Based on the vintage SPL Machine Head hardware digital rack unit that I reviewed all the way back in October 1997, the MBS MixHead plug‑in aims to capture the subtle sound‑massaging capabilities of the original, which was an early attempt to replicate the effects of recording to analogue tape. It approximated the saturation of analogue tape — not the wow and flutter or tape hiss — but there’s a lot more to the accurate modelling of analogue tape than simply soft clipping or saturation. For example, real analogue tape machines exhibit a low‑frequency ‘wrinkle’ known as head bump, which varies with tape speed. The SPL Machine Head did not seem to emulate this and similarly, the 40Hz to 70Hz bass reduction experienced when running at 30ips was not reproduced.
But while it provided a less accurate tape emulation than the more forensic modern approaches, the Machine Head was very much its own thing — and was prized for its very pleasing sound, not its modelling accuracy. It gained many friends in the pro studio community, and used originals change hands for eye‑watering prices.
Make Believe Studios’ MixHead aims to capture the spirit of the original hardware. All the common plug‑in formats are supported including AAX, and authorisation requires an iLok account. Unlike the original, sample rates of up to 192kHz are supported and all the benefits of plug‑ins, such as offline bouncing and the ability to use multiple instances, add to the flexibility.
Extra Functionality
As is so often the case with plug‑ins that model vintage gear, some additions have been made, such as the 0.1dB adjustment increments for the HF Adjust control (range ±6dB), and a 3.75ips lo‑fi mode (modelled after a 1950s Webcor tape machine) that offers an alternative to the original 30ips and 15ips settings. There are separate controls for Input level and Drive, and these behave interactively. Two further controls adjust the EQ and the Output level, so operation is very straightforward. Buttons set the tape speed and bypass (the red power switch is currently unused). Snapshots of settings A and B can be saved and there’s a Blend button (MIDI mappable) that can interpolate between them. A faux LCD display shows the current setting of all MixHead parameters, while the four knobs function as rotary encoders for adjusting parameters. Tooltip mouse‑over pop‑ups are available by clicking the Help icon, but with so few control you may never need them. There are also loads of presets.
Use it on a drum bus and you can coax a lot out of it, from a gentle thickening to a very obvious pushed tape saturation.
Used on a whole mix the effect is quite subtle unless you add a lot of drive, but set appropriately it adds a welcome polish to a mix and helps glue the various elements together. Lifting the EQ helps put an airy sheen on the high end too. Use it on a drum bus and you can coax a lot out of it, from a gentle thickening to a very obvious pushed tape saturation. It can also be very effective on bass guitar and can work magic on vocals. It might seem an odd world where first we model the imperfections of tape and then we model the shortcomings of a vintage device that itself attempted to model the imperfections of tape — but imperfectly. But as always, it’s the result that counts — and like the Machine Head rack unit, the MixHead plug‑in has an endearingly musical quality to it. Ultimately, that’s all that really matters!