Voxengo CRTIV Tape Bus

After a phase of trying other plugins, mostly analog emulations, by other makers, I once again have to commend Voxengo for the quality of their plugins.

If you want a compressor that can tame the peaks of a vocal while giving it a polished sheen, I highly recommend Deft Compressor.

For giving warmth to vocals?  Or a bass compressor that (in my opinion) works much better than most LA2A emulations?  Use Crunchessor.  I use the 2A preset to keep the levels of bass tracks consistent without sounding squeezed (something I often hear from LA2A plugins).

Deft Compressor going into Crunchessor is my preferred version of "1176 to LA2A", that is, a fast attack compressor going into a smoother attack compressor.

I still highly prefer CRTIV Tape Bus compared to other tape plugins I have if I want to keep an open high-end sound to the track.  It's really good at keeping the punch and transients on the master bus while improving the crest factor (push the record gain).

I have to say that Warmifier is great since unlike other saturation plugins, it's not easy to overdo the amount of saturation.  It's super subtle, and these days I find that using too much saturation has a blurring effect on tracks.

Sobor is just unbelievably good.  You have to try it.

Voxengo is just really good DSP - high quality digital - without the mask or crutch of trying to emulate old, classic analog gear.  There are a handful of small devs like that, and just like Voxengo I highly suggest you try them out.

Slick GUI, variety of settings, great sound, competitive price.  I honestly couldn't have asked for more.  Here's a quick review.

- What I like:

All Voxengo plugins have signature GUI which is very convenient and modern-looking, plus it allows me to quickly and easily find and adjust settings on different Voxengo plugins without the need to readapt to another GUI.  I consider it a huge advantage over many other developers who simply copy hardware interface with rust and screws and all, without adapting it to "modern world".

Sound-wise it's also great and flexible, nothing to add here.

- What I'd add to this plugin:

Visual representation of tape EQs which are available in this plugin.  It can be like a floating window when you scroll between impulse modes, just to get a basic idea of what different modes do (I know it's displayed in the manual, but it would still be a nice addition, I think).

This last week, I upgraded one of my computers from Windows XP to Win7.  I did this by completely reformatting my partition, and installing everything from scratch.

When it came time to install and authorize all my Voxengo plugs, I was delighted to find something no regular user encounters on a day to day basis - that there is a means to authorize all my licensed Voxengos in a single action.  That is some very clever and very considerate programming, and greatly appreciated by someone faced with the tedious task of installing and authorizing dozens of programs and plugins.

Voxengo plugins are an integral part of my working process now, and just about everything I turn out has been touched in one way or another by your work.  Thanks very much for the great sound, and the little touches that are the product of great programming.