Spool v0.5.1

Spool v0.5.1

Layout fix: the tape selector gets some breathing room.

Changed

• The tape selector moved above the pilot lamp, where it has room to breathe instead of crowding the reels. No sound changes.

Install
Unzip, copy Spool.clap to ~/.clap/ (or Spool.vst3 to ~/.vst3/), and rescan plug-ins in your DAW.

Spool v0.5.0

Spool v0.5.0

Mix for parallel tape, and Elastic for rubbery wow.

Added

• Mix knob (default 100%) to blend the tape with the dry signal, which stays time-aligned. With Wow up, a blend gives a tape-flange/chorus. Presets leave Mix alone.
• Elastic knob (default 0%) for rubbery wow: the tape sags slowly, snaps back, and bounces on a springy tape path before settling. It works on the wow, so pair it with plenty of Wow (try Wear 25-45%, Wow 200%, Flutter 50% or less, Elastic 100%). Presets set it to 0%, so they sound as before.

Install
Unzip, copy Spool.clap to ~/.clap/ (or Spool.vst3 to ~/.vst3/), and rescan plug-ins in your DAW.

Spool v0.4.0

Spool v0.4.0

Tape presets: seven tape types, from studio reel to chewed-up VHS.

Added

• Tape presets, cleanest to dirtiest: 15 IPS (the default), 30 IPS, Metal, Chrome, Ferric, Vintage and VHS. Step through them with the ‹ › selector between the reels.
• Each preset sets every knob, including the Wow/Flutter/Dropouts/Hiss trims, and they're level-matched to within 0.2 dB so switching doesn't jump in volume.
• The selector shows CUSTOM once you tweak a knob, and the arrows carry on from the last preset you picked.

Install
Unzip, copy Spool.clap to ~/.clap/ (or Spool.vst3 to ~/.vst3/), and rescan plug-ins in your DAW.

Spool v0.3.0

Spool v0.3.0

The deck comes alive: VU meters and spinning reels.

Added

• VU meters for the left and right output, on a classic VU scale with 0 VU = -18 dBFS RMS. A mono instance shows its one channel on both.
• The reels spin while the host is playing and stop when Spool is bypassed. The near-empty take-up reel turns faster than the full supply reel, like real tape.

Install
Unzip, copy Spool.clap to ~/.clap/ (or Spool.vst3 to ~/.vst3/), and rescan plug-ins in your DAW.

Spool v0.2.0

Spool v0.2.0

Take Wear apart: separate Wow, Flutter, Dropouts and Hiss controls, each able to go past the old maximum.

Added

• Wow, Flutter, Dropouts and Hiss trims under the main knobs, 0-200%. Each sets how hard its part of Wear is pushed: a part behaves as if Wear were Wear x trim. Have a wobbly tape without hiss, lots of wow at low Wear, or go past the old maximum (up to 4x the wow depth, about +-1.3 semitones). They default to 100% (knob pointing straight up), so existing projects sound the same.

Changed

• Latency is now 25 ms (was 7 ms) to make room for the deeper wow. Hosts compensate for it; re-add the plugin if Bitwig doesn't pick up the new latency.
• The window is taller to fit the trims. Projects saved with 0.1.0 open at the new default size.

Install
Unzip, copy Spool.clap to ~/.clap/ (or Spool.vst3 to ~/.vst3/), and rescan plug-ins in your DAW.

Spool v0.1.0

Spool v0.1.0

First release of Spool, a tape machine for Linux (CLAP and VST3). Keep it subtle for a touch of glue on your master, or push it for all-out lofi wonkiness.

Sound

• Tape saturation with record pre-emphasis, so highs saturate first, at 4x oversampling
• Drive (0-24 dB), level-compensated: quiet material keeps its level, peaks get squashed
• Colour: head bump (up to +4 dB at 90 Hz) and top-end roll-off (20 kHz to 5 kHz)
• Wear: wow and flutter, hiss, dropouts and further loss of highs. Low settings stay near-inaudible, the top end gets wonky
• Output make-up gain (-12 to +12 dB)
• Bypass on the pilot lamp, with a click-free crossfade and Bitwig/host bypass integration
• Reports 7 ms of latency (the wow/flutter delay line); bypass stays time-aligned

GUI

• Hand-drawn reel-to-reel faceplate with knurled knobs and an amber pilot lamp
• Knobs: drag or scroll to turn, hold Shift for fine control, double-click to reset
• Resizable window, saved with your project

Install
Unzip, copy Spool.clap to ~/.clap/ (or Spool.vst3 to ~/.vst3/), and rescan plug-ins in your DAW.