Re: Reel-to-reel on //e?

[Rubywand <rubywand@swbell.net>]

Brian Hammack wrote:
> 
> Okay, this is gonna seem really geeky but I'm serious about this!
> 
> In the beginning, the Apple ][ and ][+ (and they left the connections
> in the //e) used an audiocassette tape drive as a device.  At 30 I have
> never actually played Lemonade Stand by that means but did once see a
> system so equipped in a thriftstore.  :)  Ahh, our glorious past...
> 
> I was thinking as I found this reel-to-reel tape in the alley behind
> the U-Haul that it'd be pretty wild to use a reel-to-reel player as a
> device.  At the moment I have an unenhanced //e with the Duodisk card
> yanked :) and a mono-plug-to-mono-plug cord between the jacks on the
> back of the //e and my "portable" (30 pounds) tape player.

     Sounds like you found an old Sony TC-260.

>  Using the
> SAVE command I can record a program to tape, but I can't seem to get
> the program to LOAD up.  I've fiddled with the volume and tone.

     The problem could be loss of treble. Old reel-to-reel decks tended
to be stashed away or dumped when their heads went bad and the high
frequencies cratered.

     Check the record/play head for wear-- like a tape-width 'slot' cut
into the face. Also, check for gunk build-up. Sometimes, you can reclaim
high freq response by increasing tension in the pad which presses the
tape against the head. 


> It'd
> be nice if the Apple shared a trait found in Commodores and displayed
> something like "Found program, loading..." so I'd be able to follow.
>

     The regular Apple Tape read does have something like a "Found"
indicator. When it thinks it has found a file start, a flashing cursor
appears in the upper right of the screen. During the read, the cursor
changes rapidly to reflect the bytes being read.

     So, if you get a few seconds past the start of a file and nothing
is happening, you know to rewind, make adjustments, and try again.   

 
> My question is, was there something special about the Apple tape
> recorders? Less feedback, higher output volume or lower input volume
>

     We used 3-4 different portable cassette recorders, including $24
cheapos. There doesn't seem to be any requirement for exceptional
quality. One thing: the recorder does need to be reasonably stable in
terms of speed-- if recordings clearly have a 'warble' sound, you are
likely to have problems.


> (what I've saved to reel-to-reel as well as to a cassette recorder is
> not very loud IMHO)?  Do you have to have BOTH jacks filled at the same
> time (I've been moving 1 cable between a2in-tapeout and a2out-tapein)?
>

     There was a problem, at least with some machines, when both cables
were attached at once-- maybe positive feedback inside the recorder. 

     If you send output from the recorder's "Spkr" jack, the cable
should have a load across it-- say about 22 Ohms-- to take the place of
the recorder's speaker and prevent serious distortion.

     The cable going from the Apple's output to the recorder's Input
should not be loaded with a resistor. Usually, too, you want to go in
through a 'Line' input. It is too easy to overload a microphone input
and get distortion.

     If your recordings are not very loud at the Apple's input, that
could definitely affect results. The line ('hi-fi') Output from a
typical reel-to-reel deck may not be able to drive the Apple input
adequately. Try connecting via the recorder's Speaker jack (and remember
to use a load and to turn the Volume down).


Rubywand