A tape-loop is a closed magnetic tape path with record and playback heads spaced along the loop, driven by a capstan motor at constant speed, so the signal recorded at one head is replayed after a fixed mechanical delay determined by head spacing and tape speed. Parameters: loop length, tape speed, head spacing, feedback amount, bias current. Mechanism of persistence: the loop persists as physical tape, capstans, heads, and electronics, and as an emulation model in digital plugins that replicate tape saturation, wow/flutter, and head spacing. [formal: tape-loop | substrate: matter | horizon: a life | explicit: yes | epoch: 0.01]
Accepted ontology entry
tape-loop
A tape-loop is a closed magnetic tape path with record and playback heads spaced along the loop, driven by a capstan motor at constant speed, so the signal recorded at one head is replayed after a fixed mechanical delay determined by head…
Definition
Why it is in scope
A human-made mechanical audio delay mechanism using a continuous magnetic tape loop driven by capstans, built to persist as a studio effect and hardware component.
Names and aliases
- tape-loopen · CANONICAL
Relations from this entry
- delayINSTANCE_OF →
tape-loop is a specific kind of audio delay effect: the original tape delay uses a loop of magnetic tape to create echoes. An engineer calls tape-loop 'a type of delay.' Files against nearest kind.
- delay-lineINSTANCE_OF →
A tape loop IS a delay line: a signal storage-and-retrieval construct whose copy is released after a controlled offset, with the offset set physically by head spacing and tape speed (delay time = spacing/speed). Storage depth = loop length. The nearest kind is delay-line, not delay (delay is the phenomenon; delay-line is the device kind). Pinned sense: the physical loop apparatus, per its accepted scope.
Relations to this entry
- tape-delay← DEPENDS_ON
Tape delay produces echoes by recording onto a moving magnetic tape loop and playing it back after mechanical delay. Remove the tape-loop mechanism and the delay apparatus has no medium to record/playback on; the effect stops operating.
Record identity
- Created
- Sep 8, 2026, 11:15 AM UTC
- Content hash
- 58f4f83a9160a437a5a0164f38dc815e826c16e694ce348c2a95971539a8ee88