iZotope Vinyl is a free VST plugin that simulates the scratches, dust, warp, and mechanical noise reminiscent of the track.
I think there is no need to convince you that vintage hardware simulation plugins are on-demand today. There is a reason behind the increasing popularity of hardware simulated VST plugins – vintage hardware feel.
Without these plugins, you get something dry and dead audio.
However, it’s a controversial topic.
Many people say that without hardware simulated plugins your audio can’t stand out where a group of music productions geeks don’t take it seriously. While it would be a long debate if we jump into it so leave it and get into the business.
What is iZotope Vinyl
As from the name, iZotope Vinyl is a vintage Vinyl simulation plugin that adds scratches, dust, warp, and mechanical noise to the track. It’s for those who want some vintage effect in their projects.
With a great user interface, it allows you to simulate original vinyl records, radios, televisions, or other vintage electronics in your audio tracks.
If we look back to the past, Vinyl is a controversial issue since the audio CD was introduced. There are various pros and cons of each recording media and Vinyl is not an exception.
A Vinyl-phile is analog hardware that does not contain any quantization error like digital media which results in digital-to-analog-conversion distortion.
However, people neglect Vinyl because of the disadvantage that they do not have a long life like CDs. It was a common problem with Vinyl in that it gathers dust and is scratched.
But the scratches, dust, warp, and mechanical noise effects are needed in some applications in the audio recording. Here iZotope Vinyl comes into play.
Features of iZotope Vinyl VST plugin
There are many features that you get in this plugin.
Pros
- Six types of Vinyl sounds including Mechanical noise, electrical noise, dust, scratch, warp etc.
- Mono and stereo mode
- You can set the amount of effect with amount knob.
- Year setting know (help you to obtain an exact effect as per the year)
- Individual faders for all the effects.
Cons
- Not suitable for all genres.
- Glitches occur in some DAWs
Where Should We Use iZotope Vinyl Plugin?
You can use iZotope Vinyl in several applications like adding some cool effects to your synths. You can also use it warming the master channel with some cool hardware touch.
The features like Mechanical noise, electrical noise, dust, scratch, warp, and the selection of years make it a great tool to simulate the vintage vinyl sound.
All you need to experiment on the faders and knobs and you will be amazed how it can add analog color to your tracks.
Here is a short tutorial on how to use iZotope Vinyl?
Final Thoughts
If you are a lover of the Lo-Fi sound then definitely try this. It can help transform your track from a dry digital sound to analog colored vintage sound.
Best Alternative
- Abby Road Vinyl by Waves – Really a great hardware emulation plugin
Share this article with others in your social circle so that they could get these great Vinyl emulation plugins. If you have any questions about this plugin drop a comment below in the comment box.
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