SPULE ~ reel-to-reel tape recorder for iOS
SPULE is a reel-to-reel recorder that turns your iPhone into a classic tape machine. Capture audio snippets, put them onto virtual cassettes and play them back with the tactile charm of a vintage deck – spinning reels you can grab, real transport buttons and a paper label with the name of the cassette.
The idea for SPULE goes way back – it has been on my mind ever since I got my first iPhone: a recorder for quick ideas that feels less like a file manager and more like the old tape machine on the shelf. The idea dump I wrote about it was just a brain dump of this old idea. “Spule” is the German word for “reel”, spoken like [ˈʃpuːlə].
Download SPULE on the App Store
RECORD
Press the record button and start capturing. The stereo LED meters show your level, the display counts the time and the waveform scrolls live while you record. Pick your input (built-in mic, wired or Bluetooth headset, USB or Lightning microphone) in Settings. SPULE can tag each take with the place where you made it – this needs location permission, and you can switch it off in Settings under Privacy.
The REC tab holds the settings for your next take:
Gain – trim the input from -12 to +12 dB
Apply FX – off by default. Off, SPULE records the clean input and the effects you set become the sample’s playback effects. On, the effects and every fader move are printed into the recording
Headphones – hear yourself while you record and set the level of your input and of the loop in the headphones. These levels are never recorded
SAMPLES
Everything you record lands in the SAMPLES tab below the deck: name, length, date and place at a glance, with a loop mark on loop takes. Tap a sample to load it, then use the transport buttons to play it. Swipe a sample to rename, share or delete it. Touch and drag the reels to scrub, hold a reel to pause, double-tap Play to play in reverse.
EFFECTS
Every sample has its own effects. Switch to the EFFECTS tab, select a sample and shape it while it plays. Tap a tile to open its settings, tap a fader’s name to reset it, and tap the lock to keep the settings safe from accidental changes.
Pitch – up to 12 semitones up or down
Level – evens out quiet and loud passages. Great for voice recordings
Echo – a tape echo with mix, time (50 ms to 30 s), feedback, tone, wobble and drive
Reverb – mix, decay (0.2 to 20 s), pre-delay, size and tone
Lo-fi – bit crushing and sample-rate reduction with low and high cut, for the sound of an old sampler or a cheap radio
Tape – a worn cassette with wow, flutter, saturation and hiss
When you share a sample whose effects are locked, SPULE renders the effects into the file. An unlocked sample is shared as you recorded it. Your original is never changed.
You can also record through the effects. Level, Echo, Reverb, Lo-fi and Tape work on the live input, and the EFFECTS tab changes them while the tape runs. The tiles light up red and the header says THIS TAKE.
CASSETTES
Sort your recordings onto virtual cassettes. Create one in the Cassette Rack, give it a name and a label color and choose its reels. The rack shows the number of samples and the total length of every tape. A cassette called My Recordings is waiting for you on first launch.
TAPE LOOP RECORDING
Press the tape loop button next to the transport buttons and SPULE behaves like a piece of tape spliced into a ring. Everything you record goes round and round and is recorded on top of what is already on the loop – sound-on-sound, Frippertronics style. The LOOP tab is active while loop recording is armed:
Length – the size of the loop, from 1 second to 3 minutes. It is fixed when the take starts
Feedback – how much of the previous pass stays on the tape. The readout shows how long the loop takes to fade out
Wobble – wow, flutter and the drift of a slack loop
Wear – hiss, saturation, dropouts and a little more darkening on every pass
Splice – a dip and a knock once per turn, always at the same spot, like the splice in a real tape loop
Timing – lets you hear the loop in time with what you play, automatic or with a manual setting
Feedback, wobble, wear, splice and timing follow the controls while you record, so you can play the loop like an instrument. With headphones plugged in you hear yourself and the loop in time. The waveform runs across the whole view with a mark at every splice.
The saved sample is the whole take – a 20 second take on a 5 second loop is a 20 second file – and it ends with the last pass faded out. Loop takes are named Loop and carry a loop mark in the sample list.
NEW IN VERSION 1.1
Apply FX – print the effects into the recording while you record, including every fader move. Turn it off to keep the original and use the effects as the sample’s playback effects
Record through the effects – Level, Echo, Reverb, Lo-fi and Tape work on the live input
Full-length loop takes – a loop recording saves the whole take, not just the last pass
Loops from 1 second up to 3 minutes, on a logarithmic Length fader
Hear yourself and the loop on headphones while recording, with automatic or manual latency compensation
New loop controls: Wobble, Wear and Splice
Gain for the input level of the recording
Faster, smoother level meters and animations
New Haptic Feedback switch in Settings
FEATURES
Record high-quality audio instantly
Organize recordings onto virtual cassettes – name them, pick a label color and choose the reels (classic 80s cassette-deck reel designs in several colors)
A single-screen reel-to-reel deck inspired by the portable tape recorders of the 1980s
Touch and drag the reels to scrub through a take – clockwise to fast-forward, counter-clockwise to rewind. The scrub speed follows your finger
Hold a reel during playback to pause, release to resume
Double-tap Play for reverse playback – the reels turn the other way
Repeat playback – a take loops gaplessly until you stop it, and effect tails carry across the loop point
Six effects, stored per sample: pitch (±12 semitones), level, echo, reverb, lo-fi and tape. Lock a sample’s effects so you don’t change them by accident
Record through the effects and print them into the recording with Apply FX, or keep the original clean
Gain and headphone monitoring for your recordings
Tape loop recording from 1 second to 3 minutes with feedback, wobble, wear, splice and timing
Waveform of every take that scrolls live while you record, plus stereo LED peak meters with peak hold
Share recordings with other apps through the share sheet
Pick your input: built-in mic, wired or Bluetooth headset, USB or Lightning microphone
Choose recording quality (Low / Medium / High) and format (M4A/AAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF). Changes apply to new recordings
Tag recordings with the location where they were made – optional, and you can switch it off in Settings
Sync your cassettes, recordings and effect settings with iCloud Drive (optional). Recordings are stored on your device first – your audio stays private, and the files are plain audio files you can also see in the Files app
Choose a blue, red or gold app icon
Clear all recordings from Settings, behind a typed confirmation
WHAT CAN I DO AND WHAT NOT
You can capture audio and play it back with tape-deck controls
You can scrub through a take by turning the reels like on a real machine
You can build mixtape-style collections with your own cassettes
You can shape every sample with pitch, level, echo, reverb, lo-fi and tape effects
You can record through the effects and print them into the take, or keep the original clean
You can layer sounds into a tape loop and let them slowly fade
You can share your recordings with other apps and sync them across devices via iCloud Drive
You cannot edit in multitrack – SPULE is a tape recorder, not a DAW
