This article was published on February 8, 2011

TapeDeck: A cool-looking retro audio recorder for Mac


TapeDeck: A cool-looking retro audio recorder for Mac

TapeDeck logoTapeDeck is a quick loading cool-looking audio recorder for Mac. The user-interface mimics an old school tape deck (sound effects and all) as do the controls, and it offers a speedy alternative to firing up your robust audio production software.

Say you’re playing around on the guitar and come up with a great hook, instead of messing around with Logic Pro, just load a new tape into TapeDeck and start recording in seconds. TapeDeck also supports numerous channels that allow users to record using microphones and instruments but it’s not just for music, it can be used to record anything.

The app uses Apple’s Lossless Audio Codec, a codec developed for lossless data compression of digital music. The codec enables TapeDeck to ensure the recordings are high-quality, making the files worthy of later import to software like Garage Band.

TapeDeck

Digitizing old tapes and vinyls is another possibility with TapeDeck, and with its newest update, users can now listen and monitor the tape while it’s recording. There are a series of audio formats that TapeDeck exports to including WAV, MP3 and AIFF. By far the coolest way to export is within TapeDeck’s animated YouTube exporter.

After recording an audio clip or tune, TapeDeck will export the file to YouTube directly within the app, and best of all, your audio file will include an animation of a retro-style tape playing within the video player.

TapeDeck is extremely simple to use and it’s ideal for non-tech savvy folks that require a really simple tool to record. If you’ve used a tape deck in the past, you already know how to use this software. The app is available for $24.99 at the Mac App Store. We included TapeDeck in a roundup last month titled 10 great Mac App Store downloads to try first.

Get the TNW newsletter

Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.