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Tape-Deck Engine

The Tape-Deck Engine is the primary material device for playing back audio samples. It simulates a tape-style workflow with looping, speed control, and various tape-oriented actions.

Main Controls​

  • Speed: Controls the playback rate and direction of the tape-deck.
  • Rotate: Offsets the starting position of the tape-deck playback.
  • Trigger Start: Sets the position where playback starts when triggered.
  • Loop Start: Sets the starting point of the loop within the sample.
  • Loop Length: Sets the duration of the loop.
  • Glide: Controls the time it takes for speed changes to take effect.
  • SOS (Sound on Sound): Controls the feedback level when recording or overdubbing.
  • Loop X-Fade: Applies a crossfade at the loop points to smooth out transitions.

Modes​

  • Rate Mode:
    • Free: Continuous speed control.
    • Sync: Locks speed to BPM-relative divisions (1/64 to 16).
    • Tempo 1.5x: Constant 1.5x speed relative to project tempo.
    • Tempo 0.67x: Constant 0.67x speed relative to project tempo.
  • Loop Mode: Selects between different looping behaviors (e.g., Forward, Ping-Pong).

Actions​

  • Load Sample: Opens a file dialog to load an audio or video file.
  • Save Sample: Saves the current (potentially modified/overdubbed) sample.
  • Record: Toggles recording of incoming audio into the tape buffer for the active Tape-Deck track.
  • Audition: Momentary playback of the track.
  • Reverse: Toggles reverse playback.
  • Freeze: Freezes the current playback position.
  • Keylock: Maintains pitch while changing speed (time-stretching).
  • Monitor: Routes input audio directly to the output.
  • Overdub: Allows recording new audio on top of the existing content.

Note on Header Record​

  • The top-level transport Record button is separate from Tape-Deck record.
  • Transport Record now targets app-level recording modes (for example, Live Audio Jam Session master-output capture).

Video Support​

The Tape-Deck Engine has experimental support for loading video files. When a video is loaded:

  • The waveform view is replaced by the video frame.
  • Audio still drives the playback and timing.
  • Rotations and trigger starts are reflected in the video preview.