bapu

clintmartin
If I mix in Harrison Mixbus...I prefer it to all other Tape or console sims. $79

+++ ^^^ THIS ^^^ +++

OK, but why? Why would you use tape/console emu at all?

I don't always, but for some things it just sounds better. It will be hard to explain sound, but with the Harrison console emu the channels and buses interact with each other (crosstalk) in a very pleasing way like a real analog mixing desk. It's subtle, but it's real. The tap sims are only on the buses and are basically very gentle, colorful compressors. I don't use much compression, so it's good for me.
Mixbus does have two different types of compressors on each channel and bus when you need more.
You can get very close to this with Sonar if you use the console sims on every channel and bus, and the tape sim on every bus...I just prefer Harrison.
I also really like Klanghelm's SDRR, Toneboosters Reelbus, Fab Filter's Saturn, and Magnetic II. It's fun to use different tools.

clintmartin
It's fun to use different tools.

This ^^^^^^

OK, but why? Why would you use tape/console emu at all?




It appears from your avatar pic (if recent) you are a youngster (at least to me). I would imagine that you have grown up within the digital age and that is what you know. For the rest of us old farts who went through the whole analog tape recording era, nothing in the digital age quiet compares (Well, at least for me). So, for me, the idea of TEP's is kind of a beacon of hope for now. I have the Tonebooster's tape gizmo and have dittled with it hoping that I like it. But, I do still hear digital.
 
I still remember all the hoopla when everything was starting to be released on CDs and how much "better" it was. It was terrible. The brain washing ensued and still does. Now, on to MP3s etc.
 
Anyway, 'you asked why use it' .  To help make music sound more like music.

timidi 
I still remember all the hoopla when everything was starting to be released on CDs and how much "better" it was. It was terrible. The brain washing ensued and still does. Now, on to MP3s etc.

To be fair, the first generation of CD masters was pretty awful due to a combination of inferior ADC and mastering engineers who hadn't yet learned how to master for CD. I also believe that some of the first CD's were just taken from the vinyl when they didn't have access to the original tapes. 
 
However it wasn't long before CD's started sounding better than vinyl. I think a lot of the appeal of vinyl and tape these days comes from those of us who grew up with that sound. It has a sentimental appeal to people above a certain age that isn't shared by young people. 
 
Quite frankly I like a mix of all of it. I love the sound of the old records (some of the recordings from the 50's and 60's were absolutely incredible) but I also appreciate the pin sharp, clean audio of today. There are some modern productions which literally pop out of your speakers they are so vivid. Now as for mixing techniques, well that's a different story. There's a lot of music around today that I feel sounds like crap, not because they "don't use tape" or anything like that but because it's so smashed and flat and lifeless, and it's lacking that clever use of contrast and arrangement which makes a mix sound great. 

Soundwise
OK, but why? Why would you use tape/console emu at all?

For some of us - probably not many, but some for certain - we create music exclusively with software synths, everything in the box.  I do this, and on top of that, I almost religiously avoid using sampled real-world instruments unless those samples originated on a synth to begin with.  Why - what does it matter?  I'm doing this primarily for my own gratification, and when you're following your bliss, you get to make up your own rules.   So, to answer your question, I use a tape emu (Magnetic II, in my case) because the vintage fairly dust it adds makes the final mix sound better.  And as we all know, if it sounds good ...
 
If I were mixing conventional tracks in some popular genre, I'm pretty sure I'd be taking a different approach.  But for software synths, a bit of vintage sheen tops things off nicely.

Soundwise
 

OK, but why? Why would you use tape/console emu at all?

Tape and Console EMU plugins endeavour to "add back" the analoque "flavor" lost
in the Digital Realm.  Large Studios use "high end" consoles and "high end" tape machines
because of the way the signal get's "saturated" by the electronics in the path, and the way
High End Consoles "sum" the mix.  THIS is what the plugins endeavor to "Recreate" and the
do a very nice job of it.  They are NOT the same, but they also are not $100,000.00...YMMV

Agree with all the positives about Magnetic II. Really good plug.
 
Why? Because of the sound. We could go on as some have tried to say about how TE rolls off the highs in a musical/gentle way. Or how TE compression allows the transients to sound smother/better/standout more.
 
What ever we say or describe, it's still all about the sound.
 
I use Sonar TE on a lot of trks, but not all. And then Magnetic II on the master. Because it has more options than the Sonar TE. And I like the sound it has.