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tape! User Manual

Manual v0.1.24 - 2026-07-20

Risk

This manual is in the deep work in progress state. Please do not rely on it heavily :)

Physical layout

User Interface

The primary display is divided into three functional zones for real-time feedback and navigation.

Main interface: transport controls (top), tape reels, and the Playhead timeline with Marks (bottom)

  • Status Bar: Displays current transport state, and battery percentage.

  • Hint Overlay: Dynamic context-sensitive labels mapping physical buttons and the encoder to active functions.

  • Timeline: Shows the waveforms for the 4 Playheads, active loop regions, and Marks.

[ IMAGE PLACEHOLDER ] > Status Bar Icons: Detail of battery, tape, and transport icons.

Quick Start

Tapehead navigation and recording

Press < / >: to switch between tapeheads (A, B, C, D).

Press REC to arm the tapehead

Press PLAY to begin the recording.

Press PLAY or REC to pause or disarm recording.

Press CUE: to oggle loop on/off for the active tapehead.

Operations

Mixer parameters (hold PLAY)

Volume, FX sends, feedback and input level controls for the active Playhead.

PLAY Context menu

  • Rotate Encoder: level adjustments.

  • Press < / >: Cycle between Output, FX, Feedback, and Input levels.

  • Output controls independent taphead level
  • FX controls taphead FX send level. Note that FX is not affected by Output, so you can have only WET signal turning Output off and FX on.
  • Feedback controls how much new recorded level erases previously recorded material. This is the key diffirence between delay effect and SOS.
  • Input attenuates input level.

[ IMAGE PLACEHOLDER ] > Signal path diagram

Recording options (hold REC)

REC Context menu

  • UNDO: press PLAY to undo/redo last recording.

Info

Buffer Overwrite: Undo buffer maintains a 100MB Buffer for the last recording. Any new write or edit operation overwrites previous data.

  • ERASE: hold PLAY to clears current loop region.

  • INPUT: press < to toggle between line and mic inputs.

Feedback Risk

Internal Mic: Monitoring the internal Mic without headphones will create a high-gain feedback loop. The system automatically disables monitoring in this configuration if no headphones or line-out connected automatically.

  • DRY/WET: hold < to switch. When wet selected input audio passing through fx chain instead of tapehead sends.

  • MONITORING press > to toggle input monitoring on and off.

  • BOUNCE hold < to enable bounce mode.

Note

Each tapehead can be bounce/resample only previous tapeheads, so its not possible to bounce at tapehead A

Edit Mode (hold CUE)

CUE Context menu

  • Press PLAY (Set): Turns on loop mode.

  • Hold PLAY (Cue): Add or delete a manual Cue at the current playhead position.

  • Press REC (Split): Partition the current region at the Playhead position. Result: Creates two independent segments.

  • Rotate encoder: scrub over timeline if assigned to Speed, otherwise Slip (link).

Loop Slipping

When the encoder is assigned to Start or End points:

  • Hold CUE + Rotate Encoder: Move both loop points simultaneously.

Quick Menu (hold < / >)

Quick Context menu

Assigns the encoder to primary Playhead parameters.

  • Press PLAY: Set encoder to Speed control.

  • Press REC: Set encoder to Loop Start control.

  • Press CUE: Set encoder to Loop End control.

Note

Each parameter can be deselected, to prevent accidental changes Quick manu is not avaliable during recording.

Menu

Entering main menu:

  • Long press < / > to access quick hints

main menu

  • Long press < - open main menu

main menu

Node-based fx processing chain

fx menu

  • Rotate Encoder or press </>: Scroll through active processing Chain.

  • Press PLAY: Edit primary node parameter.

fx types

  • Press REC/CUE: Insert new node before/after current selection.

  • Hold REC/CUE: Swap node position. Audio: Processing order updates instantly.

[ IMAGE PLACEHOLDER ] > Node Editor: Screenshot of a node parameter being adjusted (e.g. Reverb Decay).

mix menu

  • main: global device volume
  • input: global input volume
  • src: input source selection
  • line/mics: mix input settings
    • stereo / L+R/ left / right / L-R
    • HI-Z: input jack mode
    • beamforming mic controls (WIP)

New tape

Follow this sequence to provision fresh storage for a session.

  1. Enter Tape Menu: Select new.

New tape

  1. Set Name: Select name for manual entry or random for generated naming.

  2. Set tape length: Rotate the encoder to select total session length (1-45 min).

  3. Select ok, wait for the loading animation to complete.

Capacity Limit

tape! size is fixed at creation. It cannot be expanded later without creating a new file.

Load tape

  1. Enter Tape Menu: Select load.

  2. Select File: Scroll the list of .wav files.

  3. Load: Press PLAY to mount.

  4. Verify: Wait for playback engine to initialize.

Delete tape

  1. Enter Tape Menu: Select delete.

  2. Confirm: Long Press PLAY (2 seconds).

  3. Verify Removal: System returns to a blank default state.

Destruction Risk

Permanent Action: Deletion is not undoable via the Buffer. Files are unlinked immediately at the OS level.

Transfer your saved cues to a host computer.

  1. Connect Hardware: Plug the unit into a host PC via USB.

  2. Enter Tape Menu: Select loops.

  3. Access Files: Open the new mass storage device on your computer.

USB Audio & MIDI

While connected via USB, the device also functions as a class-compliant 2x2 audio interface and midi interface.

Settings

Setup menu

mix menu

System

Power Management

  • Power On: Long Press > (2 seconds) to power on tape!

  • Power Off: Long Press > (5 seconds) to enter shutdown mode.

  • Battery Status: The battery charge is visible in the top-right of the Status Bar. The icon flashes when the battery level is critical.

  • Standby charging during standby charging, led stip animates current charge status and turns off on charge completion

Hard reset

In case of device freeze or not powering up hold PLAY and > buttons for ~15s, with usb disconnected to hard reset tape!

Firmware update

Legend

To update firmware, enter bootloader mode by holding PLAY while powering up tape!.

Connect the tape! to a host computer via USB - tape! boot volume will appear.

Drag and drop the .img firmware file into the mounted volume.

Upon transfer completion tape! will automatically reboot.

Warning

Do not disconnect the USB cable during the flashing process.