Waves MPX Master Tape

jangoux

jangoux

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May 9, 2006
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Developed in association with producer/engineer Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin), the MPX Master Tape plugin is modeled on a rare machine consisting of an Ampex 350 transport and 351 electronics. With adjustable tape speed, bias, flux, wow & flutter, and noise parameters, the MPX provides comprehensive control over the contours of your sound. And to top it off, we’ve added a flexible slap & feedback delay, ideal for rock, dance, dub, you name it.

For recording, mixing, mastering, and more, bring the richness and warmth of real tape saturation to your DAW with the MPX Master Tape.

Waves MPX: It’s the reel deal.


For $99, if it sounds good, it'll be a must have.

Anyone demo'ing it ?
 
Ok lads, I gave it a quick spin. I tried it out on the master bus of a song off of mixoff.org I mixed for shits and giggles 'cause I felt the song in question would be a nice test subject. It's a quickie mix, so go easy on me :)

Here's the original mix:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1809705/Don't give up Tainted Studio MASTER2.mp3

Here's the MPX on the master with rather easy settings. 15ips, input hitting around -5 on the loudest passages, no noise or wow/flutter:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1809705/Don't give up Tainted Studio MPX EASY.mp3

And for comparison, here's one with a bit more dramatic settings. Input hitting red, a bit of noise and wow/flutter:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1809705/Don't give up Tainted Studio MPX OVER.mp3

Here are my first impressions:
- Seems a bit of a CPU hog, so it won't probably be useful for other than stem groups and/or 2bus, but that's what I wanted to use it for anyway.
- Really easy to tweak, good manual.
- The sound is damn near what you'd expect from a good master deck especially when going easy on the processing. Hitting the plugin harder could be cool for some really old school tracks or when used as an FX, but otherwise I see myself using it pretty much solely as a subtle (well, not all that subtle as you can hear from the comparison!) mastering processor.

I need to test it a bit further, but I think for $99 I'll definitely grab this.
 
Go real and do it right. Cost me only $200.

65841_10150355871510055_893540054_16188741_1934756_n.jpg
 
RevoltStudios said:
Go real and do it right. Cost me only $200.

65841_10150355871510055_893540054_16188741_1934756_n.jpg
Click to expand...

Finding an MX5050 for $200 just doesn't really happen over here. I almost got the M15A for 150€ but the dude sold it to someone else, but even that would've required me to hire someone to calibrate it properly and invest in quality tape. Don't get me wrong, I'm still playing with the idea of getting one if I come across an insane deal, but the sound, easiness and price of this plugin are pretty strong arguments.
 
I'm trying it right now, it sounds really good!

It's a very musical sound, not overwhelming. It just adds a bit of sweetness and tasteful compression when used sparingly, and distorts in a cool way when pushed.

I'll probably end up buying it.
 
Would be VERY interesting if some of you compared it with the nebula commercial libraries. If it sounds as good, i'd rather go VCC+this instead of all nebula, at least for now, just for the sake of ease of use.

EDIT : I know Plec recommends the nebula libraries, i'd love to hear his thoughts about this new plugin.
 
ah yeah, i stupidly sold my AC when i sold my last HD rig, might see i csn pick thst up again at some point as i loved it, 2 in one bonus with it too, console channel and tape :)
 
According to Tony from Plugindiscounts.com, Waves will raise all their prices on 1st June..
I can't decide whether to buy this plugin or not and I certainly won't pay $200 for it.
Also selling Waves Plugins on Ebay will be forbidden (new ones at least). That's not cool at all.
 
I like it so far but it's fair to say I don't have any other tape related vst to compare it with.

It's taking 1% of CPU on my i7, so it's okay to use it when I feel the need to.
 
Just a quick try of throwing it on every track in a session, I have roughly set up a session enough to distinguish something, and put MPX on every track, with basic settings except flutter to 0 (so, using it without the side effects such as wow flutter and noise). Here's the result, there may be a few trigger errors in the beginning :

clean : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/881054/shootout waves mpx/ashes_clean.mp3
clean with tape on master track only : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/881054/shootout waves mpx/ashes_clean_mpx_on_master_only.mp3
tape : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/881054/shootout waves mpx/ashes_mpx.mp3
tape with -3dB : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/881054/shootout waves mpx/ashes_mpx_-3dB.mp3

in both mpx ones, the master track instance is set to roughly hit -3dB on the meter (the effect is more dramatic there so I'm not changing it)

Keep in mind the volume is affected and I didn't match the RMS volume of all tracks.

EDIT : I'm adding the "clean with just mpx on master track"

The difference is tremendous and too much, but I think it's in the good direction. May be better to just use it on busses. I'm considering putting this on every viable track with a ligh input setting, and maybe printing it if it sounds good and safe in the end.

BTW, is it me or does it make the reverb on the snare more defined, or easier to hear ?
 
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