ToTape4
ToTape4Demo is a tape emulation AU universal binary plugin, and the next-generation Airwindows tape emulation. This one can go on the 2-buss! It operates by isolating all the factors in the sound that don’t sound like tape, refining them, and then taking them out of the source material with a single subtract—the input sound is otherwise untouched and unprocessed. This produces a tape emulation of resolution so high it can be used in mastering—or on the 2-buss. It now includes flutter, which turns out to be key to some of the spatial qualities tape offers—and crosstalk modeling for a little more texture! For this reason, ToTape4 now runs one sample of latency—it’s most accurate with flutter at 0.5, will shift a bit if you alter the flutter setting.
This is not an elaborate faceplate made to resemble a tape machine. There are no capstans or twirling reels, nor is it pretending to simulate a specific brand name. This is the Airwindows take on the matter, which means a plugin streamlined to deliver an unmatchably high-quality sound with low overhead and simple controls that tweak lots of stuff under the hood to accomplish simple, useful, obvious things without wasting mixing time.
ToTape4 does not work like old school tape emulations. You can’t use it to smear and roll off highs because real tape doesn’t necessarily do that, but there’s an Airwindows tape emulation that’s designed to be more of a bandpass, and that is Iron Oxide. That one lets you trap in the highs and lows, and barks more if you slam it, so if you’re looking for tape effects as more of a radical sound processing tool, try Iron Oxide. ToTape4 is about being totally, totally realistic.
ToTape4 runs one sample of latency.
ToTape4 is $50.
