FerricTDS - Tape Dynamics Simulator

This plugin can glue the signal feed in and give it more warmth but be aware!

It does that even without to engage/turn the 2 main knobs 'Saturation' and 'Dynamics'. You can hear but also see that by taking a look at the corresponding meters. So, 0% value is not 0% effect. Keep that in mind while using it. I personally prefer an exponential parameter, but it works well tough.

In fact, I can put it on a track without even to consider to touch any knobs, and it does it job quite well.

I have to say that, after I put a meter behind and tested the effected with the bypassed signal (DAW-bypass, not the one in the interface), FerricTDS seems to increase volume a little around 0.4 to 0.5 db. So no exact unity gain comparison but still the signal is better in comparison to the bypassed signal turned louder accordingly.

If you using it on individual tracks, it however could make the sound a little muddy or dark (especially due to the no 0% effect). So if you feed a clear and already EQ-ed signal into it, might be prepared and put a EQ afterward or use it before any EQing.

Native Bypass-Switch is also a very very helpful feature by adjusting the parameters.

Great plugin.

This plugin is awesome. I can make anything sound like it's a cassette recording. Good on bass and drum busses but on the master as well. My favorite trick though is to sidechain it to a kick which creates a sweet but still very transparent whoomph/sweep-effect of the whole mix.

Most users of FerricTDS rave about it as soon as they hear it, but it took me a while to come around, as I didn't know what Ferric was intended to do. Going back and listening to some of my favorite pre 2000's albums, I gradually began to recognize that big tape sound that Ferric seems to pull off pretty well. It's funny because I heard that sound in Ferric, before I recognized it in those old albums. I was looking for the crunchy and dirty sound on my favorite old punk and rock n roll records, but Ferric leans more toward the big 2" tape sound. If you are like me, and you aren't hearing it at first, give some Pink Floyd a good listen, and then revisit Ferric. You'll hear it, and yes, Ferric does a good job of pulling it off. You might need to go heavy with it at first, to get familiar with the sound, but after your ears get adjusted, you might save any heavy handed settings for the bus. Ferric can also cover some of the dirty side of things well, but there is more than one kind of dirty tape sound, and no single plugin can cover it all. What Ferric was intended to do, it does well. If you're like me, and you're longing for that sweet crunchy sound that can be heard on old soul, funk, and punk records, sorry, it isn't covered here. Maybe go and give Bootsy at Variety of Sound a wink and a nudge. ;) I think that he was approaching this type of thing with NastyHi and NastyLo, so who knows what the future might hold.

This is to me by far the best freeware saturation plugin and the creamiest compression you can get inside the box.

The 2 saturation modes work well for hi end material as well as basses, rhodes, etc. The 1 knob compression is as soft as you can think of, making it almost impossible to make the source material sound bad, even at extreme settings.

The GUI is really cool and easy enough to get the thing sounding without reading the manual (a bit big though), but if you want to know all the details you should definitely take a look at the pdf. Its worth the reading as usual with VoS plugins.

If you have a PC you shouldnt miss this or any of the other VoS plugins.

VOS is slowly becoming my favurite Freeware daveloper. While demoing lot of stuff recently from tube EQs to all kind of character compressors, I (sorry for comparing, but I really need to :/) found out VintageWarmer. Instant: "Aaaaah, so that's where they get this flavour!" Especially if you listen to lots of EDM, this "flavour" is everywhere. Unfortunately price tag was still a bit problematic, so I went to find something that could replace it.

I had a simple layered kickdrum and AB'd PSP's master piece to all kinds of custom made chains. Closest I got (still not much, but anyway) was with DAW's EQ, Compressor and little bass enhancer... But there was still something missing. Then I remember Ferric. That was it. Still not even 50% same and I know if Iturn even one button on VintageWarmer, it would make another cool colour I'd be recreating for hours, but fact, that this little freeware was capable of those results was amazing.

...so I tried to use it on it's own an it's great. It's amazing on wash out hihats, where (cheaper) tube saturation makes just some unpleasant hiss. Or on little subtle undisturbing, but pleasant bass saturation. Didn't try too much free tape saturators though, just few in past and can easily say, that Ferric is the best of them.

It has few downsides. Easily overuse-able as it has just one character. Would be cool to have more tape models, circuit models, but that's just neatpicking. Also on some material is efect too subtle. It could be good thing, It stops you from using it too much, but still. Sometimes is nice to hear how it sounds in extreme settings, just for good overview, but Ferric can't go that far. Anyway all together it just is amazing tape saturation. Just dowload it! :)

There are just really really really few freeware developers that could compete with payware, but this guy (guys?) is definitely one of them, if not the best.