Ekssperimental Sounds: TAPEFUNK M10 RE released

[MrFigg]

It's OK, you can call me cynical too but I personally don't think the Ekss REs are all that. They seem to look a lot, lot better than they actually sound. The Ekss stuff is the other way round in some respects - absolutely world class graphics and visual design but the sounds just don't do it for me in any of the REs I've tried

Got to ask...what ones have you tried? Interested to hear which of his devices you dont think sound good. Have you tried Industrializer or Filter Chain for example? Or the Dub Soundsystem one?. Personally I place Ekss up there as one of the higher quality developers. I’m not going to name the RE heroes but we know who they are right? You are right about his GUIs though. Awesome.

[Yonatan]

Imulse Responses or not. I have only tried spring reverb and it gave a sound I was after. Will have to try the other stuff. Love to see the effects in the shop in a time where RE shop is at a lower point.
But it is amazing how one can use RE in RRP in other DAWs also.

[epoch]

It's OK, you can call me cynical too but I personally don't think the Ekss REs are all that. They seem to look a lot, lot better than they actually sound. The Ekss stuff is the other way round in some respects - absolutely world class graphics and visual design but the sounds just don't do it for me in any of the REs I've tried

Got to ask...what ones have you tried? Interested to hear which of his devices you dont think sound good. Have you tried Industrializer or Filter Chain for example? Or the Dub Soundsystem one?. Personally I place Ekss up there as one of the higher quality developers. I’m not going to name the RE heroes but we know who they are right? You are right about his GUIs though. Awesome.

I've trialed all of them. I found the FX pretty generic and the instruments un-inspiring. The graphics are to die for though.

[challism]

Got to ask...what ones have you tried? Interested to hear which of his devices you dont think sound good. Have you tried Industrializer or Filter Chain for example? Or the Dub Soundsystem one?. Personally I place Ekss up there as one of the higher quality developers. I’m not going to name the RE heroes but we know who they are right? You are right about his GUIs though. Awesome.

I've trialed all of them. I found the FX pretty generic and the instruments un-inspiring. The graphics are to die for though.

Interesting to read your thoughts. I think we can all agree that Ekss GUI is to die for; world-class graphics, no doubt. I haven't tried many Ekss REs, so I can't really chime in for most of them. I have tried 4, and of those 4, I only own 3.

I have ES400 (FM synth) and have enjoyed it. But to be honest, since Algoritm has been in my rack, I reach for that 100% of the time when I want an FM synth. Algo pretty much blows every FM synth away, and I don't see changing any time soon. The "new" factor has well worn off and I'm still loving Algo.

I have the Ekss spring reverb that was initially offered for free. It sounds pretty good but it's sucks up a lot of DSP. But I do use it when I am wanting to introduce some King Tubby type sounds.

I just bought Ekss Industrializer during the May Madness sale and am still blown away by this effect device. I love it so much! I knew I was going to buy it after trying it for about 5 minutes. It's wonderful and I can't speak too highly about it. I can't believe you don't like this device.

I have no idea about the rest of the Ekss product line, other than saying they look fantastic. I wish RS would hire Erik to do all their GUI.

Imulse Responses or not. I have only tried spring reverb and it gave a sound I was after. Will have to try the other stuff. Love to see the effects in the shop in a time where RE shop is at a lower point.
But it is amazing how one can use RE in RRP in other DAWs also.

I really like that spring reverb. Too bad it sucks up the DSP, but whatever. It sounds good and delivers when you are looking for that certain King Tubby type sound. So you only trialed it? Did you not pick it up when it was offered for free? That was version 1, anyway. I think version 2 has some extra stuff (including a price tag). I got version 1 when it was free for a week or two.

I have to imagine that the RRP has helped RE sales a bit. Some of the REs in the shop are so good, even when compared to the VSTs on the market. And I know a lot of other DAW users were excited to be able to finally use some REs (and Reason devices, such as Thor). And I agree, it is nice to see Ekss pumping out REs during a time when RE development seems to have hit a lull. A handful of developers seem to be keeping active, and I appreciate that.

[ekss]

First! - really nice to hear you guys are liking the sound!

To answer some of the critique;

GUI is like it is because I wanted it to resemble the original unit (like MrFigg pointed out). I like to keep my RE's as close to "real" as possible, much because I really like the hardware rack analogy that is the core of Reason.

