The Harrison Tape Saturator is a classic analog tape saturation plugin that emulates the sonic character of 1970s 2-track reel-to-reel tape machines in a single, powerful software emulation.
Few sounds in recorded music are as universally chased as the warmth of analog tape – and Harrison Audio has just made it a lot easier to get there.
Nashville’s Harrison Audio, the company behind decades of studio console innovations, has announced the Harrison Tape Saturator: a plugin designed to faithfully emulate the sound of classic 2-track reel-to-reel tape machines from the 1970s. Modelled on the machines that shaped some of the best-sounding records ever made, the Tape Saturator brings that unmistakable analog character into the box, from subtle warmth and cohesion through to rich, full saturation.
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Under the hood, the plugin enhances audio signals with layers of even- and odd-order harmonics, thickening the low end, smoothing the top, and gently taming transients. Natural tape-style compression is also part of the picture, helping glue a mix together in a way that’s difficult to replicate with standard compression alone. The sonic profile aligns closely with Harrison’s 32Classic console – the kind of desk that was a fixture in serious studios of that era – making the Tape Saturator a natural companion for anyone already working within that signal chain.
The feature set covers everything you’d want from a tape emulation. A Fidelity Selector lets you choose from five tape grades, ranging from clean and wide-bandwidth through to lo-fi and characterful. The Speed Selector spans from 60 ips studio-grade performance down to 1 7/8 ips, mimicking classic consumer cassette machines. Drive dials in the intensity of the saturation, while Flutter and Dropouts introduce the kind of mechanical imperfections that made vintage tape so texturally interesting – pitch fluctuations, dropout artefacts and all. Rounding things out, a Hiss control lets you add as much or as little vintage noise as the track calls for, and a curated preset library makes it easy to find a starting point fast.
Harrison Audio is also hosting a live stream, The Golden Era of Recording, on Tuesday, 4 March at 5:00 AM AEDT (Monday, 3 March at 12:00 PM Central Time / 6:00 PM GMT). Co-hosted by Grammy-nominated recording engineer, producer, and mixer Joe Carrel and Harrison Audio specialist and recording engineer Jacob Lyons, the session explores what made classic Harrison designs – from the original 3232 through to today’s 32Classic, 32C, and Tape Saturator plug-ins – so influential, and how those principles translate to modern in-the-box production.
Compatible with AAX, VST, VST3, and AU formats, the Harrison Tape Saturator slots into most major DAW setups.
For more information or to purchase, visit Harrison Audio.
