Strymon has turned its tape echo/tape saturation guitar pedal Deco into a versatile effect plugin for macOS and Windows.
In October 2022, Strymon released their first effect plugin BigSky based on the popular BigSky reverb pedal. A surprise since the company is only known as a premium pedal manufacturer. But a logical step to me, since code can also be ported easily into plugins.
The journey continues today with the Deco tape echo plugin.
Strymon Deco Plugin
The new Deco plugin is a 1 to 1 port of the Strymon Deco effect pedal. The latest version of the hardware pedal came out in June 2022 with some new features.
Deco consists of two core elements: a Doubletracker and a tape saturation unit. The first consists of two interactive tape decks that creatively shift your sound in many different ways. They have a unique timed/speed relationship that creates a wide range of effects. Of course, you can manipulate this relationship.
For example, you can tweak the wobble knob and introduces tape-based artificats like random modulation and wow and flutter in the effect.
The possible sounds range from psychedelic tape flanging, rich tape chorusing, tape echoes, and more. Additionally, you can manipulate the timing relationship between the reference and the lag decks.
Then, you have the tape saturation part of the plugin. According to Strymon, it smooths out the response of your tracks with familiar tape compression and saturation. Plus, you can fatten things up in a subtle or more dominant way.
And the two elements together form Deco’s sound. Vintage tape echo sure, but also timbres that are only difficult to achieve with a vintage tape device.
First Impression
Nice to see that there is now a second Strymon plugin.
Strymon Deco plugin is available now for $79 and it runs as a VST3, AU, and AAX plugin on macOS and Windows. There is a 7-day trial available and it requires an iLok software account for registration.
More information here: Strymon
Be the first to comment