Vinyl

I'm really surprised no one has reviewed this yet...

Basically, Vinyl is, as its name suggests, a plug that makes your audio source sound as if it were coming off a turntable. And its really effective, when used in moderation. The sound is surprisingly authentic, and really good.

It models turntable models from the 1930's on up to today. As you can probably guess, the further back in time you go, the more constricted the audio will sound. It also can add mechanical noise, 60hz hum, dust crackles, and scratches. I tend to go very light on those four processes, but I use the "wear and tear" slider (which makes it sound like a worn record/stylus) heavily. I also hype the sound by increasing the input level, and lowereing the output level.

All in all, I love Vinyl, and its VFM is thru the roof here! I use it all the time, to make my synth parts sound like samples, and I have fooled a fair number of people.

The only downside I can think of is that the static and scratches don't lock to MIDI clock, and you can't pitch the noise up or down. They're pretty random in time. Which is fine if you are intending to make your whole mix sound like an authentic record, but it doesn't quite work so well when you're trying to imitate a sample. Because, as anyone who's ever sampled from vinyl would know, the crackles and scratches in the sample are static in time. So if you replay a sample, the static will be in the same location every single time, and if you pitch up a sample, the static will be pitched up as well. A simple way around this is, of course to bounce to audio, but this creates another set of limitations...

Overall Vinyl is the shizzle! All you hip hoppers owe this plug a download. I'd happily pay $25 for this freebie.