Ampex® ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder
Customer Reviews
Ampex® ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder
Only registered users can write reviews. Please, log in or create an account.
L. Colan
Take the time to experiment ... and use more than one ....!
I wasn't going to write a review, but now that I've owned this plugin for a few months I thought I'd reach out to those that don't own it and say this ... If you decide to demo this plugin with a view to buying it you'll only have 14 days to demo it (pleading phone calls aside etc etc). I would suggest lining up a bunch of tracks and then doing the following:
Check your levels - Don't send the tracks too hot to the Ampex .. leave yourself some headroom and this may mean that the defaults are running too hot to for your tunes to begin with. Working out where in your compression chain to place the Ampex is a matter of taste and program material. The manual suggests at the very end of the chain - I disagree.
Read the manual - understand that there are shades of colour all over the place on the GUI of this plugin .. from input gain to transformer, from EQ types to Bias settings .. don't write off what things like crosstalk etc can actually do .. the results are subtle BUT cumulative.
Spend a few days going back and forth between mixes - the different vibes that the Ampex can impart to your tunes is subtle BUT massive. It takes time to work out where the Ampex can take your tunes and those enhancements further.
Don't get too wound up by the Bias controls GUI when using a mouse etc etc .. THEY ARE DREADFUL ... BUT ... with a little practice zoning in on the control you'll be glad your not using a screw driver whilst crouched on the floor behind the machine in a different room from the Monitors ... you could almost forgive UAD for inflicting just a little of that pain.
It's a STUNNING piece of software and a massive achievement.
ENJOY.
D. Rouge
Amazing sound
Nice edge to bass and punchy saturation. Perfect on the mix bus!
D. Schoenfeld
Amazing
How did I do before buying this plugin? And why I bought only this only now. Coloring and warming the track in such a nice way and smooth way. Definitely my go to plugin for my mastering process. Congrats UA
P. Kostov
Mastering master
Using it on the whole mix or when i'm in mastering session it makes every sound to fit in place with specific contour - just what i needed! Especially extending the lowend!
J. McCormack
Personal favourite
Effects, mask, time travel, master, glue, buff, crush, destroy. Love it all
F. Blue
yea it's amazing...
well, i do have the waves abbey road one.. and a few others.. but.. it's just better. A lot better lol.
A. Martinez del Rio
That tape sound...
Everything just sounds better through the Ampex ...
E. Halterman
Original vs. plugin!
This is on every mix, in my mix bus chain. I was blessed to mix down with the original Ampex ATR-102 hardware and this plugin, gets as close to that vibe as you can get.... the best UAD plugin to have in your DAW!
B. Ökrös
My Favorite Weapon!
It gives all the music its cohesion and gives incredible beautiful, unique character to the sounds! I love it!
R. Invernizzi
Best tape emulator of all!
I've used many tape emulators... but this one is of another league! The sound, the features, the color that gives to single tracks, or bus, is something that ones you try you can't work without.
Very powerful for mastering your music! An amazing tool!
T. Catlin
Indispensable.
This plugin is on every session.
Master bus, stems, special effects. Probably the best tape sim out there. Love it.
M. Kramer
Gives my mixes that warm and authentic sound
I recently picked up the ATR-102, it is by far the best tape emulation plugin I have ever heard! With the option for 30 IPS the sound can be very clean but it still has that beautiful warm and authentic sound. Universal Audio did an amazing job, this will be on my master bus from now on!
T. Spaniel
ATR-102
Best Tape Maschine plug in for Mastering.
K. Schuster
Never thought...
...it was so important to have a tape in the master bus. I did it and I couldn't understand what happened to my sound: that's it, I thought! and was amazed about the special spirit you get with it - never without tape!
M. Buzniak
I was a bit skeptical but...
I was a bit skeptical but I got to say that this is so working for me. Very, very inspiring and very east to get great results. It's not simple - it has a ton of "under the hood" features and if that's your thing you can even manually calibrate it like the real machine but if you wan't a quick results just throw it on your mixbus and click through different tape formulas for different flavours. I find this particularly inspiring during the mix process as this can sometime lead me to some cool directions with my eq decisions.
D. Pierce
Incredible!
Great for mastering but also works on drums, ambients sounds, and has delay options, crossover options, and noise options. Love it!
K. Kofron
Wonderful
I enjoy what I can
do to a track with this plug-in.
P. Backman
Sounds Great
It sounds like real tape to me.
Excellent!
D. Keown
My "must have" plugin.
My mix just doesn't sound finished until this juicy bad boy is on my master bus. I have all the other tape plugins and the AMPEX sounds the best, HANDS DOWN.
.
Fantastic Tape Emulation, unique sound
After having tried the demo of the ATR-102 several times.. I had no choice but to buy it when I got the chance. It does SOMETHING that no other plugin can do, bringing the perfect amount of glue, compression, cohesiveness, and harmonic enhancement to either individual tracks of the whole mix. I would recommend getting this one first over the STUDER, but they are both very good. Amazing plugin!