Satin

Tape Construction Kit

We took a journey back to the Golden Age of magnetic tape recording. We wanted to recreate all kinds of tape machines in software, from the ground up. After many months spent on research, measurement and on developing an architecture that would be flexible enough for the job, we knew we had nailed it…

But we couldn’t stop there: We added the old noise-reduction systems that were often (mis)used for timbral compression effects. Then more heads and a global feedback path, which made an uber-tape-delay and realistic ‘one-shot’ tape flanging possible.

Users familiar with analogue recording gear should instantly feel at home with Satin, and digital aficionados will also learn to love the magic of tape – Satin invites you to explore and find out for yourself.

Nothing else quite sounds like tape. Satin puts the legacy of tape recording in your hands: from top-of-the-line multi-track consoles to humble cassette decks. All the good (saturation, transient smoothing, compression) as well as the bad (noise modulation, flutter, hiss) qualities are under your control. Construct your (im)perfect tape machine.

Once reserved for major studios, digital recording has become widespread. It offers pristine sound and comfortable editing at a fraction of the cost of multitrack tape. Despite all the advantages, however, digital audio can easily sound too clean and impersonal. So musicians, producers and audio engineers have turned to traditional analogue tools to bring some life back into overly clinical recordings. A world of non-linear behaviours, distortion, saturation and much more arises during tape recording and playback. Bringing these coveted characteristics of magnetic tape into the digital realm, in unprecedented quality—this is what Satin is all about.

The sound

That tape sound depends on interaction between the various parts of a tape machine. Each contributes in one way or another—enhancing, reducing, combining—to generate the final sound.

Satin models individual components and lets them interact in the same way. For maximum flexibility in sound shaping, Satin is a toolkit of alternative parts, not an emulation of a single machine. Build your own custom tape unit. The perfect final sheen for your mixdown, or “glue” multiple drum tracks together, decode old NR-encoded cassette tape, or misuse Satin for extreme effects.

Presets

Satin ships with a wide variety of presets – emulations of classic professional tape machines, cheap ‘n nasty tape machines, tape delays, tape flanging/chorus… and a whole lot more!

Gains

The two large knobs adjust input and output levels – probably the most important controls in Satin!

Metering

Precise visual signal level monitoring is ensured through a combination VU & peak meter, with switchable RMS mode and variable reference level.

Delay and flange

After developing the components for a tape machine toolkit, our minds turned other popular tape-based machines. Delay and flange immediately jumped to mind.

Delay

2 or 4-tap delay with variable routing, cyclic modulation, feedback filtering and limiter. Easily create beautiful organic space or precisely synchronized, complex patterns.

Flanger

Unlike regular LFO-controlled digital flangers, this is the real deal. True tape flanging that legendary ‘swoosh’! Doing this on a pair of real tape machines takes skill and practice – with Satin, you simply activate the Trigger.

Grouping

In Studio mode, you can assign each instance of Satin to one of the eight groups. Each group will behave as a multitrack tape, ‘remote-controlled’ from any instance in that group.

Companders

A choice of encoder and decoder circuits brings back the era of noise-reduction systems that were (mis)used for all kinds of dynamic and spectral effects, including the legendary ‘A-type vocal trick’.

TapeControls

Satin’s speed control is continuously variable from 7.5 up to 30ips – it even re-adjusts the entire machine model as you tweak. Pre-emphasis allows for precise control over transients, tone and fidelity.

Service Panel

Satin lets you get seriously technical whenever you want: adjust numerous attributes of the tape, the heads, and the surrounding circuitry. A handy analyzer makes alignments such as biasing easy and precise.

In service

Imagine opening up a tape machine, peeking “under the hood” and tinkering with the parts. That is what service technicians used to do, and it is what the Service Panel in Satin is for. It gives you detailed control over some of the more esoteric and characterful elements.

In the Tape section are perhaps the more readily identifiable attributes of tape recording: hiss, asperity, wow & flutter, crosstalk and bias. Dial in a little of each for a retro vibe or “glue”. Dial in the extreme settings and you can end up with the sound of poor-quality tape left in someone’s basement far too long.

The Repro Head(s) parameters control the physical attributes of the tape heads. With Gap Width and Bump, you can cut or boost certain frequencies and introduce resonances and fluctuations. Azimuth pushes the audio off-centre for interesting spatial effects, mimicking a skewed tape head.

Finally, the Circuit section lets you change the inner EQ circuitry. Included are various industry standard EQ curves, should you want to mimic specific machines. But Satin goes a step further by allowing independent selection of the recording and reproduction EQ curves. Which you can abuse for weird processing effects, or to correct EQ errors in old recordings (see below).

Decoding

Selectable Compander and Circuit settings make Satin useful as a format converter.

If you have a tape recording with an unsuitable EQ, using Circuit’s independent RecEQ and ReproEQ selectors you can set a new target EQ curve and make changes. Similarly, Compander can handle audio recorded with specific noise reduction (NR) encodings. Just run it through Satin with Decoder set to match the known NR encoding type.

Features

• Lush analogue tape sound
• Includes historical developments in tape technology
• Control up to 8 instances of Satin at once using the Group panel
• 5 popular noise reduction encoder/decoder models
• Service panel: Controls for hiss, wow and flutter, bias, head gap, azimuth, saturation, high-frequency compression and more
• Modern or vintage tape material
• Internal sample rate up to 384kHz
• 5 circuit models for recording and reproduction EQs
• Stereo delay mode (2 or 4 heads) with multiple-mono, cross or ping-pong routing
• Tape flange mode with classic through-zero flanging
• Adjustable tape speed from 1.87 to 30ips
• Pre-emphasis and soft clipping options
• Preset browser with search functions
• NKS FX compatible
• Resizable UI from 70% to 200%
• Skinnable UI
• 120+ factory presets