The Ultimate Tape Emulation

[chimptor50]

The whole point of the so called "Analog Sound" is saturation of the tape. In order to saturate that tape you need to hit it hard +9, +10db or more! I don't know if these plugins have a biasing feature but if they do, bias the machine to +9 and hit that meter hard and then you will get the Tape Saturation sound you paid for. Hitting it at -20!!!! just ain't going to cut it Jasper.

[wizprodux]

@chimptor50 Not necessarily, otherwise I'd have named it "The Ultimate Tape Saturation Test"

The point here is to hear the subtle differences of Virtual Tape Emulators and sound reproduction at -18dBFS, hence the input volume down to where the meter lives at -18dB.

[Michael55443]

Why are all the input levels of the three plug ins all the way down? You aren't hearing what they sound like until you hit the meters a little.

[audiotrax2000]

Great demo. To my ears the UAD was the clear winner. Best balance between sparkle and full bottom bloom. Very convincing. WAVES was great but too muddy, kind of overkill. DIGI didn't really do much. Actually made it sound thinner. Very useful. You should have had Nomad Factory's Magnetic in there too.

[FunnyVideoCollector]

They aint subtle when you turn them up The Kramer MPX can add as much as you want to the sound.

[dubified89]

This song blows

[mickoin2]

does this works with pc ?

[FunnyVideoCollector]

Slate Digital has a tape plugin due anytime now I like the Waves one so will see what the slate one is like before I buy.

[wizprodux]

@FunnyVideoCollector I saw a demo of it at NAMM and the thing about all these Tape Emulations is they are SO subtle...

[wizprodux]

@nathanjuromeh Henry Martyn

[djhellfire1]

UAD sounded best to me!

[MrLoveBites]

Great recording first of all. I like the way the band sounds. Congrats. Which plug in do you recomend if I had to buy just one of those three?

.

[wizprodux]

@MrLoveBites The one that's most affordable. For the UAD, you need a card, so you're looking a $1k+, The Waves is affordable. But I use te Digi Reel the most

[Robdust]

Do you realize the input on the A800 is all the way down? You need some input to actually hear the machine. The Studer is not being demonstrated. Your output is cranked to compensate.

[wizprodux]

@Robdust Yes, I realize that. I was going for the -18dBFS

[021kdu]

the mpx is a bit too aggressive

[021kdu]

i go with the studer

[Antoffka]

UAD.

[johngreasy]

MPX All Day gotta get!



[wideblacksky]

Impossible to determine anything without the gain being matched.

[Martal1]

DiGI is very good !!!

[wizprodux]

@Martal1 I know! I use it more than the other two, Especially on my vocal and drum Buss!

[daxweb]

@Martal1 too muddy in the low end imho

[disfrontman]

The UAD Studer plug was clearly the winner for me. Beautiful high-mid/high sizzle without sounding like exaggerated EQing.

[merrymartin]

I´ve found the original mix very very good, but as soon as the UAD kicked in, it got incredible!!! I find the UAD the liveliest, with more pronounced mids, the Waves has the biggest bass and a slight scoop in the mids I find. The Digi has the most pronounced mids I would say, but the other two are more musical. The waves is my favorite. I listened to the track without watching whats going on, but I´ve always turned my head to the monitor when the waves kicked in.

[mrconcept]

this plug is so flipping overrated

[bluelitestudio]

I like to use the MPX!! And It sounds Great in This video!!!

[OMERTA011]

there is no point in just runing it thru the plugins.. first, try to level them all so the output doesnt rise with some of them. then, try to "hit the red" so people can hear the saturation emulation in effect.. here you can just hear the eq curving, a few dbs of jump between the plugins and almost no saturation.

[CrankCase08]

What's the point?

[hitektodd]

Hard to asses with the youtube compression added to the sound. UAD sounds so natural on the entire mix to me. None sound like real tape though! But i can hear how each would be useful in the right context. Thanks for the great video! I wish there were more of these on the web.

[soulagent79]

What about the Vintage Warmer 2? I use it all the time.

[isawacat]

@soulagent79 Do you use vintage warmer for compression/gain or for "coloring" the sound? Both? Just curious. Thanks!

[soulagent79]

@isawacat I use it for coloring the sound. For compression I use the Abbey Road RS 124 compressor.

[evorex99]

It's definitely the UAD for me, this is a great video thanks =)

[zmyboo]

I vote UAD

[Onetruthrgv]

0:07= Original

0:26= UAD

1:01= Waves

1:40= Digi

[GsonsStudio]

MPX wins this one!! And beautiful song!!

