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).

It's pretty simple why Voxengo plugins are so good - Alexsey has a better ear compared to other developers.

His plugins sound so 'musical'.  I've used many other plugins that technically perform their designed function, yet somehow just don't sound good.

I now have a whole set of expensive plugins that are just taking up drive space.  They simply don't sound as good as thier Voxengo counterparts.