And what a GUI TAIP has with three different 'skins' (shades) available and hypnotically spinning tape reels while your session is playing. There is the important wet/dry fader because this plugin should be inserted on the source track directly; I would not recommend it as a send/return plugin.

One of the six parameters is called Wear and it combines wow, flutter and the effect of a miss-aligned tape deck. You should use Wear with Wet/Dry at 100% Wet but moving the fader towards Dry will produce a tape flanging effect and a warning will pop up--I like the Wear feature a lot but only at 100%.

Auto-Gain mode is a smart feature that will keep your output level somewhat the same if you bypass the plugin. The right hand reel controls the Output level and there is plenty of gain here. On the input side are the Normal and Hot buttons for "blowing up"--distorting the sound without affecting the Output level much. All very 'pro' features that make inserting TAIP on a track(s) of an existing mix without causing too much trouble.

Some of the other parameters/controls are: Noise for adding tape hiss/noise only while the track is playing, the left hand tape reel is Drive and it pushes more level into the tape recorder to attain analog warmth or when cranked, a grungy distortion you might like for loops or mid-range instruments and vocals. The Presence control affects the super high frequencies--you can adjust the typical loss of brilliance that a tape recording takes on as it (physically) wears out with each play. This is a good yet subtle parameter.

Glue is an emulation of a tape recorder's tendency to "melt" together the frequencies for a more cohesive sound. With all the other controls of TAIP at "0", running Glue up and down you can hear how a music mix "jells" together. Glue does seem to blend everything together and is also a wonderfully subtle effect that I like.

TAIP finishes with a choice of either a Single tape deck or Dual for two decks in series that split the Drive level you have set. Lo-Shape/Hi-Shape offers a way to saturate the high or low frequencies less/more than the rest of the frequencies. This replicates the sound of different brands of tape recorders that saturated different brands of tapes differently--this fact made certain machines more popular way back in the day!

I do have a wish list for maybe the next version of TAIP. I think all parameter values should be visible all the time and the Wear feature should (somehow) not flange when the Wet/Dry control is below 100% Wet. After all flanging is much better handled by a separate plugin. But all in all, TAIP is an excellent plugin with so many great effects possible.

Baby Audio TAIP Tape Recorder Emulation Plugin sells for $69 as a download and there is an intro sale right now for $39.

babyaud.io/taip-plugin