Iron Deck - Free Tape Plugin

[TechHaus]

[Chicken Drummy]

Those dates are when each plugin was posted? Yikes.

[MillerSam]

well the Chowdhury tape code is open-source so very probably the AI that made this plugin was trained by the Chowdhury code

[Kai Enaki]

Those dates are when each plugin was posted? Yikes.

I think it's 14 in total with a couple of weeks in between each release.

[Chicken Drummy]

I think it's 14 in total with a couple of weeks in between each release.

[billinder33]

Finest hand-crafted vibe-coding since 1994 and 13 new plugins in 2026.

https://www.mmediasoftwarelab.com/
https://www.jeffmutschler.com/
https://github.com/mmediasoftwarelab

I guess the satellite tracking, IT infrastructure, and AI agent auditing applications aren't selling, so might as well tap into the profitable audiophool market.

[TheSweetSpot]

Not sure what you guys are hearing other than some rather harsh highs.. this is absolutely nowhere even remotely in the same ballpark as Slate VTM or Softube Tape or even close to the same universe as U-He Satin.

In my opinion of course. But yeah, I tested the freebie for about 15 minutes and then deleted it. Usability was horrible too as I couldn't find any way to link the gain knobs and everything else. Sound was really poor and nothing that I would associate with actual tape behaviour.

Maybe it is broken on my system.

15 minutes isn't long enough to test something thoroughly, in my opinion. But with that said, I was early into my testing when I compared it favourably to VTM. It has an openness and clarity that can sound initially a bit flattering. The 'harsh highs' can be rolled off with the HF Trim control and it also has 2 different EQ profiles. I'm going to spend more time with it and do more comparisons. Admittedly, I moved away from the Tape plugin on every track approach a couple of years ago in favour of one on the Mix Buss (Usually one of the IK Multimedia ones) so I wasn't approaching it from that workflow standpoint.

I do agree it would be nice to be able to link controls.

Edit: Comparing it to VTM again and its 15 IPS setting is closer to VTM's 30 IPS than its own 30 IPS one. It doesn't have the same low thump as VTM but it retains transients better when pushed and makes things more open and wide. On some Metal drums with fairly harsh cymbals it doesn't make them more harsh, although the VTM absorbs more of the high-mids and up.

[elxsound]

Finest hand-crafted vibe-coding since 1994 and 13 new plugins in 2026.

https://www.mmediasoftwarelab.com/
https://www.jeffmutschler.com/
https://github.com/mmediasoftwarelab

I guess the satellite tracking, IT infrastructure, and AI agent auditing applications aren't selling, so might as well tap into the profitable audiophool market.

I had not heard of audiophool before, but I love it!

Great description for what is either here or approaching?

I get the feeling the AI direction is to come here and either post or ask for beta testers.

Post about the longevity in the industry and post it’s made by engineers for engineers (with variations in the way it’s written)

The thing is not knowing who is on the level, and who is not. I don’t think it’s our fault for not blindly trusting when the approach is all the same.

I dunno anymore. Wild Wild West it seems.

[Vortifex]

Gave it a try. Too annoying to use. Deleted.

[TechHaus]

I guess their new plugin (just added to kvr in the past day) can be compared head to head with the soundtoys emulation.

Ironic that after 4 more releases they will have more plugins than the entire Soundtoys portfolio.

[bmanic]

Not sure what you guys are hearing other than some rather harsh highs.. this is absolutely nowhere even remotely in the same ballpark as Slate VTM or Softube Tape or even close to the same universe as U-He Satin.

In my opinion of course. But yeah, I tested the freebie for about 15 minutes and then deleted it. Usability was horrible too as I couldn't find any way to link the gain knobs and everything else. Sound was really poor and nothing that I would associate with actual tape behaviour.

Maybe it is broken on my system.

15 minutes isn't long enough to test something thoroughly, in my opinion.

I have now about 30 years of audio experience under my belt. I own 3 different tape machines (Two revoxes and a Telefunken M15A). I've worked with tape for over a decade quite actively when I thought it was cool. Haven't touched any of the machines for a long time now though as the maintenance was getting on my nerve and I lack a proper calibration tape and do not plan on spending 600$+ on one.

I've tested and worked with plugins and digital DSP stuff since the mid 90's and tested literal thousands of plugins in my life.

So yeah, I'm quite confident in my abilities to determine what I think sounds good or bad, authentic or not (still just my subjective opinion of course) within the first minute or so. And it doesn't take many seconds to realize the mediocrity of the UI and how annoying it is to operate.

[Kai Enaki]

I guess their new plugin (just added to kvr in the past day) can be compared head to head with the soundtoys emulation.

Ironic that after 4 more releases they will have more plugins than the entire Soundtoys portfolio.

What I find interesting with this whole thing is how they decided to squander 5 years worth of marketing beats and the potential brand recognition and trust that could've come with it.