There are plenty of tape simulation plugins available (see further below), but for this task I’m using Softube’s brand-new tape sim TAPE, which was released in June. Now back to our sampled strings! Since I unfortunately don’t own a studio-grade tape recorder either, I’m going with a digital plugin alternative here. Nevertheless, over recent years, a huge trend of digitally emulating analog hardware emerged in the recording world to make the pleasant effects of those devices accessible to home and bedroom producers, too. Since today, there are only few flawlessly working, reliably operating professional tape recorders available, they come with an impressive price tag and therefore are most likely restricted to large studio facilities only. While digital was the only way to go for some recent decades, most larger music productions of today now undergo an analog tape treatment somewhere along the process. While recording to tape is a technique used in the glorious old days of analog studio recording, there’s an ever-growing crowd of analog gear enthusiasts who are committed to analog tape and its musical effects on practically any signal.

To accomplish this, I want to use the highly praised effects of analog tape and tape simulation. Today I’d like to show you how to add analog warmth, saturation and color to your sampled orchestral strings in order to make them sound even more authentic and help to make them sit better in a crowded mix.

Tapestop mac vst