Old/broken tape machine/lo-fi plugins?

[bloodsample]

Looking for a plugin to add some warmth and cheap/broken/old tape warble lo-fi/etc. You know how it almost goes out of tune, or sounds chorus-y? Maybe a vintage chorus is what I need? Don't want a delay, just something to process directly. Also don't want saturation/distortion, just smooth clean dying tape out of tune vibrato/chorus goodness. Think "zvex instant lofi junky" in plugin form. Oh and it must run on a Mac.

Sorry I can't be more descriptive.

For an example of what I mean listen to the effect applied on the electric piano sound here:

[cyjanopan]

Soundtoys Echoboy, it`s delay but can do it perfectly fine with little tweaking

[Simonator]

If you have Logic (?)-
* Open Tape Delay
* Turn off 'sync', then manually drag the delay time down to zero
* Now on the output section, turn the dry signal down to zero, and wet to 100%
* Turn Feedback down to zero
... You now have zero real 'delay'... but your signal will be affected by the flutter control... apply to taste.

If you have Reaktor (?)
* Get the Simpler Vintape ensemble from the N.I. user library

Another (FREE!!) option is Airwindows Flutter
Airwindows Audio Unit Plugins
Direct download link- http://www.jinxtigr.com/f/Flutter.dmg
I haven't tried this specific one... but Airwindows plugs are THE SHIZNIT, so I have no reason to doubt that it's ace.

[frankthefunky1]

thanks Simonator, good link!

[Meow]

Do you have Reason? The Echo can do exactly what you want if so!

Just turn off the delay, or really turn off everything except the tape speed/pitch wobble controls and adjust to taste!

You can also use the drive section with the different models to simulate how new or old you want the tape to be!

You instantly get the Boards of Canada gently waving pitch thing!

When I use it in that role I like to route the note velocity of the part it's on to dictate how hard it pushes out of tune.

[lovekrafty]

Originally Posted by bloodsample

Looking for a plugin to add some warmth and cheap/broken/old tape warble lo-fi/etc. You know how it almost goes out of tune, or sounds chorus-y? Maybe a vintage chorus is what I need? Don't want a delay, just something to process directly. Also don't want saturation/distortion, just smooth clean dying tape out of tune vibrato/chorus goodness. Think "zvex instant lofi junky" in plugin form. Oh and it must run on a Mac.

Sorry I can't be more descriptive.

For an example of what I mean listen to the effect applied on the electric piano sound here:

Who is that youtube video of? I really dig it

[bloodsample]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Right, so it looks like all I need is a delay with wow & flutter and then all I have to do is set the delay time to near 0, correct? That makes sense.

I should note I'm using Live and I don't have reason (but thanks for the tip anyhow). I will check to see if NI guitar rig player has some free tape echo built in tomorrow. If not I'll check out that echo boy.

I have a couple of delay pedals with wow & flutter but they're both mono and running software through effects is a pain for me (2 channel interface).

[bloodsample]

Originally Posted by lovekrafty

Who is that youtube video of? I really dig it

tycho, see title

[G. Kaye]

dont know how much the plugins your looking for cost, but you could probably just buy a cheap tape deck and get the real thing for the same price or less.

[G. Kaye]

After reading your op, a tremolo effect might be what you want.

[backplay]

http://www.interruptor.ch/vst/wownflutter.jpg

Edit: Didn't see you where on Mac, so this is useless.

[Oliver Chesler]

[bloodsample]

Originally Posted by Oliver Chesler

Thanks for this, this actually sounds amazing. Unfortunately 500$ is a little more than I'd like to pay for this. I might want to use this on a couple of sounds here or there. Good find though.

I should have mentioned price range earlier. I'd like to stay below 200$ for this.

[bloodsample]

Originally Posted by G. Kaye

dont know how much the plugins your looking for cost, but you could probably just buy a cheap tape deck and get the real thing for the same price or less.

I'd like to avoid using hardware. Like I said I already have a few delays which can get close to this but processing ITB sounds with hardware is a pain for me.

Originally Posted by G. Kaye

After reading your op, a tremolo effect might be what you want.

Hrm, I'm not quite sure. Tremolo will give me variation in volume but unless the tremolo effect has some warbly quality to it I don't think it will get me where I want to be. A slow vibrato on the other hand ...

[Meow]

I know you want something to use at your discretion but if you want for the moment I'd be happy to process anything you need on my end!

When I get out of class I'll post a demo for you!

[tonnu]

Zevex insta lofi loop junkie
A bit fiddly to get it to play well with line level tho (as with most guitar pedals)

[jessem]

Originally Posted by bloodsample

Hrm, I'm not quite sure. Tremolo will give me variation in volume but unless the tremolo effect has some warbly quality to it I don't think it will get me where I want to be. A slow vibrato on the other hand ...

He probably means vibrato. That Tycho track sounds like a wah-wah pedal or something.

[bil_g]

There's iZotope Vinyl, too. While it's vinyl emulator, I imagine you can use the warp, rpm, and year functions to get something similar. Or any plugin that has an lfo to pitch - like a universal modulator type plugin. One that does flange, tremelo, vibrato, etc... That effect is all over the album. I did see in his blog he mentioned the Echoboy as a decent stand-in for the Space Echo.

