What’s more, it enables you to switch between a sine wave-based warp (which is akin to a tired electrical motor) to a peak wave-based warp (which is akin to a misshapen record - like one that’s stored flat or exposed to direct sunlight for too long). The warp is excellent on Vinyl even fully cranked, it’s ever present without feeling overly intrusive. It includes several operating modes dating from the 1930s to 2000s, each of which is essentially a different EQ curve that gets narrower the further back in time you go.īeyond this, things get very customisable, as you can dial in precisely how much mechanical and electrical noise you want, as well as determine how dusty and scratched you want your record to be. Probably the most well-known plugin on this list, iZotope’s Vinyl should be a fixture in every producer’s toolkit. Personally, I like the IR on, as I prefer the crunchy saturation and tonal colour. This is akin to a “mode” or “model” as it switches on/off an impulse response of an actual cassette, the result of which is very apparent with a distinctly different character. The second is a relatively discrete IR switch.

Firstly, in the upper-right corner, you’ll see it offers over-sampling options to help preserve certain qualities during the plugin’s processes. The controls take a more conventional approach to naming, and offer numerical values that are always on display (which I prefer to having to hover a mouse over a dial to see what its value is).Īlongside the usual tools of saturation, cutoff, noise, wow and flutter, there are a couple of features that set this plugin aside from its competitors. This one has a cool looking aesthetic, reminiscent of a 1980s stereo, VU meters and all. This would often give older music formats a less bright, less detailed tonal palette.Īnother aesthetically pleasing and fairly self explanatory plugin for the most part. Lack of high-end detail - older consumer electronics typically didn’t yield as wide a frequency response of modern technologies, often culminating in a rolling-off of frequencies above around 10,000Hz (or even lower).Tape machines have a similar byproduct of their mechanism in the form of tape hiss, a high frequency white noise. Worn out records and/or a blunt stylus could make this problem very apparent in the form of white or pink noise. Noise - as vinyl records produce their sound by literally dragging a needle across the surface of a record, there is the byproduct of surface noise.In most cases this was so minor that it was barely noticeable however, on occasion, it could be very apparent.

This manifests in the speed slightly oscillating/fluctuating, causing the pitch to go up and down.

Tempo/pitch fluctuations - cassette and record players are reliant on electrical motors, which (like all electrical motors) are prone to speed variations resulting from mechanical wear or inconsistent voltages.

On vinyl, it can be caused by an old/blunt stylus or a record being so overplayed that the peaks of the sound waves have literally been worn down and eroded away. On cassette this is usually due to poorly maintained/dirty tape-machine heads or worn-out/damaged tape. Saturation/distortion - literally clipping-off of the peaks of sound waves is something that is commonplace on cassettes and vinyl.Mono/stereo - stereo wasn’t commonplace until the mid/late 1960s, meaning that older, lower fidelity recordings were often mono.Whilst different plugin developers might dress things up in different ways, it can largely all be distilled down to the following: Typically, when making something lo-fi, we’re looking to emulate the nuanced imperfections and characteristics of cassette tapes and/or vinyl records.

Lo fi soundwave background