A $58,000 Audio Tape Machine Inside Your Computer

The sound of analog tape will make your music sound "alive". And it's available for a LOT less than $58,000!

This youtube channel is perfect for people who have tin ears.

[braincoralrecords]

I have a 1/4" 2-Track Studer A80 VU right here in my studio. It's in a frame and it's like a Dalek it's so big!

I run Ampex 456 NOS and RMG900 (pretty much the same but new) and I use it for mastering my tracks which are then recorded to DSD straight out of the Studer.

I can confirm, not that my confirmation is worth much apart from the fact that pretty much nobody runs Studer A80s anymore, that it sounds exactly the same running a track through my board into the Studer and running a track out of my DAW through the Slate plug out of the board.
Slate (and Fabrice) rock huge bells imo

[NateMchaggis]

the j37 tape machine from waves is good too.

[RealHomeRecording]

Hey everyone,

I should mention that these types of saturation plugins, which Slate VTM falls under, should be used when you are starting your mixes. Adding the 1/2" machine on the master channel seems to work OK a lot of times but if you slap this plugin on tracks AND the master channel after you've already mixed a song then it will probably screw it up.

What I've found is that if you put this plugin FIRST like shown in the video then it makes mixing a lot faster.

[rb]

Don Garvin, engineer at Jeree Recording, got a great sound with a modified MCI 24-track at 30 ips. As far as I know, Don did his own mods on the MCI. Don Garvin was/is one of the best studio engineers I've ever worked with.
I don't know if it's the same machine, but they still have an MCI JH24 listed on their website.

[RealHomeRecording]

Screen captures with ASIO drivers is a tough one because none that I know can use it.

What can be done is to have a second sound card and do a physical cable loopback from your ASIO stereo out to the line-in on the card. Ironically older operating systems like Windows XP/2000 could do this in the software but copyright laws changed this ability. I know this because my Studio B system is Win XP and I can do it without an issue.

You can also try DDMF Virtual Audio Stream...that may work.

[RealHomeRecording]

When I demoed it back when it was released I didn't like what it did. It's like a more extreme version of the FG456 tape with Slate VTM so it affects the audio quality too drastically for my tastes.

Kramer has tape delay which is one thing over VTM. But you can't drive it to more extreme levels like you can with VTM.

Alternatives to VTM that I'd recommend are CD Soundmaster's R2R plugins, UAD Studer/Ampex and Toneboosters Reelbus. I think what I like best about VTM is its simplicity and sound.

[gabrielscruff]

hey man do you use mac or windows? im really wont to make some videos and screen capture (softwares) in windows dont record with audio...asio can you help me? i just wont to record video and audio at the same time... tks and nice videos!

[RealHomeRecording]

@TrevorDeanM - Film and tape have practical finite resolution. People have tried to make wider tape but it has issues with staying aligned/on the rollers. Film is the same way...have you seen a 65mm film rig?

Now making a large tape head to record one signal onto 2" tape would be interesting to hear. You make a very good point there. Film resolution was increased with Super35/Super16 so it can be done.

The human eye also has finite resolution. Camera/television makers are trying to push 4K on all of us but from a practical standpoint there isn't a reason for it. Heck, broadcasters (cable and streaming) barely show the capabilities of an HD signal thanks to the low bitrates that they use. And encoding H.255 video is like watching snails race. The world isn't ready for 4K yet and the lack of sales/interest demonstrates that.

[suryamoorthy]

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HIGHLIGHTING THE SHORTFALL OF DIGITAL . SURFING ON U TUBE -- THESE GUYS RAVE OVER THE EMPEROR WITH NO CLOTHES .GIVES ME A HEADACHE!

[uncletom]

Very informative show. I think you may be incorrect about 15ips vs 30ips. The reason most (not all) studios record or have recorded using 15ips over 30ips is because 30ips tends to decrease the low end to a noticeable degree. It is a cleaner speed but must be used with added low end processors. 15ips does not require any additional processing and is considered the perfect tape speed.

[RealHomeRecording]

People have been requesting ASIO compatibility in Camtasia for years now but to no avail. I recently sent Mirillis, a relatively new developer who makes a competing product called Action!, a feature request for ASIO support.

Maybe/hopefully they'll implement it.

[RealHomeRecording]

I said that in the video. Digital is technically superior and easier to work with. But Studer machines were as good as it got, as far as transparency is concerned.

So with this plugin you get the best of both worlds. The sound of high end tape recordings with the workflow convenience and cost savings as digital.

[plemyk]

Have you tried "Harrison Mixbus", it's a great DAW for doing final mixes, the native plugins are fantastic, and it's tape saturation is bliss.

[inlinescreamer]

What tape does is a phenomenon called quantum electron translumification, it basically send the electrical signals through a quantum field which essentially means the big bang area because the quantum field has no spacetime so it basically reached the God dimension and for that FACT you can never recreate it in a vst.

[jacekchojnacki]

Ok, this plugin (and other like this e.g. Waves Kramer Master Tape) is dedicated for professional sound software. I would like to ask you, if there are some other tape emulating plugins dedicated for popular sound players for Windows like Winamp (I know it died, but I still use it) or other players. Thanks for any answer.

[RealHomeRecording]

There will be in an upcoming review. :-)

[RealHomeRecording]

No I haven't. I own Slate VCC and am happy with it. :-) I'll be doing a video about that plugin soon but may review Harrison if there's a trial available.

I got into serious music mixing/recording in 2007. Prior to that I most did mixing/recording for talk radio and movies. It's incredible how far along the technology has come since then.

[Mattia_]

most of yall truly miss the point. Digital recording give the musician the opportunity to record the actual track in that crystal clean quality that we well know. No hiss no crackle no noise. Just the track. But for some reason, while the albums from the 90s to these days sound really good and sharp, all those releases from the 70s & the 80s have that character and feel that newer albums tend to miss. But that old sound was not only due to the tape machine. The tape was only a part of it. So, that said, YOU CANT EXPECT TO GET THAT SOUND BY JUST PUTTING THIS PLUGIN ON THE MASTER AND PLAYING WITH IT! Indeed it would probably make the track sound even worse lol.

[soundgenius]

Great video on tape thank you for the info