Ableton Forum

Hello fellows,

I want to share with you a trick I discovered recently.

I readed a lot of thing on forum to how to add warmess. Like buying a piece of gear ( compressor or other ), change its tube, mount 1:1 transfo and other.

But the solution is easier and cheaper. Look for an old amp from the 60s or 70s. You can find very cool and amazingly sounding unit for around 100$. It will add warmess and sweet color to your mix. Another solution that complete an old school amp is an old analog EQ. You could spent hundreds of dollars on a plugin to emulate an analog EQ, or spent around 50$ to have the original sound. You want tape saturation? There is a bunch of old Fostex reel to reel tape recorder around, or to have the amp and the tape, an old tape recorder from the 60s/70s. It's that easy. Why pay more to emulate something you could have the genuine sound for less?

I personnally have a TEAC 2300s reel to reel tape recorder. It complete perfectly my virus ti and i couldnt live without the two anymore. The virus has a nice analog sound, but still sound digital. Before you route its sound to the amp of the TEAC. The TEAC has a sweet compression but still more important a roll off of higher frequency. I have a Sansui 661 too. Magic! I found a ADC sound shaper. So amazing! I paid 70$ for the EQ and 60$ for the TEAC. And it give a sound hard to find in much more expensive unit.

I hope I helped those out there looking for the warmess of analog.

Happy hunting!



And check the result here on one of my track, masterised with that setup: http://soundcloud.com/proj3kt_dharma/th ... of-a-sunny

Lunarboy for Proj3kt Dharma

or...




+

Nice tune. Nice waveform too.

another option that is pretty cheap and doesn't add a lot of noise is just simply using a 1:1 600 ohm transformer. they can be found in broken gear or bought individually and add subtle warmth. it will usually attenuate the signal 1 dB or so. they can also get rid of emi interference

super easy !
Loopback : output 3/4 of your audio card into input 1/2 with some trs cables. I do it with a cheap compressor in the middle. I dunno if it sounds better, but my "studio" looks definitly more pro now

Also plain old tape cassette can be used. Easy to get for free! Theres a nice guide at createdigitalmusic.com

Personally, I like my compositions to sound how I intended them to sound. And I don't see why I need to add distortion to my master output. Something which was a constant annoying artifact for the listening experience on cassettes, back in the 80ties and early 90ties. Especially on your own creations. However, I do absolutely see a nice effect for single tracks inside the mix. Like very fine but complex distortion effects. Absolutely.

ze2be wrote:Also plain old tape cassette can be used. Easy to get for free! Theres a nice guide at createdigitalmusic.com

Personally, I like my compositions to sound how I intended them to sound. And I don't see why I need to add distortion to my master output. Something which was a constant annoying artifact for the listening experience on cassettes, back in the 80ties and early 90ties. Especially on your own creations. However, I do absolutely see a nice effect for single tracks inside the mix. Like very fine but complex distortion effects. Absolutely.

I completely agreed about having your sound sounding like you intend them to do. That's why I monitor in the amp when I compose and program my synth. Only i record the pre amp,to not make noise builds up. In my setup, I have a slightely -24db noise, so adding noise is not that bad. If you want it to use for a single track, change amp for each track, or the noise will build up. Personnaly i am after the old sound of the 70s, so some subtle distorsion is welcome. More than the dryness and hi freq noise of the pure digital realm. I stay digital all the way along the mix, except i like the sound the ols analog gear give me. But, it's a personnal choice.

And what I like is as these stuff tend to easily clip, you have to be very gentle with them.

I just point in that direction if this is what you like.

kb420 wrote:

Yes, but it cost most than the real stuff. It's like if you paid $1000 for a glass ruby, whereas the real ruby cost $100.

Just my opinion.

Yes, V.W. doesnt sound as good. Imo, it sounds digital muddy, like bad warping artifacts on audio clips in ableton. The only vst distortion algorithm I enjoy using is guitar rig. And its really not that good (warm?) either. Considering trying some of this tape playhead stuf.. I do have a cassette player

ze2be wrote:Yes, V.W. doesnt sound as good. Imo, it sounds digital muddy, like bad warping artifacts on audio clips in ableton. The only vst distortion algorithm I enjoy using is guitar rig. And its really not that good (warm?) either. Considering trying some of this tape playhead stuf.. I do have a cassette player

In fact, I don't really use the recorder, I use the amp. It's the amp that make all the difference. It adds very subtle and sweet compression and a roll off of the high end. That and/or an EQ can add sweet warmess to your mix.

my 2.1 cents

Vintage Warmer is useful if used correctly, IMO. I use it on individual sounds.... never on a bus. And never on anything delicate like a piano or acoustic guitar. Handy for beefing up drum samples...

Still - real tape FTW!!!

An old dicta-phone's micro cassettes compress drums in a uniquely pleasant way.

- Sounds real nice layered along with the original digital signal.

+ 1 for a cassette recorder. I got a super lovely near mint condition Revox B 710 on Ebay once and i love it as a tool to make things sound warm and gluey together. Made me think of doing releases on audio cassettes....

also + 1 for simply piping a hot signal thru a cheap transformer.


Robert

Hmm.. I have old Sansui amp from the 70's lying around.. Big and heavy with DIN connectors and wooden casing. I might try to put some basslines thru its tape monitor I/O. I love the loundess setting (the disco smile) on that also. Use it all the time when listening to music. It might do some magic for those dubstep basslines..