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The Studer A800 Black Friday deal covers the Studer A800 Multichannel Tape Recorder plugin from Universal Audio: $49, 75% off, with the offer ending Nov 30, 2026.
It is a tape emulation plugin for the 2" multitrack machine that Studer introduced in 1978. The maker describes it as the first product of its kind.
The original A800 was the first microprocessor-controlled tape machine. Universal Audio says it remains a sonic benchmark and still turns up in studios worldwide.
The hardware is a different story. Steel frame, meter bridge, twin half-horsepower motors and cast alloy deck plates add up to roughly 900 pounds per unit.
The plugin gives you the tape sound without that weight, and without the maintenance that comes with a real machine.
UA's DSP engineers built it with magnetic recording expert Jay McKnight, and Studer fully authenticated the result.
The model follows the entire circuit path of the A800 from Allen Sides' collection at Ocean Way Studios. Universal Audio calls it the most accurate representation of multitrack analog tape recording available.
That is the maker's claim, and it comes from the studio machine itself rather than a generic tape curve.
Albums tracked on this machine include records by Metallica, Stevie Wonder, Tom Petty, A Tribe Called Quest and Jeff Buckley.
The main controls are laid out like the hardware:
Plan your gain stage first. Input level decides how much saturation you get before Output sets what leaves the plugin.
The speed choice shapes the tone as much as the saturation does. Each setting has its own head bump and its own frequency shift, so switching IPS changes the character, not just the level.
The four tape types add smaller shifts on top of that. Bias, EQ and Noise are there when you want to push the texture further than the main controls allow.
The Studer A800 deal is for the Universal Audio plugin, with a $49 price tag at 75% off until Nov 30, 2026.
Yes. The Studer A800 Multichannel Tape Recorder plugin from Universal Audio is 75% off at $49. The Black Friday offer ends Nov 30, 2026.
It is Universal Audio's tape emulation plugin of the Studer A800 multichannel recorder, introduced in 1978. UA says it models the full circuit path of the machine from Allen Sides' collection at Ocean Way Studios, authenticated by Studer.
The IPS control steps through 7.5, 15 and 30 IPS. Each speed has its own frequency shift, head bump and distortion characteristics. The Type control offers four popular magnetic tape formulas, each with a subtle sonic variation.
Input and Output set clean sound or harmonic saturation. IPS and Type pick the speed and tape formula. A secondary set of controls covers Noise, EQ and Bias for more tape textures.
Prices and end dates are checked at publishing time and can change, so confirm them at the store before you buy.