Quick Start
Five Minutes to a Tape
Song Pong is a 4-track tape recorder with a drum machine, console-color master, and one-button sharing. You can be recording in under a minute.
Record your first take
- Tap the big red circle at the bottom of the screen. Track 1 arms and starts recording immediately.
- Sing, play, or speak.
- Tap the red circle again to stop. The take commits and Track 1 shows a waveform.
- Tap the red circle once more to record on Track 2. Tape keeps rolling, you overdub.
The first take sets the loop length for the whole tape. Other tracks loop against it.
Record with the drum machine
Easiest way to lay down a beat and a take that line up:
- Tap DRM to start the beat.
- Hit the red record circle and play along.
- Track 1 captures the drums, Track 2 captures your take. When you stop, the drum machine turns off and the recorded drum track on Track 1 takes over playback.
- It almost never records perfectly in sync the first time. Use SHIFT to nudge Track 1 (or Track 2) until the kick lands where it should.
- Once the offset is dialled, every overdub from here on records in sync with the drum track. Set the offset once per tape.
Long-press DRM to open the drum menu, where you change kit, sounds, and beats.
The control bar (the row above the record button)
Seven toggles, two interaction modes. Every effect-style button follows the same rule:
Tap turns the thing on or off. Long-press (hold ~⅓ second) opens its settings.
| Button | Tap | Long-press |
|---|---|---|
| LOOP ALL | Loop every track at once | — |
| SHIFT | Slide takes left/right to line them up | — |
| WARP | Time-stretch a take without changing pitch | — |
| FILTER | Show per-track filter knobs | Bypass all, reset all, copy |
| DRM | Start or stop the beat | Open the drum editor (pattern, kit, morph) |
| FX | Toggle reverb send | Open reverb settings (size, wet/dry) |
| DLY | Toggle tape delay send | Open delay settings (time, feedback, mod, damping) |
The beat keeps running when you close the drum editor, so it doubles as a metronome while you overdub.
Per-track controls (each column)
- Fader: drag the handle up/down to set track volume. The taper feels like a real mixer.
- Pan zone (bottom third of the column): press and hold, slide left/right to pan.
- Tap a column: arm that track for the next take.
- Bank swipe: swipe left/right across the tracks to flip between two banks of four.
The top bar
| LINK | Upload the current tape and copy a shareable URL to the clipboard. Send it to a friend, they open the link in Song Pong, lay a take, send it back. | |
| SHARE | Render the mix to a stereo file. Goes to the iOS share sheet (camera roll, Messages, Files). | |
| TAPES | Switch to another tape. Tapes are saved automatically. | |
| NEW | Start a fresh tape. | |
Share the tape
- Tap LINK. Song Pong uploads the tape bundle and copies a
songpong.app/p/…URL. - Paste it into Messages or wherever.
- When your friend opens it in Song Pong, they get an editable copy of your tape, ready to overdub on.
Sharing is opt-in. Nothing leaves your device unless you tap LINK. Links are random 22-character tokens, unlisted, and only the people you send them to will find them.
Cheat sheet
- Red circle = record. Tap again to stop. Tap again to move to the next track.
- Anything on the control bar: tap to toggle, long-press for settings.
- Drums and effects keep running when their panels close. They behave like real outboard.
- The first take defines the loop. Plan your tempo before you hit record on Track 1.