You've got to be kidding me...

  • Thread starter Thread starter fred s.
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it would be cool, if that what "it" was "called" and marketed as what it is., ala: "Here's is another mad-box from The Grandfather of ProAudio ( or from who ever worked in his lab). The Device-5042 has Grandpa's signature on it."
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Yeah, I think that is my only hangup with it...call it what it is rather than what it isn't trying to get others to think its something it isn't so they think it is the "it" they need...I'm certain it is very well made and I've heard good things about it and truly the description sounds enticing to me as a tool in the toolbox, but billing it as a tape replacement is rude IMO.

Bugs me the same way as the images of tape reels on all the Digidesign tape emulator plugins...as if anything can do tape better than tape...I'm sure there are lots of things that do what consumers want to think tape does. So those products make them happy. Fine. Then they've found "it" for them.
 
Dr ZEE said:
The only thing missing is the tape itself! After purchasing of the device there'll be also $2,000 missing and still no tape neither tape "effect", but , well, you'll get an effect of a sort (The LED will continue to light, that's for sure :p )
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You could of course put a picture of a tape on the front like this.

Cheers

Alan.
 

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witzendoz said:
Hi,

While I agree with the debate, there is a case for studios that don't want a tape machine to, take up space, maintain, and feed with tape. There is also a case that as the years go by tape machines will be harder to find (good ones) and harder to find parts for.

The 5042 will be a quality piece of gear that will no dought add character to a digital recording and will suit the needs of some studios. There is a review of it here: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul07/articles/rupertneveportico_5042_5043.htm

Cheers

Alan.
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The main problem though is that it doesn't work as advertised. I read the review in SOS and a couple other mags when this came out. Product oriented mags have always been a little questionable as objective sources for product evaluation, and today it's worse than at any time I can remember.

If they want to come out with a compressor or something to “take the edge off digital” that’s fine, and people have been doing that for years with tubes and whatnot. But to call anything, and I mean anything a tape emulator is criminal. They don’t understand, or hope their buyers don’t understand how tape interacts with audio. The tape itself is the key.

Using a tape head without tape is just pure deception. It may grunge up the sound a bit, but something I’ve said before over the years about tape emulators is that they create a caricature of tape sound. That is, they focus on the more extreme compression/saturation effect, which is only one small aspect of tape. They don’t have anything here remotely approaching the versatility of a real tape machine. And as we all know (or should know) tape can be as crisp and clean or as saturated as you want it to be depending on how you use it. The one thing we always have with tape is the absence of digital artifacts, and that’s often how you know something was recording to tape… simply because it doesn’t have the harshness and other unpleasantries of digital.

And people are doing the same thing with plug-ins… anyway they can somehow get the word “tape” into the product without actually having to use tape. Out of one side of their mouths they talk about the superiority of digital and out of the other side the want to use the word analog at every opportunity to sell a device or plug-in that will make your perfect digital better. :confused:

They speak with forked tongue… and two faces.

I think it just pisses off a lot of avid tape fans that manufacturers spent so much time, money and effort to diss analog, and now they want to profit from it, without actually using it, or admitting we had a point all these years.

I say fuck them. I’ve been debating analog/digital since 1989 and now they just want to slip this crap in without apologizing for all the deliberate misinformation they’ve propagated to hock their digital wares. I’d really like to see a consumer protection law passed that would prohibit people like this from using the word analog or tape in their product names. They should have to use the word “Artificial” like other industries have to.

And no, I did not have any more caffeine today than I usually do. :p

dodgeaspen said:
I emailed the guy with the reel for 100k and asked if it was a type o.


Richard King said:
A universal donor tape machine. ;)
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:D I caught that. :D
 
Beck said:
I’d really like to see a consumer protection law passed that would prohibit people like this from using the word analog or tape in their product names. They should have to use the word “Artificial” like other industries have to.
:D
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From where I stand (or more specifically - sit :) ), I would rather not to go that path because, even though initially the intention was good and clear, but as result we'll more likely end up with the same or even larger bunch of fake products BUT now with bold lables on it, something like FAC (Federal Analog Commission) Approved. :eek: heh heh, and in addition we'll have to feed all the FAC board members gangsters, their corrupt staff with their sub-corrupt sub-staff and pay for all the stuff that comes with it, or better say - being sucked into it.

