Wires
Soviet Wire Recorder
Soviet Wire Recorder Echo
Turn the echoes of the past into the music of now
German composer and YouTuber Hainbach opened his treasure chest for us: we are happy to present to you Wires, an accurately modeled and enhanced 1970s Soviet wire recorder.
Made originally for military and secret service use across the Iron Curtain, in the hands of a few avant garde musicians it became a magical lofi-tool and ghostly echo machine. Now this rare and rather finicky to operate piece of hardware is available for the first time as a faithful yet modern plugin. Transform your audio to the world of numbers stations and secret operations, dub out to very unusual echoes or make the most lofi beats to study too.
We took great care to get all the idiosyncratic behaviour exactly right – it reacts dynamically to the input and does stuff to audio that is a completely different texture to magnetic tape. There is a special tone to the hair-thin wire and the vacuum tube output stage of this machine, unheard of anywhere else. The standard way to make a unit such as this music is to put it on an aux channel of a mixer, to turn it into a fixed tempo echo. We offer all the variable time features you want, as well as the option to switch off the rather high noise floor of this machine without sacrificing the rather alive sound.
Wires is available for macOS, Windows, and Linux (VST2, VST3, AU, AAX, CLAP).
It’s also available on the App Store for iOS and iPadOS (AUv3 and Standalone).
Listen to audio demos
Featured in the Soundtrack for Alien: Romulus
Composed by Benjamin Wallfisch
Wire Recorders
Magnetic wire recorders went out of fashion after the advent of magnetic tape, surviving only in special operations such as flight recorders, space flight, or clandestine operations (wearing a wire denotes not the cable but the recorder). The particular model of recorder we modeled, the MN61, comes from East German Army stock – on the reels you could still hear traces of military operations.
Lo-Fi
Who needs tape for lo-fi? This machine is taking the term “lo-fi” to an entirely new and haunting level.
There is a special tone to the hair-thin wire and the vacuum tube output stage of this wire recorder, unheard of anywhere else.
Wires turns the most boring signals into sepia coloured magic.
Hainbach
Based out of Berlin, Germany, electronic music composer and performer Hainbach creates shifting audio landscapes THE WIRE called “One hell of a trip”. He has been fascinated with electronic sounds since he discovered the dial on the radio. Never losing his childhood wonder, he still searches for the sounds in between on modular synths, tape, and test equipment, making even the unmusical “music”. Through his YouTube channel, Hainbach brings experimental music techniques to a wider audience.
Also available on iOS
Wires is available for iPhone and iPad on the App Store, as a AUv3 plugin and Standalone (IAA).
Download on theApp Store
What people think of Wires
AudioThing have done a bang-up job of the very challenging work of modeling non-linear magnetic recording mechanisms.
– Peter Kirn
This is a wild one! Don’t abuse.
Possible side effect: hearing voices.
– Bob Major
It’s like finding that ancient reel of tape in the flea market and being transported back in time.
-Andrew Lagowski
I’ve been struggling to release an EP of some ambient/electronic music but have consistently felt that something was missing. FOUND IT!!!!!
-Danielle O’Hallisey
Wires Demo
Try Wires for free with some limitations: silence for 3 seconds every 45 seconds, saving disabled.
If you like it, you can purchase a license and then authorize the demo version.
macOS
Requires macOS 10.13 or higher
AU, VST2, VST3, AAX, CLAP (64bit only)
Download DemoWindows
Requires Windows 7 or higher
VST2, VST3, AAX, CLAP (64bit only)
Download DemoLinux
Requires Ubuntu 20.04 or newer
VST2, VST3, CLAP (64bit only)
Download DemoSpecifications
- Magnetic Wire Emulation
- Up to 16x Oversample
- Echo Section
- Original Speaker and Mic Emulation
- Start and Stop effects
- Hiss and Motor noise with Envelope
- Brightness and Contrast Controls
Resizable Window - Preset system with randomizer
System Requirements
Windows
Windows 7 – 11
2GHz CPU, 4 GB RAM
VST2, VST3, AAX, CLAP (64-bit)
macOS
macOS 10.13 – macOS 15
2GHz CPU, 4 GB RAM
VST2, VST3, AU, AAX, CLAP (64-bit)
Universal 2 Binary
Linux
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
2GHz CPU, 4 GB RAM
VST2, VST3, CLAP (64-bit)
Changelog
v1.2.5 2025/06/17
- Added: Graphics Controls (Brightness and Contrast)
- Added: macOS 15 Sequoia support
- Improved: CPU and memory usage
v1.2.3 2023/11/08
- Added: AAX Silicon Support
- Added: macOS 14 Sonoma support
- Improved: Graphic memory usage
- Fixed: Compatibility with Windows 7
- Fixed: Latency compensation filtering Dry signal when Oversampled
v1.2.1 2023/01/10
- Added: Linux VST2, VST3, CLAP plugin formats
- Added: macOS 13 Ventura support
- Added: Windows 11 support
- Improved: Minor graphic changes
- Fixed: Compatibility with macOS 10.11 and 10.12
v1.2 2022/06/23
- Added: CLAP plugin format (beta)
- Added: Oversampler up to 16x
- Added: macOS 12 Monterey support
- Improved: CPU and memory usage
- Improved: Graphics and labels
- Fixed: Echo Level pre/post behaviour
- Fixed: Popups not opening correctly with multiple instances in Logic Pro
- Fixed: Compatibility with OS X 10.10 Yosemite
v1.1 2020/12/20
- Added: macOS 11 Big Sur support (Universal Binary)
- Added: Output Trim
- Added: Mono Switch
- Added: Routing Switch (alternative feedback path)
- Added: Envelope Attack and Release Controls
- Added: Option to have the Echo Level pre or post feedback
- Added: Option to enable Accelerated GUI
- Added: 8 new presets
- Fixed: Echo Time not recalling properly in some Hosts (VST2/VST3)
- Fixed: Clear Buffer not working
v1.0 2020/11/05
- Release!
Copy Protection
To activate your plugin you can choose between Online and Offline authorization.
Create an account, log in through the plugin to activate, or download your license file for offline activation.
Activation
1 license up to 3 computers
No iLok
We don’t like dongles
No Internet
No connection required to activate