Cassette Roads is a free VST electric piano plugin that sounds like it was recorded on an ‘80s tape deck in your bedroom

(Image credit: SampleScience)

Imagine an electric piano that’s been recorded to a crackly old cassette tape and you’ve pretty much nailed Cassette Roads, a new free lo-fi keyboard plugin from SampleScience.

Behind the scenes there are 65MB of samples, while controls include a muli-LFO, a room reverb, a high-pass/low-pass filter and amplitude range controls. There are also three voice modes: polyphonic, monophonic and legato.

Cassette Roads runs as a VST/AU plugin on PC and Mac. You can download it for free, and there’s also a donationware option. Go and grab it on the SampleScience website.

I’m the Deputy Editor of MusicRadar, having worked on the site since its launch in 2007. I previously spent eight years working on our sister magazine, Computer Music. I’ve been playing the piano, gigging in bands and failing to finish tracks at home for more than 30 years, 24 of which I’ve also spent writing about music and the ever-changing technology used to make it.