Tape Music Invention & Album

Hello, and welcome to my creative fundraiser!

My name is Caleb, and I am trying to finish a feral music project that they said not to attempt. Haha, that’s a good joke, but let’s get down to business, so keep reading for details about my invention.

I decided to invent and build two tape-loop electronic music instruments. People have been using tape to make music for quite some time now. I enjoy tape music a great deal and wanted to make some custom machines that would advance sound creation and sound manipulation functionality that seemed to be lacking in commercially available ones. It took a few years to research and develop, but the current prototypes are now spinning quite well with some exciting new features and are nearly finished! The end goal is to make an album with these instruments heavily featured on it.

If you would like to see this music engineering art project come to fruition, please consider supporting it with a donation and spreading the word with your contacts and social media to people who might be interested.

So, what does it do?

The machines play and record tape loops with new and advanced features of control and speed. A tape loop is a magnetic audio tape connected end-to-end so that it forms a circle and plays continuously.

The major feature that makes this invention special is the ability to change the speed over a very wide range with fine-tuning in between. Speed changes with audio tape allow you to construct all types of sound possibilities. Right now, the tape loop can go so slowly that it is barely perceptible to the eye or ear and then instantly accelerate to its blistering maximum speed. This maximum speed is over 6.5 times the most common studio tape machines and professional reel-to-reels and over 13 times the highest domestic tape machines. I have plans for testing an upgrade that could maybe double these numbers too. I might as well make them spin as fast as possible up until the point of the tape breaking from physical stress. Why not!

The speed is not only controlled by the manual knob. You can plug another instrument into these tape loop machines to modulate the speed. Any synthesizer that uses control voltages can be directly plugged in to control it. You can also use your computer running DAW software to control the speed. Almost any other instrument can interface with it too; just convert the control signal to what it needs.

These machines will play audio backward! Flip the manual direction switch, and the spinning tape loop immediately reverses. There is also an input to allow instruments of the same types listed above to control the direction. Reversing the tape can create completely new sounds from the original recording. This feature is very handy for backmasking subliminal messages. I don’t want to scare you, so let’s move on.

Although less major, there are some more features worth mentioning. The record function can be turned on or off manually with a button or automated by other instruments using another input. The last feature I will mention is an installed LCD that displays the current speed and direction. This allows you to return to the speed that you were working at before. Let’s stop talking right here about all the specifics of the fancy tech features. I want to have some compassion for the general population that might be glazing over right now. Ha! See the detailed specifications at the end if you want to really nerd out.

So, how are you doing it?

I am an amateur maker and did a lot of research online to design all that was needed. This is my first attempt at something this involved, and it is very involved. The tape heads and audio circuits are restored from a vintage reel-to-reel. The new motor and mounting assembly, speed control, reverse functionality, record modification interface, and roller bearing guides are all my designs. I had to ask a ton of questions on forums and study synth and reel-to-reel electronics. I am extremely thankful for everyone who helped along the way. I built and tested many different prototype designs in sections until I got this final model to work well. In total, this project is taking a lot of time because woodworking, metal machining, installing mechanics, and electronic circuit design skills are needed. Even the splicing of audio tape is very labor-intensive when making the music.

So, now what?

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to secure time and money for creative engineering projects and recording music. I don’t plan on selling these machines commercially. They are strictly for making this new album. If you are a fan of tape music, musique concrète, electroacoustic music, experimental music, noise, etc. and want to see these singular machines completed, upgraded, and in action, then…

Join in with a donation and watch the progress by getting alert updates on the upgrades, video demos, and music downloads. I’m going to try using this GoFundMe as a hub for releases.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Take care.

-Caleb