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Description
Transform your digital mixes with the Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin, a meticulous emulation of the classic Ampex 350/351 reel-to-reel tape machine. This plugin breathes life into your tracks by adding the warm, saturated character that only vintage tape can provide. Developed in collaboration with the legendary Eddie Kramer, this plugin doesn't just emulate tape; it captures the essence of analog warmth and injects it into your digital audio workstation.
With Kramer Master Tape, you gain access to a suite of controls to tailor the tape sound to your liking. Adjust tape speed, bias, and flux to find your signature sound, or introduce the charming imperfections of analog playback with wow and flutter controls. Whether you're sweetening up a mix or adding character to individual tracks, the Kramer Master Tape offers a punchy brand of compression, perfect for taking the harsh edge off of digital recordings.
This plugin is not just about nostalgia; it’s about bringing the best of the old and new together. The Kramer Master Tape Plugin supports up to 24-bit/96kHz resolution, ensuring that your mixes maintain clarity and depth. Whether you're working in mono or stereo, this plugin adapts to your needs, delivering consistent, high-quality results.
Key Features:
- Modeled on the Ampex 350/351 reel-to-reel tape machine
- Adjustable tape speed, bias, flux, wow & flutter
- Slap & feedback delay capabilities
- Supports up to 24-bit/96kHz resolution
- Includes both mono and stereo components
Product specs
| Software Type | Tape Saturation |
| Platform | Mac, PC |
| Upgrade/Full | Full |
| Download/Boxed | Download |
| Bit Depth | 64-bit |
| Format | AAX Native, AudioSuite, VST, AU, SoundGrid |
| Hardware Requirements - Mac | Intel Core i7 or higher (M1 support), 8GB RAM minimum |
| Hardware Requirements - PC | Intel Core i5 / AMD Quad-core or higher (AVX required), 8GB RAM minimum |
| OS Requirements - Mac | macOS 12 or later |
| OS Requirements - PC | Windows 10 or later (21H2), 64-bit |
FAQs
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What kind of tape emulation does the Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin provide?
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The Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin emulates the sound of a classic reel-to-reel tape machine, offering authentic tape saturation and vintage warmth to your audio tracks.
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Is the Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin compatible with my DAW?
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The Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin supports AAX Native, AudioSuite, VST, AU, and SoundGrid formats, making it compatible with popular DAWs like Pro Tools, Ableton Live, and Logic Pro.
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What are the system requirements for running the Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin on a PC?
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To run the Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin on a PC, you need Windows 10 or later (21H2), an Intel Core i5 / AMD Quad-core or higher processor with AVX support, and at least 8GB of RAM.
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Can I use the Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin on a Mac with an M1 chip?
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Yes, the Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin is compatible with Macs using an M1 chip, requiring macOS 12 or later and an Intel Core i7 or higher processor with at least 8GB of RAM.
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What unique features does the Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin offer for audio processing?
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The Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin provides controls for adjusting tape speed, bias, wow, and flutter, allowing you to tailor the tape saturation effect to achieve the desired vintage sound quality.
Videos
Waves Audio
Tape Plugin - Eddie Kramer About the Kramer Master Tape
Reviews
PROS
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Delivers a warm, analog sound, enhancing digital tracks with a vintage vibe
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Effective wow/flutter effect adds character to soft keys and pads
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Provides a cohesive, polished mix when used on mix bus or group channels
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Emulates tape sound well when fine-tuned, enhancing mix presence
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Great for adding subtle noise and delay to enrich tracks
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Significant impact on sound with slight distortion and compression effects
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Versatile for both amateurs and hobbyists in various music genres
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Offers a unique sound distinct from other saturation plugins
CONS
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Can sound metallic if overused on multiple channels
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Presets may not deliver desired results without tweaking
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Susceptible to background noise if not adjusted correctly
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Risk of digital-sounding mixes when not properly balanced
Owner Insights
We analyzed real musician discussions from forums and Reddit to find what players love, question, and tweak about Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin.
Use cases and applications
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For achieving a cohesive sound, placing the Kramer Master Tape plugin on stems, such as grouped guitars or drums, is preferred for its intermodulation distortion effect.
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Specific applications for the plugin include softening transients on kicks and snares or controlling high-end frequencies in distorted guitars and vocals.
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Adjusting flux to 150 on high-end signals like vocals can minimize aliasing while maintaining desired saturation.
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The plugin's feedback section is excellent for achieving a vintage tape slapback effect.
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A short Delay Time with high Feedback in Feedback mode can create a flange effect, adding a unique texture to your mix.
