Wave Alchemy Tapewave

[revvy]

not sure if this was a request, but... you can. there's a bug in Wave Wallet where it'll not work unless you specify the amount 0.01 less than you have (e.g. if you have 3.20, specify 3.19), but both intro price, together with loyalty discount coupon, together with Wave Wallet, all work together!

Yeah I know, I did that too. Great! Mine worked for the whole amount.

[Effectsworks]

Love the interface! Generally I'm a big fan of WA.
Buuut the problem with these things is i have numerous tape emulation vsts. I don't need anymore tbh.
Also, I wasn't overly blown away by the demos.

We aren't emulating a tape machine here, this is cassette decks / tape which has a different aesthetic and character and use case, with a larger focus on degradation, very vibey compression, and authentic cassette tape saturation. As stated earlier, we are not passing off basic sounding waveshaping / soft clipping here, like much of the competition is, so should you hear a considerable difference if you check this out

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I see that now, my bad (as it's a degradation effect).
I will try the demo after what Jens said.

[seangm]

Bought it also, really liking the sound so far. I don't see a mix control though, that's something I hope gets added.

[hurricaneaudiolab]

what's with the insanely slow download speed right now? it's not my connection.

[morphex]

Why would I want my music to sound like it's recorded on cassette though? I genuinely don't get it...cassettes were mostly fkn awful. I used to have access to a studio Nakamichi back in the day and that sounded pretty good, but only because it sounded like it was recorded on something better than cassette and didn't actually sound like cassette .

I see this and other tape-style plug-ins as additional sources of coloring and character. There tends to be saturation and compression of some kind.

Although I don’t personally use them for their wow and flutter, I can see why people use them for an exaggerated 70’s and 80’s sound.

I can clearly remember that sound from when my tapes were worn out or the batteries were super low on my Walkman.

[panspOrmia]

SketchCassette 2 best tape

Wavesfactory CASSETTE. I`ve never heard anything better..

[wave alchemy]

Even with all dials at 0, it still sounds overdone. I think Aberrant DSP's SketchCassette or Arturia's Mello-Fi are still better options than this one. More control over the sound and Tapewave doesn't seem to offer anything different, especially compared to SketchCassette.

Simply turn down the input slider if you want less of a 'tape' effect. We'll also likely add a function (in an update) where clicking the tape image disables the tape algorithm completely.

I would suggest trying this out against the others (free demo available) and hearing the difference. You should notice a noticeable difference in the modeling of the saturation and tape styles, since this is using detailed physical modeling rather than soft clipping and EQ curves

[wave alchemy]

Wavesfactory CASSETTE. I`ve never heard anything better..

Try the Tapewave 14 day demo for yourself, and let us know your thoughts. There are also some comparisons between both plugins on this thread - but of course we'd always advise to do your own testing / listening

[Burillo]

Wavesfactory CASSETTE. I`ve never heard anything better..

Try the Tapewave 14 day demo for yourself, and let us know your thoughts. There are also some comparisons between both plugins on this thread - but of course we'd always advise to do your own testing / listening

I have both and from my own tests, Cassette can go way deeper into modeling (erasure cycles, generation loss, azimuth control, more detailed control over artifacts, and just overall more potential for destruction) but Tapewave just sounds instantly recognizable and so doesn't really need tweaking to sound great. So I personally would use both but for different reasons.

[wave alchemy]

Bought it also, really liking the sound so far. I don't see a mix control though, that's something I hope gets added.

We could easily add one, but I don't think it would sound exactly as expected, due to there being a lot of random fluctuations in the sound under the hood to emulate cassette (and hence why we didn't add one). If you are looking for that type of 'chorus / flanging' effect, just use it on a send. If its less saturation you want, simply turn down the input slider on the left (gain going into the tape) and the signal will be very clean. As said above we'll likely add a tape mode bypass switch too so you can use the compressor on its own

[wave alchemy]

I have both and from my own tests, Cassette can go way deeper into modeling (erasure cycles, generation loss, azimuth control, more detailed control over artifacts, and just overall more potential for destruction) but Tapewave just sounds instantly recognizable and so doesn't really need tweaking to sound great. So I personally would use both but for different reasons.

Yes, good summary. As I've mentioned a few times, Tapewave focuses on sound quality, and high quality and modeling of the DSP above anything else, providing an easy to use interface that sounds good no matter the settings. All the controls you mention (apart from Azimuth) and a lot more are available under the hood but are simply not exposed and instead are combined into the DSP in various ways through the Age control and other parameters and fine tuned to give a good experience without needing to tweak a bunch of parameters on separate pages. Exposing the full range of those controls just adds complexity to the user experience. Obviously the knob tweaker type of person might like to have that stuff exposed, but we do want to keep the Tapewave UI simplified and we are happy with how it is (other than wanting to add a true tape bypass switch, which we will)

[wave alchemy]

what's with the insanely slow download speed right now? it's not my connection.

I have no idea what would cause that - we can't replicate that here. Our downloads are simply hosted by the fastest Amazon S3 server option and CloudFront.

[kraster]

I’m also of the opinion like others are that the demos don’t do the plug-in justice. In fact I’d go as far as to say it might even harm it.

I think sometimes with Lofi tape effects it’s the warbling and wobbling effect that’s most identifiable but that doesn’t always sound great.

I understand the need to overdo it so people can hear the difference but I don’t particularly like how the track comes together in the end in the demo. It just sounds too wonky to me. Like there is too much pitch modulation going in different directions.

Tape wave absolutely excels at modelling. It’s the best I’ve come across.

Other cassette sims tend to make the bottom end “farty” and/or boxy. Tapewave sounds satisfyingly boomy and rich.

I can see this as a very useful plugin for enhancing weak kicks and the like.

The pitch modulation itself is great but needs a very judicious hand.

Overall I think it’s a fantastic plug-in.

[kraster]

Bought it also, really liking the sound so far. I don't see a mix control though, that's something I hope gets added.

We could easily add one, but I don't think it would sound exactly as expected, due to there being a lot of random fluctuations in the sound under the hood to emulate cassette (and hence why we didn't add one). If you are looking for that type of 'chorus / flanging' effect, just use it on a send. If its less saturation you want, simply turn down the input slider on the left (gain going into the tape) and the signal will be very clean. As said above we'll likely add a tape mode bypass switch too so you can use the compressor on its own

If you had all the pitch modulating effects off would it still sound phasey/flangey if you had a mix control?

I love the saturation and compression aspect of tapewave and it would be useful to be able to dial that in. Obviously a send or duplicate parallel track with the effect on could achieve this but it’s always nice to have it in situ.

[wave alchemy]

If you had all the pitch modulating effects off would it still sound phasey/flangey if you had a mix control?

I love the saturation and compression aspect of tapewave and it would be useful to be able to dial that in. Obviously a send or duplicate parallel track with the effect on could achieve this but it’s always nice to have it in situ.

Possibly in some of the Tape modes when using their Age controls at heavy settings, since Lofi mode especially is adding some subtle movement and fluctuations, along with other effects. I have not tested that thoroughly though.