We’re not short on choice when it comes to selecting high quality plugins for our productions, with several developers chasing our hard-earned cash. T-RackS is IK Multimedia’s modular plugin ecosystem featuring some unashamedly classic flavoured offerings with unique elements. Here are our favourites…

With most of the major developers offering dozens or even hundreds of similar products, the potential for choice paralysis can hit as soon as we open our DAW. Hoping that we will buy into their own particular ‘universe’, companies often give us the option of cost-reduced bundles, or simplified collections of their products. It could be said that these solutions allow everyone to win. Mixers spend less time deciding what not to use and can save money, while in the case of subscription-based products, developers are afforded the resources to develop new products and support existing ones.

If bundles or collections make things simpler, the only decision remaining is which one to go for. The big three deciders of sound, features, and price will get us most of the way there. On the understanding that 99% of the result comes from what we dial in, it’s also a good idea to see what sets bundles or collections apart, if anything. Of those that recreate classic designs evoking familiar analogue charm, IK Multimedia’s T-RackS Collection offers three things that could set it apart.

Think Mic Modelling Is Expensive?

Modelled mic systems let the engineer record with a single mic, and apply the response and characteristics of a whole roll call of desirable models both past and present thanks to clever DSP. The best-known systems take an end-to-end approach and include a specially engineered mic as well as a companion app or plugin for control. Other more accessible systems take the signal from your existing mic and apply corrective responses to provide an approximation of the target mic.

Mic Room is the modelling plugin module for T-RackS. Users of other high end systems will argue that one costing €49.99 cannot match the power and authenticity of theirs, and while that may be true that’s not the whole story. Arguably the point of these systems is to introduce different options on a source after the event. We only need point to the familiar tale of “the cheap one sounded better than the expensive one” to confirm that.

Not All Tape Is The Same

The popularity of the tape sound seems unstoppable, with two distinct tribes of aficionados. The first one is made up of people who used it in the pre-DAW era, who now find themselves surrounded by products reminding them that for all of the hassle there was something to be said for its unmistakable sonic signature. The second tribe is the DAW generation who like its sound on the music they’ve grown up with, and who want to try a new flavour in their mixes to see what all the fuss is about. While studios and serious ‘enthusiasts’ used larger format open reel machines, the recording musician was relegated to the humble cassette for basic multitracking at home.

While there are a few options on the market for those chasing virtual tape magic, the T-RackS TASCAM Tape Collection gives us a unique product that takes in grungy cassette flavours as well as the well-known large format tape formulations. You even get a classic Portastudio emulation to use with it alongside the more refined open reel machines.

It Has The Only Official Leslie Speaker Out There

For the uninitiated, the Leslie rotary cabinet is one half of the legendary Hammond organ sound. These furniture-sized wooden beasts contain two speakers pointing into rotating baffles (a horn for the upwards-facing HF with a second equally opposed dummy horn, and a drum for the downwards facing LF speaker). Valve or solid state amplification, and two speeds of rotation plus a stationary position give rise to the familiar Doppler-induced churning effect that sounds so good on organ among other things.

There are tons of rotary speaker emulations out there, but with so much to get right, the T-RackS Leslie is the only official plugin made in partnership with Hammond-Suzuki, encapsulating the nuance and power of this legend without the backache…

What Are Your Favourite Things?

Some will argue that putting all your faith into one manufacturer’s plugin universe is risky territory, as developers change hands or change their business model. Contrary to that, no-one can predict the future and there could be a saving to be made. As well as this, the biggest contributing factor to a product’s results is the user themself, and choosing which bundle or collection to commit to could simply be a matter of choosing the one that offers your favourite features and going with it. Certainly, T-RackS has some lesser known tools in there that you might not have known about.