14 DAY TRIAL // I've kept on talking (actually, writing) about vintage in all its shapes and forms: tubes and plexi, analog VU's, entire analog circuitry and processing, analog synths and so on. It seems like the (new) digital millennium hasn't lost a bit from its taste for old, vintage warmth and rather pedant way to do/process audio.
A rather fun fact is that it's Digidesign who are releasing these days the Reel tape FX suite. Yep, that Digidesign who fathered Pro Tools, one of the world's best, complex, future-oriented and most used DAWs ever! Well, it's time to briefly present you the latest member in the Digidesign family, namely the Reel Tape Suite.
For those who don't have a clue what "reel" has to do with the utmost digital sound design and processing, I'll just say that back in the "old days" of audio engineering, there were but few devices to process sound and today's most common effects such as delay, reverb, flanger and so on were created by actually running the sound on tapes (winding up and down on reels) at various speeds thus generating the said FX-ing.
Needless to say that this way to process sound has a completely unique color and it's quite hard to replicate in today's modern gear; so people who like and would like to use such "ancient" FX would need to either own (and actually lorry) such equipment or rely on artificial emulation...
Digidesign Reel Tape Suite will provide you with tape saturation, delay and flanger effects will let you benefit and enjoy all the characteristics of the old effects but will not bring all the hassle using them involved tens of years ago: no razor blades for cutting tape, no duct tape for joining together parts, no echo tape rewinding, no screwdrivers to adjust and calibrate your gear and no alcohol bottles for cleaning heads! Simply, you've got complete control over all the functions (including some very physical ones such as tape speed variations) at a simple turn of a knob!
Developed for both Pro Tools and Avid, the Reel Tape is simply one thing you must have if you're into classic sound production. The standalone version of the Tape Saturation plugin can be downloaded for $295 while the complete suite in its boxed version can be yours for the (high) price of $495.