Instead of recreating a vintage tape machine, the free plugin goes after the sound of the early tape emulations that turned up in plenty of 2000s mixes.
Pulsar Audio’s newest plugin doesn’t try to recreate a vintage tape machine. Instead, DigiTape goes after the sound of the early tape emulation plugins that turned up in plenty of 2000s mixes, and it’s free.
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The French developer is better known for detailed hardware recreations like its Echorec, 8200 EQ and Smasher compressor. DigiTape takes the opposite approach, aiming for quick colour and character rather than an accurate model of a particular machine. It’s also light on CPU, so you can run plenty of instances across a session.
It runs two algorithms. Contour boosts the high frequencies before the saturation stage so they distort first, then filters them back afterwards to restore the tonal balance. The result is a softer top end and rounded transients, handy for taking the edge off a bright source without reaching for an EQ. There are five Contour types, from the subtle Halo to Shade, which compresses harder across a wider frequency range. Each type has its own saturation curve and tonal balance, and the mode adds Drive, Brightness and Mix controls.
Grain works differently. It splits the signal into three bands, saturates the lows and mids and pulls back the original highs. The harmonics the saturation creates fill the top end back in, adding bite and texture rather than polish. Drive and Brightness set the balance, with Brightness shifting the crossover between the saturated bands and the untouched highs.
Pulsar’s audio demos run DigiTape across bass synths, 808s, acoustic guitar, drum buses and a full rock mix.
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