Tape Track Splitter

A Windows desktop app for splitting digitized cassette tape recordings into individual tracks. Load the MP3 for Side 1 and Side 2, place split markers on the waveform (manually or via auto-detection), name each track, and export them as lossless-cut files with embedded ID3 tags.

---

Features

• Dual-side workflow — load Side 1 and Side 2 separately; tracks are numbered sequentially across both sides
• Interactive waveform — click to place a split marker, drag to move it, right-click to remove
• Auto-detection — configurable silence threshold and minimum gap length; a 400 ms spike-tolerant algorithm handles brief tape hiss bursts inside gaps
• Track list — edit track names before export; uncheck rows to skip them; unchecked tracks are dimmed on the waveform
• Lossless export via FFmpeg — uses -c copy so no audio is re-encoded; automatically detects whether the source stream is MP2 or MP3 and chooses the correct container
• ID3 tagging — artist, album, year, genre, track number, and title written to every exported file
• Light / Dark / System theme — switchable under View → Theme; waveform colors follow the theme; preference is persisted

---

Requirements

Requirement	Version
Windows	10 or later (64-bit)
.NET	8.0
FFmpeg	Any recent build (ffmpeg.org)

FFmpeg is only needed for export. Detection and waveform display work without it.

---

Getting started

Option A — build from source

git clone https://github.com/your-username/tape-track-splitter.git
cd tape-track-splitter
dotnet run

Option B — publish a self-contained executable

dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 --self-contained true -p:PublishSingleFile=true -o publish

The resulting publish\TapeSplitterWpf.exe runs without a separate .NET installation.

---

FFmpeg setup

1. Download a Windows build from ffmpeg.org (the GPL shared or static build both work)
2. Either:
   • Add the bin\ folder to your system PATH, or
   • Open Tools → Settings in the app and paste the full path to ffmpeg.exe
3. Use Test in the Settings dialog to confirm it is found

The app will detect FFmpeg automatically at these locations even without configuring the path:

• ffmpeg (on PATH)
• C:\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe
• C:\Program Files\ffmpeg\bin\ffmpeg.exe

---

Workflow

1. Load files — drag an MP3 onto the Side 1 or Side 2 drop zone, or use File → Open Side 1/2
2. Place split markers — click Auto-Detect Tracks or click directly on the waveform; drag markers to fine-tune, right-click to delete
3. Name tracks — edit the Track Name column in the list
4. Fill in tags — enter Artist, Album, Year, and Genre in the Album Tags panel
5. Choose what to export — uncheck any tracks you want to skip
6. Export — click Export Checked Tracks; files are written to the same folder as the source MP3 by default, or choose a different folder with Output Folder…

---

Auto-detection tips

The detector works in 100 ms blocks and tolerates brief loud spikes inside a silence gap (tape hiss bursts, plosives). If it finds nothing:

Symptom	Fix
"0 silence regions found"	Raise the Silence Level slider (less negative = more sensitive)
Regions found but filtered	Lower Min Silence (the gap may be shorter than expected) or lower Min Track
Too many false splits	Raise Min Silence so brief dips within a song are ignored

Cassette tapes digitized at 32 kHz often have a noise floor around −36 dB. A threshold of −25 dB with 1 500 ms minimum silence works well for tapes with clear gaps between tracks.

---

Project structure

TapeSplitterWpf/
├── Themes/
│   ├── DarkTheme.xaml        # Dark palette — window, controls, waveform
│   └── LightTheme.xaml       # Light palette — window, controls, waveform
├── App.xaml                   # Application resources + IntegerTextBox template
├── AppSettings.cs             # JSON settings (FFmpeg path, album tags, theme)
├── IntegerTextBox.cs          # Themed numeric spinner control
├── MainViewModel.cs           # All app logic — MVVM, no UI dependencies
├── MainWindow.xaml            # Declarative layout, data-bound to MainViewModel
├── MainWindow.xaml.cs         # Thin code-behind: drag-drop, waveform events, theme menu
├── RelayCommand.cs            # ICommand implementation
├── SettingsWindow.xaml/.cs    # FFmpeg path dialog
├── SilenceDetector.cs         # Audio analysis + FFmpeg export
├── ThemeManager.cs            # Swaps ResourceDictionary, detects Windows theme
├── TrackSegment.cs            # INotifyPropertyChanged track model
└── WaveformControl.cs         # Custom FrameworkElement — renders waveform + markers

---

Dependencies

Package	Purpose
NAudio	MP3/MP2 decoding, waveform envelope computation
FFmpeg (external)	Lossless segment export with ID3 tagging

---

License

MIT — see LICENSE.