It’s kind of funny that in the 80s and early 90s I longed for more clarity, no tape hiss & distortion, no wow and flutter and drop outs on my Porta One and Two but now you can buy emulations of those “imperfections” (without the drop outs of course!)
Great informative review as per normal. I had a Tascam Portastudio 244, which I sold some 20ish years ago. I wish I still owned it, probably would be worth a small fortune today! Keep up the great work!
i had the 244 and the 388. bought them both new, don't remember what happened to 244 but the 388 that was in mint condition i gave away for free to some kid from maine. meanwhile all these years later i'm kicking myself in the ass every day because i have all the masters from both units and nothing to remix all my old songs on. 388's are like 5 g's now and they're so heavy that it's probably a small fortune to ship one .......... bwaaaaa 🤣
Awesome. I'm only just beginning to get into IK Multimedia stuff - it's great! Do you have any experience with Softube's tape emulation? That gets used a lot but I think I prefer these. Incidentally a vid on the softube tape sim would be great...as would some more reggae/dubs..;-)
I'd compare the softube tapes to the IK Multimedia Tape Collection, instead to the TASCAM Collection if I were you. Wether you prefer the tape-collection or the tascam collection will really depend on how you want to use it. If you want to use it on single tracks to get more of a creative effect, I'd probably recommend the TASCAM collection. If you want to use it on a masterbus, to glue and polish the whole thing, I'd recommend the Tape Collection. Either way those plugins eat PCs alive. If you are going to use multiple instances of them on single tracks you better get used to "commiting" your tracks.
Waiting for your 10.7 breakdown! Just downloaded and installed. Checking out the Atmos stuff, but loads of fixes and improvements. Still no update ES2 interface! LOL!
not for users of intel macs it seems, (only for M1 users?), or is it the OS? I'm on Catalina, anyways it's not available in my updates and neither are the new content packs. What machine you using?
@@dancetech On a Mac Mini M1 16Gb 512Tb model. And i love it! Makes my old 2014 iMac i7 look a bit sick. This replaced my old 2012 Mac Mini, which i used for basic stuff, and initial song ideas. iMac for the bigger stuff. THAT will be replaced when either the new M1Pro/Max version of the MM arrives, or the new Big iMac when it is finally released. But doe have to be said, the M1 MM is great! (currently running Big Sur). Don't have many plugins, and the main ones are all M1 compatible:- U-He Repro one/five, Valhalla stuff, Spitfire BBCSO. Have Albion, but Kontakt 6 not yet M1 compatible...(typical NI.. nearly a year after the M1s were launched!) Yep. Logic 10.7 for Big Sur (and upwards) only. But can't see a specific Apple Silicon Only message. A quick google, and people report it running o 2016 intel macs, so if you can install Big Sur, then it should be fine.
Correct Tm. Upgrade to Big Sur and apparently an update to 10.7 is available on an Intel Mac. However older Waves and Izotope plugins won’t work on Big Sur without shelling out more money. I’ll stick to Catalina & 10.6 I think. Not much of interest on 10.7 to me.
@@ShiningHourPop Indeed. I have no particular use for the 10.6 Live Loops, myself, but am definitely interested in the world of Atmos mixing. A chacun son goût, as the French say! I get your point... but that probably says more about Waves and their upgrade policy, than it does about Logic, of course. At least every single Logic X upgrade has been free, which is more than I could say for some. But obviously if, for you, it ain't broke...! Luckily, so far as I don't use many 3rd party plugins, it has no real impact on me, bar Kontakt not being Apple silicon compatible. And I only use the free player (for Albion).
Ok it is driving me nuts, and I know you know this brotha.... Why do you have your digital ceiling all the way up, the IK series, like every other VST plugin... except Fabfilter.. which is ... anyway.. You need to be keepin around 0 db for the plugin to function as best it can... I am assuming it is displaying in dbFS... Which would mean your pushing +20 db into a Tape sat... Most Vu Meters redline at -18 dbFS, You always need to gate and limit your signal before you attempt to use any type of saturation or compression on it. I would not be happy if you pushed 20 db into my 440... =D
it's internal digital, not tape, there's gigantic headroom, the 'level' only matters for final masters or if connecting to the analog world if you want to match meter levels etc. anyways even in the old days all that matters is how it sounds, you'd ram levels into tape and of course monitor 'off tape' to hear what the tape saturation was like before printing a take...people get obsessed with all this 'level' nonsense like it's important.
@@dancetech It more has to do with the coding process and how the VST responds to the actual voltage out, which is not as clear cut as a "meter" would indicate.. so yes point taken... It is more of an OCD thang I'm not gonna lie, plus I am generally Producing in Live, and in retrospect, I did notice Logic didn't have that high of an output by comparison, but I do notice a major difference in audio quality the instant push past 0db. which lifts the ceiling and will drop the relative volume on other channels even though the levels never actually change, which is why it is important .. In fact I would argue leveling is by far the most important part of mixing and mastering... But alas, meters are unreliable and considering most people don't even know what dithering is or the dif between 0db and 0dbFS for that matter..sooo yeah.. it was probably pointless saying anything about it...
@@dancetech Man, I appreciate your insight brotha, and while I understand there are are probably very few renaissance techs out there that could refute this in confidence based solely on nothing but internal factors.. So my own experience and opinion, and I would agree that you are 100% sharing what is the most popular opinion regards to leveling and meters... Because one of the most difficult understandings I have ever wrapped my brain around was how digital meters function, not because it was that difficult to understand, but because everyone said it didn't matter and that it wasn't important... And they can be a bit counter intuitive if you don't understand things like the resonant frequency or how that can effect your voltage out ie the DC offset, which I have not had to deal with in over 10 years now, or or how the Nyquist effects your wave out which does have an impact recording not rendering... and while yes, you do have an unlimited headroom with an analog tape machine, or even a dat really, that is 100% not the case with emulation (and yes I had to make sure I was not in my own head on this one)... The reason people are so concerned about levels is because they can't get a straight answer from anyone anywhere...... It was not until I started working on my Masters and doing audio coding that I realized anyone that says leveling isn't important... Probably does not understand DA Conversion process... And I know you can probably give me a very detailed explanation as to how it works... But if you understood how it worked, and it is somewhat obvious you don't with all due respect. You did deflect and get defensive while making an argument for ignorance... when the shit is WAY harder than high level trig... actually its exactly as hard as high level trig... But hey, at least your not telling people that 500 hertz is half of 1000 hertz.. or that you can use a a 2:1 ratio instead of a 3:1 calculation distance and phasing... I literally had someone try to argue that a 2:1 phase relation between 2 versions of the exact same wave would work just fine.... yet its trig, soooo that's 180 degrees, and I have known that since the 8th grade ffs....But I will say this, the day I learned how to level properly was the day mixing became simple.
@@shadowgauge5852 er.. You: "and while yes, you do have an unlimited headroom with an analog tape machine," - also You: "I would not be happy if you pushed 20 db into my 440" - ua-cam.com/video/IldjPNFxArI/v-deo.html
Well not really, because firstly the method anyone will use these for the most is to simulate mastering tape on a whole finished/mixed track which is going to pretty much always include bass & drums. Secondly, tape saturation on drums & the bass loop really pushes the plugins & is therefore more noticeable (and saturating drums is an old technique used in tape days to get more drum power) and thus it gives you an idea of what to expect on other material because various freq' ranges are in the program material particularly the bass loop which has plenty of upper frequency content included in the rasping upper mid & treble content of the synth. I couldn't do a huge long video showing examples across things like solo'd guitars, vocals & brass across all the machines because it would take ages & the video would be too long... you can always try the demo yourself anyway, it's free to use for about 10 days or so
@@dancetech I REALLY enjoy your videos. The specific issue with the bass line in this song is its DISTORTION. It's very difficult to hear the subtle changes in saturation when that much distortion is present. That's all.
You got on IK's radar. You have the best T-Racks walkthroughs and demos.
👍 cheers mate. BIG T-RacKs Comprexxor tutorial & walkthrough coming soon.
@@dancetech cant wait I really enjoy the way it sounds with the fast attack
I thought the idea was silly until I heard it. They sound really good. Brings back memories.
👍 it's a retro-tastic explosion! Even Elton John is back in the charts.
It’s kind of funny that in the 80s and early 90s I longed for more clarity, no tape hiss & distortion, no wow and flutter and drop outs on my Porta One and Two but now you can buy emulations of those “imperfections” (without the drop outs of course!)
