CRTIV Tape Bus
by Voxengo · Saturation · Tape saturation
Not rated yet
A reel-to-reel tape emulation with saturation, flutter noise, high-frequency smoothing and a hard clipper, built for buses and tracks.
It offers four tape impulses based on studio machines and "overload protection" modes to tame harsh transients, at 1 ms latency.
Best for: Mix Bus, Drum Bus, Vocals, Mastering. Genres: Rock & Indie, Lo-Fi, Pop, Hip-Hop & Trap, R&B & Soul.
Keywords: tape, flutter, bus processing, lo-fi, vocals, corrective, hard clip, hardware emulation, warm, colored, full mix, glue, resizable UI, undo/redo, A/B compare, bright, drum bus, drums, enhancement, gentle, gritty, mastering, mix bus, mixing, single-band, thick.
What it does
CRTIV Tape Bus recreates characteristic parts of the reel-to-reel tape sound: saturation, flutter noise and the smearing and smoothing of transients and high end. Voxengo pitches it for "gluing buses, warming vocals, or adding lo-fi grit."
- Four tape impulses: modeled on studio machines, from high-end smoothing to low-end thickening.
- Flutter noise: consumer or pro flutter modes for movement and transient softening.
- Overload protection: modes that tame harsh transients, plus a hard clipper.
- Saturation and tape medium controls: dial in the amount of tape coloration and the character of the medium.
- Voxengo workflow: 1 ms compensated latency, preset manager, undo/redo, A/B comparisons and a resizable HiDPI interface.
The trial is fully featured but mutes the output for a moment every 45 seconds.
When to use it
CRTIV Tape Bus is a simpler and cheaper bus tool than Softube Tape, u-he Satin and Waves Kramer Master Tape, which all model tape in more depth, with machine, speed and bias options. You pick one of four tape impulses, set saturation and flutter, and use the overload protection or clipper to catch peaks, with only 1 ms of latency.
- Best for: gentle glue and warmth on mix and drum buses, softening bright vocals, and adding flutter for a lo-fi feel.
- Genres: rock and indie, pop, hip-hop, R&B and lo-fi.
- Look elsewhere if: you want a detailed machine model with tape speed, bias and head bump controls; Satin or Softube Tape go further.
- Standout: the combination of tape coloration with overload protection and a clipper in one low-latency plugin.
Where to buy
- AudioDeluxe: $43
- Voxengo: $49.85 (Listed at €43.90; converted at €1 = $1.1355 (ECB rate, 29 Sep 2026))
Tutorials and reviews
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