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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.

Arturia Pigments Play is a free version of one of the best soft synths around.

Arturia has released Pigments Play, a free version of Pigments, its flagship multi-engine software synth.

Pigments Play follows the same approach the company took with Analog Lab Play, which arrived in 2023 as a free, stripped-down edition of Analog Lab, built around a simplified Play View and a curated set of 100 presets.

The instrument is based on the updated Play View that Arturia introduced with Pigments 7 last December, which features an audio-reactive visualiser and an interface designed for browsing presets and making quick adjustments rather than getting into the weeds with complex sound design.

Pigments Play’s 100 presets cover a variety of genres, including modern pop, R&B, garage, house, drum and bass, trap and ambient.

It features the same six synthesis engines as the full version, spanning virtual analogue, wavetable, sample-based, granular, harmonic and modal, and is equipped with the same 68 filter modes and 20 effect algorithms.

Each Pigments Play preset has four macros for immediate sound-shaping that are unique to each preset, and you can find simplified oscillator, filter and envelope controls at the bottom of the interface for both of its dual sound engines, which can both be swapped out to customize each preset. Alongside these, there’s a Utility engine that can be used to add a noise generator or sub-oscillator.

Pigments Play’s effects section has two slots, giving you access to all of the same effects you’ll get in the paid-for version, covering various flavours of delay, reverb, distortion, dynamics and modulation effects.

Sounds can be filtered by type and instrument in the browser, and the plugin is linked up to Arturia’s Sound Store, where you can find 200 additional sound banks organised by artist and genre, both free and paid-for. And if you own an Arturia controller or keyboard, it’ll be mapped to Pigments Play’s main controls automatically.

Pigments 7 was released last December, bringing three new filter modes (Rage, Ripple and Reverb), a new Corroder distortion effect, refined envelopes and a bundle of new content. It also redesigned Pigments’ Play View (the same one you’ll find in Pigments Play) introducing a visualiser that represents the sonic character of each preset, reacting graphically to both sound and parameter changes.

Features:

• Number of presets 100
• Audio-reactive play view ✓
• Synthesis types 6
• Filter modes 68 68
• Effect algorithms 20
• Parameter control limited

Arturia Pigments Play is available now as a free download for macOS and Windows in VST/AU/AAX formats or as a standalone app.

Find out more on Arturia website.

The very first VST plug-ins, re-released in one collection.

Steinberg is celebrating 30 years of its VST standard by telling us that ‘the ’90s are back’ and releasing the Classics Collection. This is a new free bundle which have been updated to the latest VST3 standard, features five fondly-remembered plugins from the ‘90s and early ‘00s, one of which was the first VST instrument ever released — Neon, CS-40, Karlette, VB1, and LM7 — in the free Steinberg Classics Collection.

This was and is a simple two-oscillator synth known as Neon polyphonic software synthesizer, arrived in 1999 as part of the Cubase VST 3.7 DAW update, and it did a fine job of proving that the ‘software instrument’ concept – which many still doubted – was credible.

Indeed, it set the tone for what was to come, both sonically and with its vintage-style ‘wooden’ end panels, which became ubiquitous as emulations of hardware synths flooded the market.

The VB-1 was one of the original virtual bass instruments, and made it clear that the VST market wasn’t only going to be about synthetic sounds.

Fast forward to the early 2000s and Steinberg released the CS-40 polysynth, and that’s resurrected here, too. The sample-based LM7 drum machine also gets another airing, and the bundle is capped off by Karlette, a classic ‘90s tape delay plugin.

As you’d expect, these plugins aren’t as powerful or refined as many of their contemporary counterparts, but trying them again, they hold up surprisingly well, and it could be a fun creative exercise to go back and try and make a track with the same kind of software sounds that producers had access to 25 years ago.

Get these free VSTS and go back to the VST future!

It’s also worth saying that, while some of the plugins have been re-released before, these versions are compatible with the latest Mac and Windows operating and are VST 3 compatible.

You can download the Steinberg Classics Collection now from the Steinberg website.