The sound of forgotten home movies
VHS captures the real sonic fingerprint of analog tape — gritty saturation, wow & flutter, hiss, and era-specific character.
Modeled from two actual consumer VCRs. For drums, vocals, synths, full mixes, and anything that needs warmth and grit.
✓ Fully featured demo. Brief periodic silence. Unlock your saved sessions later.
Hear the tape
Listen for how a clean, digital source picks up warmth, hiss, and that unmistakable worn-tape character — without leaving your DAW.
Too clean. VHS gives it a past.
Modern recordings can sound flat and sterile. VHS runs your sound through the gritty saturation, limited dynamics, and mechanical quirks of real home-video tape — instant warmth, nostalgia, and character, or pushed hard, entirely new overdriven textures.
Three fast ways to use VHS
Age clean drums and loops
Add tape hiss, wow, and flutter to make crisp digital drums sound like they came off an old cassette.
Give vocals nostalgic warmth
Run a dry vocal through VHS for lo-fi saturation and a worn, intimate, home-recorded feel.
Push it for gritty overdrive
Drive the decks hard for unexpected harmonics and character-rich distortion well beyond standard tape flavor.
A faithful emulation.
And a sound-design tool.
- ✓Two real consumer VCRs modeled, each with its own character
- ✓VCR saturation captured from overdriven real hardware
- ✓Built-in adjustable limiter for those squashed VCR dynamics
- ✓8-band graphic EQ to sculpt, clean up, or push the grit
- ✓Noise, wow & flutter for texture, movement, and wear
Modeled from the real machines
JVC Vidstar HR-7600U
One of the earliest home VCRs ever made. Heavy, noisy, built like a tank — and when driven, it delivers a surprisingly smooth distortion with a unique bass boost.
Panasonic PV-V4521
A real childhood VCR used to tape late-night TV off cable. Driven hard, it produces an extremely flavorful, gritty overdrive.
I love everything about this plugin. From subtle sauce to totally blown out, it scratches a new creative itch in mixing.
CRI’ve been using VHS and finding uses for it on countless sessions. The combination of its unique sound, intuitive controls, and ultra-cool interface makes me reach for it whenever I need to add retro vibes, from subtle to extreme colors.
JRAudio Hertz VHS and AC-1 are my go-to plugins for bringing a unique saturation to my production elements. Highly recommended for anyone serious about having stand-out sounds with that extra sauce.
ECVHS lets me add vintage, gooey, wobbly, lo-fi deliciousness to just about whatever I throw it on. As an added bonus, it comes packaged with one of my favorite EQ’s of all time. 10/10.
CPVHS is one of the most unique yet useful plugins I’ve ever purchased. From subtle lo-fi textures to warbly vibes, it’s not just fun to look at, it’s become a staple in my mixes. I’d buy it for the saturation alone!
CWWatch VHS in action
Try VHS in your own session
The demo is fully featured except for brief periodic silence. Save your sessions, settings, and presets — then unlock them later with the full version.
Compatibility
Build a more character-rich chain
VHS brings the tape grit. Stack it with the rest of the Audio Hertz lineup to add movement and color — one intentional signal chain.
FAN Multi Modulator
Add chorus, vibrato, rotary, and wobble before VHS for sounds that move and breathe.
Porta.pre Preamp & Drive
Add analog preamp warmth and drive to thicken the front-end before VHS’s tape character.
Best valueAudio Hertz Bundle 7
All 7 Audio Hertz plugins in one bundle, including VHS — about $21 per plugin.
Ready to give your sound a past?
Download the free trial and run VHS in your next session — or grab the full version for $49.
