Description
Big reels keep on turnin’
The allure of tape machines is easy to understand – the iconic character is part of the sonic signature of so many of the greatest songs ever recorded. The T-RackS Tape Machine Collec-tion gives you the true sound of 4 iconic analog tape machines, all together in one bundle.
Using a careful mix of convolution and physical modeling, the Tape Machine Collection re-creates the complex interplay of machine, tape, and audio to capture even the smallest detail of each machine.
Glue your tracks together, add warmth and character, enhance your low-end weight and ear-pleasing high ends. With the T-RackS Tape Machine collection you have access to the most sonically and musically authentic tape machine sonic textures ever created.
Re-creating the magic
Analog tape audio recorders are complex systems. They impart magic to the audio material, lifting the art within the music to a higher level. They add musicality to music.
What a tape machine adds to the audio is the result of a number of interactions amongst several interdependent factors. More than just saturation, compression, or EQ alone, these factors work together, one affecting each other with the dynamics of music, adding a “movement” that goes into the soul of what we perceive.
Decades of music produced on these pieces of artful human engineering have tailored the way we think music should sound. It’s imprinted in our DNA.
Trying to recreate this magic in the digital domain has been attempted since the early days of real-time audio plug-ins, with various degrees of success.
The T-RackS Tape Machine collection is the culmination of two years of full-time research and development on real world-class machines. Each machine went through a complete electronic and mechanical restoration to bring them perfectly back “to spec” before the scientific modelling process started.
Then IK’s DSP engineering team took each of the stages apart, studied and analyzed them in-depth, thus producing a model of the entire magnetic tape recording process. This model now works in symbiosis with a powerful dynamic convolution engine that captures the full essence of the real machines, creating what we believe is the only way to faithfully bring the complete picture of these complex analog engineering marvels to the digital realm.
The program coming out a professional tape recorder is very similar to the one coming in, just better. It's subtle but you can feel that it is not. This is the essence, and the T-RackS Tape Machine collection faithfully bring all this magic right to your DAW.
4 pieces of history
The T-RackS Tape Machine Collection offers models based on 4 different machines:
Tape Machine 440: The Ampex 440B series dates from the late 1960’s and delivers a typical, unmistakably soulful color that made this historic mixing and mastering machine into a legend. Merging art and technology, this unit will give your mixes a professional, polished, seamless finish.
Tape Machine 80: The legendary Studer A80 Mk II, in its various revisions, is an essential part of countless influ-ential records. Engineered and manufactured in Switzerland from 1970 to 1988, it became the de facto standard for professional high-end multi-tracking. The A80’s sonic signature is a per-fect blend between transparency and subtle harmonic enhancement.
Tape Machine 24: A model of the MCI JH24. First produced in 1980, the JH24 was a staple in US studios during the 1980s. This completely transformerless, high performance op-amp-based design delivers a pristine, phase coherent and remarkably true-to-the-source audio performance. This results in a moderate and elegant polish to your music.
Tape Machine 99: The Revox PR99 Mk II is a stereo professional recorder produced by Studer in the 1980s. Engineered around a hybrid design that combines the best of discrete and op-amp topologies. this model offers a very smooth frequency response, especially on bass, with almost no trace of the typical “head bump.”
4 magic formulas: the Tape Machine Collection also lets you choose from 4 different tape formulations, each with its own unique harmonic character:
- 250: Modelled after the 3M/Scotch 250 tape
- 456: Modelled after the Ampex 456 tape
- GP9: Modelled after the Quantegy GP9 tape
- 499: Modelled after the Ampex 499 tape
Comprehensive Controls
All Tape Machine Collection plug-ins share the same set of controls to enhance the ease of use and allow for quick A-B comparisons among them. Key features include:
Signal path selection: With “Input,” the signal only passes through the input and output electronic stages of the recorders, bypassing the tape. Depending on how the recorder is designed, the “Input” path can sound extremely transparent or just slightly more colored. “Repro” passes your signal through the entire analog recording system: input-> recording amplifier -> recording head -> tape -> playback head -> playback preamplifier -> output stage.
True Stereo: Even a perfectly aligned tape machine will have slight level, EQ and distortion differences between the left and right channels. This is good and part of the analog recording mojo! The T-RackS Tape Machine Collection perfectly recreates these subtle differences to deliver the real experience. If perfectly identical left and right channel processing is a must, simply disable this feature.
Tape Speed: Select the speed of the tape transport between 7.5 and 15 or 15 and 30 inches per second (“ips”), depending on the tape machine used. The higher speed gives you more fidelity, and the lower speed delivers a warmer, rounder tone.
Transport Modeling: Precisely models the behavior of the mechanical transport. Small irregularities in the movement of the tape creates various degrees of sonic alteration to the audio program, especially between the two channels. Keep it on for the magic to happen! In case a perfectly steady performance is needed, just disable the control.
Record Bias: Ideal bias voltage settings provide maximum sensitivity and low distortion. Intentionally overbiasing is a common technique to produce a warmer, gently saturated sound. Underbiasing can be used to nicely boost the high frequencies in a truly unique way and add distortion and other nonlinear effects.
Specs
- Works within the T-RackS CS Standalone application and as plug-in
- High-quality oversampling
- High-precision and high-transparency digital processors
- Accurately analog-modeled vintage classic devices
- Full-latency compensation support
- Supports sampling rates up to 192 kHz
- DSM™ and SCC™ proprietary IK technologies for extremely accurate digital models of analog hardware devices
- Native compatibility with 64-bit applications and operating systems
System Requirements
T-RackS 5 is a 64-bit application and requires a 64 bit CPU and Operating System.
Mac® (64-bits)
Minimal: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo, 4 GB of RAM (8 GB suggested), macOS 10.10 or later.
Supported Plug-in formats (64-bit): Audio Units, VST 2, VST 3, AAX.
Windows® (64-bits)
Minimal: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo or AMD Athlon™ 64 X2, 4 GB of RAM (8 GB suggested), Windows® 7, Windows® 8 or Windows® 10. Requires an ASIO compatible sound card.
Supported Plug-in formats (64-bit): VST 2, VST 3, AAX.
NOTE: EQual processor requires an OpenGL 2 compatible graphics adapter.
Internet connection is required as all of the Custom Shop operations are web based.