The plug-in for the warm, characterful sound of real cassette tape, from subtle analogue colour to warbling lo-fi textures.

For Tapewave, walkmans, boomboxes and vintage cassette decks were analysed and their tone, signal path and mechanical behaviour modelled. Six tape types, each with its own EQ curve and saturation response, the Tape Age control for wear, a wow and flutter engine with both smooth and random Perlin-noise modulation, and Drift for speed inconsistencies shape the sound. These are joined by up to 16x oversampled saturation, two compression modes including a Shure Level-Loc emulation, optional tape hiss and an output maximiser.

Features

• Six tape types, each with its own sound and animated interface
• Tape Age from pristine to heavily worn
• Wow and flutter with smooth and Perlin-based modulation, plus Drift
• Saturation with up to 16x oversampling, Eco, Standard and HiFi quality modes
• Two compression modes including a Shure Level-Loc emulation, pre- or post-tape
• Tape hiss, output maximiser and over 100 presets

Technical details

• Type: Plug-in (tape saturation)
• Operating systems: Windows, macOS
• Plug-in formats: VST3, Audio Unit (macOS only), AAX
• Architecture: 64-bit

System requirements

• macOS 10.12 Sierra or later
• Windows 10 or later
• Processor (Mac): native support for M1/M2 Macs

The licence is registered with the manufacturer at https://www.wavealchemy.co.uk/product/tapewave/. You will receive your serial number and the download link by e-mail immediately after purchase.