« Add some warmth »

The SilverSpike RubyTube does a great job of duplicating the sound of some of those popular preamps from many years ago. This plug in is a freeware that can be downloaded directly from SilverSpike’s website and works great on Windows systems. When it comes to freeware plug ins I am always skeptical because a lot of them are not tested well before they are released and can cause major errors in a DAW and will have to be uninstalled. I had no issues installing RubyTube on my Laptop running Windows Vista and Windows 7 though it does run better on Windows Vista, for some reason on Windows 7 it runs a little slower taking a little more time to open after it is added to a channel.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

I love using RubyTube on drums and bass instrumental, it gives a warm tone and some amazing compression that most standard plug ins that come with programs like Cubase and Ableton cannot accomplish. I have been using RubyTube for over a year and it has never caused me any problems. I have also used Reverb it and Tape it from SilverSpike and those plug ins are also very good as well.

OVERALL OPINION

Being that it is a freeware I do not think that it is updated that much if any at all because I have not seen any updates for it. This plug in is great, but if you remember back when those real tube preamps sound, or get a chance to work with one in a real studio you will see how much better they still are than this plug in from SilerSpike. That is because there is no way that it can create the exact sound that the originals had but it does a great job of getting it close. It is just not as warm; I definitely recommend downloading this and if you do not like it you can always uninstall. It is free!