TugPhonon

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.

{See video at top of page}