It has a “broken” button and an eyelid that you can blink on and off. It lets you record or set feedback to 150%. It overdubs, it loops, it — does it in opposing directions. No, it’s not another tape delay/looper. Every single setting in TapeLeap from Mudjaq, for Max for Live, is bonkers and fantastic.
The basic idea here isn’t too complicated — set independent record and playback, and let them rip. But in a very digital way, you can run record and playback at completely different speeds and pitches, and add in granular time stretching, and make all of it as broken and lo-fi as you desire.
Or as the copy here wisely puts it, “TapeLeap separates what real tape always kept linked.” It’s really a hybrid lo-fi glitchy pitch shifter delay looper mangler, and honestly, who doesn’t want that now and then?
Regular readers will recall Mudjaq had me gleefully giddy over some ill-behaved fish producing underwater modulation mayhem — see below. This interface is in that same wonderfully twisted spirit. And the feature set is great:
- Independent recording pitch (0x to 4x) and playback pitch control (-4x to 4x speed)
- Three play modes: Reset, Delay, and Scratch
- Separate recording, overdub, and feedback controls with visual monitoring
- Four tape types with saturation and filtering
- Tape error system with slip and lack probability
- Time-stretch from 0x to 2x with granular control
- Flutter, wow, and LFO modulation
- High-pass and low-pass filtering in the feedback path
I’m being a bit silly about the weirdness of this, but it’s really brilliant that you have overdub without erasing, and errors that make this sonically creative.
I just can’t emphasize enough: it has precise “tape error” controls. There’s a “Broken” button, which is intentional. You can set the eyelid to closed or open (the “Blink” button).
It’s fun when you carefully go through what the controls are meant to do. It’s fun when you don’t pay any attention to what the controls are meant to do. Honestly, try it both ways.
It’s also a lot of fun when paired with Dillon Baston’s Emit (from the Ableton/Baston Inspired by Nature Max for Live Pack):
When you are ready for the full walkthrough, here you go:
Currently available from Isotonik, with a discount if you bundle (plus other deals going on there for the holidays):
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Previously, in Mudjaq: