Tape Wobble FX

Sounds like: A held tone with an uneven, wobbling pitch, like a warped tape.

Sound type: texture · Genre: IDM, Ambient, Downtempo · Style: irregular tape wow-and-flutter texture

A sustained drone texture with an uneven, irregular pitch wobble like tape wow and flutter: the wobble avoids a smooth, periodic sweep and drifts unpredictably like degraded tape.

Open this patch in the interactive Patchpad

Digitone II

Exact match: WAVETONE drift plus a Random LFO

SYN page 1 · WAVETONE

• TUN1: 0 (modulated by MOD page 1)
• WAV1: Sine (PRIM table)
• PD1: 0
• LEV1: 100
• TUN2: 0
• WAV2: Sine (PRIM table)
• PD2: 0
• LEV2: 0

SYN page 2 · WAVETONE

• OFS1: 0
• TBL1: PRIM
• MOD: OFF
• RSET: ON
• OFS2: 0
• TBL2: PRIM
• DRIF: 70

FLTR page 1 · Multi-mode

• FREQ: 50
• RESO: 20
• TYPE: 0 (LP)

AMP page

• ATK: 60
• DEC: 90
• SUS: 100
• REL: 110
• MODE: ADSR

MOD page 1

• SPD: 5
• WAVE: Random
• DEST: SYN: Data entry knob A (TUN1)
• DEP: 50
• MODE: FREE

WAVETONE again: DRIF pushed high (70) for heavy built-in random pitch drift, plus MOD page 1's Random waveform on TUN1 for an uneven, non-repeating wobble: the irregular character of degraded tape flutter. DEP 50 is deliberately larger than a subtle-warble bass patch's, since this FX wants an obviously audible warp. Requires the WAVETONE machine; FM TONE's LFOs have no pitch destination.

Syntakt

Exact match: Random LFO on the machine TUNE knob

SYN — SY RAW

• WAV1: Sine
• TUNE: 0

FLTR PAGE 1

• FREQ: 50
• RESO: 20
• TYPE: Lowpass

AMP PAGE 1

• ATK: 60
• DEC: 90
• SUS: 100
• REL: 110

LFO PAGE 1

• SPD: 5
• WAVE: Random
• DEST: MACHINE: parameter 1 (TUNE)
• DEP: Low: raise it by ear until the wobble is clear but not seasick
• MODE: FRE

Random LFO waveform (real on Syntakt's LFO pages, same design as Digitone II's) on the machine's TUNE knob (parameter 1); Syntakt's LFO destination list has no direct pitch option, so TUNE is the route to a pitch wobble. Raise DEP only until the warp is obvious; the depth scale isn't documented, so small values go a long way. SY RAW is an Analog Drum machine, so it runs on track 9, 10 or 11.

Tonverk

Exact match: Sine with a smoothed random pitch wobble

SRC machine (Func + Src)

• Machine: WAVEFINDER

SRC page 1 · Oscillator 1

• TUNE: 0
• LEV: 100
• POS: 0
• SLOT: HS Sine (Factory Library › 6-Wavetables)

SRC page 2 · Oscillator 2

• LEV: 0

FLTR page 1 · Multimode

• FREQ: 50
• RESO: 20
• TYPE: 0 (low-pass)

AMP setup (Func + Amp)

• ENVELOPE MODE: ADSR

AMP page

• ATK: 60
• DEC: 90
• SUS: 100
• REL: 110

MOD page 1 · Voice LFO 1

• SPD: 5
• DEST: SRC page 1: Data entry knob A (TUNE)
• WAVE: Random
• SLEW: 90
• MODE: FREE
• DEP: +0.50 (very low, raised by ear)

Voice LFO 1 on Random gives an uneven pitch drift, and SLEW (the Random wave's version of SPH) smooths the jumps into wow. The LFO covers TUNE's whole range, so keep DEP very low.

