Cassette 3 – Multi Effects Pack

Product Description

This library is available in 44.1, 48, 88.2, and 96khz sample rates (you get all 4 sample rates when purchasing). It also includes skins with buttons you can use to switch between the programs, for both N3 and N4.

This release is really like a bundle of 4 collections of different types of Nebula programs, plus a bonus effect. Most of these effects were made using a Marantz 4020 cassette deck, which has 3 heads and can record/play at double speed, giving increased performance (extended high freq range is one example), however some of the reverbs and one of the comps used the Tascam 122 mk3.

There is the main ‘Cassette Deck 3’ portion of this release, which includes the tape tone type programs, and continues from parts 1 and 2. 21 tape tone programs are here, made from that many different tapes of various brands, and all four tape types- I, II, III, and IV. Sometime dolby NR was used, other times not, and in some cases I even messed with the internal tape EQ trimpots to get different results to get a lot of variety. These can give you a huge variety of tape tone, and if you drive the input level just right you can get a nice saturation effect, with harmonics.

I used double speed mode for all of these, so there are many programs which actually provide a very flat response almost up to 20khz. Some of these are the flattest cassette programs I’ve put out yet. In double speed mode the deck probably sounds better than a lot of consumer grade reel decks out there, and that comes across in the sound in these programs. I made sure to get some more lo-fi results too in case you want a more obvious cassette sound.

Then there is a set of ‘dynamics only’ programs, which match the main tape tone ones. There is a matching program for all but one of the main tape tone programs, and these programs need to be paired with the main tone programs to get the ‘full effect’. These programs focus only on reproducing the tape compression that was sampled from the tapes. They are otherwise transparent, with no tone of their own, which is why you need to pair them with a tone program to get that aspect of the sound. These programs are relatively simple to use. They do include an adjustable release control, but no attack, because the main focus is to simply recreate the tape compression which is usually like a limiting type effect.

There are three compressors also included. I made these by hybridizing tape samples with three of my released Nebula compressors. You may be familiar with my previous Casspressors release, which also did that, but this time is different. In that release only the attack/release behavior was taken from the comps, but here the dynamic response/compression curve is also taken from the compressors. The end result is three full-fledged compressors which work and behave almost exactly like the versions from their respective releases, but the tone and harmonics come from the tapes/tape decks.

Casspressors was really more about junky lo-fi distortion effects but these are more like alternate versions of my comps I based them off of (the C660, C254-E, and Rayphlex softer knee comp), with the rounder, smoother character of cassette tape and the characteristic (slight) high freq roll-off. I’ve been wanting to try this idea out for years and I’m really happy with how it came out. Whether you have those comp releases or not, I think you’ll find these alt versions very unique, and useful.

The next portion is CassetteVerb 2, a continuation of my previous CassetteVerb release. Again, I did things differently this time. Here I took reverbs from across my entire release output, of various types, including- springs, plates, echo chambers, and even my tube radio reverbs and the previous CassetteVerb release, and ‘re-sampled’ them onto and off of cassette.

I used both the Marantz and Tascam decks to resample all 10 source reverbs, and for some of them I used the Tascam multiple times, using its varispeed control to play back the impulses at faster or slower speeds, pitching the reverbs up or down. This is also an idea I’ve really wanted to try for years! The end result- I think these 29 very different reverbs you have to choose from are much better than the first CassetteVerb release. Much more useful, and this time I made sure to have more typical things like room sounds, plates, springs- just simpler reverbs but with a nice tape tone added. These reverbs really add a lot of value to this release and could stand as their own release easily.

As a bonus, there is what I call a Sample and Hold Cassette Tape Flanger program. It doesn’t work like typical flangers, with a sine or triangle LFO waveform modulating the delay, but instead it jumps to random positions at a rate determined by the controls. There are 6 different tape tones you can select from, to get different sounding flange results. This really needs to be thought of as a ‘free bonus’ thrown in, because you may or may not find it useful, and it has some flaws (outlined in the manual). For a few out there it may be a useful tool (sound design, etc).

I could have released this stuff separately but I liked the idea of having a big treasure trove of different things in one package. There’s enough to digest here that I think it will take you quite a while to really come to grips with what’s available.

Last but not least, this library comes with excellent custom skins by Max Ponomaryov, aka azzimov! There are skins for both N3 and N4. The skins allow you to switch between the different programs by pushing buttons on the skin.

Here’s a video also by Max (who also helped hugely with testing, thanks Max!), showing off all the different types of effects in this release, as well as his great skins. Note that this video doesn’t show the ‘dynamics only’ programs, because those were added in as an update, years after the original release.