Dusk Audio Releases Free Tape Echo 2 Plugin For Linux, Mac + Windows
Dusk Audio has released Tape Echo 2, a free three-head tape delay and spring reverb plugin that models the tape transport, record and playback chain, tape aging, regeneration, and mechanical behavior of a tape echo.
Tape Echo 2 is a free, unofficial copy of the Roland Space Echo that they say is modeled from the record head through the output amplifier. Its three playback heads share a single ‘motor’, with their positions determined by fixed mechanical ratios. Changing the Repeat Rate therefore changes the timing of all active heads together, with motor inertia producing a glide between speeds.
The plugin also models tape saturation, wow, flutter, hiss, level variation, tape splice dropouts and self-oscillation. A spring reverb uses three unequal modeled springs, and 12 modes provide different combinations of the three playback heads and reverb.
Features:
- Three playback heads driven by a single modeled motor
- Twelve echo modes covering individual heads, multiple-head combinations and spring reverb
- Head 1 delay range of approximately 70 to 178 ms
- Heads 2 and 3 use fixed mechanical ratios relative to Head 1
- Combined multi-head modes produce rhythmic repeat patterns
- Motor inertia produces gradual changes in repeat speed
- Eleven host-tempo synchronization note divisions
- Tempo synchronization respects the physical range of the modeled tape transport
- Three Tape Age conditions: New, Used and Old
- Tape Age simultaneously affects wow, scrape flutter, hiss and playback-level variation
- Modeled tape saturation and record/playback chain
- Regeneration control ranging from a single repeat through cascading repeats and self-oscillation
- Self-oscillation is modeled through tape saturation, record-chain compression and tape-flux behavior
- Spring reverb modeled with three unequal springs
- Two allpass diffusers create a denser spring-reverb tail
- Twelve echo/reverb routing modes
- Record Input switch can mute the tape feed while leaving the spring reverb active
- Independent Echo and Reverb volume controls
- Independent Echo and Reverb panning
- Bass and Treble controls for the echo return
- Dry/wet Mix control
- Record-path VU meter with analog-style ballistics
- Peak indicator referenced to digital full scale
- Automatic tape splice dropout as the modeled tape join passes the heads
- 13 factory presets
- Resizable interface
- Full parameter automation support
- Supports sample rates from 44.1 kHz to 192 kHz
- Linux support with VST3, LV2 and CLAP formats
- Windows support with VST3 and CLAP formats
- macOS support with VST3, AU, LV2 and CLAP formats
- Requires a 64-bit DAW supporting a compatible plugin format
- Open-source software released under the GPL-3.0-or-later license
Tape Echo 2 is available now as a free download. Dusk Audio states that all of its plugins are free and open source. Version 1.0.0 supports Linux, Windows and macOS in the plugin formats listed above.