Novation Summit

Exact match: LFO 2 Sample and Hold with Slew on pitch

OSCILLATOR 1

• WAVE: Sine
• RANGE: 16'

FILTER

• SHAPE: LP
• FREQUENCY: 50
• RESONANCE: 20

AMP ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 60
• DECAY: 90
• SUSTAIN: 100
• RELEASE: 110

LFO 2

• WAVEFORM: Sample and Hold
• RATE: 6
• LFO 2 DEPTH (Oscillator section): 20
• Slew: 90 (LFO menu page 1: smooths the steps into an irregular drift)

MODULATION MATRIX

• Slot 1 sA: ModWheel
• Slot 1 Destin: Lfo2Rate
• Slot 1 Depth: +30

LFO 2 is hardwired to oscillator pitch through the panel LFO 2 Depth control (set per oscillator in the Oscillator section). Its Sample and Hold waveform gives a random, irregular pitch wobble, and the LFO menu's Slew parameter smooths the random steps into a tape-like drift instead of a stepped warble. Keep the depth small.

Arturia MiniFreak

Exact match: LFO SlewSnH (smoothed random) on pitch

OSCILLATOR · Osc 1

• TYPE: BasicWaves
• WAVE (Morph): 50 (pure sawtooth)
• TIMBRE (Sym): 0
• SHAPE (Sub): 0
• VOLUME: 100

ANALOG FILTER

• TYPE: Low Pass
• CUTOFF: 50
• RESONANCE: 20

ENVELOPE

• ATTACK: 60
• DECAY: 90
• SUSTAIN: 95
• RELEASE: 100

LFO

• SELECT/EDIT: LFO 1
• WAVE/LOAD: SlewSnH
• RATE/TRIG: 0.5 Hz

MODULATION MATRIX

• Source (row): LFO 1
• Destination (column): Pitch 1+2
• Amount: +15

Osc 1 is BasicWaves with Morph at 50 (pure sawtooth): the Morph knob runs from a square (0) through a sawtooth (50) to a double sawtooth an octave up (100), Sym only changes the pulse width below 50, and Sub adds a sine an octave down (0 here). LFO 1 runs a SlewSnH wave at 0.5 Hz. Mod Matrix: the LFO 1 row to the Pitch 1+2 column at +15. Values are on MiniFreak's native 0-100 scale.

Dreadbox Typhon

Exact match: Chaos Saw LFO on pitch

FRONT PANEL

• WAVE: ~9 o'clock (VCO2 triangle only)
• TUNE 2: Fully anticlockwise (0: VCO2 at the same pitch as VCO1)
• CUTOFF: ~11 o'clock (~50%)
• RESON: ~9 o'clock (~20%)

AMP ADSR

• ATTACK: 60
• DECAY: 90
• SUSTAIN: 100
• RELEASE: 100

M1

• MODE: LFO
• WAVE: Chaos Saw
• RATE: 6
• DEST: CV
• LVL: 1 (about a semitone: an obvious warp)

Chaos Saw is an LFO waveform on Typhon's M-slots and the closest match of the six synths to irregular tape flutter, better than a plain Triangle.

ASM Hydrasynth Desktop

Exact match: Random LFO on pitch

OSCILLATOR 1

• MODE: Single
• WAVE: Saw

FILTER 1

• TYPE: LP Ldr12
• CUTOFF: 50.0
• RESONANCE: 20.0

ENVELOPE 2

• ATTACK: 600 ms
• DECAY: 900 ms
• SUSTAIN: 100.0
• RELEASE: 1100 ms

LFO 3

• WAVE: Random
• RATE: 0.2Hz
• LEVEL: 20

MOD MATRIX

• SOURCE: LFO 3
• DESTINATION: All Osc Pitch
• DEPTH: 15

WAVE Random is an LFO waveform on Hydrasynth (its LFO list includes S&H, Noise, Random and Step alongside the standard shapes), a good match for irregular tape flutter.

Patchpad is a free reference of drum patterns, synth patches and reminders, written for a selection of real hardware.