Regards to the "only IR and some hiss" - it's actually more happening 'behind the scenes' - I updated the product page today with some more details (those were only found in the info sheet earlier).

And about the price being a bit on the high side, well it's many hours of work behind every RE and since I did this one with Past to Future we're also sharing the earnings. There are plans on an 1.1 update with some added controls - and the updates will be free. And there will always be sales coming up, like BF and MM

[ekss]

I really like that spring reverb. Too bad it sucks up the DSP, but whatever. It sounds good and delivers when you are looking for that certain King Tubby type sound.

I'll investigate if a "quality switch" could be done (and still sound ok) to save some power!

[challism]

I really like that spring reverb. Too bad it sucks up the DSP, but whatever. It sounds good and delivers when you are looking for that certain King Tubby type sound.

I'll investigate if a "quality switch" could be done (and still sound ok) to save some power!

That would be awesome. I hope I didn't come across as complaining. Only a fool would complain about a free RE, right? Thanks again for the gift! I think it sounds good.

[ekss]

I'll investigate if a "quality switch" could be done (and still sound ok) to save some power!

That would be awesome. I hope I didn't come across as complaining. Only a fool would complain about a free RE, right? Thanks again for the gift! I think it sounds good.

Not at all!
It might take some time thou, many projects at the moment and trying to finish them all first

[Yonatan]

I'll investigate if a "quality switch" could be done (and still sound ok) to save some power!

That would be awesome. I hope I didn't come across as complaining. Only a fool would complain about a free RE, right? Thanks again for the gift! I think it sounds good.

Yes, I did grab it but also bought the update.
Have not used it on a whole big mix yet so have not felt the cpu load. If a lower option switch would be possible, that would be a great thing.
Sounds interesting that more RE are on its way. RE lives on! I once was a bit worried that RE as idea would one day fade out, but now when the Rack can be a plugin and vst are allowed in the DAW,
it is quite exciting times. Any RE could be used in other DAWs. It is extraordinary. But I love using Reason standalone, but the freedom that has developed is a really nice thing. And I also really hope that the RE devs will benefit soon enough from the spread of RRP.

[kbard]

I'll investigate if a "quality switch" could be done (and still sound ok) to save some power!

Just please leave sound quality as it is now. Weeks later I am still blown away of this. It works fantastic. Even at 96khz I don't have any issue with CPU consumption but my configurations is quite new and probably extreme (16 cores).

Am I hearing this correctly, there is some sort of compression in the signal as well? This is not just tape impulse loaded in it. I hear some compression and saturation FX. ??

My only feature request would be that I would like to have Dry/Wet mix but otherwise it's perfect really. Price is also right. GUI fantastic. But sound is what I am amazed with. In some cases effect is so nice but a little bit too much hence my Dry/Wet between 0-100%. I can decrease character by turning down input and raising output but dry wet would make it faster to work with.

I also understand that in some cases Dry/Wet probably isn't possible even though it sound very simplistic like "hey it's just a dry-wet control" so even if you don't ever add it, I am perfectly satisfied with the product as it is.

Keep up the good work.

[ekss]

Just please leave sound quality as it is now. Weeks later I am still blown away of this. It works fantastic. Even at 96khz I don't have any issue with CPU consumption but my configurations is quite new and probably extreme (16 cores).

Am I hearing this correctly, there is some sort of compression in the signal as well? This is not just tape impulse loaded in it. I hear some compression and saturation FX. ??

My only feature request would be that I would like to have Dry/Wet mix but otherwise it's perfect really. Price is also right. GUI fantastic. But sound is what I am amazed with. In some cases effect is so nice but a little bit too much hence my Dry/Wet between 0-100%. I can decrease character by turning down input and raising output but dry wet would make it faster to work with.

I also understand that in some cases Dry/Wet probably isn't possible even though it sound very simplistic like "hey it's just a dry-wet control" so even if you don't ever add it, I am perfectly satisfied with the product as it is.

Keep up the good work.

Im happy you like the Tapefunk!

A quality switch would not alter the sound when set to Default. It would (if sounding ok/having a significant effect) provide an option for lower CPU consumption.
But I still have to look into it

Yes your right, there’s a bunch of stuff happening “behind the scenes” besides the IR. Like Tube type gain, compression, limiting and eq stuff.

I suspect a dry/wet mix could introduce some phase issues but need to test that. If it works out nice it’s a good addition!

