It can vary widely, and our test sample is only one of many different results possible. With so many options under the hood, it’s hard to pin down a particular sound for the AC202. The former emulates preamp circuits, and the latter (obviously at this point) emulations tape saturation. McDSP calls it “Analog Channel”, featuring both the AC101 and AC202. While the AC202 is the particular unit we’re looking at for this list, the plugin actually comes with two different parts. There are several different tape formulations, adjustable frequency rolloff with lowend bump, and saturation recovery time. For me, the AC202 serves as a clutch plugin that comes in handy when everything else simply isn’t cutting it.
However, that means it usually isn’t ideal to go across all tracks. It appeals more to a hands-on approach, for those who want the option of tweaking the sound until it fits perfectly to the source. The AC202 from McDSP goes in the complete opposite direction of the first two plugins on our list, offering a whole slew of options to sculpt the sound to your taste. It’s still a great utility for veterans as well-just don’t expect to get too fancy in creating new sounds. Newcomers to the audio world should certainly jump on VTM, as simply adding it to tracks can improve the sound in almost any case. The sound is fairly stock and, because of that, serves as a nice baseline for other tape plugins to square off against. While you’ll certainly get the tape sound, you won’t find a unique way to create effects or shape any source. It’s an all around great sounding plug, working as utility in almost any situation. Throwing it on a drum or mix bus adds a warm polish, usually with little to no tweaks required. That said, VTM can still work wonders as a single entry on your mix. The efficient coding makes that possible too, as it eats up only a small amount of CPU resources, even across many instances. It’s also one of the more subtle plugins on this list, truly shining when stacked across multiple tracks. It’s a highly versatile piece of kit, somehow finding its way onto most of my mixes. The Slate Virtual Tape Machines is an easy-to-use and affordable plugin, with great sound to boot. Starting off the list is a tape plugin in its purest form. I kept the plugins as close to the default settings as possible, only tweaking them when there was little to no difference between the processed and unprocessed versions. The changes between the dry and processed tracks is subtle in almost every case, so make sure you listen on headphones or good monitors (although, if you’re reading this, you’re probably the kind of person who knows that much already).
BEST FREE MASTERING PLUGINS 2018 FULL
You can listen to a full audio shootout of all these plugins for yourself toward the end of this post, or download all the full resolution files here.
This loop was made with Native Instruments Session Drummer, with all EQ, compression, and built-in tape saturation turned off. To help you get a taste for them, I ran a short drum loop through each of the plugins on offer. Each of the entries on this list are fantastic in their own right, so the particular order I’ve presented them in here shouldn’t factor too much into choosing which one is right for you. Ultimately, the choice of tape plugin comes down to your taste and your goals. To that end, I took on some of the best tape emulation plugins available to find out how they performed, and help you decide which ones deserve to make their way into your DAW. Sure, owning an actual tape machine would be nice, but as they become more scarce and more expensive-not to mention, comparatively more limiting to use- the solution is to look towards options within the digital realm. As the recording world pushes towards digital, the need for solid tape emulation plugins goes up immensely among any engineers, producers and musicians looking to recreate the kind of tones they grew up loving.
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