Softube Tape "It's time to get reel"

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pjeudy
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07 Jun 2017



It's time to get reel! Softube’s Tape plug-in adds cohesion and weight to your mixes. But Tape goes far beyond your average tape machine emulation. It includes three distinctly different tape machine types, and it offers the ease of use and low CPU strain that today’s music creators rightfully expect.

Even in this day and age, it's common practice for computer based professional studios to run their mixes through at least one generation of analog tape. Why? Because even when used subtly, analog tape has a smoothing effect and adds cohesion and weight to a mix—it takes the recording from a collection of individual tracks into a song where everything is connected and works together. With Softube’s Tape plug-in, you can have all that and more.

Three Machines in One
Tape includes three different tape machine types in one plug-in. Type A is based on a classic Swiss high end reel-to-reel machine, known and loved for its precision and linearity. Type B is much more colorful—it’s a transformer based machine which adds extra weight and cream to the low end. Lastly, Type C is based on a British tape machine with a distinct vintage vibe.

Ease of Use
Select your favorite tape machine Type, and adjust the Amount knob to taste. In most cases, that’s all you need to do to soak your tracks in analog tape sweetness. Easier still, load up one of the included presets, made by award winning engineers such as Joe Chiccarelli (Beck, U2, Strokes) and Howard Willing (Smashing Pumpkins, Sheryl Crow, Kris Kristofferson).

But Wait, There’s More
Feeling tweaky? Why not start by trying the different tape speed settings—you’ll find that the slower the tape speed, the more pronounced is the so-called tape head bump, which adds low end to the mix. Or open the Remote Control panel where you can control the selected tape machine’s speed stability, crosstalk amount and several other tape-a-liscious features.

Dense Sound, Light on CPU
Add a single instance of Tape on your master bus to emulate what most computer based studios do today—mix in the computer, then mix down to a stereo tape machine—or go vintage style by adding Tape to every single track in your mix. Yes, your computer will be able to handle it. As most Softube plug-ins, Tape is uniquely light on your computer’s processor.

Extras for Studio One Users :clap:
If you run Presonus Studio One, you can not only use Tape as a standard plug-in. Adding Tape to your MixFX slot gives you Tape Multitrack. Tape Multitrack includes all the goodies of Tape, but in addition, you get selectable crosstalk between each individual track—and you can easily control the Tape Multitrack settings from a single interface. The Tape and Tape Multitrack license is one and the same. This means that if you’re not a Studio One user but at some future point decide to switch to that DAW, you will already have Tape Multitrack installed, licensed and ready to go.

Realistic analog tape sound
Three tape machine types included
Easy to use
Low CPU usage
Includes Tape Multitrack which can be used in the MixFX slot of Presonus Studio One—adding individual channel crosstalk and singleinterface control of all tracks

https://www.softube.com/index.php?id=tape
https://www.audiodeluxe.com/products/au ... ftube-tape

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.9 or newer.
Windows 64-bit, versions 8 or 10. We have not qualified our plug-ins for Windows 10 Anniversary Edition.
Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon 64 X2 or newer
Screen resolution larger than 1280x800
1 GB RAM or more, and at least 6 GB hard disk space for installation (individual plug-ins take less space)
Any VST, VST3, AU, or AAX (Pro Tools 10.3.7, 11.0.2 or higher) compatible host application
Softube/Gobbler account
Gobbler application to manage license activation and plug-in downloads
Broadband internet access for downloading installer and registering licenses.
All Softube plug-ins support both 32- and 64-bit hosts, although a 64-bit OS is required. Supported sample rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96, 176.4 and 192 kHz, in both mono and stereo.
Last edited by pjeudy on 19 Jun 2017, edited 3 times in total.
My opinion is that Propellerhead REASON needs a complete rewrite!
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Mon Dec 11, 2017 1:53 pm

Gulale
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07 Jun 2017

Finally Softube has grown up. They always put their product over priced. Now I will buy it specially for studio one feature. I love tape. great price!
Gulale aka Bereket

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EnochLight
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07 Jun 2017

U-He's Satin has far more features and control. I'm not sure what this brings to the table that I can't do with Satin instead (aside from low CPU use). In fact, even at its sale price - it seems priced too high IMHO. Eh... I'll try it though.
Last edited by EnochLight on 07 Jun 2017, edited 1 time in total.
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QVprod
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07 Jun 2017

Looks great. I'd actually say feature wise it looks about on par with Satin actually. For Studio One users definitely as the grouping feature of Satin is basically built into S1 Mix fx.