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Features and functionality
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Utilizing the plugin on aux tracks can enhance character and introduce nonlinearity to clean delays and reverbs.
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For mid-heavy instruments, using overbias at 185 flux with reduced headroom offers more pronounced saturation.
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Keeping the plugin's input levels just below red during loud sections helps maintain audio integrity without distortion.
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Increasing Wow & Flutter enhances flanging effects, useful for achieving specific modulations like those found in "I'm In Your Mind Fuzz."
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User experience
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When used subtly on master tracks, the plugin can simulate a "print-to-tape" effect, adding a vintage touch without overpowering the mix.
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Software and compatibility
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Applying the plugin on individual tracks can be resource-intensive and may not yield significant sonic benefits compared to group or master track applications.
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Comparisons
4.5 out of 5
Based on 2 Reviews and 27 Ratings
382
Excellent
Execllent plugin! I use it to add a bit of noise and a tiny bit of delay, just to give my tracks an extra touch. Well worth to wait for the plugin to be on sale again, as most plugins from Waves are on sale on a regular basis.
41004
Why would you want to add tape hiss to your tracks? For most of the 90s we were all saving up for digital recorders so we could get the hiss out of our home recordings. There are lots of cool things about tape, but the signal-to-noise ratio is not one of them.
Artist usage
Add artist
in the attached video at 44 minutes 28 seconds you can see the Waves Kramer plugin on the left side of the screen.
When asked about saturation plugins, Wolfgang responds, "Waves Kramer tape is amazing but really drains your system, PSP makes a couple good ones too. But I haven't used those on the master in at least a year. usually on individual tracks."
Original source from his reddit ama here.
Used on Lamar's vocals for "All the Stars" as stated by producer Matt Schaeffer in this May 2018 Sound on Sound interview.
Kendrick Lamar’s vocal audio tracks, named after his teenage stage name K.Dot, consist of his first verse rap track, ‘VS 1 LD’, and 10 tracks for three moments in the track where he sings the pre-hook in a robotic voice. The verse rap track only has the AIR Flanger on it, and is sent to the ‘Dot VS LD’ aux track, which has eight inserts and five sends. Nine of the 10 pre-hook tracks have Auto?Tune, while the top four have a number of plug-ins on the inserts, including the EQ3 seven-band, Waves RVox, UAD Galaxy Tape Echo, SoundToys Little AlterBoy, SoundToys MicroShift and Valhalla Vintage Verb. These four are sent to a ‘Hook Ref’ aux track higher up in the session with another four plug-ins on the inserts and five sends. The other six are backing vocals to the four other pre-hook tracks and have no other plug-ins, other than a Trim, and are sent to a ‘Hook Background’ aux, just below them, which itself also is sent to the ‘Hoof Ref’ track. It’s a pretty complicated vocal signal chain, as Schaeffer admits.
“The ‘Dot VS LD’ aux indeed has a lot of stuff on it! I did most of the processing on that bus. On the inserts there are the SSL E-Channel, Waves RComp, Waves Q10 EQ, Waves DeEsser, UAD LA2A, UAD Pultec EQP1A, SoundToys Decapitator and Pro?Q2. The SSL channel strip, Q10 and RCompressor remain from the tracking, and maybe the DeEsser as well, but I most likely messed with the settings more during mixing. The Q10 has a high-pass at 50Hz and I notched out a frequency that was bothering me around 8.5kHz with the Q2. I added the other plug-ins during mixing, and they all add something a bit different. I’m boosting 100Hz and 16kHz with the EQP1A. As I said, I like using several EQs on one thing.
“The sends go to a ‘FlangeVerb’ track, on which I put the RVerb and the UAD MXR Flanger, then the ‘Huge Verb’ with the [Audio Ease] Altiverb and EQ3, ‘Hook Valhalla’ with the Vintage Verb, and the SoundToys EchoBoy, the ‘EMT250’ aux with the UAD EMT250, Valhalla Plate and MicroShift, and then finally a send to the ‘Dot VS Delay’ track, with the EchoBoy, set to quarter note, the Reel Tape Flanger and the RCompressor. The EchoBoy is the main delay you can hear in the verse. The EMT250 is not set to a reverb, but to a phaser effect, which gives a cool stereo effect. The Valhalla adds a bit of reverb here, though it’s set to -12, so it only gives a tiny bit of ambience, and the MicroShift makes the whole thing a little wider. It probably still sounded a bit dry, which is why I sent the track to the ‘Huge Verb’ aux with the Altiverb, again taking out low end with the EQ3.
