ThePhonoLoop Tapes 01 v1.5

Interface

Minimalistic, as simple as it can be, the fewer pages and tabs it has the better - that was our focus when we were designing the interface. Tapes interface is divided into two pages, first page contains only essential controls - volume, sample start, macro controls - just so you could start shaping the sound right away without worrying about the details. In the end it's the first thing that you'll see after loading most of the presets, and it's a nice way to quickly find a sound you're looking for or to shape further.

If you want to dive deeper into the instrument, then there’s the second page, divided into three horizontal sections, which contains all the controls:

Upper section is the 'audio section', it has all the source controls, filter and effects. The middle section is the 'modulation section' - here you'll find envelopes, sequencers, LFOs and MIDI controls. Lastly there's the bottom section which by the way is available on both views - it contains the final set of controls to fine-tune the sound (noise, drift, compression, EQ, etc.).

Sound

Tapes.01 focuses on synth sounds and sound synthesis in general. The sound sources were created using various hardware and software synthesizers and effects – from digital FM and physical modelling synths to both analog and digital eurorack modules and synths. Everything was recorded either on tape, cassette, microcassette, or cassette tape loops, so every sound already have a nice texture before you start messing with it (also because we just like to record things to tape).

Most parameters can be modulated by various sources, so while it naturally excels in creating lofi, warm and (often unpredictable) evolving sounds, it's also great for creating modern and cinematic stuff or even better - a mixture of both. It's something that, we think, is quite special - add to that the unpredictable nature of tape loops, and you can spend hours messing with it. Funny enough, even we weren't expecting how versatile it'll end up be.

Furthermore, there's the new swarm mode (beside other modes like polyphonic, mono & legato). It's great for taking small portions of the sounds and smelting them into bigger evolving loops, or rain like droplets, or even turning them into smeared-out wall of sound, similar to how granular synthesis can sound.

Type of sound sources

Sounds

Every key has its own sample (73 samples per sound)

Like in a cassette tape loop you can hear where the loop point is, but the loop itself is longer, smoother and more 'stable' than in regular tape loops.

Tape Loops

One sample for the whole key range (1 sample per sound)

These are actual cassette tape loops: warm, lofi and sometimes 'unstable'. This category contains both complex and simple sounds. Due to the nature of tape loops, using these can produce the most unique and beautiful results, especially when you start combining two sound sources together and then modulate everything using built in sequencers.

Synced

Every key has its own sample (73 samples per sound)

Loops were recorded at 80 BPM and are mostly 4 bars long (a few of the sounds are 2 bars long). Sounds from this category loop very smoothly and are synced to the host tempo thanks to Kontakt's time-stretching algorithm.