TAPE ECHO

Listen

Controls

• Repeat Time50 to 1000 ms — Time between the record head and playback head 1 (50 to 1000 ms); heads 2 and 3 sit at twice and three times this distance. A change glides like a tape motor, so the echoes bend in pitch.
• Tempo SyncOff / 1/4 / 1/8 / 1/16 / 1/4D / 1/8D / 1/4T / 1/8T — Locks head 1 to a note at the project tempo (straight, dotted or triplet); heads 2 and 3 follow at 2x and 3x. Off uses Repeat Time.
• Heads1 / 2 / 3 / 1+2 / 1+3 / 2+3 / 1+2+3 / 1+R / 1+2+R / 2+3+R / 1+2+3+R / R — The classic 12-position selector: which playback heads you hear and feed back (1, 2, 3 and their combinations), the R positions add the spring reverb, and R alone is the reverb without echoes.
• Intensity0 to 110% — Feedback of the active heads into one shared loop; 100% is unity loop gain in every mode, above it the echo runs away into self-oscillation that the tape saturation keeps bounded.
• Bass−12 to +12 dB — Low shelf at 250 Hz on the echoes (-12 to +12 dB).
• Treble−12 to +12 dB — High shelf at 2.5 kHz on the echoes (-12 to +12 dB).
• Wow/Flutter0 to 100% — Tape wow (two slow sines, up to 2.5 ms) and flutter (two fast sines, up to 0.15 ms) moving every head together, so the repeats waver in pitch.
• Saturation0 to 100% — Tape drive inside the feedback loop: 0% only rounds very loud repeats, higher values squash and colour every repeat with asymmetric (even) harmonics.
• Spring0 to 100% — Level of the spring reverb, heard in the R positions of the Heads selector; it is fed with the input and the echoes.
• Mix0 to 100% — Blend between the dry signal and the echoes (plus the spring).
• FreezeOff / On — Stops recording and loops what is on the tape (the length of the longest active head) forever, without fading or building up.

Best uses

• Dub and reggae echoes that build and run away under your hand
• Rhythmic multi-head patterns from one repeat time
• Slapback with tape colour on vocals and guitars
• Spring-drenched surf and ambient washes in the R modes
• Warbly lo-fi delays with heavy wow, flutter and saturation

Properties

Signal chain: Input + loop → stereo tape (record head) → playback heads at 1x, 2x, 3x the repeat time (4-point Hermite reads, wow/flutter on all heads, the time glides over ~0.12 s) → heads of the selected mode summed → feedback loop: ÷ number of heads → 12 dB/oct low-pass at 4.5 kHz → asymmetric soft saturation (slope 1 at 0, bounded) → 90 Hz one-pole low cut → × Intensity back onto the tape. Echo output: heads ÷ √(number of heads) → Bass (low shelf 250 Hz) → Treble (high shelf 2.5 kHz) → + spring tank in the R modes (two dispersive 40-stage all-pass springs, 2.2 s decay, fed with input and echoes) → Dry/Wet Mix. Tape length 6.75 s (3 × a dotted quarter at 40 bpm); zero latency.

Formats

• JSFXJSFX for REAPER, with REAPER's own sliders
• GFXJSFX GFX for REAPER, with its own interface
• VST3VST3 for any DAW
• CLAPCLAP for any DAW

Factory presets

Dub Echo · Slapback Head · Space Wash · Runaway Oscillation · Lo-Fi Tape Echo · Synced Eighths · Spring Echo

In the FX chains and Rack presets

Dub Echo Bus

See every FX chain

Try it