r/VSTi • u/BwareDFrndlyStranger • 18d ago
Effect Building VST plugin
In the middle of creating a dream of mine, a tape emulation plugin that you can mangle and fuck up the tape. With a preamp modeled on the tascam portastudio 424 (also a modified version that is more unforgiving with the saturation). Eq modeled on the tascam portastudio 424 and a german console EQ. The devilish theme is inspired by Boards of Canada's Geogaddi. Saturated and mangled effects have always been of interest to be after I listen to that record for the first time.
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u/Amplifi-Beats 18d ago
this looks really cool, whenever this does launch PLEASE write a good manual to explain some of the functions, you've got some really fun looking names on the parameters.
I love messing around and figuring stuff out but I would definitely find value in a little reference for what each parameter actually does, and maybe you can include some of the lore and details you mentioned in another comment?
Plugin Alliance make nice manuals that have lots of fluff beforehand and then they get fairly deep into the technical side
Excited to see this come to fruition!
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u/BigJobsBigJobs 18d ago
I really dislike "poetic" names on knob functions.
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u/Ill-Elevator2828 18d ago
Eh, I think it’s alright if it helps to create a vibe that pushes you to use the plugin a certain way. Perhaps they can compromise by having a mouse-over more “helpful” name or description.
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u/BwareDFrndlyStranger 18d ago
I understand :) really wanted to distance from the real functional names for people to explore :)
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u/BigJobsBigJobs 18d ago
there's too much of it in the vst world and it gets in the way of programming when one needs accuracy.
The ones in my toolkit are seldom used because of that.
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u/BobKickflip 17d ago
It depends on the context for me, but if shriek is generally more top endy than growl I'd swap them over. Feels more logical to have the flow that way as it's low to high
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u/Big_Bit_297 18d ago
I'm totally down for weird names, sometimes a variable might not easily fit a more specific title. There are plenty of normal plugins too with standard names, so I'm all for something a little more esoteric.
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u/Dropbot_M 18d ago
Looks interesting, can you share some details about how you made it?
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u/BwareDFrndlyStranger 18d ago
thanks! I am currently using JUCE(v8) and I downloaded several pdf of the user manual/service manuals of the Portastudio 424/different cassette tapes to look for specs I could translate into math to get the correct component interactions and values to emulate the tape recorder. did this with the preamp, EQ and the wow and flutter (while its heavily modified because the portastudio's very clean). The coding is still very heavy and performance needs to be optimized. I am planing to get Claude code for some help refactoring and fine tuning. The layout of the UI I have had in my head for years.... started learning JUCE c++ 2 years ago.
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u/BwareDFrndlyStranger 18d ago
also the German EQ I chose too emulate is the Siemens Sitral, but with just two bands at 80hz and 14khz (the tascam is 100hz and 10khz). Also emulating different tape effects like azemuth, head bump, degredation and tape phasing with multiple parameters for experimentation (in the advanced sections)
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u/slick123 18d ago
Like every word is written for me in this post lol . Love the idea , good luck with vst hope I manage to work with it one day !
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u/madsmadalin 16d ago
Looks awesome! Just do you, don’t listen to the “make it normal” voices. I was actually drawn by the name, knobs descriptions and I’m curious to test it out. It stands out. You need that in a world of countless plugins. But you know that what matters the most is to sound great!
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u/nutsackhairbrush 17d ago
I’d actually maybe get a plugin that models an old tascam porta— but I think the current UI would strongly deter me from even downloading a free demo. I’m a HUGE BoC fan. However a plugin should be easy to read which this is not due to color choices. I also don’t know what these knob labels mean, I’m not a fan of the word choice there.
Maybe make a lighter alt skin with the color scheme of trans Canada highway or the campfire headphase. I think using the UI rules of the dodge van manual that the trans Canada highway cover was based off of could be really cool. (Plus there would be a whole book of fonts and styles to copy)
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u/rhymeswithcars 15d ago edited 14d ago
Very nice! I would format the readouts without decimals. Looks cleaner, and you don’t need to know if you have 37.3% or 37% ’torture’ :)
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u/rhymeswithcars 14d ago
I would also space things out more vertically. It’s pretty cramped, the labels for the second row of knobs are closer to the first row’s readouts than to the knobs they belong to etc.
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u/Church_of_Aaargh 18d ago
Make it skinable - I’d prefer a plain, higher contrast, B/W UI.