Effect · Lo-fi tape
Tapeworm
Worn tape emulator with speed controls: slow the tape itself down to a quarter of real time, live.
Fitted to measurements of real tape processing. The Speed dial slows the tape itself, down to 0.25x, for up to five minutes of tape. Drive it, wobble it, wear it out, or stop it in time with the song. The reels are apples, and the tape is a worm.
- Version
- 0.1.0
- Drive
- 4x oversampled
- Longest tape
- 5 minutes
- Formats
- VST3 · AU · Standalone
Controls
16 parameters| Control | Range | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drive | 0 to 100% | 0% | Pushes the tape's soft clipper harder while pulling the output back, so it saturates without getting much louder. |
| Boost | On / Off | Off | A hotter drive curve for more saturation. |
| Tone | 0 to 100% | 50% | The tape voicing: a band-pass with a low cut and a 2 to 3 kHz presence, morphed across five measured settings. |
| Tone Enable | On / Off | On | Off leaves only the gentle base path. |
| Filter | -100 to +100% | 0% | Bipolar. Below zero a low-pass down to 63 Hz, above zero a high-pass up to 10 kHz. |
| Wow | 0 to 100% | 0% | Slow pitch drift, at 0.82 Hz. |
| Flutter | 0 to 100% | 0% | Faster pitch wobble at a few fixed rates. |
| Wear | 0 to 100% | 0% | Fast level flutter and random speed jitter. |
| Noise | Off to 0 dB | Off | Tape hiss, added before the Tone voicing so it takes its shape. |
| Mechanical Noise | Off to 0 dB | Off | Motor rumble with a 23 Hz rhythm. |
| Stereo Width | On / Off | Off | Gives each channel its own wow, flutter and wear. |
| Output | Off to +10 dB | 0 dB | Output level. |
| Tape Stop | On / Off | Off | Slows the tape to a halt over the Stop Speed. |
| Stop Speed | 8 Bar to 1/4 Bar | 1 Bar | How long the stop takes, in time with the host. |
| Tape Catch-up | Instant, Fast-Forward | Instant | When the tape starts again: jump straight back to real time, or speed through what it missed. |
| Speed | 0.25x to 1x | 1x | Plays the tape slower than real time. The tape grows to five minutes; when that runs out, it holds there at normal speed. |
How it works
Wow, flutter, wear and the tape stop all move the read point of one delay line, the way a real transport moves tape past the head, so pitch and timing shift together.
The reels turn with the tape. They slow down with Speed and Tape Stop and follow the host's transport.
Signal path
- DriveA symmetric two-stage soft clipper, 4x oversampled.
- NoiseMono hiss.
- ToneThe tape voicing.
- WearLevel flutter and speed jitter.
- TransportWow, flutter, Tape Stop and Speed.
- FilterLow-pass or high-pass.
- Mechanical noiseLooped motor rumble, after the voicing.