You may have seen your share of console and tape-machines emulating plug-ins, but you may not have seen one plug-in that faithfully emulates both. Enter TAPEDESK from Overloud, available for download and created to model the interaction between a console preamp, channel strip, transformer path, and 24-track 2” tape machine. Automating a process that often takes many plugins working together in tandem, TAPEDESK seeks to put these processes on one instance of your track, simulating the path from a console to a tape machine and back into a console again.

Three consoles have been emulated, the S4000, N80, and T88. The S4000 provides an aggressive character suitable for rock, metal, and pop, while the N80 gives you a rich English sound synonymous with vintage tone. The T88 gives you a push in the midrange and an overall thick tone. You can select models of the mic pre, and input and output stages of a given console. A trim pot and an output slider are provided. The Tolerances button mimics the slight variances you’d see in a given console, as no two channel strips on a weathered, analog board would give you the exact same response.

The Tape Machine component of the plug-in sports linkable controls for record level and playback level as well as tape speed, bias, and wow/flutter. Metering is provided for the input, tape, and output sections of the plug-in, which is switchable between VU and PPM at any point of the chain.

The plug-in requires very little CPU to run, making it suitable for use on multiple tracks. Many plug-ins engineered for real-world mixing scenarios have been included. This plug-in works on both Mac and PC platforms and can operate in AU, VST, AAX, and standalone applications. You can run TAPEDESK in both 32- and 64-bit.