Strymon Deco Plugin Tape Saturator and Doubletracker, Software Download

Condition  Brand New
Warranty  Lifetime Access
Delivery  Digital Delivery

  • Deco recreates the genuine sound and vibe of yesteryear’s recordings in a single plugin
  • The Classic voice recreates the saturation and behavior of a professional open-reel mastering machine
  • The Cassette voice recreates the saturation and compression characteristics of the ALC auto limiting circuit from 70’s high-end cassette decks
  • The Doubletracker varies the offset between two tape decks to create phasing, flanging, chorusing, slapback and echo, for hyper-authentic vintage vibe
  • Sum, Invert and Bounce modes determine how the audio from each tape deck is summed and output, allowing a ton of experimentation
£67.80 £79.00
Earn 67 Loyalty Points.
+
AVAILABILITY:
In Stock, Digital Delivery  

In Stock, Digital Delivery

product timer
Order soon for delivery
on using our express service
Finance this product
Finance
Strymon
payment for product

Condition  Brand New
Warranty  Lifetime Access
Delivery  Digital Delivery

  • Deco recreates the genuine sound and vibe of yesteryear’s recordings in a single plugin
  • The Classic voice recreates the saturation and behavior of a professional open-reel mastering machine
  • The Cassette voice recreates the saturation and compression characteristics of the ALC auto limiting circuit from 70’s high-end cassette decks
  • The Doubletracker varies the offset between two tape decks to create phasing, flanging, chorusing, slapback and echo, for hyper-authentic vintage vibe
  • Sum, Invert and Bounce modes determine how the audio from each tape deck is summed and output, allowing a ton of experimentation

Product Details

Product: Strymon Deco Plugin Tape Saturator and Doubletracker, Software Download

SKU: DDJ5453

Condition  Brand New
Warranty  Lifetime Access
Delivery  Digital Delivery

Strymon Deco - Download

This product comes in the form of an automated email, containing the serial activation code and a link to the relevant website. This should arrive within a few minutes of your successful purchase. If you have not received your email within 20 minutes, please check your junk/spam folders first and then call or message us for assistance.

TAPE - THE FIRST EFFECT
While modern recording engineers and producers are used to the huge variety of effects options available these days, tape machines were the first devices used in the recording studio as effect processors. From echo and flanging to the warmth and saturation of the actual tape itself, the entire early history of music would sound completely different if these recording decks weren’t employed in this way.

MID-CENTURY MAVERICK
The new Deco plugin doesn’t just give you the hyper-real sonic signature of these classic tape machines, it’s also unique in that it revives the forgotten art on how these decks were manipulated as a workflow in the studio.

Even though there are currently a number of plugins that emulate entire tape machines down to the smallest degree, the Deco plugin stands alone as the only piece of software that accurately recreates the studio workflow of two tape decks working in tandem. It is the timed/speed relationship between these two decks that creates the phasing, true tape flanging, chorus, echo and double tracking effects that the Sun Studios and Abbey Roads of the world relied on for all of those famous early tracks, and it’s now available in an easy-to-use and utterly convincing plugin.

There are two sides to Deco:

The Tape Saturation side smooths out the response of your tracks with familiar tape compression and saturation, while fattening things up with subtle (or NOT subtle!) tape-driven transparent overdrive.

The Doubletracker side controls the two interactive tape decks and has the power to shift your sound in many different ways, easily achieving psychedelic tape flanging, gorgeous tape chorusing, syrupy slapback tape echoes and anything in between, all by varying the timing relationship between the Reference and Lag decks. If that’s not “old school” we’re not sure what is!

Tape Sat
Give your tracks the smooth and warm qualities of analog tape, along with the dynamics that are intrinsic to the response and behavior of tape machines. The Deco plugin can achieve incredible transparency at low levels, with reduced high frequency spikes and a harmonically rich low end.

