wav2tapsp

Converts WAV files (recordings of Commodore 64 cassette tapes) into C64 .tap files an emulator can read.

Hardly unique, but also somewhat easier to experiment with than having to hack ancient C code...

Install

$ pip install .

or, once released, pip install wav2tapsp.

Command line

$ wav2tapsp recording.wav        # writes recording.tap
$ wav2tapsp --cpufreq 1022727 recording.wav   # NTSC

(python -m wav2tapsp recording.wav works too.)

Library

import scipy.io.wavfile
import wav2tapsp

sr, samples = scipy.io.wavfile.read('recording.wav')
tap_bytes = wav2tapsp.wav_to_tap(samples, sr)          # bytes of a .tap file
pulses = wav2tapsp.wav_to_pulses(samples, sr)          # raw TAP pulse lengths

It works by finding rising zero crossings in the audio and emitting the time between them as TAP pulse lengths (CPU cycles / 8).

C64 tape formats

The package can synthesise and decode real C64 tape formats end to end (used by the tests, and handy for generating test tapes):

• Standard ROM / Kernal loader — three pulse lengths, two pulses per bit, odd parity, per-block checksum, two block copies. c64tape.py.

• Fast / turbo loaders — two pulse lengths, one pulse per bit (a short pulse for 0, a long pulse for 1). formats.py models the pulse-timing scheme of several real loaders using their documented pulse widths:

  Loader	short / long pulse (TAP, cycles)	reference
  Firebird T1	$44 / $7E (544 / 1008)	FinalTAP ft[]
  Novaload	$24 / $56 (288 / 688)	FinalTAP docs
  Freeload	$24 / $42 (288 / 528)	FinalTAP docs
  Turbo Tape 250	$1A / $28 (208 / 320)	FinalTAP docs / c64-wiki
  Turrican	$1B / $27 (216 / 312)	FinalTAP ft[]

References: the TAP format (pulse byte = CPU cycles / 8), PAL/NTSC CPU clocks (985248 / 1022727 Hz), the ROM loader timing ($30/$42/$56), and the FinalTAP loader database (per-loader pulse widths, the de-facto reference).

Testing

Tests run in CI across Python 3.10–3.13. To run them yourself:

$ pip install -e .[test]
$ pytest -v

The headline test is a full, emulator-free round trip that proves wav2tapsp preserves tape timing well enough to recover the original program:

PRG  ->  TAP  ->  WAV  --(wav2tapsp)-->  TAP  ->  PRG

A real C64 BASIC program is generated, encoded as a .tap, rendered to a .wav, run back through wav2tapsp, and decoded; the recovered PRG must be byte-identical to the original and still a structurally valid, runnable BASIC program. The same round trip runs for every fast-loader format above.

Minimum sample rate and resolution, from first principles

wav2tapsp recovers a pulse by counting samples between rising zero crossings: recovered_cycles = Δsamples × cpufreq / SR. Two bounds follow (derived in analysis.py, checked per format in the tests):

• Sample rate. A pulse is one wave cycle of frequency cpufreq / pulse, so representing the shortest pulse needs SR ≥ 2·cpufreq/short (Nyquist). To keep a pulse on the correct side of the short/long threshold despite ±2 samples of crossing jitter needs SR > 4·cpufreq/gap, where gap is the cycle distance between the two pulse widths. The reliable minimum is 2 × max(...). Because gap dominates, the requirement scales like 1/gap — faster loaders need proportionally higher sample rates (PAL, safety ×2):

  Loader	gap (cycles)	reliable min sample rate
  Firebird T1	464	~17.0 kHz
  Novaload	400	~19.7 kHz
  Freeload	240	~32.8 kHz
  C64 ROM	144	~54.7 kHz
  Turbo Tape 250	112	~70.4 kHz
  Turrican	96	~82.1 kHz

  The tests confirm each loader fails below Nyquist and decodes at its reliable rate, and that the measured minimum is bracketed between the two.

• Resolution (bit depth). Zero-crossing detection depends only on the sign of the signal, so one bit (the sign) is enough for a clean recording; amplitude resolution barely matters. The tests verify the round trip survives 1-bit quantisation of a sine wave for every loader. Sample rate, not bit depth, is the real constraint.

Layout

• src/wav2tapsp/convert.py — the WAV → TAP converter (the tool).
• src/wav2tapsp/c64tape.py — standard ROM tape codec, PRG/BASIC helpers, WAV synthesis.
• src/wav2tapsp/formats.py — fast/turbo loader registry and codec.
• src/wav2tapsp/analysis.py — first-principles sample-rate/resolution bounds.