Poly In The Beginning

Originally released in 1978, the Roland Jupiter-4 synthesizer was one of the earliest instruments to combine voice-assign polyphony with digital patch storage - that is, the ability to store and recall sounds to a digital memory and recall them at the touch of a button. By "voice-assign polyphony,” we're referring to instruments with a finite number of independent synthesizer voices (four, in this case) that digitally scan the keyboard and assign notes to onboard voices. These days, voice-assign polyphony and digital patch storage are taken for granted, but this was a HUGE deal in the late 70s when options for polyphonic synthesis were mostly limited to crude string synthesizers based upon 60s organ technology, and patch recall was generally limited to how fast you could twirl knobs and flick switches!

In its day, the Jupiter-4 was overshadowed by larger, more complex (and far more expensive) instruments from American synth manufacturers, and on paper, its specs weren’t as impressive. But specs don't tell the whole story, because the Jupiter-4 sounds fantastic, with a raw, raunchy tone not found in any of the other beloved Juno and Jupiter synths. Its analog oscillators have a uniquely aggressive tone quality, the built-in sub oscillator adds girth, its oddly fast and deep LFO modulation capabilities allow it to create uniquely whacked out modular synth-like tones, and Roland's famous stereo chorus "ensemble" circuit is beautifully implemented, adding a boatload of width and dimension.

Echoes Of The Past

Stardust 201 Tape Echo is a hot-rodded interpretation of the classic Roland "Space Echo" tape echo effects of the 70s and 80s. Compared to earlier tape echoes, they represented a giant leap in reliability and sound quality. With solidly built tape-transport mechanisms and the inclusion of a spring reverb and chorus effects in some models, the Space Echo was truly groundbreaking with its fantastic variety of sound colors.

Stardust precisely recreates the limited fidelity and stability of audio tape, providing a natural rolloff of bass and treble frequencies for super-warm tonality and minor speed variances, lending an organic chorusing quality to repeats. Cranking the intensity knob overloads the circuit, generating the other-worldly runaway echoes and feedback that only a tape echo can.

Cherry Audio's Stardust 201 Tape Echo includes features from the original RE-201, RE-301, and RE-501/555 Space Echo units, and we've added some of our own to create a great-sounding, super-flexible, ideal tape echo effect that never breaks down and never needs demagnetizing, all for less than the price of a Space Echo replacement audio tape loop!

"My only issue is I'm using it on too many things! It sounds absolutely wonderful - three effects in one and all of them nailed. All of a sudden my mixes are swimming in beautiful reverb and delay. They've done an amazing job." - Don Morley, Grammy Award winning producer, mixer and engineer. Credits include Amy Winehouse, Adele, Sting, Nick Cave, The Verve, The Police, and many more.

 

Features

Authentically modeled vintage tape echo, including seven virtual tape head modes
4x extended echo time range
LFO echo time mod section
Sync to DAW master tempo
Exclusive "motor kill" switch
Lush, true-stereo modeled BBD chorus circuit from the RE-501/555
Modeled input overdrive
Independent stereo "tape head loops" for super-wide imaging
Spring-style reverb
Selectable mono/stereo modes
Bass and treble EQ controls
User-selectable color themes

 

System Requirements

Stardust 201 Tape Echo is available in AU, VST, VST3, and AAX formats.

macOS Requirements: macOS 10.9 or above (including macOS 12), 64-bit required. Native Apple M1 processor support. Quad-core computer with 8GB of RAM recommended.

Windows Requirements: Windows 7 or above, 64-bit required. Quad-core computer with 8GB of RAM recommended.