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Logic's hidden tape distortion plug


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Top of the morning to you all.

 

I can't help but notice that there are a lotta kids out there who still ask which plugs to nab to get a good tape distortion sound, with Vintage Warmer, Massey's free Tape AU and Izotope's Trash receiving frequent mention.

 

But did you know that Logic already comes with a native tape plug that not only distorts but also allows can simulate the playback speed imprecisions inherent to tape?

 

Furthermore, after having tested it some, I can honestly say that it sounds at least on par with Massey's offering, although perhaps not quite as shiny as Trash. Of course, this is veeeeeery subjective, but still.

 

So, go forth and seek, fair noobians. Let's see who finds it first! :shock:

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Hmmmmm... I'm gonna go ahead and say 'yes', and then 'no'. 'Yes' in that it ends with a 'y', and 'no' in that it can be made to behave exactly like a tape disto if you know how, hence the 'hidden'.

 

I hope I'm not wrong about this :D

 

Anyway, here's a demo for all you non believers.

 

Note: This is a the vintage funk 03 'Rihanna' loop looped 3 times, first dry, then with Logic's plug and Massey's AU (though I'm not giving away the order). Also note that I'm currently not allowed to use my speakers, and so I had to make this on some cheap cans, hence any perceivable difference between the two plugs (I can usually make them sound freakishly alike).

Tapes.zip

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great tip! One problem though, I tried to copy and paste the plugin setting from one track to another and the delay time reverts back to 666.6ms. Same thing happens if I save a 0ms time as my "#default" setting. Anyone else running into the same issue? I'm using 8.0.2 on 10.4.11.
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great tip! One problem though, I tried to copy and paste the plugin setting from one track to another and the delay time reverts back to 666.6ms. Same thing happens if I save a 0ms time as my "#default" setting. Anyone else running into the same issue? I'm using 8.0.2 on 10.4.11.

 

yup, whenever moving or reloading it insists on a delay time bigger than 0. No biggy though. I had some good results, although it eats high end and when mixed with the direct signal you've got to watch out for phase problems.

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Hmmmmm... I'm gonna go ahead and say 'yes', and then 'no'. 'Yes' in that it ends with a 'y', and 'no' in that it can be made to behave exactly like a tape disto if you know how, hence the 'hidden'.

 

I hope I'm not wrong about this :D

 

Anyway, here's a demo for all you non believers.

 

Note: This is a the vintage funk 03 'Rihanna' loop looped 3 times, first dry, then with Logic's plug and Massey's AU (though I'm not giving away the order). Also note that I'm currently not allowed to use my speakers, and so I had to make this on some cheap cans, hence any perceivable difference between the two plugs (I can usually make them sound freakishly alike).

 

if the 2nd one is logic's tape delay then i'll eat my shorts

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I have to say that I don't get it.

 

The 1st sample sounded clean, 2nd sounded like a bit of reverb, 3rd just sounded

distorted. I liked the 2nd best.

 

I'm not certain what exactly the tape delay/distortion is supposed to do.

(I did read about it in the manual).

 

How do you guys use this plug?

Do you use it for echo/delay or primarily to get a "tape sound"?

 

I want to learn about this. I will also try it on some of my tracks.

 

Thanks,

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Damn. This is a great trick. Thanks. I just tired it on vocals and even on the mix bus. It sounds tape-ee indeed. This is another great example of how you can coax out of Logic something that isn't explicitly advertised, something that someone else will be happy to charge you :)
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Audio geeks of the world unite.

 

People are always complaining about this and that and begging for extra features, but then how many of them have actually taken the time to learn their DAWs? Granted, I actually wrote to Apple and asked them to implement this feature (0ms delay time, that is), but still. :P

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this is GREAT - thanks for the tip. I've been a Reason user for awhile and I love using Scream's tape saturation to fatten loops - new to Logic and this is my answer towards that end...however its already incredibly annoying having to re-set it when you re-open the project. oh well.
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I verified this, and sent a bug report to Apple. I also discovered that at 0.1ms, it remembers the settings. This may be a no go for some, but I think that in most cases, a 0.1 delay is acceptable. If not, then until Apple gets on the case, then i'm afraid you're stuck with having to delay the track negatively (by -0.1ms, that is) or constantly resetting your settings.

 

A good compromise I think would be to use the 0.1ms setting until it's time to bounce, at which point you could let the 0.0ms setting fly! Or something.

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Sorry, no, it's dry, Massey, Logic, in that order.

 

But do note that when I made the demo on some cheap cans, the massey and logic ones sounded pretty much the same, and I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to get a closer match using proper monitors.

 

You have to consider details such as the fact that Logic's one automatically lowers the output volume when you add distortion, whereas Massey's one increases it. Input gain also changes the sound a lot, so it's a good idea to bang a Gain plug-in before Tape Delay in the FX chain (one of the reasons I like Trash so much is that it includes a input gain parameter).

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Sorry, no, it's dry, Massey, Logic, in that order.

 

But do note that when I made the demo on some cheap cans, the massey and logic ones sounded pretty much the same, and I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to get a closer match using proper monitors.

 

You have to consider details such as the fact that Logic's one automatically lowers the output volume when you add distortion, whereas Massey's one increases it. Input gain also changes the sound a lot, so it's a good idea to bang a Gain plug-in before Tape Delay in the FX chain (one of the reasons I like Trash so much is that it includes a input gain parameter).

 

cool, i thought perhaps so. regardless it's a gem and used carefully it could be very nice. i'll play around with it when i mix my next track - thanks for the heads up!

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