IKR.. like wtf, I always wanted a better, cleaner sound.. now I find that nope.... Cleaner is never better... always go dirty
Great informative review as per normal. I had a Tascam Portastudio 244, which I sold some 20ish years ago. I wish I still owned it, probably would be worth a small fortune today! Keep up the great work!
i had the 244 and the 388. bought them both new, don't remember what happened to 244 but the 388 that was in mint condition i gave away for free to some kid from maine. meanwhile all these years later i'm kicking myself in the ass every day because i have all the masters from both units and nothing to remix all my old songs on. 388's are like 5 g's now and they're so heavy that it's probably a small fortune to ship one .......... bwaaaaa 🤣
Thanks for all these reviews, very pleasant to listen to, and great knowledge imparted. cheers mate!
Very cool. Excellent vid, as always. Big up, dance tech!
Wow blood and fire love it to the max bursting speakers. Take me there Tascom.
👍🏾♥️💛💚
Always enjoy watching and listening mane
thanks 👍
Oh I gotta get this🤖📡😊
doooooope!
Awesome. I'm only just beginning to get into IK Multimedia stuff - it's great! Do you have any experience with Softube's tape emulation? That gets used a lot but I think I prefer these. Incidentally a vid on the softube tape sim would be great...as would some more reggae/dubs..;-)
I'd compare the softube tapes to the IK Multimedia Tape Collection, instead to the TASCAM Collection if I were you. Wether you prefer the tape-collection or the tascam collection will really depend on how you want to use it. If you want to use it on single tracks to get more of a creative effect, I'd probably recommend the TASCAM collection. If you want to use it on a masterbus, to glue and polish the whole thing, I'd recommend the Tape Collection.
Either way those plugins eat PCs alive. If you are going to use multiple instances of them on single tracks you better get used to "commiting" your tracks.
@@akagerhard Yes all that modelling certainly gobbles up the cpu. Thanks for the comment.
Thanks for your demo, Man. What they like CPU, wise? IK M' s plugins tend to be CPU Hungry?
try the demos; you can try every t-racks plugin using the custom shop download
Waiting for your 10.7 breakdown! Just downloaded and installed. Checking out the Atmos stuff, but loads of fixes and improvements.
Still no update ES2 interface! LOL!
not for users of intel macs it seems, (only for M1 users?), or is it the OS? I'm on Catalina, anyways it's not available in my updates and neither are the new content packs. What machine you using?
@@dancetech On a Mac Mini M1 16Gb 512Tb model. And i love it! Makes my old 2014 iMac i7 look a bit sick. This replaced my old 2012 Mac Mini, which i used for basic stuff, and initial song ideas. iMac for the bigger stuff. THAT will be replaced when either the new M1Pro/Max version of the MM arrives, or the new Big iMac when it is finally released. But doe have to be said, the M1 MM is great! (currently running Big Sur). Don't have many plugins, and the main ones are all M1 compatible:- U-He Repro one/five, Valhalla stuff, Spitfire BBCSO. Have Albion, but Kontakt 6 not yet M1 compatible...(typical NI.. nearly a year after the M1s were launched!)
Yep. Logic 10.7 for Big Sur (and upwards) only. But can't see a specific Apple Silicon Only message. A quick google, and people report it running o 2016 intel macs, so if you can install Big Sur, then it should be fine.
Oh yes, and Pianoteq, too.
Correct Tm. Upgrade to Big Sur and apparently an update to 10.7 is available on an Intel Mac. However older Waves and Izotope plugins won’t work on Big Sur without shelling out more money. I’ll stick to Catalina & 10.6 I think. Not much of interest on 10.7 to me.
@@ShiningHourPop Indeed. I have no particular use for the 10.6 Live Loops, myself, but am definitely interested in the world of Atmos mixing. A chacun son goût, as the French say!
I get your point... but that probably says more about Waves and their upgrade policy, than it does about Logic, of course. At least every single Logic X upgrade has been free, which is more than I could say for some.
But obviously if, for you, it ain't broke...!
Luckily, so far as I don't use many 3rd party plugins, it has no real impact on me, bar Kontakt not being Apple silicon compatible. And I only use the free player (for Albion).
Seem to remember hiss being a feature of tape recording....
I got this plugin and it didn't work correctly.
in what way?
