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Lo-Fidelity80

Tape wobble, hiss and wear

VST3Windows

How to install: there is no installer to run — close your DAW, copy the plug-in folder into C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 and open it again. Why no installer?

What it does

Wow

Rate, Depth and Drift bend the pitch up and down the way a worn tape transport does. Drift makes it uneven instead of perfectly regular.

Tape

Age is the main knob — turn it up and the sound gets darker and more saturated. Mix blends it back with the clean signal, Output sets the level.

Noise

Tape hiss with its own Level, Tone and Wear. It runs on its own, so you can have plenty of hiss with barely any tape colour, or the other way round.

Continuous or triggered

The hiss can run all the time, or only when something is playing so it doesn't sit under your silences.

Watch it in action

Hear it

Same take, same spot — switch between the untouched signal and Lo-Fidelity80.

Before and after

The same loop with the plug-in bypassed, then switched on

Lo-Fidelity80 makes a clean track sound like it came off an old tape.

Turn Age up and the sound gets darker and more saturated. Wow bends the pitch slightly up and down, like a tape player with a tired motor. The Noise section adds hiss on top, with its own tone and level.

Good for taking the shine off a synth, giving drums some grit, or pushing a whole mix back a few decades. Keep Mix low for a light touch, or turn everything up and let it fall apart.