Fly Tape II

Name: Fly Tape II
Price: 49 USD
Author: AIR Music Technology

by AIR Music Technology · Saturation · Cassette tape effect

Not rated yet

Fly Tape II emulates a cassette deck, with modes for speed, saturation, mute and reverse, warble, lo-fi, brake and stutter.

It has three overdrive types and a noise slider, and costs $49.99.

Best for: Drums, Keys & Synths, Mix Bus, Sound Design. Genres: Lo-Fi, Hip-Hop & Trap.

Keywords: cassette, tape, stutter, lo-fi, wobble, hardware emulation, samples & loops, drums, overdrive, sound design, rhythmic, 80s, AUv3/iOS, bitcrush, bus processing, colored, flutter, full mix, mix bus, mixing, retro, simple, single-band, vintage, warm.

What it does

Fly Tape II is a cassette tape effect that AIR built with MSXII Sound Design, adapted from the popular Fly Tape iOS app. AIR pitches it as a way to add "retro sonic textures and colorful saturation on the fly", in a DAW or on MPC hardware.

Speed: four tape speed settings, including half, quarter and cassette-style speeds, for slowdowns and tonal colour.
Saturation: three overdrive modes, Boost, Amp and Drive, for analog-style warmth.
Mute and Reverse: chop the audio in and out, or flip its direction, while it plays.
Warble: seven wow and flutter variations with pitch modulation.
Lo-fi: eight variations of deliberate imperfection, such as hiss and bit reduction.
Brake and Stutter: four tape-stop lengths for transitions, and eight rhythmic stutter and repeat patterns.
Noise: an independent slider to blend in tape hiss; all parameters can be automated.

A 10-day desktop trial is available.

Source: AIR Music Technology product page

When to use it

Fly Tape II is a different kind of tool from RC-20 Retro Color and TAIP, which add tape and analog colour with more control over tone, and Ampex ATR-102, a high-end model of a studio mastering machine. It is a cheap cassette effect built around performance moves like brakes, stutters, reverses and mutes, as much as around saturation. That makes it better for beat making and transitions than for subtle mix-bus polish. It also runs on MPC hardware, which most tape plugins do not.

Best for: cassette warble, tape stops, stutters and lo-fi colour on loops, drums and samples.
Genres: lo-fi, boom bap and hip-hop.
Look elsewhere if: you need studio-grade tape on mixes and masters; Ampex ATR-102 or TAIP fit better, and RC-20 Retro Color gives finer control over the colour.

What producers say

Plugin Boutique buyers rate it well for fun and value, with reservations about the small preset list and the tone next to rivals.

Plugin Boutique users rate it 4.6 out of 5 from 79 ratings, calling it "fun, affordable" and interactive, with an intuitive interface and a useful beat-repeat style stutter.
Good fit: buyers singled it out for MPC users and boom bap production.
Criticisms: fewer than ten presets, and tone that some felt is "outperformed by competing plugins".

Plugin Boutique user reviews

Where to buy

Plugin Boutique: $49
AIR Music Technology: $49.99 (list price from KVR Audio; airmusictech.com shows prices only in its shop)
AudioDeluxe: $49.99

Tutorials and reviews

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