Nashville’s Harrison Audio dates back to 1975 after Dave Harrison designed the world’s first “in line” console, the MCI JH-400. Harrison combined the recording and monitoring console sections into one strip for the first time, and enabled console size to be cut in half. Studios immediately saw the efficiency in this, and this design quickly became industry standard.
Still located in Nashville, TN, Harrison expands on 50+ years of analog and digital experience and innovation by introducing The Harrison Tape Saturator Plugin. The Harrison Tape Saturator is an analog tape saturation plugin designed to emulate the sound of 2-track reel-to-reel tape machines.
The Harrison Tape Saturator is modelled on classic analog tape machines of the 1970’s and 1980’s, designed to impart the character of analog tape as well as the physical anomalies caused by the tape transport, from subtle warmth, rich saturation and tape deck irregularities.
Input and output gain controls, along with detailed metering, let you see how hard you’re driving the Tape Saturator. The Drive control level is the main parameter that gauges how much saturation the plugin creates. Increasing the Drive knob intensifies the tape saturation. The Fidelity Selector lets you choose from five tape grades, with best offering the highest headroom and widest bandwidth with lowest distortion. Lowering the selector introduces lo-fi analog emulation.
The Speed Selector allows you to switch between multiple tape speeds, from 60 ips for the highest quality, studio grade performance, all the way down to 1 7/8 ips, like old school consumer cassette machines. Tape speed influences frequency response, noise floor, headroom, dynamics and the overall character of the sound. Like in the analog world, faster speeds offer cleaner, more accurate reproduction while slower speeds offer more degradation consistent with lower speed recording. While the vintage Ampex and Studer studio tape recorders never offered speeds beyond 30 ips, the 60 ips setting here offers yet another tonal option.
The Flutter, Dropouts and Hiss controls are all the parameters that emulate the electronics and mechanics of the tape deck. Each can be bypassed separately as well as automated. Flutter introduces subtle to extreme variations in tape speed, creating slight pitch fluctuations that authentically replicate the natural mechanical inconsistencies of real tape machines. Dropouts emulates the artifacts of worn or damaged magnetic tape that momentarily lose contact with the tape heads. The Harrison Tape Saturator offers 12 presets, with tape decks ranging from the 1950’s to 1990’s, to give you a starting point. Presets have names like 50’s Dictaphone, 60’s portable Suitcase, 70’s Cassette No NR, and more. Parameters can be tweaked from there and saved into user presets.
A very powerful and affordable tool for your DAW workstation. Compatible with AAX, VST, VST3, and AU formats. $49
