Free tape stop plugins, and how the effect works

What a tape stop sounds like

Here's a four-bar loop dry, then with a stop at the end of bar 2 and another over bar 4. The stops are the same length each time and only their shape changes: linear, Drift, Brake, and one that carries on into reverse.

How the tape stop effect works

The sound comes from tape and vinyl. When a tape machine's motor cuts out with the tape still against the playback head, or a turntable is switched off with the needle down, the music doesn't end straight away. It slows down, and because pitch follows speed, it sinks lower and lower until there's nothing left.

A plugin does the same thing to the audio passing through it. It keeps the last few seconds in memory and reads them back slower and slower, following a curve from full speed down to zero. Three settings shape the result.

Stop time

How long the slowdown takes. Short stops of an eighth or a quarter note work as fills. A stop of a bar or two is the long wind-down before a drop. Most tape stop plugins can set the time in beats as well as seconds, which is what makes a stop end exactly on a bar line.

Curve

The shape of the slowdown, and the biggest difference between the clips above. A linear stop loses speed evenly. A stop that drops fast and then lingers at low speed sounds like a motor that's lost power, with a long low growl at the end. A stop that holds its speed and then gives way all at once sounds like a hand on the reel. simpleTapeStop calls those two ends Drift and Brake.

Start

While the tape is slowing down it plays less music than is coming in, so by the time it stops it's behind your track. A plugin that started again from where it left off would stay late. So the usual design skips ahead to the live audio as the tape spins back up, and the bars you stopped over are never heard. The spin-up can be instant, or it can rise in pitch over a beat or two as a lead-in to the next section.

Free tape stop plugins

simpleTapeStop

My own plugin. One key stops the tape and starts it again. The stop and the start each take up to 8 seconds, or a note length from 1/32 to 4 bars with Sync on. Curve runs from Drift to Brake. With Reverse on, a stop carries on through a standstill into playing backwards, and letting go puts you back in time with the track.

• Good for: stops that land on an exact beat. You can click the key, hold a MIDI note or automate it, and it comes as VST3, AU, CLAP and LV2 with no account and no installer app.
• Catch: it only does the stop. There's no tape noise, wobble or saturation, and no AAX version for Pro Tools. Ableton Live doesn't send MIDI to effects, so there you automate the Stop parameter.

Try it in your browser and download it.

Kilohearts Tape Stop

One of Kilohearts' free effects, with four controls: a Play button, Stop Time, Start Time and Curve. It also loads as a Snapin inside their Phase Plant, Multipass and Snap Heap.

• Good for: Pro Tools, since it's the only free one here with an AAX version, and anyone already using Kilohearts plugins.
• Catch: you need a Kilohearts account and their installer to get it, and there's no Linux version.

Get it from Kilohearts.

cStop

An open-source tape stop by Cal Goheen, at version 2.0.1. You stop and start it by automating its Mode parameter, and an Auto Bypass option takes it out of the signal while the tape is running.

• Good for: a small free plugin whose code you can read, as VST3, AU and CLAP on Windows and Mac.
• Catch: a few of its settings, like the fade times, are only in your DAW's parameter list and not on the plugin's own window yet.

Get it from its GitHub page.

Glitch 2

illformed's sequenced glitch plugin, now free. Tape Stop is one of the effects you paint onto the steps of its sequencer, next to retrigger, reverse, stretcher and gater.

• Good for: stops that repeat at the same place in a pattern, mixed with other glitch edits, on Windows, Mac and Linux.
• Catch: it's a whole sequencer, so a single stop at the end of a phrase takes more setup than in a plugin made for it. No AAX.

Get it from illformed.

simpleStutter

My other free plugin. Tape stop and spin up are two of the blocks you draw on its 16-step grid, so a stop can come round every bar or sit inside a pattern with stutters, half time and gates.

• Good for: a stop that's part of a repeating pattern.
• Catch: for one stop at the end of a phrase, simpleTapeStop is less to set up.

Tape Fiasco

A free tape-style multi-effect by Jonas Eriksson. Its Varispeed section does tape stops with a spin-up, along with wow, flutter and scratching, so the stop comes with a worn tape sound around it. The free version is 1.4.9, as VST3 on Windows and VST3 or AU on Mac. Tape Fiasco 2 is a separate, newer plugin and isn't free. Get it from Jonas Eriksson's site.

Nimble Tapestop

A name-your-price plugin on itch.io, as 64-bit VST3 on Windows and Mac and AU on Mac. It syncs to quarter notes or milliseconds, triggers from MIDI and has a curve control. Its developer says it hasn't been maintained for years, so try it before you rely on it. Get it from its itch.io page.

Tape stop without a plugin

Logic Pro

Logic has two ways built in. On an audio region, drag a fade-out with the Fade tool, then set the fade's type to Slow Down in the Region inspector. The region now slows to a stop over the length of the fade. A fade-in set to Speed Up does the spin-up. For a whole track or the mix, Remix FX has a Tape Stop button that slows the sound while you hold it. The fades only work on audio regions, so a software instrument track needs bouncing first, or a plugin.

Ableton Live

Live has no tape stop device. The usual workaround is to set the clip's warp mode to Re-Pitch, so its pitch follows the tempo, and automate the song tempo down to its lowest value at the end of the phrase. That slows the whole set, so people record the result to a new audio track and put the tempo back. A plugin on the track gets there in one step, and in Live you trigger it with automation.

FL Studio

Gross Beat does tape stops with its time curves. Its presets include turntable-style stops, and you can draw your own curve. It comes with the Signature Bundle and above, and runs as a demo in the cheaper editions. In any edition, a VST3 tape stop plugin in a mixer slot works too, and you can trigger it from the piano roll or with an automation clip.

If you'd pay

Yum Audio's LoFi Tapestop adds tape character to the stop, with Flux, Muffle and Dust controls, and has a 14-day trial. TapeFi's STOP launched free in September 2025 and was $10 when I checked. ShaperBox's TimeShaper and Gross Beat can draw a stop as part of a bigger time effect.

Common questions

Is there a free tape stop plugin?

Yes. simpleTapeStop is free with no account, as VST3 and CLAP on Windows, Mac and Linux, AU on Mac and LV2 on Linux. Kilohearts Tape Stop is free with an account, and cStop is free and open source.

How do I make a tape stop land on the beat?

Set the stop time in beats with tempo sync, and start the stop that many beats before the bar line. A one-beat stop starts on beat 4. A MIDI note or an automation point starts it more exactly than a mouse click.

Is a tape stop the same as a vinyl stop?

It's the same effect. Both are playback slowing to a standstill with the pitch falling, and plugins use the two names for the same thing.

Does Ableton Live have a tape stop effect?

Not as a device. The usual workaround is a clip in Re-Pitch warp mode with the song tempo automated down, recorded to a new track. A free tape stop plugin on the track does it in one step.

Does dBlue TapeStop still work?

Only in a 32-bit Windows host or through a bridge. illformed still offers it in a pack of its old plugins, as a 32-bit VST2 for Windows with no Mac or Linux version. Its newer free plugin, Glitch 2, is 64-bit and has a tape stop effect.

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