Portatron tape loop synth plugin interface by Robotic Bean

Robotic Bean·Virtual InstrumentsFree trial

Portatron: Tape Loop Instrument by Robotic Bean Free Download

Rated 4.7/5 on Plugin Boutique (114 ratings)

Portatron is a tape loop instrument plugin by Robotic Bean that plays and records looping samples through four simulated cassette tracks, with built-in lofi tape effects. It runs as a VST3, AU or AAX plugin on Windows and macOS.

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01Overview

Portatron brings the sound of vintage four-track cassette recording into a modern DAW. You can play looping samples in sync with your project's transport, or trigger them from a MIDI keyboard as a monophonic instrument. Each of the four tracks has its own EQ, Drive, Level and Pan, with shared delay and reverb sends. Tape effects such as Noise, Dropouts, Wobble and Tape Speed shape the character of every loop.

Best for

Lofi sample loops
Tape-style sound design
Ambient textures
Sampled vocal chops
Hip-hop beat production
Field recording processing

Developer: Robotic Bean
Category: Virtual Instruments
Store: Plugin Boutique

02Key features

What you get

Four sample playback tracks with independent EQ, Drive, Level and Pan
Loops synchronized to DAW transport or played as a monophonic instrument
Record audio from your DAW onto up to four tape tracks
Adjustable Tape Speed, Noise, Dropouts, Wobble and start/stop Lag
Normal and Chrome tape types with tape saturation Drive
Tape Editor for resizing, moving, looping, repitching, fading and reversing samples
Delay and Reverb send effects with multitrack and effects outputs
MIDI Learn for all knobs and faders

03In depth

Lofi Tape Sound and Playback Modes

Portatron gives you direct control over the cassette sound. Tape Speed ranges from 0 to 200 percent, and Noise, Dropouts, Wobble and start and stop Lag can each be adjusted. You can choose Normal or Chrome tape types and add Drive to recreate tape saturation.

The instrument offers three playback modes. Drone plays along with the DAW transport. Semi-synced loops restart every 1, 2 or 4 bars. A monophonic Mellotron-style mode lets you play the samples from a MIDI keyboard.

Recording Onto Tape and Sample Library

Portatron can record any audio signal from your DAW straight onto its tape tracks, up to all four at once depending on your host. Arming, monitoring and recording happen inside the plugin, and each take is saved to disk as its own file.

The included library holds hundreds of pre-recorded samples, including piano, vibraphone, vocals and synths, plus sources such as hydrophones and shortwave radio. The Portapack manager lets you browse, download and add sound bank expansions, and point Portatron at folders on an external drive.

04Specs