Slate Digital VIRTUAL TAPE MACHINES Available NOW
by Steven Slate   27th June 2012

Sure, I mean for myself I've proven why, it may vary for others
At first listen, in isolation, I thought perhaps more heft and weight from the IK. But then I ran a mix with several instances, once with VTM and then the identical mix with IK. The IK's sound great but vtm is somehow "alive" and sounds pop out of the speakers rather than just sounding affected and just sitting there.

Which models did you compare?
Ikm has 4 different ones that each sound different.
I think the student 89 is the one which is closest to the vtm.
But vtm is still one of the best. Holds up and saturates nicely.

Wouldn't say prefer but it's a great choice. Plus, I can use it across a mix without my computer begging for mercy.

I shot it out against the Studer on mixanalog.com and on certain settings it sounds similar. It's a good substitute for the real thing when the budget is low. Plus, its noise floor is controllable vs. having to run noise reduction (if the customer doesn't want noise).

Wow, I can't believe in a few months VTM turns 8 years old!

Yes, for sure I compared vtm directly with the 80. And I did compare the others too accurately level matched. This is what I had in my notes for the other three. This is again my opinion, any of these can absolutely work in a mix:

440 is brighter and snappier, can get a cracking transient response. Of course with slower speed, it gets quite dark.
24 seems to give a sheen and nice richness in the mids.
99 also can sound close to vtm surprisingly, being it's the revox.

I will say, especially the 80, has some robust peak control. The rounding off tape compression, quite nice in that one.

Did you compare the IK 80 too?

I did! Interestingly enough, the Tape Machine 99 sounded closer to the real Studer tape machine. My guess is, whatever combination of calibration settings, tape formulas, tape head condition, etc. that they have over in Solvenia is similar to the Revox machine that IK modeled vs. the Studer A80.

Like IKs studer80 also. But the vtm with it's low cpu is still a great tape emulator

Interesting, thanks!

There are certainly emulations that sound fatter or more like tape but on the other hand require a lot of CPU resources. IKM is certainly one of them.
VTM is a bit older now and has got some updates. Finally it offers a good ratio of tape sound to CPU consumption.

What is the sense of a high-end tape emulation if I can only open one instance of it and can't do anything else in the DAW? It's like a race car on a village street.

I guess that there wont be any new tape types, at least for the mix down machine considering that Howie sold his some time ago.

Does the VTM still find use in the fine hands of the forum users?

Yup. Regular use here. Sometimes on individual tracks, sometimes on the 2 bus.

I have been using VTM since it was released, but not on every track. Only on groups and the master bus. This is for me the best combination for modern sound and some vintage polish.

I still use it. I go back and forth between Softube Tape and VTM. Not on every track, just here and there and almost always on mixbus.

I usually use either of them in conjunction with a (parallel) Studer IR in Reverberate 3.

I use it on every track and the master, alongside VCC (in VMR) on the Neve setting... treating it like it's coming off tape into a desk.

The thing I don't like about the IK is that oversampling is always on by default. Though it seems this is also the case now with the slate...can anyone confirm this?

I do agree that VTM is great, still holds up pretty well.
Tempted to try the softie as I am in S1 now and the Softube has been integrated into the mix system..

IK Multimedia's and the real tape machines on MixAnalog.com have become my primary tape flavoring tools. But VTM still gets used on vocals (FG456, 16-track) and the mix buss (FG9, 2-track) quite often.

Hello everyone, is it possible to automate the bass alignment in pro tools ?