[gabomedellin2]

I’ve got to say I just made some testing comparing Magnetic vs. MPX and I prefer Magnetic. I do film scoring so I don’t use the delay in MPX and Magnetic just sounds better for me. I tried everything in lots of instruments and Magnetic could always sound as the best setting MPX could give me and after some tweaking it sounded better. Magnetic gives me more control and it’s easier to use.

[iammrbrowser]

MPX all day !!

[aarvin1]

The Waves one gives the impression that the tracks gets big and wide ... the UAD makes the track sweeter brighter yet the width is reduced ...... i just wished they could mix those 2 ----> bright yet wide ... :D

[SoulSafeDaveO]

where can i find the song!

[wizprodux]

@SoulSafeDaveO henrymartyn[dot]com

[nate11star]

@SoulSafeDaveO in the gay clubs in your area.

[MusicologoImperfecto]

Te Amo Jesus! ... oh btw.. is definetely between UAD and MPX,... mpx is a bit more bright and gives more crunchy taste.. so for me MPX, cuz after all you can take off that crunchy sound moving the parameters...

[jjdrummerboy1987]

I like the uad. Were these only placed in the master chain because from what I've read on forums, to make the most out of the uad, it's supposed to be used on all channels.

What would it sound like mixed like that with the uad on everything and with the waves plugin on the master out?

Great vid even though it's espanol, it sounds like a good song.

[wizprodux]

@jjdrummerboy1987 True. The Studer Machine is a multi-track recorder. However, who uses plug-ins as they're intended??? Seriously, do you really think that people these days, having access to a Fairchild plug-in compressor, would ONLY use it on one place in the mix? The thing about plug-ins is that you can have more instances than ever available in hardware format, and you can use it for purposes out of it's intended use...

my $.02

[danakerman]

@jjdrummerboy1987 I think these can be used in various instances, though the UAD seems more amenable to mixdown because it has the multichannel meter, whereas the MPX only has stereo. Would be interesting to track and mixdown on the UAD then master on the Waves MPX.

[diego13x]

For me UAD, bye!

[franciscoruizb]

I think overall, Waves is the best. I blind-tested this, and it stood up always. Gotta try it. And I won't buy additional DSP for the UAD...

Also, the Digi is crap.

[zxcvbnmmification]

I think if you listen close you can hear how all three of those plug-ins could sound great on different instruments. I like the way WAVES helps the main guitar stand out in a sweet way at 1:00-:30. I like the way the DIGI pulls and focuses the snare starting at 1:40. and the UAD helps the phased vocal give you chills around 2:56. I think if i was going to use any as a main buss plug-in i would still choose the waves for a warm over all sound but would bump up the vox just a little. use'em all!!

[wizprodux]

@zxcvbnmmification WOW That's a good assessment!

It's true, they each have their strengths and where one would lack, the other would compensate...

Up till now I've always loved the Digi Reel on Drum Bus. And like any plug-in, each has it's own thing happening. It's a matter of knowing where each fits best.

[JimijaymesGuitarist]

@zxcvbnmmification Yeh I agree I think the waves sounded better although maybe a bit muddier on the overall mix but didnt like what it did to the guitar solo whereas I didn;t like what the studer did to the vocals earlier on.

[FlaFlaBigoudi]

Thanks for your vid. The Waves sounds better than the other plugins here. But I generally prefer to drive a bit the input and in this case the Waves sounds too vintage for me and I prefere the UAD. Personal taste.

[theblowupdollsmusic]

personally like the uad

[AlexNiedt]

I like the UAD and Waves for different reasons, but UAD gets the edge here for me.

[kensuen2008]

Digi tape reel is thin, MPX is blur & not focus, uad seems better in this comparsion.

[Dr0id1]

Thanks a lot for putting this together!! Gonna get the waves,

[nicolasrivera]

I like the waves too, it gives an over all loudness that the UAD lacks a bit, the Digi lame.

[mixinginthebox]

Nice.

[TheExplodingBit]

The MPX really does have vibe on this. I still like the A800 though, just not on the mix buss.

[cagedmelody]

Waves MPX is the best sounding out of the 3 for Me !

[TheVerySpecialThommy]

thanks for the test. well done visually, and even better sonically. you know what you're doing. it really helped me a lot!

[RAYGproductions]

Like MPX Master Tape...Love the song ...