“In the pre-hook, Kendrick wanted that robotic sound with tons of effects. The main robotic effect comes from the iZotope VocalSynth, which gives it a vocoder-like sound. There also are some instances of the Little AlterBoy on the lead vocals in the pre-hook, with some formant adjusting and pitch-shifting. I think one of them is set to +12, so that’s an octave up, and another has a lower formant so it sounds pitched down, even though it remains in the same key. All that adds up to make the vocals sound robotic.”
Adding all inserts on audio and aux tracks together, Lamar’s verse rap is treated with a whopping 22 plug-ins! The ‘Hook Background’ aux, meanwhile, has the EQ3 seven-band, RCompressor, SoundToys Panman, a chorus, the MicroShift, the UAD MXR Flanger and the Valhalla Plate on the inserts and has sends to an aux track with the Waves Kramer Tape plug-in as well as the aforementioned ‘Hook Valhalla’ aux with the Vintage Verb, and Echoboy, and it then is routed to the ‘Hook Ref’ track, which has another four inserts and five sends. Phew.
On the background of FL Studio you can see, that Cazzette using Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin
You can see Odesza using Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin at 0:59 in their video of them making "Meridian"
Used on "Closer", as stated by producer DJ Swivel in this February 2017 Sound on Sound interview.
“All Halsey’s vocals apart from her hook vocals further down have tons of plug-ins and sends! The insert chain on these tracks is Auto-Tune, Waves Renaissance De-essser, Waves SSL Channel, Waves RVox, Waves RDe-esser and SPL Vitalizer, and on two tracks I add the Waves RVerb, and on the ‘Delay Chop’, which happens just one moment towards the end, the Valhalla Vintage Verb. Each of Halsey’s vocals here is EQ’ed slightly differently, and also the same with the de-essers. The first in the chain usually works as a normal de-esser, and the second functions more as corrective EQ. They each have different frequencies that they act on, with different thresholds and amounts, and they tend to correct small issues in just one word or so. It may be a harsh upper-mid thing, which female vocals can have, and I just carve out those frequencies with the RDe-esser. I don’t want to take it out of the entire performance, because that frequency may add energy to the overall vocals.
“I also like using the RVox as a second compressor, to really tame the vocal. It just brings it right out in front and sticks the vocal in your face. I usually am pretty subtle with the RVox, but every once and a while I’ll slam it and you get this really cool sound. I learned that from Pensado’s Place. Finally, the SPL Vitalizer again adds some sheen to these vocals. The ‘Halsey Delay’ track adds four delays at the end of the song, with the second one pitched down with Auto-Tune. You can get some cool things by pitching down the vocals in Auto-Tune and changing the throat length and things like that.
“In addition, all these tracks have tons of sends, going to the Lexicon plate reverb, in some cases the Lexicon hall reverb as well, and the H-Delay medium delay and the Doubler for more width. The ‘Halsey Lead 1’ track also has a send to the ‘Tape Delay’ track, on which I have a delay from the Waves Kramer Master Tape plug-in, which is set to a 15ips slap with not a lot of feedback. That delay adds a nice tonality and space. I also have several delay throws on certain words she sings, like in her opening line, where it goes ‘you... you’ on the upbeat.
“By comparison, there are very few treatments on Halsey’s hook vocals, which only have Auto-Tune, the SSL Channel, and the Doubler. Similarly, Drew’s backing vocals also have these plug-ins, and some Lexicon plate reverb. I’m using the SSL Channel to get rid of some high end on some of the tracks, because they were a little too bright, and had different effects on each of them to make sure they were not too similar.
According to the official gear list on Darude's Website (Click on the studio tab), it says he owns a license for Waves Kramer.
In a video overview on Waves' website, Dave Clarke discusses his use of the Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin as part of his EMP Toolbox.
Album Usage
The Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin has been featured on the following albums:
Ante Mono (DJ Mix)
Cazzette (2018)
All The Stars (with SZA)
Kendrick Lamar & SZA (2018)
A Moment Apart
Odesza (2017)
Meridian
Odesza (2017)
The Enemy
Matador (2016)
Perfect Strangers
Jonas Blue & JP Cooper (2016)
Alone
Alan Walker (2016)
Closer
The Chainsmokers & Halsey (2016)
Edge EP
Neonlight (2015)
Spotify Session
Cazzette (2015)
Eject
Cazzette (2014)
Genre Usage
Based on how artists on Equipboard use this gear, it is most commonly found in the following genres.
Used With
Based on how musicians on Equipboard use Waves Kramer Master Tape Plugin, it is most commonly used with the following gear.
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