Kickstarter Success For Tape! - The Pocket Audio Sketchbook

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Bedtime Company launched a Kickstarter for tape! - the pocket audio sketchbook, which quickly surpassed its US$50,000 goal. According to Bedtime Company, tape! is a versatile, portable audio tool designed to be a travel companion, studio gear, and creative canvas all in one. It blends recording with creative sound manipulation and features four asynchronous “tape heads” for recording “happy accidents.”
Tape! is not just compact, but also very powerful and packs many features. These include asynchronous playback at different speeds and directions per track and the ability for each track to loop over its own section or overlap with other tracks. Bedtime Company also took inspiration from classic tape machines and designed tape! To allow speed adjustments during both recording and playback. Data is stored on virtual “tapes” with adjustable lengths of up to 45 minutes and users can even spice up their sound with various tape types with distinctive sound characters. There’s also plenty of space for experiments thanks to 32GB of built-in storage, which allows for about 23 hours of recording.
Other highlights include the ability to infinitely record over existing material, adjust feedback amounts, or bounce existing tracks on neighbor tape heads. Tape! even has built-in effects like delay, filters, and modulation. While it’s not designed to replace high-end field recording equipment tape! does have built-in MEMS microphones for high SNR audio and is capable of capturing wide stereo fields.
In terms of design tape! has a high-quality, space-grade milled aluminum enclosure and is powered by a Li-Polymer batter for up to 8 hours of use on a single charge. Bedtime Company has stated that more modes for tape! is also on their roadmap, such as a portastudio mode for more classical composing approaches, a granular playback engine, internal synthesizers, and even games.
According to the Kickstarter page Bedtime Company wanted to launch on Kickstarter with more than just a concept or eye-catching renders. This means that tape! Is a nearly finished and fully functional device. The only thing left before mass production is mechanical component testing, bill of materials finalization, production factory selection, packaging design, and the creation of tutorials and the user manual. The company also plans to open source firmware after the first batches of tape! Are shipped. The first quarter of 2025 will be spent on manufacturing preparation with manufacturing launching in May 2025 and the first batches getting shipped to backers in the summer of 2025.
The early bird tier of tape! is no longer available, but those interested in backing the project can still do so for $499, which will get them their own tape! when it launches. For more information or to make a pledge, visit the official Kickstarter page (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bedtimecompany/tape-the-pocket-audio-sketchbook).