In my mind, I just wish, folks who see things as what they are and understand technicality would stop being apologetic and call those self-proclaimed Grand-Papas of "industry" and winners of awards that they issued to themselves by themselves exactly what they are - liars, deceivers and in many cases flat-out bunch morons and clowns, whose business success relies on general public ignorance mixed with mass hysterical celebrity mania and naive trust in popular infomercial publications aka specialty magazines.

And, frankly, I DON'T give a stinkin dead rat's a$$ about how many big fat cat's studio mixing consoles this "genius" have "built" or "touched". However more than enough folks DO, and thus the madness shall go on :mad: :(
 
dodgeaspen said:
Not a bad price for this kind of gear. HEHEHE. I Bet ya they have sold at least 2 of thoes tape emulator things. I emailed the guy with the reel for 100k and asked if it was a type o. I will post if I get a response.
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Well, I guess the guy hates me, he never responded to my email. HEHEHE!!
 
What's even more interesting is that there is currently a Neve console for sale on eBay with the "True Tape" unit built-in: Click here

Pretty soon they'll have a "console emulator" unit, and you can just hook it straight into the tape emulator unit. By this point, I will have finished the design of my "musician emulator" and "audience emulator" units, so that you can get the full experience of music production and listening in one convenient, rack-mount unit.

Patent pending, pending.
 
Here's a potential design concept for something like that I've stumbled across recently...
 

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jedblue said:
Here's a potential design concept for something like that I've stumbled across recently...
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I'd better get one to use next time I get someone into the studio that asks if I have anything that will make them sing in tune? and sound good?

Cheers

Alan
 
lo.fi.love said:
What's even more interesting is that there is currently a Neve console for sale on eBay with the "True Tape" unit built-in: Click here

Pretty soon they'll have a "console emulator" unit, and you can just hook it straight into the tape emulator unit. By this point, I will have finished the design of my "musician emulator" and "audience emulator" units, so that you can get the full experience of music production and listening in one convenient, rack-mount unit.

Patent pending, pending.
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Don't forget the record contract plug-in, the groupie plug-in, and the wild party at the Holiday Inn plug-in.

The Throw-the-TV-out-the-Hotel-Window plug-in is extra though, which seems like a rip. :D
 
lo.fi.love said:
Pretty soon they'll have a "console emulator" unit, and you can just hook it straight into the tape emulator unit.
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There are plug-ins that are intended to recreate the sound of certain consoles. UAD has the Neve 88RS and now the SSL channel strips.

The Nebula plug ins also have some consoles modeled. Those have an interesting vibe to them. When I'm mixing ITB, I always think I like it a lot at first then I end up switching them off before I sum. So easy to trick your brain/ears into thinking something sounds good unless you are constantly A-B'ing it with a trusted source. Probably the same thing with the tape emulators. I'd like to hear an A-B of something tracked to tape and something tracked to digital after going through the emulator. Unless someone does that, how do you really know what you are buying?
 
A thick layer of dust on A-B switch(s) - a sign of maturity of a recordist.

:D
 
If anyone wants them I have a bunch of pops and clicks that I have removed from vinyl records recently. Of course, the older the record the more expensive, after all, their vintage pops and clicks. ;)
 
And I can offer a service of digitized tape noise...I pull out the master bias oscillator and boost the HF record eq. I can get you .wav, .mp3, .wma, .aac and other file formats of tape hiss that almost sound like the real thing!
 
leddy said:
... I wish I had your ears...
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No you don't.
Well, I don't, but I have no choice.
Be careful what you wish for. :)

Also in my "studio" ALL the buttons, switches and knobs have a nice thick layer of dust. So no signs here.

BTW, maturity and aging are two different venues.
:) :) :)
 
One thing I would seriously like to see... and I'm not kidding, is a tape smell plug-in. Our sense of smell has been completely neglected in the field of digital emulation. A tape emulator plug could smell like Ampex 456. That would work with the ear to help reinforce the tape experience.

Or maybe a whole different idea. All digital recoding devices would be required by the FFA to emit the odor of dog poop, so they could smell like they sound. That way, no A/B tests needed. Even people that could not hear so well would still run away coughing and gagging. And people would say, “Eek, how can you listen to that crap?”

But it begs the question… can one emulate odor with digital, and if not how can we be so sure it’s doing such a great job with audio?

Maybe Sony’s next catch phrase will be

“Perfect smell forever”

And if we could emulate odor with digital, would the nose be as easily fooled as the eye, which is fooled much easier than the ear?

Many things to ponder here.
 
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