Bent Spool
Bent Spool: tremolo, note repeat, and fragment looping effect flavored by drive, wobbling, and worn-tape character.
Windows (VST3, Standalone) and macOS (VST3, AU, AAX, and Standalone): $29 for the first 4 weeks (through November 1), regular $39 · iPhone and iPad: Free, $9.99 unlocks everything
iPhone and iPad: coming soon to the App StoreMac and Windows plugin
Hear it
TREM mode with a sharp envelope creating rhythmic plucks.
REPEAT mode with chaos and wear turned up, creating octave crystals.
LOOPS mode with a long loop time and reach turned up so fragments return pitched up and down and reversed.
LOOPS mode with a healthy dose of fuzz, medium loop lengths and chaos turned up.
What it does
- TREM
- Give your sounds a classic tremolo sound, with volume shapes from a rounded sine through triangle and rising sawtooth to a hard square gate. Run it free or synced to your host tempo. STEREO PHASE offsets the two channels creating mild stereo motion all the way to a hard left/right alternation.
- REPEAT
- Repeat notes with up to 64 pitched copies. Five pitch shifting levels from two octaves down to two octaves up, independent decay and a separate feedback path for longer, evolving tails. CHAOS throws octave jumps into the pattern at higher settings.
- LOOPS
- Play up to six overlapping fragments of what you just played, spread across pitch, reverse playback, reading position and the stereo field. It's possible to freeze a phrase and play over it, or let LOOPS keep drawing from everything you've recently sent it.
- WEAR and drive
- WEAR layers tape wear, magnetic saturation, head coloration and digital crush after whichever mode is running. Drive your input through overdrive for a softer clipped voice, or FUZZ for harder clipping with its own sputtering decay.
Why I made it
The inspiration for Bent Spool comes from experimental musicians' use of hand-spliced tape, 60s psych bands' fuzz-soaked wobbles, and modern folk singers' creation of unexpected sonic soundscapes to accompany their acoustic songs. It brings all the broken wobbles, distortion, pitch shifting, and parameter modulation you could hope for.
Details
| Modes | TREM, REPEAT, and LOOPS, with OD or FUZZ input drive |
|---|---|
| Presets | 48 factory presets: 10 TREM, 15 REPEAT, 15 LOOPS, 8 Fuzz Tremolo |
| iPhone and iPad | standalone app and AUv3. Free: TREM in full with OD and 10 presets. One $9.99 unlock opens REPEAT, LOOPS, FUZZ, the remaining presets and preset saving. No subscription. No Mac version through the App Store. |
| macOS | AU, VST3, AAX, and standalone. Version 1.0.2. |
| Windows | VST3 and standalone, Windows 10/11, 64-bit. Version 1.0.2. No AAX on Windows. |
| Mac and Windows price | $29 for the first 4 weeks (through November 1), regular $39. One purchase, 3 activations. Covers Mac and Windows. Separate from the iPhone and iPad unlock. |
| Mac and Windows demo | It plays normally, and after every 60 seconds of audio the output goes silent for 1 second. A DEMO banner on the panel opens activation or purchase. |