Softube offers its Tape Echoes delay plugin for just $29 at Plugin Boutique until June 15th. It’s a tempting offer if you’re chasing that gritty, lo-fi tape delay vibe.
Tape Echoes isn’t a direct emulation of any one delay machine. Instead, it’s a “best-of” compilation, blending the Roland Space Echo’s three-head topology, the Echoplex’s delay time slider, and WEM Copicat-style features.
But those aren’t all the ingredients. Imagine you also added a bit of Space Echo-style spring reverb and a sprinkle of modern features like stereo imaging and DAW tempo sync, and you’ll be close to what Tape Echo represents. It’s essentially a best-of tape delay plugin with an old-school charm and modern controls.
I wasn’t blown away right out of the box when I launched Tape Echoes for the first time, but it sounds terrific after some tweaking. The real magic here comes from the Drive and Dirt controls.
Drive delivers warm tape-style saturation, while Dirt dials in flutter, dropouts, high-end loss, and that deliciously unstable tape vibe. You can clean it up a bit if you want, but let’s be honest, a delay like Tape Echoes thrives in the analog-like dirt.
If you want surgical precision and crystal-clear delays, look elsewhere. If you want the sound of a malfunctioning, dusty tape delay on the verge of collapse, you’re in the right place.
With the right amount of Dirt and Drive, the sound gets incredibly close to my old Dynacord tape delay, pictured below.
Another cool feature is Tape Glitch, which emulates tape speed changes and motor dropouts with momentary pitch slurs and rhythmic chaos. You can automate it or control it live for expressive, dub-style madness.
The Just Dirt mode is another highlight. You can set the delay time to 1.5ms and the reverb to zero, and get an instant lo-fi vibe without any echoes.
You can use Tape Echoes natively, or as a module in Softube’s Modular and Amp Room environments. These integrations are streamlined yet preserve all the core sonic features, and Modular users gain access to CV control over key parameters, including Time, Feedback, and Dirt.
Is Tape Echoes as flexible as something like Valhalla Delay or Timeless? Not really. But for saturation, heavy dub textures, and beautifully broken echoes, Tape Echoes is hard to beat. Yes, it’s a bit of a one-trick pony, but it’s a really good trick.
Tape Echoes is available in VST, VST3, AU, and AAX formats for Windows 10+ and macOS 10.13+, including native Apple Silicon support. You’ll need an iLok account to authorize it, but no dongle is required.
Get the deal: Softube Tape Echoes ($29 until June 15th)
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Last Updated on May 30, 2025 by Tomislav Zlatic.
