Ampex® ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder
Customer Reviews
Ampex® ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder
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D. Castillo
Magic
There is not enough good one can say about this thing. It does wonders on individual tracks—especially bass guitars, and it brings the high end to life on the master chain. I don't think I've once left it out of my master chain since purchasing it—there are so many flavors that it can enhance just about anything one can send through it.
C. Austin
Brings life to the mix
I am an amateur musician and produce my own music. I find the UAD options are great for saving space and for getting quality without expensive hardware. Over time I was planning on building up my outboard gear but having tried and bought some UAD plug-ins my list has definitely changed.
I chose the Ampex ATR-102 to introduce some warmth to my mixes but it does much more than that. Choosing the right combination of parameters can really help to sculpt your recorded sounds and bring the best out of a track when mastering. I use it at various points in the effects chain depending on the final result that I am after. A very useful plugin - definitely worthy of a top 10 spot.
P. Donnelly
amazing
essential to all my mixes and combined with the struder A800 makes everything just sound better
D. Schroader
Something Special for Special Things
Really great usable plugin with some clever presets and good starting points.
Works great for tape slap,adding a little hiss,and tape effects like wobble .
Does very tape like things to the top end and low end. Awesome on Drum buss
Vox buss and bass track. No hesitation to use on master buss ,, just have to be careful what your dialing in.
M. Paparella
My first choice on Mastering
I am doing many mastering in my studio using this amazing plugin. The shape and tone change every time in a good way. I use it at the end of my mastering chain before limiter to give some mojo to the track or increase the consistence of the bass range and raise the RMS level. Sometimes I found a good choice insert in the first slot of the chain before EQ. The presets are really a good starting point to experiment and discover better the potentiality of this swiss knife!
J. Duff
Ampex ATR - 102
By far the best plug in I've ever used, this beauty is perfect for smoothing out and bringing character and life from your mixes. Also great on pretty much everything from horns to vocals, you won't regret buying this one....
J. H
Works as advertised!
Yep. This mastering tape recorder is almost always on my master buss. I love what it adds, whether its subtle or gritty. Works as advertised! Pair it with the Shadow Hills comp and you're almost there.
J. H
Lives on my master buss
Yep. This mastering tape recorder is almost always on my master buss. I love what it adds, whether its subtle or gritty. Works as advertised! Pair it with the Shadow Hills comp and you're almost there.
J. Winkel
Analog digitally (is possible)
This plugin brings the analog sound experience into the digital domain!! Love the quality and the presets are perfect 2 start with.
I use the Ampex in combination with Precision Multiband Plug-In and the Precision Maximizer on the Apollo Twin Dual in the live set up. In this way my output is ready 2 go!! A soundcheck is only a matter of gain in the FOH console.
In the studio I use the Ampex on the input channel recording analog instruments.
Easy 2 use and awesome result!
J. Grasty
I have no idea what I'm doing and it still sounds great.
The title says it all. I am still getting used to the Ampex, especially since I have never used a "real" one. Even without a lack of knowledge, the effect on the sound is great. It has made some of the mixes come to life.
J. Grasty
I have no idea what I'm doing and it still sounds great.
The title says it all. I am still getting used to the Ampex, especially since I have never used a "real" one. Even without a lack of knowledge, the effect on the sound is great. It has made some of the mixes come to life.
J. Hiltz
Awesome Tape sim
This is a great plugin tape emulator. It can add a nice hifi warmth like a high end tape machine, or a nasty, distorted cassette type sound, and lots in between. It livens up drums nicely for me, and also works on guitars and the 2 buss when working with certain types of music.
S. Lechner
Great Tool!
I used the demo in different cases like to give some color on the master of a view tracks, to thicken up some tracks in the mix and to ad distortion and artefacts to special instruments to sound like an old tape.
This all worked great and so i decided to by this plugin.
I think all UAD Plugins are a little expansive, but they are one of the best i've ever seen!
Buy it and go tapy!
E. Gonzales
I would have paid $1000 for this plug in...it's that good!
This plug in is hands down the best thing that has ever happened to me. A must have for guys trying to master at home. It literally saved several tired mixes I had given up on bringing life, warmth and clarity to otherwise dead mixes. I never thought I would say there is one plug in that can save any mix but this one defys everything I know about digital and home recording. That old expression, "You can't polish a turd?" Well this plug in can. Very musical. Universal Audio has changed my entire perspective and approch to recording and this plug in is the flag ship that transforms your recordings to music. For the first time in my life, I'm smiling at the finished mixes I'm able to put out now.
B. Offermann
faster get master
compared to an analog tape recorder we used for the last years, ampex atr-102 accelerates the entire process without audible differences, unless one would be looking for worse analog depending results. I like best the broader tapes and higher speeds. Be careful with calibrating the machine, it easily can sound worse than auto cal. All in all a highly recommendable plug-in to be used at the end of a prod. chain, maybe before final master eq-ing, multiband compression and limiting.
M. Marantz
Ampex - Mastering Machine
The Ampex ATR-102 plugin from UA totally rocks. I am primarily an acoustic jazz artist and produce my own recordings. Obviously there's been a lot of great jazz recorded to tape. This plugin captures warmth and glue all in one place, and there is a huge range of sonic enhancement that can be applied. In short, after I demoed this plugin, I had to buy it because it just brings your acoustic mixes together and unifies the timbres of all the instruments in your tunes. The punch and saturation that are added to your mix are subtle and authentic sounding. I don't think I'd want to master records without this plugin anymore. Also, it can function as a sweet tape delay. I can't say enough about this piece of digital gear. Thanks UA!
V. Kristek
Give me Time
Hi,
givem e some time to make deeper exp with my new Ampex ATR 102 plugin. V
C. King
A 10!
Knocked out of the park UA - the plug is mojo of all mojo. This raised the bar of my mixes thanks.
J. Drevermann
Was "THRILLED" at first, BUT...
Check out all the inconsistent crashing problems with Apollo interfaces and UAD satellites for which there is certainly no apparent cure.
BIG WELL KNOWN PROBLEM to seemingly a lot of folks, but I was taken in by all the hype. UA got me for the price of the Apollo quad and at least that much more in plugins. Spec'd out 2013 MBP won't run the Apollo on any of the UAD firmwares either above or below 7. Great plugins, LEMON of an interface, and the problem goes on and on, well over a year. I thought UA was GREAT, now I think UA is "slick". Lost my endorsement and my now $7000 "loaded" Apollo Quad goes on the shelf, for who knows how long.... Total BULL$HIT UA!
F. Henderson
Master Tape gateway to the modern record
I love recording my out of the box mixes back in through my Apollo 16 printing the Ampex ATR-102 Mastering Tape Recorder Plug-In to the final mix. It sounds so much more like the records I grew up on.