Module Reference · Saturation & Character
Tape
Tape models the whole machine, not just the squash. Magnetic saturation with the tape's real magnetic memory (hysteresis) gives the thick, smeary core; three tape speeds set the fidelity; head bump, high rolloff and bias adjustment tune the electronics from hi-fi to trashed.
The transport is where it comes alive: wow and flutter with independent rates and randomness, linked by a Motion Link control so they behave like one physical mechanism. Azimuth tilt smears the stereo, crosstalk bleeds the channels, and Age, Dropouts and Transport instability let the machine decay as far as you dare.
Why it hits different
The GhostWare take.
- Real magnetic memory (hysteresis) - the actual behavior of tape, not just distortion.
- Motion Link makes wow and flutter move like one real transport.
- Age, dropouts and head tilt (azimuth) take it from mint to found-footage.
In the shot
Reading the panel.
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1
HEAD RESPONSE
Head-bump and rolloff curve of the current machine setup.
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2
WOW / FLUTTER TRACE
Speed wobble drawn as it happens.
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3
TAPE DECK
Drive, speed, wow / flutter and the aging section.
Control Showcase
Every control, explained.
26 controls, named exactly as they appear in the plugin.
How hard the signal hits the virtual tape - more drive, more compression and harmonics.
Tape speed: 7.5 ips is dark and lo-fi, 15 ips is classic, 30 ips is clean and extended.
Slow pitch drift, the classic warble of worn transports.
Fast pitch instability layered on top of the wow.
Level of the tape noise floor.
Adds constant tape hiss on top of the signal-dependent noise.
The low-frequency bump real tape heads produce - free analog bass.
Tape's natural level squashing. Raise it for glued, dense playback.
Where the top end starts to fall away, like older or slower tape.
Final level trim after the tape stage.
Magnetic saturation amount - the harmonic core of the tape sound.
Models tape's real magnetic memory for a thicker, smearier distortion character.
Recording bias: misadjust it for lo-fi grit or clean it up for hi-fi.
Where the head bump sits. 0 picks the natural spot for the current speed.
Speed of the slow wow drift.
Randomizes the wow so it never repeats like an LFO.
Speed of the flutter component.
Randomizes the flutter for realistic scrape and jitter.
Links wow and flutter into one correlated transport motion, like a single physical mechanism.
Tilts the playback head: high-frequency loss plus stereo smear between channels.
Bleed between the left and right tape tracks.
One knob of overall wear: more dropouts, duller top, dirtier noise.
How often momentary level dropouts occur.
How deep each dropout dips.
Overall transport instability - the machine getting unreliable.
A hard output ceiling: nothing leaves the module louder than this.