Digidesign Reel Tape Suite

Installing the three plug-ins in the Digidesign Reel Tape Suite wasn't hard at all as you can install all three at the same time.  It was as easy as installing any other plug-in, especially if you decide to buy it online as you can download it and have it up and running within minutes.  The interface of the three plug-ins is pretty user friendly as there isn't too much going on, but there is definitely enough there to get a good amount of differing sounds.  I haven't seen the manual for this plug-in suite, so I can't say how helpful it would be, but they are easy enough to install and figure out on your own that I don't think that one is necessary.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

No matter which of the three plug-in that I am running with the Digidesign Reel Tape Suite, they always seems to run pretty smoothly.  I've had them all up at the same time without issues as well, but it really depends on what type of system you are running them on.  I am running these plugs on a Mac Book Pro that has a 2.2 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4 GB of RAM.  I usually run them in Pro Tools LE 7.4 that runs with a Digi 002R audio interface, but I have also run them on a Pro Tools HD system.  While they of course run a bit better on the HD system, they run fine on the LE system as long as I don't go to crazy with them.


OVERALL OPINION

The Digidesign Reel Tape Suite is a really powerful set of plug-ins.  Within the suite comes the following plug-ins: a reel tape delay, a reel tape flanger, and a reel tape saturation.  My favorite is probably the reel tape delay as I find this to be the most useful for what I am trying to do and has the most realistic sound.  I like the other ones a lot as well, but I don't use flanging too often and while the reel tape saturation does a good job, I don't tend to use it all that often.  This is a reasonably priced plug-in suite and if you are looking for a trio of plug-ins with a surprisingly warm sound, the Digidesign Reel Tape Suite is worth checking out.