THE KISS OF SHAME ❍ ANALOG TAPE DESECRATION REV 2 DEMO

Reach out and touch tape

The Kiss of Shame is an analog tape degradation processor; the full pathology of magnetic tape: drift, wow, flutter, scrape-flutter, hiss, print-through and the slow violence of time and storage. It originally debuted @ AES 2014. I didn't know the first thing about starting a company so I of course blew through my runway and went bust. But it was revived by another developer in 2023, launched open-source and has become somewhat of a freeware cult classic. This page runs the real Rev 2 signal path, straight from the code that's presently in the GitHub repo, right in your browser. You can also download the plugin (AU/VST3) and run it in your DAW on Mac, Windows and Linux.

⬇ DOWNLOAD THE PLUGIN View the Repo Read the V1 Case Study

The controls

INPUT TRIM
Drive into the tape path (±18 dB). Push it and the dual odd/even-harmonic saturation leans in; this is where the warmth lives.
SHAME
The center knob. One macro driving drift, wow, flutter and scrape-flutter together: mild color at 9 o’clock, seasick mangling at full. Double-click the cross for EXTREME and the engine runs past its design stops.
ENVIRONMENT
Where the reel was stored. Studio Closet (dry oxidation: dulling, dropouts, stray crackle), Humid Cellar (sticky-shed: drowned highs, slow swell, damp rumble), Hot Locker (heat warp: drifting pitch, sagging level, hard echoes), Hurricane Sandy (the flood reel: bursts, grit and survival). Click the window to cycle, click the arrow for the full list, scroll to step.
AGE
How long the reel suffered there. Environment picks the story, AGE sets the damage. At zero, the environment idles.
HISS
The noise floor of the medium, crossfade-looped so it never repeats. It scales with tape formulation.
TAPE: S-111 / A-456
Two formulations. S-111, the darker 1950s to 70s reference reel with richer even harmonics. A-456, the high-output/low-noise workhorse: brighter, tighter, with a quieter floor.
PRINT THROUGH
Adjacent tape wraps magnetizing each other: a soft, dulled echo breathing ~110 ms behind the program. It's the classic “ghost” of worn masters.
BLEND
Dry/wet against the driven signal: the parallel-processing knob. Full right is all tape.
OUTPUT TRIM
Make-up gain (±18 dB). The chain-link icons couple INPUT and OUTPUT inversely for level-matched driving.
THE REELS
They spin with playback and they’re instruments: drag them vertically to lean on the tape for real-time flange, released exactly where you leave it.
BYPASS
The lamp shows it, the lever throws it. It's click-free either way.

Tricks & tips

  • EXTREME: double-click the cross. All-buttons-in mode: 2.5× modulation depth, looser timing, scrape-flutter engaged. It's saved with your session in the plugin; no extra parameter, no menu.
  • Lean on the tape: drag the reels mid-phrase and release for tape-stop-adjacent warbles and dub-style smears. Double-click the reels to let go cleanly.
  • Shift-drag any knob for fine adjustment; double-click (except SHAME) snaps it home.
  • Fold the machine: double-click the empty faceplate and the reels tuck away for small screens, exactly like the plugin’s collapsible UI.
  • AGE before ENVIRONMENT sounds like nothing and that’s correct. Pick the room first, then dial the years.
  • Sandy past noon: Hurricane Sandy holds its noise bursts back until AGE crosses 50%. The flood arrives all at once.

Where to put it

Single tracks

Vocals: A-456, INPUT pushed slightly, SHAME 10-15%, BLEND ~60% and air turns to velvet. Keys & guitars: S-111, SHAME 20-35% for that pawn-shop chorus nobody can name. Drums: drive INPUT hard, BLEND to taste.

Drum & aux busses

The parallel move: BLEND 30-50%, INPUT hot, OUTPUT linked low. Studio Closet + AGE ~40% glues transients with oxide instead of a compressor. Print Through ON adds room-like density between hits.

The mix buss

Restraint: INPUT near noon, SHAME under 15%, BLEND 20-35%, environment Off or a hair of Closet. You should miss it when you bypass it, not hear it when it’s in.

Mastering

S-111 for color, A-456 for glue. INPUT at unity, SHAME ≤ 10%, HISS off or whisper, BLEND 15-25%, watch the IN/OUT meters match. Uploading here? Set it, then ⬇ DOWNLOAD MASTER prints your file through the machine at full resolution.

Sound design & post

This is where it goes feral: Hurricane Sandy, AGE 100%, EXTREME on, reels dragged by hand. Instant archival trauma, period-correct decay, transmissions from drowned decades.