Tapegrade

Tapegrade is a cassette-style warble and degradation effect for the Workshop Computer platform.

It turns a mono input signal into a wide stereo tape texture using wow, flutter, saturation, hiss, and crackle.

Designed for everything from subtle tape movement to heavily damaged cassette sounds.

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Features

• Mono input → stereo output
• Cassette wow and flutter
• Tape-style saturation
• Hiss and crackle degradation
• Continuous tape wear morphing
• CV modulation support
• Stereo tape movement
• Pulse-controlled tape damage bursts
• Rhythmic crackle injection
• CV passthrough attenuation outputs

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Inputs

Audio In 1

Main mono audio input.

Tapegrade is designed for mono input only.

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Audio In 2

Tape-condition modulation input.

Use audio or CV signals to continuously morph between:

• clean tape
• old tape
• damaged tape

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CV1

Modulates tape depth.

Controls the amount of wow and pitch movement.

Audio rate around C3 encouraged

Also routed to CV Out 1 through the X knob attenuator.

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CV2

Modulates instability.

Controls flutter speed and transport agitation.

Audio rate around C3 encouraged

Also routed to CV Out 2 through the Y knob attenuator.

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Pulse In 1

Tape damage burst trigger.

Each rising edge briefly forces the tape into a heavily degraded state.

Recommend high rate triggers!

Could be useful for rhythmic tape-drop effects and transient degradation bursts.

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Pulse In 2

Crackle gate input.

While high, Pulse In 2 forces strong crackle generation regardless of tape condition.

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Outputs

Audio Out 1 / 2

Stereo cassette-processed output.

Stereo width is generated internally using decorrelated wow/flutter modulation.

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CV Out 1

CV1 passthrough output scaled by the X knob.

Functions as a CV attenuator output.

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CV Out 2

CV2 passthrough output scaled by the Y knob.

Functions as a CV attenuator output.

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Controls

Main

Wet/dry mix.

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X

Tape depth.

Higher settings increase cassette wobble and pitch instability.

Also controls attenuation amount for CV Out 1.

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Y

Instability amount.

Higher settings create rougher and faster tape movement.

Also controls attenuation amount for CV Out 2.

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Switch Modes

Up — Clean

Bright and stable cassette response.

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Middle — Old

Darker tone with moderate hiss and instability.

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Down — Damaged

Heavy degradation with strong hiss, crackle, and unstable tape behaviour.

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Notes

• Mono input only
• Stereo image is generated internally
• Audio-rate modulation supported on Audio In 2
• Pulse inputs can be clocked or triggered rhythmically
• CV outputs operate independently from the audio path
• Optimised for Workshop Computer hardware