TapeSim has the following controls

Input Level: This control allows you to alter the gain of the audio entering the ‘tape machine’, before the Record Level control, providing sufficient gain to the record level control.

Record Level: The Record Level control allows you to set the amount of signal that will be recorded to tape, acting the same as it would on an actual tape machine. Increasing the level of this control will cause the ‘tape’ to be saturated with signal, which will cause distortion to the audio signal.

Warmth: This parameter controls the amount of non-linearity (ratio of output level to input level) in the tape saturation portion of the plug-in. With added warmth, the saturation/distortion effect is much more pronounced-especially at higher record-levels.

Tape Speed: Just as the tape speed in an analog tape deck will determine the quality and timbre of the recorded material, this parameter affects the behavior of the plug-in in the following ways:

• It affects the amount of high-frequency attenuation (loss). As the tape speed decreases, more of the high frequencies are lost.
• It changes the tape EQ curves that are being applied so that they are correct for that speed.
• It changes the tape hiss characteristics (the frequency components of the hiss shift higher as the tape speed increases).

EQ Curves: These are the standard equalization curves that are used in professional analog tape machines, which are essentially high-pass shelving filters which boost the high frequencies prior to the signal being recorded on tape. In the analog world, these filters are mostly meant to compensate for the roll-off (loss) of high-frequencies due to various factors in the recording process, including the thickness of the tape, head-gap loss and other factors. Just as this roll-off is dependent on the tape speed, so are the EQ curves. For example, at 30 ips (inches per second) the EQ boosts less and at higher frequencies than at a lower tape speed (such as 7.5 ips).

Added Hiss: This parameter controls the amount of noise that is added to the signal after the tape saturation phase, simulating the high frequency hiss that is inherent in magnetic tape recording. It is important to note that changing the tape speed will affect the frequency spectrum of the hiss -- just as it does in actual tape machines. The greater the tape speed, the higher the frequency component of the noise. Since hiss is often an undesired effect of the magnetic recording process, we have provided the ability for you to remove it by lowering this control to 0.

Output Gain: This control allows you to increase or decrease the output level of the processed audio, after the effect has been applied.

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