While I love the sound of old analog recordings, I can't imagine multi-tracking to tape in 2018.

Technically, that warmth we get and love from tape is distortion, but it's nice distortion, and we can introduce it in other ways.

Some techno producers send their finished mixes to tape and re-record it back into their DAW, whether it's reel-to-reel machine, studio tape betamax (saturates nicely when overdriven apparently), or a Tascam Portastudio to get that sound.

I run my synths through an analog mixer and an old DBX compressor, and often through a Strymon Deco tape saturation pedal, before they hit my interface, and in my DAW, Waves' Kramer Master Tape and Soundtoys Decapitator plugins can warm up digital recordings or soft synths that sound too sterile.

Cheers
Kent
PG Music