Hi Bit
Have to say I'm with you on this - The only Tape Sims I have are Magnetic (which came in a bundle) and Reelbus and I only purchased Reelbus a few weeks ago.
I have only found a few things I like them on - just used Reelbus on a drum bus and it did sound pretty good. I've hardly used Magnetic - once or twice when I was going for an effect as opposed to using everywhere to try and improve a mix, if you see what I mean.
Nigel

  Thanks for the addendum guys, much appreciated

Regarding spectra, and aliasing vs. IMD. If you read my initial post to test for aliasing, I suggested to use a sweep tone. That makes it obvious to see aliasing in a spectrum. As the tone rises in pitch, the aliased components will lower in pitch. The IMD as a result of the (modeled) bias frequency won't. (I think... someone check me on that.)

Oh, yeah. As an aside, I "grew up" recording on tape, and I couldn't wait to ditch it for quality digital recording. I was lucky to study with some of the digital audio pioneers, and I even got to see an early "DAW" on a DEC PDP-10. Imagine doing your edits with punch cards, and waiting a few hours to hear the results!

...I suggested to use a sweep tone. That makes it obvious to see aliasing in a spectrum.

Really hard to take a screenshot of it, though.


Emulating bias oscillator intermodulation distortion seems a little extreme. It got me thinking about other aspects that could be simulated in the name of realism:
- require waiting 30 seconds between takes to rewind and position the "tape"
- have the virtual azimuth gradually go out of alignment after X hours of operation
- simulate the tape stretching every time you rewind
- gradually lose high frequencies as the oxide sheds, then supply a virtual Q-tip to clean the virtual capstan and rollers
- have adjacent tracks bleed into one another if you haven't opened the project in a while
- occasionally overwrite or erase tracks
- and the ultimate in tape-sim realism: random breaks (not sure how you'd simulate the tape piling up on the floor, though)

Thanks guys! This was interesting. Bit, that last post had me smiling bud. Sidenote... Hey hot crap! this was my 1000'th post! haha