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-=Cassette Tapes=-
I’ve been looking for a good cassette recorder for a while now. What I’ve been wanting to do is:
- Pull out my old boxes of cassette tape recordings I have of myself and a couple other band mates. There’s many many many hours of material in these boxes of tapes. Should be able to find some gold in there.
- Possibly get into some “tape looping”. I know this also possibly involves taking apart the radio and possibly having to modify a few things. (I already know very well how to splice tape!) So I may be looking for help on that subject. Possibly
I used to have some decent ones back in the day, but those are long gone, and it seems finding used ones out in the wild is hit or miss nowadays. Now they are getting really hard to find at all!
I’ve actually bought a few online and all of them had problems. Either parts didn’t work, or it needed belts that couldn’t be found, or the play head works, but the rec head didn’t, or verse visa. All just used crap.
So, it’s not a “Thrift store find”, but a discount/wholesale store called “Ollies” where I finally stumbled upon it... (so I can’t post it in the “Flea Market” thread!)
A cassette tape recorder!!!!
And check this out.. it’s not a vintage one, or even used... but BRAND NEW! A brand new cassette tape recorder with a 1 year manufacturers warranty? All the standard cassette tape recorder functions, PLUS it has Bluetooth, USB, SD card reader and more? Pshshshss SOLD!
I’ve seen this brand at Walmart before, so I know it’s “Made in [insert the worst place you can think of here]” but never knew they had this! I bought this sucker quicker than you can say Sample Fodder!
So that’s the idea, I can finally dig out those boxes of old guitar recordings (some Casio/Yamaha keyboard stuff too)
And see if I can find anything worth sampling from back in the day. If not, I’ve been wanting to experiment with tape looping and stuff like that, so this Retro Rocker will be perfect!
The thing was only $29.99 USD anyway, so why not?
I’m still trippin about buying a brand new cassette recorder with a warranty... in 2021! 🤣
Here it is on the left, next to my old old shortwave radio I keep out in the garage from the 70s
❤️❤️❤️
Comments
I have good experinces with sampling from higher end Akai and Technics decks but cutting and splicing cassette tapes?
Quarter inch reel 2 reel, yeah, that's fun but those fiddly little strings?
You must be very patient man!
Part of the charm your after, I assume, is the lo-fidelity, not-quite-in-time warble. It's not hard to do at all, but you might have a hard time finding enough cassettes. These are pretty great primers.
Here's another one that's more than an hour long. I can't guarantee it's good all the way through.
Yup! I actually had a little splice block/cutter thing back in the day. Y’know, Radio Shack had everything you needed.
Yes! Thank you. Though you know there’s like a billion blank tapes for sale on the internet right?
I was thinking about ordering a pack from this guy:
https://www.deltamedia.com/collections/audio-cassettes
Ok, so I’m in love with my new little radio!
It has USB and SD card slots, so I’ll be able to load loops and samples and record them to tape!
It’s got Bluetooth as well, and I can record to tape from that also.
Then, it has a 3.5mm audio out so I can run my mangled, warbled tape loop madness into my productions...
One thing that’s weird about it, is see where it reads “Seperate Bass and Treble controls for precise tonal adjustment” on the box, but on the radio the two knobs are “Tone” and “Volume”. 🧐
Handmade music!
I won't get into messing with the cassette tapes but I might use my cassette recorder again, now in different ways than before. Who knows. The sound and the experience working with it was quite different indeed.
T> @Intrepolicious said:
I don't want to come off as a snob, but this guy only sells Type 1 Normal Bias cassettes, and uh, that is going to sound lousy for music. Maybe you're after the inherent nostalgia/glamor of no dynamic range and lots of tape hiss, but as far as I recall, you'd use a Type 1 for an answering machine and that's about it.
Indeed! I think it was Gauss that reminded me about the beauty of tape.
Ah! No, I didn’t even notice that. Good catch.
Yeah I just saw the pretty colors and the custom lengths caught my eye. Didn’t even think about the quality of tape being used.
With that, there are plenty of quality tapes available I think.
Like?
https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwjo19fG2bjwAhVq5uMHHbynDEMYABAHGgJ5bQ&ae=2&sig=AOD64_10WPRMWZW3ASGU-hna51Xex_ffzA&ctype=5&q=&ved=2ahUKEwiUhc_G2bjwAhXuQ98KHfYDDs4Q5bgDegQIARBI&adurl=
Of course I could just buy his pretty colored cases and put my own tape in them.
Oh and those trips to the thrift stores? Ohhohoho it’s on now!
Now that’s just taking retro too far!
I’ve been trying to get away from the limitations of tape my whole life (having seen and dealt with the flaws and annoyances of tape since reel-to-reel sound systems were around in the 70s.
Very true! You only need a single High Bias Maxell XLII, and that will last you more 5- to 10-second tape loops than you will ever use.
So a 5- pack of those run about $50 USD on Amazon. I don’t know why I was thinking blank tape would be a lot cheaper. I guess it’s about the same price as a stack of blank dvds..
Like a 50 pack
ok,.. im going to grab one of these to see if its mod-able... ive modded quite a few tape machines in my days,, pitch knob, tone control, overdrive, feedback etc... lets see if this bad boy has some more controls...
Awesome! Let us know what you find out. A pitch/speed knob would be sweet!
For those that may not know how awesome tape speed control sounds, heres an example. This is one i picked up at a swap meet for a buck.. only one knob, super simple. I have others where i added "keys" to play variable pitches. Gets really good at about the 30 sec mark.
@Intrepolicious : being a fan of tape warbling, courtesy of my vintage varispeed Yamaha 4 track, and a shedload of old chrome tapes I got cheap a while back. impressed by your find, I did a search over here in the UK to see if that model is available here. Couldn’t find it, but I did find something very similar:
https://www.bax-shop.co.uk/digital-radios/ricatech-pr85-portable-retro-radio?q=Ricatech PR85 Portable Retro Radio
Yes, usb and SD both on board... Needless to say, at that price, bought! Should go great with the iPad, the Yamaha and my modular bits for some low tech Hainbaching. (Hainbaching is a verb, right?)
Also, for Brit tape experimenters, this company do ready made cassette loop tapes in various lengths:
https://tapeline.info/v2/endless-loop-tapes.html
Are these machines any good? I have an old Technics tape deck, the kind that slots into a 1980s-style stack system. It’s fantastic, but too big to leave on the desk.
How do these devices sound when hooked up to proper speakers?
Awesome. That’s a real life Gauss! Yeah I’ll take one speed control knob please!
It is now!
Only for Brit? They don’t ship overseas?
Tempted by this one:
Looks like Sharp-branded models from the 80s.
I knew it:
That is a fantastic piece of kit right there. Congrats on the find.
I love that ambitious "original" price! 👌
TEAC makes a really good component tape deck. They're still producing them new in 2021. The TEAC W-1200. Definitely on the higher end but it has pitch control and a quality tape mechanism.
Shoot, now I’m seeing the ION Retro Rocker actually has a bigger brother... the Boombox Deluxe!
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/ion-audio-retro-boombox-with-am-fm-radio-silver/6347179.p?skuId=6347179&ref=212&loc=1&extStoreId=430&ref=212&loc=DWA&ds_rl=1260402&gclid=CjwKCAjw7diEBhB-EiwAskVi17zkLAbhYKaGOsoDQ6EjltPD2G7F9YCGzkUPLuMybDosNV8DIvJYlhoCMVUQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
And this one has the coveted 3.5mm AUX audio input jack!