Hey Lab Nerds! As more people get inspired by shows like The Magnus Archives and Archive 81, every now and then a question pops up in the Lab.
“What’s a good plugin to make it sound like a cassette tape?”
I went ahead and scrubbed through every time this question was asked in the Audio Drama Lab Discord server and compiled the recommendations to make this list of 6 free plugins for your DAW to add that dirty, scratchy, over-saturated tape effect, plus 3 more if you got some loose change and the freebies aren’t quite doing it for you. As always, we get nothing from any of this. This is a list from the community, for the community.
Izotope Vinyl
This free plugin from Izotope (of RX Audio Repair Suite fame) introduces scratches, warps, and saturated tone to your audio, making it sound like, well…vinyl. Or cassette, because in audio fiction they sound pretty similar.
BPB Dirty VHS
This free plugin from Bedroom Producers Blog has 8 different VHS models with 3 different modes to give you just the type of magnetic tape sound you’re looking for.
InstaVibe
This free plugin from Linda Audio gives cassette and vinyl vibes and more! It has options for Saturation, Noise, EQ, and Modulation to let you fine tune the sound to get exactly what you want from it.
Tape Cassette 2
This free plugin from Caelum Audio is a spiffy update to Tape Cassette 1 (as you may have guessed from the name), overhauling the interface and tweaking things to make them just that much better (even sampling actual tapes for it). As a bonus, this is also a standalone app for iOS.
Flux Light
This free plugin from Yum Audio has the small catch of requiring your email address in order to download it. Once you give them that bit of information though, they give you Crispy Clip Light (an audio clipper), Spread Light (a widener plugin), Grater Light (a compressor), and the aforementioned Flux Light to emulate cassette tape. If you’re interested in the full version, LoFi Flux Machine is normally $109, but as of the time of publishing, is on sale for $38 and has a 14 day free trial available.
Lost Tapes
This free plugin from SuperflyDSP adds flutter, crunch, and distortion to make things sound just like you remember growing up. Because you had cassette tapes growing up too, right? I’m not getting old. We’re all the same age, right?
Lofi Oddity
This free plugin from Aberrant DSP takes pieces of their paid plugins (SketchCassette II and ShapeShifter) and puts it in a simple package. While not as powerful as the paid ones, it’s still pretty nice. And if you’d prefer to get the paid versions, you can get SketchCassette II for $36 or get that and ShapeShifter for $45.
Dirty Tape
As the name implies, this plugin from Softube focuses on making it sound not just like a cassette tape, but a dirty one, and it does it as simple as possible. While it’s normally $59, it can be found on sale and, as of the time of publishing, it’s currently on sale for $35 and has a free demo available.
LO-FI-AF
This plugin from Unfiltered Audio does a lot a technical wizardry to emulate cassette tapes, vinyls, cell phones, CDs, and more, while optionally introducing grunge, dirt, and distortion. It’s normally $149, and at the time of this writing is on sale for $74. It’s been on sale for even cheaper at Plugin Alliance in the past (and it requires a Plugin Alliance account for activation).
If you find yourself asking questions like this (or about anything to do with Audio Fiction production), feel free to join us as we experiment together in the Audio Drama Lab Discord server.