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Ampex® ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder
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It's not a record until it's mastered on an Ampex tape machine.
The Ampex ATR-102 UAD plug-in and LUNA Extension provides the final “analog glue” for your music, turning your recordings into records.
The only emulation that’s fully authenticated by the Ampex Corporation, and trusted by producers and engineers the world over, the Ampex ATR-102 puts the colorful saturation, warmth, and harmonics of this industry-standard tape machine at your command.Included Versions
UAD Native
Runs on your Mac or PC without UA hardware.Apollo Realtime & UAD‑2
Runs accelerated on Apollo interfaces and UAD‑2 hardware.UAD Native plug-ins run on both macOS 10.15 Catalina or newer and Windows 10 and 11. Go to our UA Support page for system requirements.
- New! With Auto-Gain, make adjustments to Repro/Record levels while maintaining perfect gain staging
- New! Enjoy enhanced Retina GUI with interactive tape reels and controls true to the original hardware*
- Mix and master your music with the most popular professional 2-track tape machine ever made
- Get classic Ampex tape saturation, selectable tape types, and color to "glue" your mix together
- Experience the entire ATR-102 circuit, including its transformers, amplifiers, Repro, Sync, and Input paths
- Use the LUNA Extension version of ATR-102 to produce with rich, analog tape sound right in LUNA’s mixer
New Features for Modern Workflows
Getting perfect gain staging on the Ampex ATR-102 requires meticulous calibration of the repro and record levels, a delicate art that demands precision. With Auto-Gain, you can make adjustments to either the Repro or Record levels while maintaining perfect gain staging. And with its Retina-enhanced GUI, the ATR-102 is that beautifully vibey plug-in that you’ll want to leave on all the time.*
Turn Your Recordings into Records
The Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder plug-in and LUNA Extension provides the final “analog glue” for your music. Fully authenticated by the Ampex Corporation, now you can get the same unique dynamics, frequency response, and saturation characteristics of the original mastering hardware, virtually indistinguishable from its analog ancestor.
Take a Deep Dive into Tape Tone
Discover vast reel-to-reel textures using three classic tape heads (¼”, ½”, and 1”) tape speeds and emphasis EQs, famous tape formulas (GP9, 456, 900, 250), and more. You can even fine-tune the machine’s calibration to open up some headroom, or get grittier tape compression and saturation.
Find Your Sound Fast
Ignite your inspiration with presets from longtime ATR‑102 users Chuck Ainlay (Chris Botti, Mark Knopfler) Richard Dodd (Wilco, Robert Plant), Buddy Miller (Martina McBride, Emmylou Harris), Mike Poole (Keith Urban, Dolly Parton) and more. Use these presets as a starting point and season to taste on your mixes — you'll marvel at the cohesive, rich sound that can only come from an Ampex tape machine.
Transform Your Mixes in LUNA
Use the Ampex ATR‑102 LUNA Extension to transform LUNA’s mixer into an analog tape wonderland. Without having to manage separate plug-in windows, this gives you rich album‑ready Ampex tape textures with all the authentic dynamics, frequency response, and saturation of the original machine.
*Enhanced Retina graphics available for Mac only.Customer Reviews
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Customer Reviews
Ampex® ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder
R. Hyde
Shockingly good
Unlike a lot of the other reviewers, I have zero experience with actual analog equipment. And because of that, I was very skeptical of this plugin.
Holy crap though, it makes everything sound better. And I do mean everything.
Trust the presets until you understand what various things do in this. Or play around, I don’t know, I’m not your dad.R. Burns
The default settings are just right!
There's nothing that quite gives a mix the 'evenness' like this ATR-102 does. UAD smashed it out the park here. It's the polish that every one of my mixes get, regardless of genre. Once you hear it, you won't want your mix to be without it.
Also, there's also not many plugins that I can leave in a default setting, but I vary rarely change them on this plugin.
