Paper Effects

DEMO

Straight to the heart of the idea.
Nothing in between.

Mar Vista, California

Paper Effects Demo — DAW and hardware device

Download for Mac

Scroll

02.

RECORDINGWITHOUTFRICTION.

A DAW for the moment.

Paper Effects Demo opens and it's ready. No setup. No dialogue boxes. No steps between you and the take.

Twelve tracks. Four buses. By design — limitations that keep you focused on the core of the idea before it has a chance to become a project.

Export and mix it anywhere. Drag a voice memo straight in. Every decision in the room, none of them in a menu.

Paper Effects Demo — full device, Wurlitzer keys

03.

ERASING THE SPACE BETWEENIDEA AND RECORD.

Inspired by the immediacy of vintage reel-to-reel tape machines

and four-track cassettes. The warmth and usability

of TEAC, Tascam, and Yamaha mixers.

Most modern recording software feels like it was built

for the eyes more than the ears.

By engineers, for engineers.

Demo is for artists. Built to keep you in the music,

not distracted by the software.

Built into the app道 · 81 chapters

“Be like the forces of nature: when it blows, there is only wind; when it rains, there is only rain.”

Tao Te Ching · Ch. 23Nothing in between.

Paper Effects Demo — Tao Te Ching reader

When you record, there is only the take.

04.

BUILT TO KEEPYOU IN FLOW.

CLASSIC KEYS

Home-sampled, open-source, and synthesized from scratch. Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Mellotron — the instruments that defined the sound of recorded music. Rare finds from the margins of the era: Siel and Multivox. Plus our own virtual analog synthesizer.

COMPRESSOR

DBX 160 VCA and Teletronix LA-2A optical — modeled from the hardware. The 160 is punchy and hard-knee. The LA-2A runs a full T4B opto-cell emulation with program-dependent release. Both have dry/wet mix.

1073 EQ

Neve 1073-style three-band EQ with transformer saturation. The same character that defined the sound of records in the 60s and 70s — LF, MF, HF shelves, plus a trim and drive.

MODULATION

Vibrato, Tremolo, Phaser, Chorus — and Tapify, inspired by Fairfield Circuitry. Vibrato runs three algorithms: clean digital, Gem (Diamond Vibrato-inspired filtering), and full BBD emulation with companding and saturation.

TAPE · ANALOG · DIGITAL DELAY

Three delay characters in one insert. Tape modeled on the RE-201 and Copicat. Analog adds warmth and drift. Digital stays clean. Tone-filtered feedback across all three.

SPRING REVERB

Three spring tank modellers. The first is built from a forensic extraction of the Fender Deluxe Reverb's Accutronics tank — that bright, dripping splash. More coming.

VARISPEED

Jog the pitch in real time. Three calibrated ranges: TEAC 3340S (±5%), Portastudio (±12%), Tascam 388 (±15%). Classic tape machine feel under your hand.

TAO TE CHING

All 81 chapters, built in. Navigate by jog wheel mid-session — the ancient text the software was written around.

05.

THE KEYS.

A world-class keys engine. Eight instruments. All built in.

200A · Reed Piano

WURLITZER

Reed-based, not tine-based. Thinner and more cutting than the Rhodes. The sound of Supertramp, Stevie Wonder, and every session that needed an edge.

SampledWurlitzer 200A by Greg Sullivan / sfzinstrumentsCC-BY 3.0

06.

FOR MUSICIANS.ONE TOOL.

Paper Effects was founded in Mar Vista, California by a musician who kept running into the same wall: too many steps between picking up an instrument and capturing the take. Every session interrupted by software. Every idea losing a little something by the time you got to record.

Demo is the answer to that problem. The tool that didn't exist — so it got built.

34.0195° N   118.4323° W

Mar Vista, CA

07.

READY WHEN
YOU ARE.

Join the Beta

Full Release — Summer 2026

Mac App · Instant Download · No Subscription

Buy once. Own it forever. Like buying a piece of gear — no recurring fees, no locked features, no expiry date.

Download Now

Questions? Email us — support is always free.
[email protected]