SILT

SILT is a generative tape-loop instrument. Four short melodic loops of different lengths run through a warm tape machine and slowly drift out of phase with each other, so the music writes itself from the phasing — the combination doesn't repeat for minutes. Press play and it settles into gentle, ever-shifting ambient.

The voice is a soft, dark music box, always in a pentatonic scale so it stays consonant. It runs through a full tape path — wow and flutter, hiss and dust, warp dropouts, and a tone that darkens as you age the tape — plus an organic tape echo, a synthesized spring reverb, and field recordings of birds, stream and vinyl to set the weather. A Disintegrate control slowly wears the loops down and regrows them.

The sound engine is algorithmic — synthesis, DSP and music theory — with no AI or machine learning and no generated audio. You steer the mood; the instrument does the drifting.

Key features:
• Generative phasing engine: four coprime tape loops (bass, low, mid, air) drift against each other
• Soft FM music-box voice, always in key (Mood + Root presets)
• Tape character: wow/flutter, dust, warp dropouts, age/tone
• Organic tape echo + synthesized spring reverb, both in the tape path
• Field recordings: birds, stream, vinyl
• Disintegrate: loops wear down and regrow like old tape
• Per-lane level, pan and live meters; Sync to host tempo & transport.

Formats: AU, VST3 and Standalone (macOS, universal Apple Silicon + Intel); VST3 and Standalone (Windows). Try it free in the browser — no download or signup — at https://tunaryinstruments.com/silt/play