r/tapeloops

The video ad looks pretty authentic, down to some label maker labels on the controls. It looks like something someone might’ve circuitbent in their garage. These product images look AI generated though, and the price is too good to be true. Anyone seen one of these in real life?

Context:

My partner makes tape loop music, but because they’re dextrously challenged, I cut their loops for them.

I cut two-ish foot a loop off an old reel and scotch taped it kinda poorly (there was like, and inch of extra tape on both ends) and we put it on the player to test it out—turns out it was really pretty! Three seconds, it was something like “I’ll always love you and never let you—[replay].” Then I took the loop off the player, cut a straight line over where the scotch tape had been, and re-scotch taped it (just so there’d be no weird little extra ends).

When we put it back on the player and listened, it was an entirely different section of the song—maybe a different song entirely. Still three seconds, same singer, but the instrumentation was different and he’s singing “aaaaaall through the ni-iiiiiiiiight [replay]”

Question:

Is this normal? Or are we in possession of haunted tape? Because it was definitely the same tape loop, we didn’t record anything new over it, all we did was cut less than an inch off both ends. Is that enough to totally change what plays on the tape?

(Full disclosure I freaked out and maybe cried a little, it felt very weird and wrong to like, intimately make and retape a loop only to have the music change entirely (and frankly change to something I liked much less)).