TapeIt 2

From a long time I've been looking for a convincent freeze/rendering solution. My host is Cubase SX, but its freeze features aren't specially powerful, as everybody knows. I also tested FX-Freeze, but didn't find it intuitive enough. TapeIt 2, however, suited perfectly my needs, I'll explain why.

TapeIt 2, as its predecessor TapeIt, is basically a VST plugin that records streams of audio in realtime inside of a sequencer. Depending where you put it, it can be useful to save to disk the output of an specific VSTi or audio channel, a group or even an entire mix. But changes between v1 and v2 are extensive, and they put TapeIt 2 in a different level.

The GUI is very clear and functional. It has different bars, which can be hidden or showed individually, making it completely customizable:
- Main bar, which has the record buttons, level and peak indicator, file folder selection, etc.
- Waveform bar: it shows a graphical representation of the signal that is entering the plugin, useful for seeing what's going on in the recording, but also can be used, for example, to see how a compressor or eq affects the signal.
- History list: a complete list of all the files that have been recorded in the sessions. Including details like time stamp, frequency, size in MB, length.
- Sync bar: TapeIt 2 features four different synchronization modes: playback, midi, locator and measure. For example, you can make it record automaticaly between left and right locators (if your host supports this kind of cycle mode), excellent for creating exact loops; or record a precise number of bars in sync with the tempo of your host; or trigger the record start from your midi keyboard...

But there's more... drag'n'drop. Once you have the different .wavs, you can drag them from the TapeIt 2 GUI directly into a track in your sequencer. I can't imagine of a more intuitive and fastest way to render VSTi's to .wav and work with the different parts. It's really a dream for the workflow.

Documentation is also very complete and well written. It comes in the form of a help file, accesable from the GUI itself. The document explains in detail the different plugin features, and also includes pics of every part of the GUI.

Customer support: I've had the opportunity to test it, and I must say it's outstading. I reported a bug that made Cubase SX 2.02 crash and Thomas, the developer, sent me a fixed file 3 hours later! He also showed interest in implementing some suggestions I made about possible new features.

Value for the money: considering the usefulness, extensive features, support and low price ($19), I just can consider it as an absolute bargain, totally recommended for any user working in a VST environment. IMHO, this is the best option available for VSTi rendering.

Stability: as I said before, I found a little bug that made the plugin crash in SX when its GUI was put in "always on top" mode. It has been fixed. Apart from that, TapeIt 2 has been always rock solid.Read Review