternative...

Eventide Instant Phaser Mk II - Probably the king of Phaser
UAD Brigade Chorus - BBD chorus
TAL Chorus - Juno 60
IK Multimedia Tape echo - PlexiTape
Pulsar Audio - Binson Echorec

IK Multimedia Tape Machines collection - one of the best tape machines collection
(Teac A-6100, Studer A80, Ampex 440B, MCI JH24, Revox PR99, Tascam Porta one)

AudioThing Mantis - BBD delay
AudioThing Outer space 2- Roland Tape Echos

[Jac459]

Yowza, 1.8GB download of the trial - must be some fancy convolution?

Some IR, but lots of UI as well. retina assets are very big and for each 4 plugins for all format so it adds up quickly

You are right, it explains the 100 first megs, what about the 17 others?

[otristan]

I don't use UVI Portal as it's 100% broken for me.. has been so for more than a year and your support hasn't been able to figure it out. It just hangs on trying to detect my products.

We have release a new version on month ago rebuilt from scratch (even though it doesn't show)
have you tried this one ?

I use the individual installers for each product and I couldn't see any way to choose the plugins to be installed.. perhaps I missed a step?

You can choose which plugin format if you choose custom install

[otristan]

The installer do allows you to choose which plugin format you install if you don't chose auto install in Portal.

Regarding the fidelity, I'll have to check with the person that did the DSP. Still disabling some module can make sense if you only want what you consider the good part of tape recording. no play head filtering but only the tape simulation for example.

Checked with DSP engineer.
The tape model is actually very accurate, it's just that the device you mention use a built-in post EQ in order to compensate for the tape accuracy. We haven't includde this in our model.

Hope this clarify things.

[bmanic]

The tape model is actually very accurate, it's just that the device you mention use a built-in post EQ in order to compensate for the tape accuracy. We haven't includde this in our model.

Hope this clarify things.

Eh? So your literal tape model is accurate but all the other components around it are not?

You do realize that this chain: Audio source -> tape machine input -> record head -> TAPE -> playback head -> output amplification = Tape Machine

So are you saying that you got the TAPE part very accurately done but none of the other parts? Look, I'm not trying to be difficult here but you earlier stated that it should be possible to model any type of machine with your plugin, but this is clearly not correct. No matter what you do or tweak, the source audio signal drastically changes, much more so than any real tape recording chain.. even the "medium" fidelity ones. It's just quite confusing how the whole thing is marketed as some kind of revolution in the technology and then it's not capable of emulating a basic Revox B67 (and much less so a high-end machine like a Studer, Telefunken or ATR).

Sigh.. oh well, whatever. I'm still purchasing the plugin as the delay is just phenomenal and very unique sounding (probably due to the strange smearing of the transients).

[otristan]

We model the whole chain besides the input/output EQ which are just EQ.
The rationale was not model specific model but rather the behavior of tape magnetisation, filtering and variation not what different manufacturer did to compensate to get higher fidelity.

[otristan]

this is a bit of a strange one innit, lol. it sounds like the model at its core is poorly biased and there is no way to bias it properly, or like what i would expect a really poor quality cassette deck to do. also, no matter how i tweak the tape colour, it's absolutely slaughtering the bottom end and top end at their extremes. i do like the way it saturates, or i can at least hear some potential in the way it reigns in transients is tape like, but it's definitely not there for the most part.

It sounds a bit like Chow Tape when you use "broken"settings or his Hysteresis plugin which i couldn't get to do anything of use, lol

If you use setting like that, it will clearly not slaugther the bottom and top end

Screenshot 2024-06-28 at 10.35.14.jpg

[jens]

We model the whole chain besides the input/output EQ which are just EQ.
The rationale was not model specific model but rather the behavior of tape magnetisation, filtering and variation not what different manufacturer did to compensate to get higher fidelity.

Sorry, but I don't quite understand what that actually means.

A tape machine is not an EQ. A tape machine in and of itself does not contain any EQ.

