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

[dalloff@freenet.columbus.oh.us (Dave Althoff)]

Rubywand (rubywand@swbell.net) wrote:
: Brian Hammack wrote:
: > 
: > Okay, this is gonna seem really geeky but I'm serious about this!
: > 
: > 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. 

Demagnetizing the R/PB head often helps with high frequencies as well.

: > 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.

Does the tape deck have a headphone output?  Try hooking to that for the
output from the deck to the Apple.  The Apple tape input is designed to
operate with the earphone jack on a cassette recorder...so don't use the
LINE OUT jack...it won't be "loud" enough.

:      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.

No, the Apple output signal is far too weak to use a line input.  Use the
microphone input.  If the tape deck has a working VU meter, set the input
level to peak the meter at right about 0 db on the meter...that's usually
the boundary between black and red...

:      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).

I suspect that is the problem right there.

--Dave Althoff, ][.
-- 
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