I said hello to a forgotten friend, Cakewalk FX2 Tape Sim, and it was good

It did have its merits, particularly as a white noise generator  However I do think the ProChannel tape emulator is an improvement because of the extra control and detail. I haven't used the FX version since the ProChannel one came along. 

I think it's hilarious what we spend 40+ years on more and more expensive gear trying to make things as clean and "HiFi" as possible, then as soon as we go digital and achieve "perfection" we spend more and more on expensive gear trying to make it sound like crap again

jb-ferox here

They should add a picture of a tape reel to the UI. Preferably animated. Then people might take the plugin more seriously.

bitflipper
They should add a picture of a tape reel to the UI. Preferably animated. Then people might take the plugin more seriously.

Yeah!
 
It needs a new interface with a simulated tape deck that gets older looking as you turn the "vintage" knob, and tubes that glow hotter the more you push it.
 
And make it vst3 with a built in wrapper.
 
And have the guy at Waves write the ad copy.
 
But please don't change the sound.
 
 
 

Some of those old effects are still perfectly usable. I quite like the old phaser, it does a "Small Stone OTA circuit with wobbly LFO" sound better than the more modern "better" Small Stone emulations achieve.

I think the point is that perfection is not necessarily pleasing to the senses, and this is an almost universal thing. Look at visual art. Geometrically perfect lines, shapes and textures don't generally result in beautiful artwork - people appreciate the imperfections that give a piece its soul. A great pencil artist uses the limitations of the paper to wonderful effect, and things like construction marks and restated lines are often left in the piece because they impart character, energy and movement. You could go into Adobe Illustrator and, using a stylus touchpad instead of a pencil and paper, draw the same piece perfectly, taking advantage of Illustrator's line smoothing and editing features to mask imperfection and remove mistakes. But the end result is, in general, nowhere near as pleasing to the eye. 
 
It's exactly the same with recorded music. Bit-perfect digital clarity is not necessarily the most pleasing or musical sound to the ear. It's nice that the ability to achieve such sonic perfection is there, but as humans our appreciation of sound rarely depends on such perfection. 

Karyn
I think it's hilarious what we spend 40+ years on more and more expensive gear trying to make things as clean and "HiFi" as possible, then as soon as we go digital and achieve "perfection" we spend more and more on expensive gear trying to make it sound like crap again

Its kind of like recording at 192K/24 bit, then using a bit crusher to drop it down to 8 bit, to get that "commodore SID sound".
 
I suppose I also want an effect that will take my perfectly recorded digital tracks and have a 1940's feature that makes them all sound like they were were recorded using one mic over the whole room. And a 1950's feature that shows the audible effect of layering up tracks on top of each other on a three track or four track recorder.
 
And forget about stereo! Like Cub Koda said. "Give me mono or give me death"
 
 
 
 

SvenArne
Cakewalk FX2 Tape Sim... Subtle, it is not!
 
I just feel obligated remind everyone that ToneBoosters ReelBus is a thing that exists and is cheap. There's no need to use these grungy, alias'y plugs like Ferrox etc. unless you actually want that electronic birthday greeting card type of sound.
 
The Pro Channel tape sim is neat and useful, but always fairly subtle.
 

That's almost what I was going to say...  I like the Console Emulator because it is subtle, and imparts its magic by compounding the results.   FX Tape Sim, OTOH, I like for cases where I want to distinctly hear the effect.    As always, options are a wonderful thing...