Scene
Jazz
Lead instrument
Tape speed
Extras
Shortcuts (click the picture first): F full screen · Space pause · S jazz on or off · M change the jazz mood · L change the lead instrument · N next scene · V vintage tape sound · C clock · Esc leave full screen. Double-click the picture to go full screen.
🔒 Runs entirely in your browser, and keeps working offline once it has loaded. No account, nothing to install — even the jazz is played live on your device.
How to use it
Press Play the tape, then Go full screen. The controls fade away after a few seconds and the mouse pointer hides, leaving just the deck. Move the mouse or tap the screen to bring the controls back, and press Esc to leave full screen.
It behaves like the real thing. The full reel on the left turns slowly and speeds up as it empties, the take-up reel on the right slows as it fills, and the tape runs past the erase, record and play heads and between the capstan and pinch roller. The VU needles follow the music itself, left and right. A full reel plays for about 67 minutes at 7½ ips. When it runs out the deck rewinds, which takes about two minutes, just like the real thing, and the band waits for it before starting again. 15 ips runs the tape twice as fast (and the reels spin twice as quickly); Vintage tape sound adds the warmth, the slight wobble and the faint hiss of an old machine. Pick Studio, a deck on the shelf at home, or a Close-up of the reels and heads.
About the jazz
The music isn’t a recording. A small band is played live in your browser: a walking double bass, ride cymbal and hi-hat (soft brushes for the ballad), electric-piano chords and a lead instrument that improvises now and then: a breathy saxophone, a flute or a vibraphone (or none, for just the rhythm section). It plays common jazz chord changes in a new key each time round, and every bass line, chord rhythm and vibraphone phrase is chosen as it goes, so it never repeats exactly. Pick Ballad for late at night, Easy swing for the background, or Bright when you want a lift, and choose the lead that suits the room. Because it’s generated rather than recorded, there’s no third-party track behind it, and we’re happy for you to play it in a shop, an office or on a stream.
Good places to put it
- A TV at a dinner party, in a home bar or a listening room. Open the page in the TV’s browser, or cast a Chrome tab, and go full screen.
- A shop, café or waiting room, with the jazz on low.
- A stream or a listening party. Press Copy picture-only link and use it as a browser source in OBS. It opens straight into the picture with no buttons or text (press Esc to get back to the page).
- A second monitor while you work, with the jazz quietly underneath.