TugPhonon
39 MB
TugPhonon — Vintage Rotating Tape Delay Plugin
TugPhonon simulates a rotating magnetic disk with 8 playback heads — a concept pioneered by Pierre Schaeffer and Jacques Poullin in the early 1950s. Audio is continuously written onto a virtual tape loop. The 8 heads read back from different positions on that loop simultaneously, each with its own filter, effects chain, and spatial placement. The result is somewhere between a tape delay, a granular texture machine, and a spectral decomposition tool.
Version 1.3.0. DEMOS
A digital recreation of the Poullin / Schaeffer phonogène, 1951
TugPhonon is a modern software recreation of the legendary rotating magnetic disk delay machines pioneered by Jacques Poullin and Pierre Schaeffer at GRM Paris in 1951. This is not a simple delay — it is a sound transformation instrument.
A virtual magnetic disk spins continuously. Eight independent playback heads are positioned around it, each reading from a different point in time. The result is a rich, swirling web of echoes, textures, and timbres that no conventional delay can produce.
Features
• 8 independent playback heads — each with its own delay position, volume, pan, and feedback
• Per-head band-pass filter — sculpt the tone of each echo independently
• Physical modelling resonators per head — choose from 8 resonator types:
Karplus-Strong, Comb, Bell, Pipe, Marimba, Beam, and Membrane
(based on real acoustic physics: Bessel functions, Euler-Bernoulli beam theory, measured bell partial ratios)
• Host-sync or free-running loop — from 1/128 triplet to double whole note
• Modulation section — LFO with multiple waveforms applied to head positions
• Animated disk visualizer — see the virtual disk and heads in real time
• Preset system — save, load, and delete your own presets
• AU and VST3 — Apple Silicon native (arm64), macOS 12+
• Signed and notarized by Apple
What is TugPhonon?
TugPhonon simulates a rotating magnetic disk with 8 playback heads — a concept pioneered by Pierre Schaeffer and Jacques Poullin in the early 1950s. Audio is continuously written onto a virtual tape loop. The 8 heads read back from different positions on that loop simultaneously, each with its own filter, effects chain, and spatial placement. The result is somewhere between a tape delay, a granular texture machine, and a spectral decomposition tool.
TugPhonon.1.3.0 ( 43 MB )