The UAD Studer A800 is great for multitracks, and a single instance of this Ampex ATR-102 is perfect for the mix bus!F. Malagié
Efficient Plugin
Unfortunatly this is a double usage with the one from LUNA Bundle.
R. Vosbury
Mojo
Excellent plugin. Might b a little daunting for new producers.
E. Gonzales Vega
Miy buen plugin
Suena muy bien
R. Rushing
Absolute favorite
This thing is fantastic. If you get deep into the innards of this plugin, you can really dial up an authentic tape sound. Not just subtly, either. Those rich, fat lows and mids. Those silky, creamy highs. One of my top 5 plugins ever.
D. Greed
Saturation and Nuance
As the title suggests, this plug-in adds those elements along with an entirely new layer of sound. This is especially true if you're like me and are used to working with less-than-ideal or overly fancy processing plug-ins and equipment. I did some research and learning beforehand, so I wasn’t going in blind. When you apply focus, you can create a truly beautiful sound. Cheers and have at it.
S. Cirillo
Best Tape Emulation.
What I expect from the emulation of a classic is that it does well at least those things that define personality. This is possibly the tape emulation that satisfies me the most in that sense, the response is very realistic, beyond the artifacts and defects of the tape, which I don't usually use, the tonal response, and the way it smooths the transients, makes me feel like I'm really working on tape. I use it mostly on tracks that I want to smooth, not to much on the mix bus.
J. Rojas
Ampex ATR-102 The best taste of tape. Tasty
Ampex ATR-102 of all the tape emulations I tried, by far the best, warm bass, a unique spark in the high frequencies, present and crunchy mids, it's simply a marvel of polish for the master, what more can I say, it's an Ampex and it's made by UA. Hey guys, would you like to share a copy of Luna Pro Bundle with me? Love you.
J. Kane
Very impressed
Having worked in the analog domain for many years I was extremely curious about the tape machine plugins. I’ve even worked with this particular machine and similar ones like it many years ago. I wasn’t disappointed, like many of the UA plugins, the quality in sound, that small analog texture that adds to the mix is amazing. Does it add that low level hiss that many of us long for? It can take a dead mix and breathe life into it. I still use analog gear for recording but have immersed myself into the world of UA for mixing primarily and I’m blown away by the amount of high quality plugins they offer. Game changer products for sure.
c. macfarlane
A holy grail !!!
Quite simply the best plugin coded by man,woman, child, for its intended purpose. After compression busses, even a rough mix sounds just about there. Incredible plug in
W. Phillips
Wow
And wow.
M. Sucur
Rich and warm Ampex ATR-102
Hi,
you really nailed it.
Ampex ATR-102 really has a rich and warm analog sound.
Keep up the good work !
Marko SucurB. Iorga
Something good
I don't know how the original tape recorder sounded or the difference between this plugin and the real tape recorder, but definitely using this marvel my tracks sounds just the way I want and I don't need anything else.
D. Betances
Should’ve bought it a long time ago!!!
As my title says, I “should’ve bought it a long time ago!!!”!!! It really sounds great, the tape vibe seems very genuine and it provides enough settings/options to get many different tones out of it.
M. M
mix
makes your mixes shine
A. Talun
Late to the game
I didn't think that it would make such a difference. It doesn't work on all material, but when it works - man. I read someone writing that it gives this professional polish and that's true. It won't fix your mix, but it would make it sound more like finished record. It sounds great bot on master and on busses. Highly recommended.
D. Kirschbaum
Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder
This is a really cool plugin, I will add it to the master bus to glue the mix before mastering using different presets depending on the style of the track or song. I recommend this plugin to anyone who wants to achieve a professional sound.
D. Fernandes
A must on my mix bus
This plugin is great! It adds that final 5% that my mixes needs to take it to the next level
Highly recommendedM. Kulev
Ampex ATR-102
The best Ampex ATR-102 emulation to give the ultimate analog "glue" that will turn your work to perfection.