I’ve already started experimenting with adding a tube drive offset and EQ bias curves. Only on prototype stage yet, but be sure updates will come in the future (free for owners of 1.0) .

Cheers!
/Erik

[Faastwalker]

Just spotted this from Softube;




Different kind of device of course. But looks similar to TAPEFUNK. All that empty space is giving me serious OCD issues!!

[SpeculationStudios]

Just spotted this from Softube;




Different kind of device of course. But looks similar to TAPEFUNK. All that empty space is giving me serious OCD issues!!

If the comparison is to an Ekssperimental Sounds product, then it should probably be compared against the GUI of TE TapeEcho Mk2 https://www.reasonstudios.com/shop/rack ... eecho-mk2/
Of course, I would also like to see a head to head comparison of the effects capabilities as well.

[Steedus]

Holy shit that looks (and sounds) pretty tasty, though I think Ekss provides a superior funk to the tape part

[joeyluck]

Just please leave sound quality as it is now. Weeks later I am still blown away of this. It works fantastic. Even at 96khz I don't have any issue with CPU consumption but my configurations is quite new and probably extreme (16 cores).

Am I hearing this correctly, there is some sort of compression in the signal as well? This is not just tape impulse loaded in it. I hear some compression and saturation FX. ??

My only feature request would be that I would like to have Dry/Wet mix but otherwise it's perfect really. Price is also right. GUI fantastic. But sound is what I am amazed with. In some cases effect is so nice but a little bit too much hence my Dry/Wet between 0-100%. I can decrease character by turning down input and raising output but dry wet would make it faster to work with.

I also understand that in some cases Dry/Wet probably isn't possible even though it sound very simplistic like "hey it's just a dry-wet control" so even if you don't ever add it, I am perfectly satisfied with the product as it is.

Keep up the good work.

Im happy you like the Tapefunk!

A quality switch would not alter the sound when set to Default. It would (if sounding ok/having a significant effect) provide an option for lower CPU consumption.
But I still have to look into it

Yes your right, there’s a bunch of stuff happening “behind the scenes” besides the IR. Like Tube type gain, compression, limiting and eq stuff.

I suspect a dry/wet mix could introduce some phase issues but need to test that. If it works out nice it’s a good addition!

I’ve already started experimenting with adding a tube drive offset and EQ bias curves. Only on prototype stage yet, but be sure updates will come in the future (free for owners of 1.0) .

Cheers!
/Erik

Any updates on the possibility of a mix control? I love the sound, but like kbard mentions, sometimes I want to dial it back a little, as I would do on other devices like Audiomatic.

I wonder also if there could be some level of control given to the other effects under the hood, even if just a single on/off for those in order to just have the IRs processing, if you want to hear it with just the IR and have it follow other effects in your own chain. An overall intensity could be cool too.

If there are phasing issues with a mix control, would that be because of the other effects aside from the IRs? Because I know if it was just a "reverb", it could be mixed without phasing.

[ekss]

...

Truth is this update has been way too long at the "low priority-list" - I'll try to make time for looking into this asap! Rest assure, updates will come

[joeyluck]

...

Truth is this update has been way too long at the "low priority-list" - I'll try to make time for looking into this asap! Rest assure, updates will come

Cool

[Steedus]

An update would be nice. Some extra internal settings to tweak would be ideal - even if it's relegated to the back panel to keep the current look.

[Theo.M]

I know this is a necro bump but this RE is really a very big deal.
I just downloaded the demo, I wanted to see if there were any tape RE, and I am blown away.
The compression is really good and the saturation is delightful and this sounds better than most vst/au/aax tape plugins I have tried.
I was able to double the perceived loudness of a synth part without increasing the peak output. Basically it's actually doing tape compression which most tape plugins don't, combined with great saturation, I was able to do this before it hit audible distortion territory. This is a very, very good plugin.
Damn it's on sale too so I don't think I have a choice, but the sale ends soon and I need to test CPU usage and if there is latency and if so if it's reported correctly and all that (so there isn't phasing) and so on and I feel a bit under pressure to do it all in time so I might have to wait till Black Friday or keep and eye on it and hope for a sale before then.
For example the IK tape plugins are very good even though they don't model any tape compression whatsoever (at all, it's really weird), they have this invisible hi-fi sheen that can rally be felt, not heard, and they are well loved.. BUT, they use so much CPU they can't be used even on a modern computer in a true multitrack scenario, so back when they first came out I didn't buy for this reason, and I tested them in various scenarios for days. can't make a decision in minutes LOL.
I wish the spring RE sale wasn't just 2 days. Oh well.