Ok it is driving me nuts, and I know you know this brotha.... Why do you have your digital ceiling all the way up, the IK series, like every other VST plugin... except Fabfilter.. which is ... anyway.. You need to be keepin around 0 db for the plugin to function as best it can... I am assuming it is displaying in dbFS... Which would mean your pushing +20 db into a Tape sat... Most Vu Meters redline at -18 dbFS, You always need to gate and limit your signal before you attempt to use any type of saturation or compression on it. I would not be happy if you pushed 20 db into my 440... =D
it's internal digital, not tape, there's gigantic headroom, the 'level' only matters for final masters or if connecting to the analog world if you want to match meter levels etc. anyways even in the old days all that matters is how it sounds, you'd ram levels into tape and of course monitor 'off tape' to hear what the tape saturation was like before printing a take...people get obsessed with all this 'level' nonsense like it's important.
@@dancetech It more has to do with the coding process and how the VST responds to the actual voltage out, which is not as clear cut as a "meter" would indicate.. so yes point taken... It is more of an OCD thang I'm not gonna lie, plus I am generally Producing in Live, and in retrospect, I did notice Logic didn't have that high of an output by comparison, but I do notice a major difference in audio quality the instant push past 0db. which lifts the ceiling and will drop the relative volume on other channels even though the levels never actually change, which is why it is important .. In fact I would argue leveling is by far the most important part of mixing and mastering... But alas, meters are unreliable and considering most people don't even know what dithering is or the dif between 0db and 0dbFS for that matter..sooo yeah.. it was probably pointless saying anything about it...
@@dancetech Man, I appreciate your insight brotha, and while I understand there are are probably very few renaissance techs out there that could refute this in confidence based solely on nothing but internal factors.. So my own experience and opinion, and I would agree that you are 100% sharing what is the most popular opinion regards to leveling and meters... Because one of the most difficult understandings I have ever wrapped my brain around was how digital meters function, not because it was that difficult to understand, but because everyone said it didn't matter and that it wasn't important... And they can be a bit counter intuitive if you don't understand things like the resonant frequency or how that can effect your voltage out ie the DC offset, which I have not had to deal with in over 10 years now, or or how the Nyquist effects your wave out which does have an impact recording not rendering... and while yes, you do have an unlimited headroom with an analog tape machine, or even a dat really, that is 100% not the case with emulation (and yes I had to make sure I was not in my own head on this one)... The reason people are so concerned about levels is because they can't get a straight answer from anyone anywhere...... It was not until I started working on my Masters and doing audio coding that I realized anyone that says leveling isn't important... Probably does not understand DA Conversion process... And I know you can probably give me a very detailed explanation as to how it works... But if you understood how it worked, and it is somewhat obvious you don't with all due respect. You did deflect and get defensive while making an argument for ignorance... when the shit is WAY harder than high level trig... actually its exactly as hard as high level trig... But hey, at least your not telling people that 500 hertz is half of 1000 hertz.. or that you can use a a 2:1 ratio instead of a 3:1 calculation distance and phasing... I literally had someone try to argue that a 2:1 phase relation between 2 versions of the exact same wave would work just fine.... yet its trig, soooo that's 180 degrees, and I have known that since the 8th grade ffs....But I will say this, the day I learned how to level properly was the day mixing became simple.
@@shadowgauge5852 er.. You: "and while yes, you do have an unlimited headroom with an analog tape machine," - also You: "I would not be happy if you pushed 20 db into my 440" - ua-cam.com/video/IldjPNFxArI/v-deo.html
I think ik multimedia plug-ins quality is far superior than universal audio , uad is ok but not best it’s overhyped promotion rather
they look n sound very inetresting
Sorry…this bass and drum loop was a HORRIBLE choice of sounds to demonstrate this plugin.
Well not really, because firstly the method anyone will use these for the most is to simulate mastering tape on a whole finished/mixed track which is going to pretty much always include bass & drums. Secondly, tape saturation on drums & the bass loop really pushes the plugins & is therefore more noticeable (and saturating drums is an old technique used in tape days to get more drum power) and thus it gives you an idea of what to expect on other material because various freq' ranges are in the program material particularly the bass loop which has plenty of upper frequency content included in the rasping upper mid & treble content of the synth. I couldn't do a huge long video showing examples across things like solo'd guitars, vocals & brass across all the machines because it would take ages & the video would be too long... you can always try the demo yourself anyway, it's free to use for about 10 days or so
@@dancetech I REALLY enjoy your videos. The specific issue with the bass line in this song is its DISTORTION. It's very difficult to hear the subtle changes in saturation when that much distortion is present. That's all.
@@michaelyolch79 it'd not distortion it's a filter.
@@dancetech You’re missing the point. Never mind. Good day then.