Making a 10 Second Tape Loop

[@RaquelFoster]

Seeing you open that tape made me remember exactly what those clear ones smelled like when you first took the plastic off. I loved that smell LOL.

[@ShaneMorrisMusic]

Haha, nice! Yeah don't get that experience as often anymore. :)

[@Larry30102]

Super helpful. Thanks so much!!

[@evadum4149]

Thank you very much, can’t wait to rebuild my second own tape after watching this. One question. Does this little TASCAM have a pitch control?

[@ShaneMorrisMusic]

Hi, evadum4149. No this Tascam does not have pitch control. Very basic four-track. Just recording and panning.

[@evadum4149]

Hej thank you very much, oh whats the name of this tiny one? ;)

[@ShaneMorrisMusic]

@@evadum4149 It is the Tascam MF-P01 Portastudio. I like it so much that I got 2 of them. :)

[@evadum4149]

@@ShaneMorrisMusic Hehee well i have one as vst thats nice kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpCuoqeVi5agotU but if i can get one to this little hardware ones, i but it too ;) thanks mate

[@Dionisaf]

I'm usually use old cassettes from goodwill, it's cheaper than new 👍

[@ShaneMorrisMusic]

Yes can be a bit gritty too! :) I've gotten most of mine at yard sales. I had a woman give me a box of 100 cassettes one time.

[@Dionisaf]

@@ShaneMorrisMusic Wow! Awesome 👍

[@Larry30102]

Never thought of checking Goodwill. Thanks for the tip.

[@pfft9363]

excellent tutorial mate. can you tell me how can we perserve the remaing tape after making the loop? else i'm sure it'll degrade quickly if left open innit? thanks

[@ShaneMorrisMusic]

Hi pfft! I just store the remaining tape in a small box in a closet, along with any of the other tape accessories. The room temperature is between 74-79 F. So, Id say a place that is dark and cool. I store my reel to reel tapes next to them the same way.

[@pfft9363]

@@ShaneMorrisMusic thank you for getting back and sharing your knowledge with us. Really appreciate it!

[@ShaneMorrisMusic]

@@pfft9363 Most welcome! :)

[@loganp82]

14.5 inches will get you around 8 seconds and I used that length with the top peg like you showed me to get mine to loop. Before I used that top peg it would play and then stop spinning.

[@ShaneMorrisMusic]

Fantastic, Logan Aaron! Glad you got it working. Hours of fun ahead! Does it play in reverse too? That is my favorite myself. Some cassette loops will do it, and some won't.

[@loganp82]

@@ShaneMorrisMusic Funny thing is I tried it the next day and it snags again and stops. Didnt do anything to it just stopped working. The roller on the bottom right isnt moving. Any idea how to fix that?

[@ShaneMorrisMusic]

@@loganp82 Maybe just try replacing that roller. I use old cassettes for parts, especially the ones that don't have screws to make loops out of. Hopefully that will fix it. Sometimes they just don't work too. Make sure the tape loops isn't too tight or too loose. Not tangled or flipping over somehow. I've made about 20 or so and 2 of those I could never get to work.

[@loganp82]

@@ShaneMorrisMusic Alright, thanks for the tips :)

[@nasoundengineer5726]

How do you calculate the loop duration based on lenght? There is any straightforward formula for that? Thank you!

[@Baloneycake4114]

Interesting but…why would anyone do this? For what purpose? To get a loop sound effect?

[@ShaneMorrisMusic]

I suppose there would be many reasons. Some people just like the sound of tape with its warm, natural compression and saturation. Some people also equally like the bad or lo-fi sound that can be achieved from tape. Others may want to work with it for economic or ease of use reasons. Maybe some just want to have a cheap looper with the ability to make your loops any length you want. For me personally, I like the lo-fi, deshevled sounds that come from tape for creating texture in a composition, particularly horror film scoring and dark ambient music.

[@Baloneycake4114]

@@ShaneMorrisMusic I see…i suppose you mix with analogue gear then. It would be too easy to cut tape digitally.

[@jamesm28]

Plus itt is fun, creating cassette loops and using them. If you want to listen to some good music created by using tape loops check out Amulets or Hainbach, they're pretty good.

[@rayholt202]

very cool

[@karelstulens4472]

Hi man! Thanks for the awesome tutorial! Quick question.. what do you do with the excess tape after making a loop? Because I already have a box full of excess tape.. and buying extra cassettes only brings more excess tape.. all tips are welcome man!

[@ShaneMorrisMusic]

Hi Karel! Thanks for watching. I just store it in a box like you :)

[@walrtbstudios5430]

Cassette tapes play at 1 7/8 inches per second. Therefore, if you’re still resolutely non-metric (ie, you live in the US), you will need exactly 18.75 inches of tape. Tbh you’d be far better off fitting your tape loop to the cassette rather than trying to make an arbitrary length work…

[@cooperbay5181]

“Around 20 inches” cmon be specific pls

[@walrtbstudios5430]

18.75 inches would be exactly ten seconds

[@ddawsonwilsondawg7967]

2:40 I think aaaaaaaaaaaa uuuhhhhhhhh cutting a thin slice of clear tape SMALLER than the width of the cassette tape is a WAAAAY better and WAAAAY faster way to do it! I mean you're either a mo-mo OR you're blind! Hacking off pieces of tape!? COME ON MAN!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?!?!?!?

[@jemusu8271]

calm down

[@VortexKiller2]

Goofy ahh comment