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EnochLight
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07 Jun 2017

QVprod wrote:Looks great. I'd actually say feature wise it looks about on par with Satin actually. For Studio One users definitely as the grouping feature of Satin is basically built into S1 Mix fx.
Things U-He Satin does that Softube's Tape does not:
  • Analog delay
  • Analog flange
  • Soft clip
  • Fine tune (and separate) control over hiss, asperity, wow & flutter, bias, gap width, and bump
  • Fine tune control over the encoder and decoder
  • Headroom control
But the CPU use does seem to be a bit less, so there's that. And if I mastered in Studio One, the track crosstalk integration is pretty sweet.
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tiker01
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07 Jun 2017

EnochLight wrote:
QVprod wrote:Looks great. I'd actually say feature wise it looks about on par with Satin actually. For Studio One users definitely as the grouping feature of Satin is basically built into S1 Mix fx.
.... the track crosstalk integration is pretty sweet.
i really hope we will se channel cross talk in Reason soon.
    
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QVprod
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07 Jun 2017

EnochLight wrote:
QVprod wrote:Looks great. I'd actually say feature wise it looks about on par with Satin actually. For Studio One users definitely as the grouping feature of Satin is basically built into S1 Mix fx.
Things U-He Satin does that Softube's Tape does not:
  • Analog delay
  • Analog flange
  • Soft clip
  • Fine tune (and separate) control over hiss, asperity, wow & flutter, bias, gap width, and bump
  • Fine tune control over the encoder and decoder
  • Headroom control
But the CPU use does seem to be a bit less, so there's that. And if I mastered in Studio One, the track crosstalk integration is pretty sweet.
Satin gives a bit more individualized control for creative effects. As a mixing tool though I'd put them about equal. many of those features aside from delay and soft clip maybe are probably included in the Color, Speed Stability, and Noise parameters.

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EnochLight
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07 Jun 2017

tiker01 wrote:
EnochLight wrote:
QVprod wrote:Looks great. I'd actually say feature wise it looks about on par with Satin actually. For Studio One users definitely as the grouping feature of Satin is basically built into S1 Mix fx.
.... the track crosstalk integration is pretty sweet.
i really hope we will se channel cross talk in Reason soon.
In Satin, while you can create groups that control multiple tracks at the same time (and switch between them), crosstalk is limited to the two L/R tracks within each instance. Something to do with the latency introduced when trying to sync audio buffers between multiple instances. I wonder how Softube's crosstalk works? Anyone know?
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QVprod
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07 Jun 2017

EnochLight wrote:
tiker01 wrote:
EnochLight wrote:
QVprod wrote:Looks great. I'd actually say feature wise it looks about on par with Satin actually. For Studio One users definitely as the grouping feature of Satin is basically built into S1 Mix fx.
.... the track crosstalk integration is pretty sweet.
i really hope we will se channel cross talk in Reason soon.
In Satin, while you can create groups that control multiple tracks at the same time (and switch between them), crosstalk is limited to the two L/R tracks within each instance. Something to do with the latency introduced when trying to sync audio buffers between multiple instances. I wonder how Softube's crosstalk works? Anyone know?
It only works with Studio One's mix fx which is applied to busses and works across every channel in the bus. Crosstalk would work across all the tracks in that bus or all tracks if used on the master bus.

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CephaloPod
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07 Jun 2017

What is the benefit of having crosstalk across tracks? Does it just help "glue" everything together?
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EnochLight
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07 Jun 2017

CephaloPod wrote:What is the benefit of having crosstalk across tracks? Does it just help "glue" everything together?
Honestly, the goal is to have no cross talk in a good recording, but during the old analog days, just a light amount was almost unavoidable due to the technology's limits. I think it's popular in virtual analog DSP to mimic that old sound and "glue" it together with just the right amount of light track bleed. YMMV, of course. In some recordings it might sound cool, but in others it might ruin it, IMHO.
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selig
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07 Jun 2017

tiker01 wrote:
EnochLight wrote:
QVprod wrote:Looks great. I'd actually say feature wise it looks about on par with Satin actually. For Studio One users definitely as the grouping feature of Satin is basically built into S1 Mix fx.
.... the track crosstalk integration is pretty sweet.
i really hope we will se channel cross talk in Reason soon.
I thought the goal was wider mixes, not more narrow?


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CephaloPod
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07 Jun 2017

EnochLight wrote:
CephaloPod wrote:What is the benefit of having crosstalk across tracks? Does it just help "glue" everything together?
Honestly, the goal is to have no cross talk in a good recording, but during the old analog days, just a light amount was almost unavoidable due to the technology's limits. I think it's popular in virtual analog DSP to mimic that old sound and "glue" it together with just the right amount of light track bleed. YMMV, of course. In some recordings it might sound cool, but in others it might ruin it, IMHO.
Yeah, crosstalk as a GOOD thing is new to me!
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QVprod
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07 Jun 2017

selig wrote:
tiker01 wrote:
EnochLight wrote:
QVprod wrote:Looks great. I'd actually say feature wise it looks about on par with Satin actually. For Studio One users definitely as the grouping feature of Satin is basically built into S1 Mix fx.
.... the track crosstalk integration is pretty sweet.
i really hope we will se channel cross talk in Reason soon.
I thought the goal was wider mixes, not more narrow?


Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
You know very well that the trend is adding in everything that you tried to avoid in analog. XD

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aeox
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07 Jun 2017

people will buy this just because it looks cool

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gak
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07 Jun 2017

selig wrote: Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
Sorry, I had to lol over that.

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gak
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07 Jun 2017

aeox wrote:people will buy this just because it looks cool
Yeah.

@U-HE: Yeah, it was great. A lot of sound sculpting iirc, and the fx are nice.

But, I'm over most saturation. Maybe on drums, maybe on the master. But this "every track" is overkill to the max.

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Zac
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07 Jun 2017

Do we need the old fella gak spoiler?

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pjeudy
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07 Jun 2017

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Last edited by pjeudy on 07 Jun 2017, edited 1 time in total.
My opinion is that Propellerhead REASON needs a complete rewrite!
P.S: people should stop saying "No it won't happen" when referring to a complete rewrite of REASON. I have 3 letters for ya....VST
Mon Dec 11, 2017 1:53 pm

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selig
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07 Jun 2017

gak wrote:
aeox wrote:people will buy this just because it looks cool
Yeah.

@U-HE: Yeah, it was great. A lot of sound sculpting iirc, and the fx are nice.

But, I'm over most saturation. Maybe on drums, maybe on the master. But this "every track" is overkill to the max.
Only if you over-do it. If you hear saturation, it's probably too much in most cases. But there are many more subtle ways to saturate multiple tracks in a song, which in my experience can be amazing (better than saturating the entire mix IMO in every case where I've compared).


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The_G
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08 Jun 2017

selig wrote:
tiker01 wrote:
EnochLight wrote:
QVprod wrote:Looks great. I'd actually say feature wise it looks about on par with Satin actually. For Studio One users definitely as the grouping feature of Satin is basically built into S1 Mix fx.
.... the track crosstalk integration is pretty sweet.
i really hope we will se channel cross talk in Reason soon.
I thought the goal was wider mixes, not more narrow?


Sent from some crappy device using Tapatalk
On the topic of crosstalk, I just got Sonimus Satson, which has a crosstalk feature. I was told by a friend who uses it and is a successful pro that the best strategy is to turn crosstalk off on the channel and bus inserts, but turn it on on the master bus insert. I'm still new to Satson, but it does seem to add just a touch of glue. Since the music I make is essentially retro, it's a nice stylistic element but subtle enough that it's not muddying up the mix.
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FLVZ
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08 Jun 2017

selig wrote:
gak wrote:
aeox wrote:people will buy this just because it looks cool
Yeah.

@U-HE: Yeah, it was great. A lot of sound sculpting iirc, and the fx are nice.

But, I'm over most saturation. Maybe on drums, maybe on the master. But this "every track" is overkill to the max.
If you hear saturation, it's probably too much in most cases.
What ?! I have come across people who say this too often! If you can't hear the effect then why are you using it ? People say the same about compression, I mean if it has to be that subtle its probably not needed. Imagine saying something like this back in the day, before DAWs, when you had to listen to make your decisions. I've never understood this saying, that is all! :lol:

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SoulState
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08 Jun 2017

Flavolous wrote:
selig wrote: If you hear saturation, it's probably too much in most cases.
What ?! I have come across people who say this too often! If you can't hear the effect then why are you using it ? People say the same about compression, I mean if it has to be that subtle its probably not needed. Imagine saying something like this back in the day, before DAWs, when you had to listen to make your decisions. I've never understood this saying, that is all! :lol:
Put it this way...

If you listen to a well mixed/produced recording, it'll probably have REVERB on most tracks. Some of the tracks will have reverb that is so subtle that its barely detectable, but if you were to take the reverb off you'd notice the song had lost something. You might not be able to say what is missing - especially if you're listening passively - but you'd notice the song doesn't sound as "cool". :cool:
Last edited by SoulState on 08 Jun 2017, edited 1 time in total.
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Marco Raaphorst
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08 Jun 2017

I love the Waves J37. Not sure if this will be any better though.

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EnochLight
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08 Jun 2017

Marco Raaphorst wrote:I love the Waves J37. Not sure if this will be any better though.
According to at least one user, it is:
[Regarding Softube Tape] The "amount" setting is incredibly useful in conjunction with the input level. This is missing from Satin and j37 and really, really works. You can dial back the amount setting to 25 or 50% and then push the input until you get a little bit if drive and then back it off. THEN, you can push and pull that amount setting and really dial in what you want. This is easier and more effective than the competition.

The speed stability is great. Better than Satin, better than j37. It sounds very real and there is a wide range of warble. I really like it. AND you can use this in conjunction with the wet/dry to get some very nice phasing effects. Useful.
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