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<meta name="description" content="Tom's Audio Processing plugins for
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audio engineering on the Linux platform.">
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<meta name="keywords" content="TAP-plugins TAP Reverb Editor
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Reverberator Equalizer EQ Vibrato Tremolo Echo Tom Szilagyi LADSPA
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JACK Plugin Linux Audio">
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<meta name="author" content="Tom Szilagyi">
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<font size="+2" color=#004060><b>TAP</b>-plugins</font><br>
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<font color=#004060>Tom's Audio Processing plugins</font><br>
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<font size="-1" color=#004060><i>for audio engineering on the Linux
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<a href="../index.html">[ Home ]</a>
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<a href="../ladspa.html">[ LADSPA plugins ]</a>
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<a href="../reverbed.html">[ TAP Reverb Editor ]</a>
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<a href="releases.html">[ Releases ]</a>
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<a href="cvs.html">[ CVS ]</a>
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<a href="general.html">[ General Info ]</a>
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<a href="manuals.html">[ Plugin Manuals ]</a>
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<a href="autopan.html">[ TAP AutoPanner ]</a>
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<a href="chorusflanger.html">[ TAP Chorus/Flanger ]</a>
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<a href="deesser.html">[ TAP DeEsser ]</a>
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<a href="dynamics.html">[ TAP Dynamics (Mono & Stereo) ]</a>
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<a href="eq.html">[ TAP Equalizer and TAP Equalizer/BW ]</a>
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<a href="doubler.html">[ TAP Fractal Doubler ]</a>
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<a href="pinknoise.html">[ TAP Pink/Fractal Noise ]</a>
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<a href="pitch.html">[ TAP Pitch Shifter ]</a>
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<a href="reflector.html">[ TAP Reflector ]</a>
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<a href="reverb.html">[ TAP Reverberator ]</a>
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<a href="rotspeak.html">[ TAP Rotary Speaker ]</a>
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<a href="limiter.html">[ TAP Scaling Limiter ]</a>
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<a href="sigmoid.html">[ TAP Sigmoid Booster ]</a>
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<a href="echo.html">[ TAP Stereo Echo ]</a>
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<a href="tremolo.html">[ TAP Tremolo ]</a>
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<a href="tubewarmth.html">[ TAP TubeWarmth ]</a>
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<a href="vibrato.html">[ TAP Vibrato ]</a>
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<h2>TAP TubeWarmth</h2>
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<img src="tap_tubewarmth.png" alt="[TAP TubeWarmth GUI as shown in Ardour]">
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<b>TAP TubeWarmth</b> adds the character of vacuum tube amplification
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to your audio tracks by emulating the sonically desirable nonlinear
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characteristics of triodes. In addition, this plugin also supports
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emulating analog tape saturation.
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<h3>General information</h3>
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<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" border="1">
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<tr><th align="left">Unique ID</th><td>2158</td>
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<tr><th align="left">I/O ports</th><td>1 input / 1 output</td>
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<tr><th align="left">CPU usage (44.1 kHz)</th><td>0.4%</td>
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<tr><th align="left">CPU usage (96 kHz)</th><td>0.9%</td>
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<tr><th align="left">Hard RT Capable</th><td>Yes</td></tr>
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<tr><th align="left">In-place operation</th><td>Supported</td>
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<tr><th align="left">run_adding() function</th><td>Provided</td>
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Tube preamps and reel-to-reel tape recorders have been around for a
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long time. Until the end of the seventies, the sound of almost every
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great recording bears the watermarks of these intrinsically nonlinear
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devices. In the eighties everything went digital, and the "harmful",
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"non-perfect" nonlinearities were greatly eliminated from the
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recording and mix-down process. However, it became clearly obvious
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shortly afterwards, that without these nonlinear artifacts recordings
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often sound dull, boring, colourless and thin, just like a piece of
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plastic. As a result, efforts have been made to bring the sound of
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analog equipment back to the studio -- with the power of DSP. This
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plugin offers the sound of these analog devices, but without the
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high-frequency roll-off of tube amps and the hiss of reel-to-reel tape
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machines. With this plugin applied and properly adjusted, many types
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of source materials will sound subtly richer, warmer, fatter, and
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The <i>Drive</i> slider adjusts the amount of the effect. Values
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between 2 and 5 are a good starting point for a variety of source
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materials. Since audio tracks can vary quite a bit in average and peak
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levels, experiment with this setting and use your ears to get the
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sound you want. (It's quite easy if you <i>know</i> how real tube amps
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sound like...) If the drive level is set too high, the signal will
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most likely sound distorted. If it's too low, you may not hear the
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The <i>Tape--Tube Blend</i> slider controls the colour of the
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TubeWarmth sound. When set all the way to the right (+10 or default
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position), the plugin emulates the sound of triode tube
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distortion. The result is asymmetrical, producing mostly second
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harmonics and some third. When set all the way to the left (-10), the
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plugin emulates the sound of analog tape. The result is symmetrical
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and produces mostly third harmonics and some second. With high drive
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settings, moving the blend control to the left increases the apparent
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loudness of low-level signals dramatically. This is because the
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zero-attack, zero-release compression effect is increased under these
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conditions. Use the blend control to set the sound of the plugin
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anywhere between Tape and Tube sound.
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In multitrack production work, using TAP TubeWarmth on selected
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individual tracks before the mixdown is generally a smart
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idea. Applying the plugin to electric guitars and bass is essential. A
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smaller amount applied to cymbals can make their sound substantially
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richer. Also, don't miss a try on your keyboards and vocals. Start
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with <i>Tape--Tube Blend</i> set to +10 for tube emulation, which is
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the default. This generally has a more musical effect than tape
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emulation, but of course this will depend on the source material,
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taste, and the dictates of your project.
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To warm up a stereo mix during mastering, a <i>Drive</i> setting of 2
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or 1 or even lower may be most appropriate, but this depends on the
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overall level. Look for an increase in the apparent loudness or
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fattening of the low end, and that warm tube sound. Too much effect
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and you'll hear the low end get too loose and/or the top end get too
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TAP TubeWarmth does not limit high frequency response. Some tube
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circuits, especially preamps with high gain, will start to roll off
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before 20 kHz. This is due to the plate-to-grid Miller
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capacitance. The plugin purposefully does not do this. If you want to
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limit highs (which can, in itself, make things sound a little warmer)
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use an <a href="eq.html">equalizer</a> plugin. You could do this
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before but will probably want to do it after processing with
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<h3>Summary of user controls</h3>
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<table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" border="1">
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<tr><th>name</th><th>min. value</th><th>default value</th><th>max. value</th></tr>
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<tr align="center"><td>Drive</td>
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<tr align="center"><td>Tape--Tube Blend</td>
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The <i>Drive</i> setting and the signal level are independent but
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related. Essentially the same results can be obtained by processing a
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low-level signal with a high drive setting as by processing a
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high-level signal with a low drive setting. The net effect on the
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signal will be the same in either case, with the only difference being
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the level of the resultant signal.
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$Id: tubewarmth.html,v 1.1 2004/08/17 13:05:16 tszilagyi Exp $
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