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 that shows what’s on the tape.
The idea for SPULE goes back to 2023: a recorder for quick ideas that feels less like a file manager and more like the TASCAM machine on the shelf. “Spule” is the German word for “reel”, spoken like [ˈʃpuːlə].
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, headset, USB or Lightning microphone) in Settings. If you like, each take is tagged with the place where you made it.
SAMPLES
Everything you record lands in the SAMPLES tab below the deck: name, length, date and place at a glance. Tap a sample to load it, then use the transport buttons to play it. Touch and drag the reels to scrub, hold a reel to pause, double-tap Play to play in reverse.
EFFECTS
Switch to the EFFECTS tab and move the faders while a sample plays: pitch (±12 semitones), echo and reverb. The settings are stored per sample. Tap the lock icon to lock them so you don’t change them by accident.
CASSETTES
Sort your recordings onto virtual cassettes. Create one with NEW CASSETTE, 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.
FEATURES
Record high-quality audio instantly
Organize recordings onto virtual cassettes – name them, pick a label color and choose the reels (Tascam, Maxell or TEAC style, in several colors)
A single-screen reel-to-reel deck inspired by classic TASCAM recorders
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 the reels keep turning across the loop point
Pitch (±12 semitones), echo and reverb, stored per sample. Lock a sample’s effects so you don’t change them by accident while playing
Tape loop recording (see below)
Waveform of every take that scrolls live while you record, plus stereo LED peak meters with peak hold and clipping indicator
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 library 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
Clear all recordings from Settings, behind a typed confirmation
TAPE LOOP RECORDING
Switch on loop recording 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 gives you four faders:
Length – the size of the loop, from 0.5 to 30 seconds. It is fixed when the take starts
Feedback – how much of the previous pass stays on the tape. At 100 % nothing is erased and older layers only fade through generation loss. At 0 % each pass replaces the last one
Wobble – wow and flutter, the slight speed drift of an old machine
Tone – how much treble each pass loses, from dull to bright
Feedback, wobble and tone follow the faders while you record, so you can play the loop like an instrument. Tap a fader’s label to reset it.
The waveform shows the loop itself, with a splice marker drawn as a strip of splicing tape. When you stop, the take is trimmed to the last pass and the stop point is crossfaded, so it repeats without a click. Loop takes are marked as loops in the sample list.
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 layer sounds into a tape loop and let them slowly fade
You can shape playback with pitch, echo and reverb
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
