If you're someone that makes music, it's probably happened to you at least once. You're playing an instrument, making a beat or experimenting with ideas in your DAW, and something brilliant comes out unexpectedly – but you weren't recording.
Once you've hit the big red button, though, sometimes you can't quite recreate the magic of the idea that came out when you least expected it, and the moment is lost forever.
GhostTape is an app for macOS from developer Type 9 that promises to make sure that never happens again. Running in the background, it constantly captures your system audio in a circular buffer that can run anywhere from 1 minute up to an hour, so that no great idea goes unrecorded when inspiration strikes.
Captured audio is stored in your Mac's RAM, and GhostTape won't write to your SSD until you choose to "rescue" a file from the buffer, so the app won't clog up your drive or cause issues like disk thrashing. When you want to retrieve something you've played, the audio is then converted to a WAV file that you can drag-and-drop into your DAW or use elsewhere.
As well as capturing your Mac's entire system output, GhostTape can record through your audio interface, your Mac's internal microphone or isolate audio from specific applications, like Spotify or Safari, with independent buffer lengths for each source.
This time-saving tool solves one of producers’ most common problems with a single keyboard shortcut
The app is intended to be a "set-and-forget" background utility that you never need to think about until you need it. To that end, GhostTape's Haunt function will automatically pause and resume recording from a given source when activated, meaning that if an app is closed or a device is unplugged, you won't need to restart the buffer when it's reopened or reconnected – GhostTape will detect the source and resume the recording from where it left off.
Type 9 claims that GhostTape is "incredibly lightweight" and operates with a "minimal footprint", so it won't eat up your CPU or impact your DAW's performance, despite the fact that it's continuously recording.
In addition to ensuring that you never lose an idea, the makers of GhostTape suggest that the app can help nervous musicians overcome "record button anxiety", the inability to perform at our best that can plague some of us when we know the tape's running.
"With GhostTape, you are always prepared," the press release reads. "You no longer have to manage tracks, arm inputs, or name files before playing. You simply play, and if something great happens, you rescue it from the buffer. It turns the pressure of 'recording' into the freedom of 'performing.'"
"You know how something brilliant usually happens when you’re not recording? We built something that sits quietly in the background and catches everything. No setup, no pressure, just a safety net for the moments you can't plan for."
GhostTape is available now and will set you back $10, with all future updates included. There's a 14-day free trial available too. Find out more on Type 9's website.