[Theo.M]

An update would be nice. Some extra internal settings to tweak would be ideal - even if it's relegated to the back panel to keep the current look.

I actually love the simplicity. All I would want is an auto gain and I think it can be squeezed into a 1U rack device rather than double since it's so simple, but it sounds fantastic.

[Theo.M]

Oh man, this is such a shame.

Good and bad news.

The good news is that the CPU hit is about 1/50th of the IK tapes whilst sounding nearly as good.

The bad is that there's some sort of latency happening and it's not reported to the reason mixer. For my purposes, this makes the device a no for me, and I am truly bummed to the hills and back about it.

How do I know this? Duplicate an audio track without any effects on it and solo just those two tracks.
Add Tapefunk to one of them, and enjoy the phasing/flanging.

Invert the phase of one channel and that will tell you more. Bypass tapefunk and invert phase and of course there is silence.

Tape emulations that correctly report their latency, in the same phase invert test you would only hear the effect of the tape, i.e. the difference of what it is adding.

Look, it doesn't make it totally unusable, but it means you can not use it on parallel channels, it means that there might be issues when used on entirely different sounds that have some shared frequencies.

I would want to add this on every single track with the most subtle of drive and use it to "track to tape" in the digital domain.

So for my use case there could definitely be issues. If you want to use it on a bass here or there, or a vocal here or there, there won't be an issue (as long as you haven't duplicated the vocal to double it of course) and so on.

I really hope the developer takes this seriously and fixes it, and I'd be all over this one.

[jam-s]

The bad is that there's some sort of latency happening and it's not reported to the reason mixer. For my purposes, this makes the device a no for me, and I am truly bummed to the hills and back about it.
...
I really hope the developer takes this seriously and fixes it, and I'd be all over this one.

From experience ekss is usually very fast on fixing things. Giving a minimal example file showcasing the issue usually helps in speeding things up even more.

ping to ekss so this gets noticed.

[Theo.M]

The bad is that there's some sort of latency happening and it's not reported to the reason mixer. For my purposes, this makes the device a no for me, and I am truly bummed to the hills and back about it.
...
I really hope the developer takes this seriously and fixes it, and I'd be all over this one.

From experience ekss is usually very fast on fixing things. Giving a minimal example file showcasing the issue usually helps in speeding things up even more.

ping to ekss so this gets noticed.

You mean like a reason song file?
I can make one up very quickly of two identical tracks with only one of them with the tape effect on it and he can then bypass the one instance of the effect to hear what it's doing wrong.

That said, it could be by design, as from memory, U-HE Satin works this way as well to minimise latency.

This is why I love options. Just a simple toggle switch to enable latency reporting or not, up to the user. Good idea?

I am thinking it probably has some sort of internal up sampling also and there's no way to do that at zero latency without causing the exact issue I am describing, so again, it could be by design.

[ekss]

From experience ekss is usually very fast on fixing things. Giving a minimal example file showcasing the issue usually helps in speeding things up even more.

You mean like a reason song file?
I can make one up very quickly of two identical tracks with only one of them with the tape effect on it and he can then bypass the one instance of the effect to hear what it's doing wrong.

That said, it could be by design, as from memory, U-HE Satin works this way as well to minimise latency.

This is why I love options. Just a simple toggle switch to enable latency reporting or not, up to the user. Good idea?

I am thinking it probably has some sort of internal up sampling also and there's no way to do that at zero latency without causing the exact issue I am describing, so again, it could be by design.

I build all my REs with GE – not sure if its possible to report latency but will look into it!

It's coming a free update in a couple of weeks, with some control of the internal parameters, added wobble option and patch saving, if I can solve a latency report feature I'll include it too.
Of course wobble will make parallel processing impossible, or it will act somewhat like flanging (the flanger effect originate from lightly pressing a finger on the 'flange' (rim) of the tape reel)
It's not really ment to be used for parallel processing, you would'nt typically run a tape recording in parallel with your track unless you'd want flanging. It's more suited for the drum bus, individual channels or the master. But I'll look into latency report, if it's doable it will come

[crimsonwarlock]

The bad is that there's some sort of latency happening and it's not reported to the reason mixer. For my purposes, this makes the device a no for me, and I am truly bummed to the hills and back about it.

You can probably solve this issue wit the free sample-delay RE.