But of course in order to digitally emulate a certain machine, developers might "under the hood" use filters in order to pre-emphasize and de-emphasize certain frequencies. (So different tape models might include different specific pre-emphasizing/de-emphasizing.)

Is that what you mean with "input/output EQ"?

[otristan]

Pre-emphasize and de-emphasize, what we call compander in Tape Suite, are usually there for noise reduction.
I am talking about actual EQ
https://medias.audiofanzine.com/files/r ... 476497.pdf
Check page 34-35, recording and reproducing amplifiers

[jens]

Pre-emphasize and de-emphasize, what we call compander in Tape Suite, are usually there for noise reduction.

I was actually talking about the compression/saturation because I thought that might what you have meant...

but anyway: I still have quite the hunch (without yet having properly understood you) that you sell an incomplete product one would have to add each an EQ plugin before and after it and have in-depth knowledge in order to achieve an actual tape-emulation of any kind/brand and having added the same seemingly incomplete model to three additonal different pluging would then of course make matters worse.

I didn't try the delay yet, but both the flanger and chorus sound rather weird to me as I didn't manage to get something useful out of the "tape" bit of them.

And I only used the demo because the product hadn't hit the retailers yet (which I prefer because I don't have to pay VAT), otherwise I'd have purchased the bundle without testing - not good (I value trust).

[Dirtgrain]

Is it 4 separate plug-ins, or is it one that you open and from there select which type you want?

[sandandpaint]

Pre-emphasize and de-emphasize, what we call compander in Tape Suite, are usually there for noise reduction.

I was actually talking about the compression/saturation because I thought that might what you have meant...

but anyway: I still have quite the hunch (without yet having properly understood you) that you sell an incomplete product one would have to add each an EQ plugin before and after it and have in-depth knowledge in order to achieve an actual tape-emulation of any kind/brand and having added the same seemingly incomplete model to three additonal different pluging would then of course make matters worse.

I didn't try the delay yet, but both the flanger and chorus sound rather weird to me as I didn't manage to get something useful out of the "tape" bit of them.

And I only used the demo because the product hadn't hit the retailers yet (which I prefer because I don't have to pay VAT), otherwise I'd have purchased the bundle without testing - not good (I value trust).

they aren't claiming to have modelled any branded - or even unbranded - tape recorders tho. As far as I can tell they are claiming to have modelled the transport and heads and the tape and the interactions between. ie is a general model of those components found in tape recorders, but not modelled a particular tape recorder in and of itself

[jens]

Pre-emphasize and de-emphasize, what we call compander in Tape Suite, are usually there for noise reduction.

I was actually talking about the compression/saturation because I thought that might what you have meant...

but anyway: I still have quite the hunch (without yet having properly understood you) that you sell an incomplete product one would have to add each an EQ plugin before and after it and have in-depth knowledge in order to achieve an actual tape-emulation of any kind/brand and having added the same seemingly incomplete model to three additonal different pluging would then of course make matters worse.

I didn't try the delay yet, but both the flanger and chorus sound rather weird to me as I didn't manage to get something useful out of the "tape" bit of them.

And I only used the demo because the product hadn't hit the retailers yet (which I prefer because I don't have to pay VAT), otherwise I'd have purchased the bundle without testing - not good (I value trust).

they aren't claiming to have modelled any branded - or even unbranded - tape recorders tho. As far as I can tell they are claiming to have modelled the transport and heads and the tape and the interactions between. ie is a general model of those components found in tape recorders, but not modelled a particular tape recorder in and of itself

Which is perfectly fine, just as long as everything is included which is required to make it actually really sound like tape in the first place - and that unfortunately doesn't seem to be the case.

[sandandpaint]

Which is perfectly fine, just as long as everything is included which is required to make it actually really sound like tape in the first place - and that unfortunately doesn't seem to be the case.

but if what you define as 'tape' is a tape recorder then you are just defining failure into the product rather than talking about the product as it is. That's just a reflection of how you use words rather than whether the plugin is useful or not