AKAI Fly Tape II

The second plugin in partnership with MSXII Audio x AIR Music Tech and AKAI Professional, Fly Tape II is a new adaptation of the popular tape cassette FX iOS app originally created by our friends at MSXII Audio. With their collaboration and sound design expertise, we’ve developed Fly Tape II to bring that classic tape emulation sound to your DAW or MPC standalone workflow. Add a vintage vibe to your productions with retro sonic textures and colorful saturation on the fly.

Fly Tape II introduces an intuitive, easy-to-explore user interface that features retro button controls and eight independent tape-style modes—with additional sub controls per mode to mangle, stretch, lo-fi, and retro-fly your sound. Built for dynamic changeups and expressive shifts, Fly Tape II invites you to add movement with special sonic moments you can automate or play live.

Crunch your drums, reverse and saturate your mix bus, tape stop your breaks, put your string pads into the vintage realm, or warble and stretch your electric pianos into a perfect fit for your mix. With the addition of an independent NOISE slider, you can bring just the right amount of tape hiss and noise into the overall blend. 
  
Fly Tape II opens a world of creativity with limitless possibilities—all in a performance-ready, studio-grade interface. 

8 Specialized Character Modes of FLY TAPE II 
 
An essential tool for any beatmaker or producer looking to bring a sense of nostalgia to their sound, Fly Tape II has eight distinct modes for dialing in your preferred amount of warmth and texture—each adding a unique tape-style sonic footprint to your sound. 
 
SPEED 
Select from four variable tape speeds to dial in the classic ½, ¼, and additional cassette-style speeds. These variations allow you to create unique time-stretching artifacts and tonal coloration—perfect for crafting a dreamy, nostalgic tone in your tracks. 
 
SATURATION 
Explore one of three powerful overdrive modes: Boost, Amp, and Drive. From subtle harmonic enhancement to tube-style distortion, each option is carefully modeled to deliver the warmth and color of a true analog emulation. 
 
MUTE & REVERSE 
Chop, pause, or flip your audio on the fly. Fly Tape II’s dedicated Mute and Reverse buttons make transitions seamless, allowing you to incorporate elements of suspense, spontaneous breaks, and rhythmic reversals with precision. 
 
WARBLE 
Add movement to your mix with seven expressive variations of wow and flutter. Simulating the gentle imperfections of retro cassette tape, these warble effects bring your sounds to life with randomized amounts of pitch modulation—ideal for vintage synth leads, pads, or lo-fi melodies. 
 
LO-FI 
Choose from eight preset variations, each offering a level of intentionally imperfect and unpolished audio. From dusty cassette hiss to bit reduction, the mellow mood and sounds you craft in this mode will transport you to a simpler time. 
  
BRAKE 
Recreate the sound of tape coming to a physical stop with four variations of tape brake duration. These slowing effects mimic the feel of analog playback halting in real time, making this mode valuable for transitions, breakdowns, DJ-style fades, and any type of dramatic flourish. 

STUTTER 
Slice your audio into rhythmic fragments with options for eight distinct timing functions. This mode encourages experimental chopping to create new sounds, using segmentation to add texture, energy, or syncopation into any loop or track. 

Fly Tape II is designed to support VST 2 and VST3 Plugin hosts as well as full support for MPC standalone and desktop systems running version 2.15.1 (or later). This software requires an internet connection for authorization. You will need to install Akai's MPC desktop software version 2.15.1 or higher to use desktop versions of the plugins.