Just saw Tycho in DC on the 2nd. Good show. I really enjoy the new album.

[bloodsample]

Originally Posted by Meow

I know you want something to use at your discretion but if you want for the moment I'd be happy to process anything you need on my end!

When I get out of class I'll post a demo for you!

Hey thanks for your kind offer! I'm curious to hear what this reason delay sounds like. I will PM you a wav file some time either tonight or tomorrow. To return the favor I can send you a list of some of my analog synths (nothing too fancy) and if you send me a MIDI file I can track it for you with the synth of your choosing. Cheers!

Originally Posted by tonnu

Zevex insta lofi loop junkie
A bit fiddly to get it to play well with line level tho (as with most guitar pedals)

Hrm yes, I thought about this one, but I'd prefer a plugin in this case.

Originally Posted by bil_g

There's iZotope Vinyl, too. While it's vinyl emulator, I imagine you can use the warp, rpm, and year functions to get something similar. Or any plugin that has an lfo to pitch - like a universal modulator type plugin. One that does flange, tremelo, vibrato, etc... That effect is all over the album. I did see in his blog he mentioned the Echoboy as a decent stand-in for the Space Echo.

Just saw Tycho in DC on the 2nd. Good show. I really enjoy the new album.

I actually tried vinyl earlier today but I can't figure out for the life of me how to get the warble to work, it just looks disabled (I can't even move the slider). Maybe it's cause I have a free version?




Thanks again all for your suggestions. Today I downloaded the 30 day trial of the soundtoys native effects v4. With stacking the crystalizer, tremolator and echo boy I managed to get some pretty awesome effects, very warm and boards-ish. I think I might buy this echo boy when the trial expires, sounds awesome. Damn ilok though...

[Cupwise]

buy a tascam 122 mk3 cassette deck that's in good shape (works well).

then grab a bunch of type I tapes, name brand ones, but also a bunch of generics. then get some good type IIs.

it has a pitch control which allows you to adjust tape speed up to i think +/- 12% or so (maybe a little more). this can be awesome, with some imagination (and feedback). or you could just use this to get your slightly warbled effect.

another thing is you can monitor while recording. so the sound goes into deck, hits tape, comes right back off and to whatever else you want in your chain. you are recording and playing what was just recorded at once. this makes the pitch control work a little differently than it would if you record, rewind, then play in two separate passes. in this mode, the pitch control is kind of like stretching or squishing sounds live, while you are turning it, but as soon as you stop in any position the pitch is then regular (what it was when it went in). this can give you some interesting flange effects with feedback. also, at slower speeds you get a little more roll off on the high end.

the noise floor on these things aren't TOO bad. if you think out what you are doing carefully (consider what you are using the effect on, how prominent it is in the mix, etc), you can totally get away with using it and not hear noise floor in the end mix. you may need a little noise reduction in some cases....

my suggestion isn't as immediate or easy as the 'grab plugin X' suggestions. but that only means less people are doing it. oh and, used creatively, i'd say this would be a much better sounding end result.

oh and possibly the coolest thing, some of the cheaper type I tapes can also be used as a low pass filter from hell that gives you this huge muffled sound... not useful very often but it can sound awesome in some cases.

[bil_g]

Originally Posted by bloodsample

I actually tried vinyl earlier today but I can't figure out for the life of me how to get the warble to work, it just looks disabled (I can't even move the slider). Maybe it's cause I have a free version?

There's a text menu that has a bypass warping option checked. If you uncheck it, you get control of the slider and the four warp models. In Windows, you right click on the UI to get the menu...so whatever the Mac equivalent is.

33rpm, 1970, 30-40% wear, and 30-50% warp works pretty well.

[bloodsample]

Originally Posted by bil_g

There's a text menu that has a bypass warping option checked. If you uncheck it, you get control of the slider and the four warp models. In Windows, you right click on the UI to get the menu...so whatever the Mac equivalent is.

33rpm, 1970, 30-40% wear, and 30-50% warp works pretty well.

Thanks for the suggestion. The context menu just shows "show help contents" which opens a web page. I actually just googled this and it turns out warping isn't enabled on some hosts (apparently only works in pro tools and directx on windows, odd ...). Link to the article.

[bil_g]

Well, that sucks. Yeah, I was using the DirectX version.

[judith priest]

I had this idea of recording a bunch of single-cycle waveforms onto some old tape then back into the computer to use with something like Ableton sampler. Anyone actually tried this?

[Beany]

Tone Projects Sonitex also does that lo-fi, warped, worn, dusty, scratched record thing too...

TONE PROJECTS | Sonitex STX-1260

Edit Ooops! Missed the Mac only bit...

[Meow]

You have a PM with your processed files sir!

[Ossicle]

Originally Posted by cyjanopan

Soundtoys Echoboy, it`s delay but can do it perfectly fine with little tweaking

+ 1

It's probably my most used and favorite plugin.

[bloodsample]

Originally Posted by Meow

You have a PM with your processed files sir!

Thanks! Sent you one back