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[Viitalahde]

Now that the thing has been out for a while.. Has it found any real use in the mastering community?

Just did a tape layback, first one in a long time. I've got a Studer B67 MK II. Sounded great, and perhaps I wouldn't mind having a tape option that can be varied.

[bblackwood]

I've not had the chance to try one yet, not sure how useful it would be in the mastering room, but by all accounts it sounds very good...

[Mastertone]

I think Robin got one quite recently, maybe he´ll chime in.

Not so sure as to if you would find it as "vibey" as the b67. I have a telefunken m-12 and do laybacks on it maybe once or twice a year.
Sounds great though.

[Viitalahde]

Yeah, at the rate I'm doing laybacks, maybe I should just stick to my B67 and service it well. It does have a nice sound that's well suited for the stuff that needs tape in the first place. This was some pretty lo-fi hip hop.

[SafeandSoundMastering]

I occasionally romanticise about having a tape machine but it's quite an investment in time and money and I rarely get any requests that are tape based projects.

[24-96 Mastering]

I think Robin got one quite recently, maybe he´ll chime in.

Indeed, I had one for testing a short while ago. I'm a bit short on time to write a review, so I'll just copy & paste some thoughts I posted on facebook back then:


First impressions are very good. The Ampex 351 machine card sounds very exciting at 15ips, a bit of a smiley curve punched into tape, works great with the GP9 tape. The Studer A800 is pretty mellow, slightly middish, very smooth with 456 tape.
The M79 card (very warm) and Scoth111 card (pretty lofi to my ears) I haven't found any use for at this point.
The ATR102 card unfortunately isn't in the unit... this one I'd really like to hear.

The unit itself gives a range of very useful options, from tape speed to bias to HF/LF adjust, as well as input&lineup controls. There are many different sounds and effects in this box and they can be adjusted from subtle to extreme.

However, my main complaints so far are with operating the unit. The bias,LF,HF knobs are very small and fiddly and range / marking could be better. The input and output gain range is pretty big, the channel controls can't be ganged and are far apart, so operating that takes both hands and need manual matching. I really wish the unit had a single drive control instead of or additionally to the dual input pots... this would be especially awesome if output gain could be auto-adjusted to compensate.



That's what I wrote then. In hindsight, I'd also add that of the 3 cards that were installed, the one I was really keen on was the 351... not for subtle tape effect, but for an exciting, punchy, thick, sticky, groovy & yummy tube+tape sound combo. Not subtle, but could be a killer effect on the right material, I think. The other cards sounded good and usable, but didn't get me excited. So considering the price and the not-quite-ideal ergonomics, I didn't think for too long aobut keeping it.

[Viitalahde]

Thanks for the input, Robin. The build quality is one of the things I'm worried of in these, and your review doesn't really make me any less concerned with all the fiddlyness. If I bought one, I would probably partially rebuild it.

[24-96 Mastering]

Thanks for the input, Robin. The build quality is one of the things I'm worried of in these, and your review doesn't really make me any less concerned with all the fiddlyness. If I bought one, I would probably partially rebuild it.

I didn't really pay much attention to the ATS-1's build quality, but the concern about those small knobs, for me, was about ergonomics with mastering in mind, rather than the worry that they might not last. If in doubt, you could just get one in for a test run. If there isn't a distributor in Finland, you could ask Stefan Heger of Dangerous / MasteringWorks.