# Hear the tape: tape sound

> Hear the tape, inspired by Aggr.trade: buys in the right ear, sells in the left, block trades by their shape. Set the big print value, gate and volume.

Source: https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/tape-sound
Guide 3.4, Reading the market. Intermediate, 6 min read.
Checked with Scalpel 1.12.8 on 2026-10-15. By Scalpel Team.

**In short:**

Tape sound turns the focused desk's trades into sound, so you can hear the flow while your eyes stay on the book: buys play bright notes in your right ear, sells hollow, lower notes in your left, and bigger trades play longer figures, up to a ringing four-note arpeggio for a block. Switch it on with **Tape sound** in the **LEVEL 2** cog, with **Enable audio** and **Sound effects** on in Settings, Audio. Trades are weighed in dollars, with a $1,000 silence threshold and a $20,000 big print by default.

A scalper's eyes are busy: the book, the chart, the order bar. Your ears are free. Tape sound lets you hear the tape speed up, hear which side is taking, and hear a block trade hit without looking at the column. The idea and the sound design are inspired by [Aggr.trade](https://aggr.trade), the open-source trade-flow tool by Tucsky, whose tape sound many traders know.

**Before you start:**

- Speakers or headphones, on Windows or macOS.
- A stock loaded on a desk ([guide 2.1](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/load-symbols-and-desks)), and the tape making sense to you ([guide 3.3](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/read-time-and-sales)).

## What you hear

Every trade is weighed by its dollar value, price x size, so the same settings work on a $2 stock and a $20 one. Then:

| Trade | Sound |
|---|---|
| Under **Sound min value** ($1,000) | Silence. |
| Under **Big print value** ($20,000) | One short blip, a little louder and longer the bigger it is. |
| From the big print value | A two-note figure: up for a buy, down for a sell. |
| From 5 times it ($100,000) | A four-note arpeggio. |
| From 25 times it ($500,000) | The arpeggio with a long, ringing top note. |

- **Buys** are bright notes climbing from a high E, placed in your **right** ear.
- **Sells** are hollow, lower notes falling from B, placed in your **left** ear.
- **Trades between the bid and ask** are silent, because neither side clearly took them.
- **A sweep is one note.** Buys that arrive together across several venues are added up first and play as one, the way one buyer's order would.
- **One clock.** Notes take turns: a calm tape is a steady tick, a busy one speeds up into a roll. If the tape gets more than a second ahead of the sound, small trades are skipped so it never lags the market; big ones always play.

Only the **focused** desk plays, so you always hear the stock your hotkeys trade.

### What the defaults mean on a real stock

| Stock price | Silent below | Blip | Two notes from | Arpeggio from |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $2 | 500 shares | 500 to 9,999 shares | 10,000 shares | 50,000 shares |
| $5 | 200 shares | 200 to 3,999 shares | 4,000 shares | 20,000 shares |
| $10 | 100 shares | 100 to 1,999 shares | 2,000 shares | 10,000 shares |

## Turn it on

### 1. Check Settings, Audio

Open **Settings** (`Ctrl`+`,`), then **Audio**. **Enable audio** and **Sound effects** must both be on, and **Volume** above 0%: at 0% everything is muted. Click **Apply**.

*Screenshot: Settings, Audio: Enable audio and Sound effects, outlined, must be on for tape sound to play.*

Tape sound has its own volume (next steps), so the **Volume** here mainly sets your voice callouts and sound effects.

### 2. Switch on Tape sound in the LEVEL 2 cog

Click the cog in the **LEVEL 2** panel's title bar. Under **Time and sales**, tick **Tape sound**. It applies at once, no **Apply** needed.

*Screenshot: The Time and sales section of the LEVEL 2 cog with Tape sound on and its settings outlined.*

### 3. Set the silence threshold

**Sound min value ($)** is the smallest trade, in dollars, that makes a sound. The default $1,000 lets you hear almost everything on a small cap. If a busy stock becomes a constant buzz, raise it to $2,500 or $5,000. This is separate from the tape's **Display min size**, so you can hear flow you have filtered off the screen.

### 4. Set the big print value

**Big print value ($)** is where a trade stops being a blip and becomes a figure. Set it to what counts as a meaningful order on the stocks you trade: $20,000 suits most $2 to $10 momentum names; on a higher-priced, heavier stock try $50,000 so only real size stands out.

### 5. Set the volume and stereo

**Sound volume** runs from 0 to 100 (default 60). Keep it under your voice callouts, so a fill or stop announcement is never buried. **Stereo: sells left, buys right** is on by default; switch it off if you listen on one earbud, and both sides play in the centre. Stereo is never hard left and right, so one earbud still hears both sides either way.

### 6. Focus the desk you want to hear

Click the desk, or move focus with `Left`, `Right` or `Tab`. The sound follows focus. The first batch of trades after a stock loads is skipped, so loading never blasts a backlog at you.

## How to listen

- **Rhythm first.** A slow, even tick is a quiet stock. A tick that turns into a roll is a crowd arriving.
- **Side second.** A roll in your right ear with rising notes is buyers lifting; in your left with falling notes, sellers hitting.
- **Shape last.** A two-note or four-note figure is a big trade. A run of right-ear figures while price is not moving is a seller absorbing buyers: look at the book for an iceberg ([guide 3.2](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/iceberg-orders)).

Tape sound describes the flow, it does not predict it. Use it to know when to look, then decide from the book and chart.

## What can go wrong

- **No sound at all.** Check **Enable audio** and **Sound effects** in Settings, Audio, the master **Volume** above 0%, **Tape sound** ticked in the cog, and that the desk you expect is focused ([guide 13.14](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/fix-no-sound)).
- **Too much noise.** Raise **Sound min value** first, then **Big print value**.
- **It goes quiet in a fast move.** It is skipping small trades to keep up with the market; the big ones still play.

## Questions

**What is tape sound in Scalpel?**

An audio version of the time and sales tape for the focused desk: buys in the right ear with bright rising notes, sells in the left with lower falling notes, and bigger trades as longer figures. It is inspired by Aggr.trade.

**Why is there no tape sound?**

Tape sound needs Enable audio and Sound effects on in Settings, Audio, the master Volume above 0%, and Tape sound ticked in the LEVEL 2 cog. It plays only the focused desk.

**Can I hear more than one desk at once?**

No. Only the focused desk plays, so the sound always matches the stock your hotkeys trade.

**Does the display min size filter the sound?**

No. Sound min value is its own dollar threshold, separate from the tape's display filter, so you can hear trades you have hidden from the column.

**Why dollars and not shares?**

So the same settings work on any stock. 1,000 shares is $2,000 on a $2 stock and $20,000 on a $20 one; weighing in dollars makes a big order sound big whatever the price.