Engineers used to say that “everything sounds better on tape”. Want to push the limits of tape beyond what was originally possible? Use the Deco plugin as a tape-style transparent overdrive—crank the Saturation all the way up to “peg the meters” and overload the machine’s input.

Tape Sat controls
Deco’s Tape Saturation side features controls for dialing in everything from light and transparent saturation all the way to smooth and overdriven tape distortion. The Saturation control allows for a wide range of tones that go from subtle saturation and compression at lower levels to transparent tape overdrive at its upper limits.

An adjustable Volume control for the Saturation side lets you balance the final output once you’ve dialed in the right amount of drive, and a dedicated Tone knob lets you adjust the frequency response from darker to brighter.

The Saturation side also features a Voice switch with two settings:

Classic: produces the response and saturation characteristics of professional 2-track mastering reel-to-reel tape machines.

Cassette: employs an auto level control (ALC) process common to many high-end cassette tape recorders in the ’70s, resulting in a fat and musically compressed tone.

Double Or Nothing
In the early days of recording studios, a few creative audio engineers discovered a new world of sonic augmentation by pushing the limits of studio tape machines. By inventing automatic doubletracking, they introduced echo, flanging and chorus to the world of recorded music.

Intensify and widen your tracks with Deco’s Doubletracker controls. Turn the Lag Time to obtain mind-bending tape flanging, spacious doubletrack chorusing and classic slapback tape echo. Add random modulation with the Wobble control and go from very subtle movement to more extreme undulations—just like having a recording engineer manually vary the speed of the machine while the music plays.

Doubletracker Controls
In addition to Lag Time, the Deco plugin’s Doubletracker side features additional controls to help you achieve a wide variety of tape-based effects.

The Blend control sets the mix level between Deco’s Reference and Lag Decks. Lower the control to hear more of the Reference Deck for less doubletracking, or raise it if you want to hear more of the doubletracking effect.

The Wobble knob adds random tape speed-based modulations to the Lag Deck. It’s easy to go from very subtle movement to more extreme undulations — just like having a recording engineer vary the speed of the machine by hand. Wobble is super handy to increase the depth of the modulation effect you hear when Lag Time is set to act as a tape flanger/chorus, or it can be used to add modulation to the Lag Deck when set as a slapback or tape echo.

Blend Type
Adjusts phase and internal routing to customize tone and low-end response:

Sum: the two decks are summed together in phase
Invert: the Lag Deck is phase inverted, and then the two decks are summed together
Bounce: the output of the right Lag Deck is bounced to the left channel for stereo ping-pong or mono double-echo

Lag Time
You can unlock a whole variety of organic tape-based modulation and delay effects simply by turning Deco’s Lag Time control.

The Lag Time control adjusts the delay offset between Deco’s Reference Deck and the Lag Deck, achieving everything from tape flanging (-.3 to 3ms), lush tape chorusing (3 to 50ms), snappy slapback delay (50 to 150ms), or fully spaced-out tape echoes (150 to 500ms) when the control is maxed out.

Wide Stereo
The Deco plugin gives you the option for extremely wide stereo imaging to broaden and intensify the impact of your tracks in the stereo field.

Wide Stereo Mode sends the mono input (summed if using a stereo input) to the Left channel through the Reference Deck, and to the right channel via the delayed Lag Deck to create an adjustable stereo spread.

The Blend control acts like a pan control by adjusting the relative levels of the two tape decks.

Auto Flange
Click the Doubletracker On button in the UI to achieve a recording studio-inspired through-zero flange effect.

This engages a “virtual audio engineer” manning the faders and tape reels to create a smooth and predictable through-zero flange experience on the fly.

STUDIO MODE
Gives an additional 10db of headroom for use in a DAW. This is the default setting.

