Dylan Mixer has announced that Tape Filth, a cassette‑flavored Kontakt synth library, is now available for free. It was built from hardware synths recorded to two characterful tape machines. One pass went through a RadioShack CTR‑121 for warm wobble and intimate drift; the other used a Sony BM‑147 courtroom transcriber from 1982 for crunchy, lo‑fi grit.
The custom Kontakt engine keeps things fast and musical, covering dusty pads, lo‑fi keys, gritty textures, and hypnotic arps without getting heavy on CPU.
Cassette Character & Quick Controls
The library ships with four curated source types that run from thick and rounded to delightfully unstable. You can collapse the image to mono for a focused tape core or keep it wide in stereo. The main page offers quick sound-shaping via filter and amp envelope, while a dedicated arp page handles rhythmic motion, chords, and pattern dynamics. Sustain‑pedal logic is baked in, so held chords and arp behavior feel natural, and your last-used settings persist when you reopen the NKI.
Arpeggiator & Playability
A dedicated Arp page handles motion and chords with classic modes (As Played, Up/Down variants, Random, Chord), rates from 1/4 to 1/32 including triplets, and a step‑based velocity lane up to 32 steps. Sustain‑pedal logic keeps held chords and patterns behaving musically, and the instrument remembers your last settings when you reload.
Features
- Four source types: Fat, Fossilized, Blown, and Sawed (sawtooth with a built‑in 7th for stacked chords)
- Dual cassette character: RadioShack CTR‑121 for warm wobble; Sony BM‑147 for crunchy lo‑fi
- Mono/Stereo toggle for instant width control
- Sound shaping: Filter Cutoff/Resonance and amp ADSR
- Effect sends: Reverb and Distortion
- Built‑in Arpeggiator with As Played, Up, Down, Up‑Down, Down‑Up, Random, and Chord modes
- Arp rate from 1/4 to 1/32, including triplets, plus Octaves, Gate, and Swing
- Step‑based Velocity Sequencer up to 32 steps, with pattern‑driven or scaled velocity
- Sustain Pedal logic optimized for Arp interplay
- Persistent settings so envelopes, effects, and Arp patterns reload as you left them
Free Download
Tape Filth can be downloaded for free on the Dylan Mixer website. It requires the Kontakt 8 full version – not compatible with Kontakt Player.
