Tape Simulator Software Showdown
EQ Magazine, July 2008

By Craig Anderton

I’m not necessarily one who worships at the Church of the Iron Oxide. In fact, when the Alesis ADAT was announced, I could hardly wait to get rid of analog tape. The hiss, stretching, modulation noise, biasing, head cleaning, head alignment, head lapping (scary stuff!), demagnetizing, test tone tapes, and all those other “accessories” to the analog tape experience drove me up the wall. So when digital became feasible, and the signal that came out was the signal that went in, I was relieved.

But . . . tape did have that distinctive sound, and one you could customize by biasing (which affects hiss, distortion, and level). You could bias hot for more “zing” with higher noise, or bias low. Or you could choose an in-between setting you happened to like. Some crazed fanatics (uh, that would be me) would re-bias machines in the middle of a session to achieve, say, a different drum sound compared to the other tracks. You could also alter the pre-emphasis/de-emphasis EQ to change the tonality.

So when I wanted that sound, I’d hook up my venerable TASCAM Model 32 two-track into a mixer’s insert jacks, roll tape in record mode, hit the tape hard, and record the results into a digital recorder. Nor was I alone: Several big-name engineers, like Bruce Swedien, often record to tape—then capture it immediately to digital before it self-destructs.

This trend did not go unnoticed in the software community, and soon, we had effects designed to give “that” tape sound without the hassles and issues. Well, sort of; actually these tape sim products seem to fall into three main categories:

* Software designed to simulate particular tape sounds as accurately as possible, where an “Ampex” preset really sounds like Ampex tape.

* Programs that are more “inspired” by the effect tape has on a sound, and take liberties that go beyond straight emulation.

* Suites designed for a specific function, where tape saturation is only one of the components. For example, the suite may be dedicated to vintage sounds, or it might relate to mastering tools.

The idea of actually being able to eliminate tape, or in some cases go beyond what tape can do, perhaps sounds too good to be true—but is it? I’ll tell you one thing: The results were not at all what I was expecting.

All products were tested using Windows XP. Those requiring Pro Tools were tested using Pro Tools LE. Signal sources included drums, program material, various synths, guitars, and electric bass. And now, in no particular order, let’s start crunching.

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TriTone Digital ColorTone Pro

After installing Pluggo Runtime and ColorTone, you’re ready to get into this convolution-based processor. ColorTone is not just a tape simulator; its 46 impulses include filters, compressors (yes, you’ll find an LA2) and tube EQ. I was also able to load the impulses included with Sonar’s Perfect Space reverb.

For tape simulation, convolution handles reproducing the tonal quality of particular tapes and machines. A Warmth fader generates harmonics and saturation effects, and a Blend control is the key to getting cool sounds but is a bit difficult to explain: It mixes the processed and unprocessed signals based on the input signal’s amplitude, so that a higher input signal means more processed signal (or you can dial in the reverse effect). One particularly handy button, Lock, automatically reduces the output when you slam the input.

None of this is intuitive; don’t expect “turn switch on for tape saturation effect.” Then again, that’s ColorTone Pro’s strength: Once you do start to understand how the controls affect the sound, you can do some wonderful effects. It doesn’t try to add hiss or other undesirable tape characteristics, but instead, isolates particular tape sounds and lets you apply them—but then modify them further, like adding more level, compression, expansion, etc.

Can it make tracks sound better? Yes. Just expect to spend some time checking out the generous selection of impulses, as choosing the right one for the source material makes the difference between “yeah, whatever . . .” and “wow!”

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CONCLUSIONS

The ColorTone is the maverick of the bunch, with its convolution-based design that does a lot more than just tape emulation. It offers serious value, especially given its versatility, but it’s also the most difficult to use of the lot—not because of any design or interface flaw, but because it really does take an original approach that requires some acclimation. This plug-in is for those to whom tape saturation is another color in the palette, not the main focus.

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When I started this article, I had no idea what lay ahead. I was expecting a bunch of me-too products, but boy, was I wrong: Each program has its own way of expressing a high degree of ingenuity. They all have very different personalities; what I’ve tried to do is describe those personalities the best I can, to help you understand where they’re coming from. Whether you just want a couple dials for crunching, or a sophisticated suite that takes tape simulation beyond where their mechanical forebears ever went, these are some pretty amazing programs. They’ll definitely become an important part of my musical toolkit in the years ahead—which is something I wasn’t expecting at all.