  • Deco recreates the genuine sound and vibe of yesteryear’s recordings in a single plugin
  • The Classic voice recreates the saturation and behavior of a professional open-reel mastering machine
  • The Cassette voice recreates the saturation and compression characteristics of the ALC auto limiting circuit from 70’s high-end cassette decks
  • The Doubletracker varies the offset between two tape decks to create phasing, flanging, chorusing, slapback and echo, for hyper-authentic vintage vibe
  • Sum, Invert and Bounce modes determine how the audio from each tape deck is summed and output, allowing a ton of experimentation
  • Wide Stereo mode creates a double bounce in stereo, Bounce mode creates a ping pong
  • Normal and Studio (the default) level calibration allow for everything from a subtle blush of saturation to wonderfully distorted chaos
System req

macOS BigSur  11.6.4 and newer (macOS 14.x excluded)
Apple M1 or Intel® Core™ i5 Processor
8GB RAM minimum
AAX®, AU®, or VST3® compatible plugin host software
iLok account and internet connection for activation


Windows 10
Intel® Core™ i5 processor or AMD multi-core processor
8GB RAM minimum
AAX® or VST3® compatible plugin host software
Internet connection for activation
iLok account and internet connection for activation

UK Deliveries

We offer free delivery on all of our items (UK mainland only) please see details below.

Destination Delivery Times Cost
UK Mainland Economy (only available for orders over £70) 3-5 Working Days* Free of charge
UK Mainland Express Next Day* £4.99
UK Mainland Saturday and Sunday Saturday or Sunday £14.99
Northern Ireland, Scottish Highlands 2 Working Days* £11.99
Scottish Islands, Channel Islands, Isle of Man, Isles of Scilly 2 Working Days* £14.99

*Applies to in stock items. Orders placed after 5pm will be dispatched the following working day, next day delivery does not include Saturday or Sundays. Some services are only available to UK mainland addresses.

Jersey and Guernsey are also VAT exempt, so 20% will automatically be knocked off when selecting your country in the basket or checkout.

Pre 10am, 12am and named day delivery options are available in the basket, simply enter your postcode for an accurate price. Please note there is a surcharge for individual, very heavy items over 30kg. This will be applied in the basket.


European Deliveries

We ship to most European destinations, simply choose your country and the correct price will show up in the basket.

Delivery times range from 2-4 days, 4-9 for remote areas.

A quick glance at some of our rates...

Destination Delivery Times Cost
Republic of Ireland, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy & Netherlands 2-4 Working Days £14.99
Spain, Austria, Denmark, Hungary 3-5 Working Days £19.99

Rest of the World

We can ship anywhere in the world, if you are outside of the EU we will knock 20% VAT off the price, rates depend on weight so please get in touch for an accurate price, [email protected]

Read more about our delivery here.


Returns

Our returns system is easy, you have the right to cancel an order up to 14 days, please check our full returns policy here.

Customer Reviews

Customers Also Bought

Strymon BigSky Plugin Multidimensional Reverb, Software Download
£192.00
  • Direct port of one of the world's most-loved reverb pedals
  • Delivers the signature functionality and unique range of 12 custom-tuned reverbs to your DAW
  • Includes traditional models from room and halls to the experimental cloud and shimmer modes
  • Customise the virtual ambience space and depth with the innovative X/Y controls
  • Add subtle Room ambience to a drum kit or reshape a guitar with the Chorale mode

Software version of the very popular reverb effect

In Stock, Digital Delivery  In Stock, Digital Delivery
£192.00£198.00
£192.00
Bundle
Strymon El Capistan & DIG Plugin Echo Bundle, Software Download
£79.05
  • 2 plugins with a massive saving! 
  • Three tape machines in one: Single Moving (sliding record head) Single Fixed (one fixed playback head), and Multi Fixed (multiple fixed playback heads)
  • Head and Note Value division options for each tape machine for highly flexible echo options
  • Independent Spring reverb
  • Tape Age, Tape Crinkle, Bias, and Wow & Flutter controls to provide everything from pristine tape repeats to worn and wobbly artifacts

Software versions of both El Capistan & DIG

In Stock, Digital Delivery  In Stock, Digital Delivery
£79.05£99.00
£79.05
£67.80