🎛️ Tapedeck

A 4-track studio that fits inside your terminal.

A terminal-based 4-track cassette recorder inspired by the Teenage Engineering OP-1. Record from your mic, layer synthesizers, program drum beats, and mix it all down — with animated spinning reels, VU meters, and that warm tape sound. Built in Rust.

Screen.Recording.2026-02-21.at.1.47.05.PM.mov

Features

• 4-Track Recording — Record from mic input, overdub across 4 independent tracks with per-track arm/mute/solo
• 5 Synth Engines — Sine, bandlimited Saw, 2-op FM, Karplus-Strong plucked string, and filtered Noise — playable via QWERTY keyboard with 8-voice polyphony
• Drum Sequencer — 16-step pattern sequencer with 6 synthesized instruments (kick, snare, hi-hat, clap, tom, rim), synced to tape position
• 5 Effects — Reverb, ping-pong delay, resonant filter (LP/HP/BP), tape distortion, and chorus — per-track with bypass
• Tape Simulation — Wow, flutter, tape saturation, hiss, and high-frequency rolloff for authentic lo-fi warmth
• Animated Cassette UI — Braille-rendered spinning reels that grow/shrink as tape advances, color-coded transport states
• Mixer View — 4-channel faders with pan, level, VU meters, mute/solo
• Project Save/Load — Exports tracks as 32-bit float WAV files with JSON metadata

Install

Download a binary from the latest release:

# macOS (Apple Silicon)
tar xzf tapedeck-v*-darwin-arm64.tar.gz
./tapedeck

Install from source (any platform with Rust 1.70+):

cargo install --git https://github.com/manthan787/tapedeck

Build locally:

git clone https://github.com/manthan787/tapedeck.git
cd tapedeck
cargo run --release

Requires a working audio output device. Mic input is optional (the app warns but doesn't crash without one).

Controls

Key	Action
Tab	Cycle modes: Tape → Synth → Drum → Mixer
Space	Play / Pause
1-4	Select track
A	Arm selected track for recording
R	Start recording to armed track
M	Mute track
S	Solo track
[ / ]	Rewind / fast-forward (5 sec)
← / →	Seek (1 sec) / navigate engines or steps
↑ / ↓	Adjust parameter, BPM, or level
Ctrl+S	Save project
Q	Quit

Synth mode: Z-M plays C3–B3, Q-U plays C4–B4 (chromatic, black keys on the upper row).

Drum mode: Z-K toggles steps 1–16 for the selected instrument.

Architecture

Three threads communicate via lock-free crossbeam channels:

UI Thread (60fps)        Control Thread          Audio Thread (44.1kHz)
┌────────────────┐      ┌────────────────┐      ┌──────────────────────┐
│ ratatui render  │─────>│ App state      │─────>│ cpal callback        │
│ crossterm input │<─────│ Command router │<─────│ Synth + Effects      │
└────────────────┘      └────────────────┘      │ Mixer + Tape sim     │
                                                 └──────────────────────┘

Tech Stack

Component	Crate
Audio I/O	cpal
TUI	ratatui + crossterm
Concurrency	crossbeam-channel
WAV files	hound
Serialization	serde + serde_json

Project Structure

src/
  main.rs              Entry point, thread setup, event loop
  app.rs               App state and mode management
  audio/               cpal streams, track buffers, transport, mixer
  synth/engines/       Sine, Saw, FM, String, Noise synthesizers
  effects/             Reverb, Delay, Filter, Distortion, Chorus
  sequencer/           16-step drum sequencer with BPM clock
  tape/                Wow/flutter/saturation simulation
  ui/views/            Tape, Synth, Drum, Mixer screen layouts
  ui/widgets/          Cassette, VU meter, waveform, knobs, step grid
  project/             WAV + JSON save/load

License

MIT