I made a C64 tape pulse time visualizer

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Load-IT, by Mills blog.worldofjan...
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[@bwack]

I have shared the project on github. Link in the description. It has a few changes (Rev.1.0). It hasn't been tested.

[@networkg]

Bwack is the fantastic 'mad scientist' of Commodore projects. Thank you Bwack !

[@Rick_Todd]

I wouldn't mind a more simple design just for getting games to load. Just for the alignment of tapes. The 10 bar Red Led version that was used in the Mills Load it kit would be ideal. Its a good idea for your 1 device to fit it in between the cassette port and the Datasette Connector. No need to drill holes in a Datasette . no need to solder. And you can also use it on any Datasette you have lying around. Fantastic idea . Well Done.

[@hoojchoons2258]

I had a deck that had a knob fitted & an LED display that you adjusted until the most lights were lit, called "load-it".

[@lactobacillusprime]

Not active on X anymore so I missed out on those status updates. Cool te see what you've been up to with this. This is an awesome little project that makes loading in a tape on the C2N deck actually a lot more interesting that it normally is and adjusting the azimuth :)

[@bwack]

Thanks. Disco lights for tape drives ! Not sure how useful it is other than adjusting the head. It is interesting though to look at the different tape transfer protocols show up. Also with the good old turbo tape program, when it displays the "FOUND program", the drive spins down, but continues to send pulses. It shows up as a led that is running all the way down to 0. Which was a bit funny to see. I will show it the next video looking at some old tapes. I've also ordered TapeDump64, which is a program that I can dump my tapes to a computer using a usb cable and a python program. :)

[@c64customs]

very nice project, I'm still trying to hunt down one of the modified tape recorders with such a signal bar but your project is way more versatile :)

[@bwack]

Thanks. Try searching for load-it.

[@tommyovesen]

Fun project! A suggestion: Add a small speaker that output the audio. With a on/off switch. Maybe you can code a DA conversion in the microcontroller?

[@bwack]

It can work for listening if the tape has wow or flutter, by plugging the digital read signal to a piezo speaker, but for crispness of the sound you would need to tap into the analog signal which isn't available at the cable. I will release the design now. I have added a connector for C16 tape drives as well.

[@tommyovesen]

Yes, I know the signal is digital. But you could convert that to analog? @@bwack

[@bwack]

@@tommyovesen sure, but the signal has been clipped by the amplifiers in the datasette. but i suppse you might be able to hear something is different when the head is misaligned..

[@vintagetechnologies202]

Good job! I think a nice feature to add could be a little speaker for listening the signals that come from the Datassette. With this add-on you could check if the sound become muffled turning the alignment screw... and if the sound become annoying you can turn it off with a little switch.

[@ThomasWinders]

Now this is something I find quite disturbing. Just yesterday I was thinking (an I MUST remark, THINKING) about "I remember the good old times where I used to load games via cassettes on my C64, and that program called "azimuth control" that was used when a program coudn't be loaded properly... and today, this video pops up on the "youtube's suggested".

[@bwack]

I've had the idea of something like this for a long time, but wasn't before christmas i thought: "Hey, I know Thomas Winders will have a thought about az..".. Just kidding. :) But yeah, I had the azimuth head alignment tape back in the idea as well. I guess it took a year or two before all the tapes wouldn't load, and we had no idea why it happened. Someone at the computer store recommended the head alignment tape.

[@roygalaasen]

The dreaded AZIMUTH 😢 😂

[@bwack]

I remember my games stopped loading, sometime back in 88 or 89. That was awful! hehe. My mum went to the computer store and they recomended the Azimuth adjustment tape. It worked!

[@philrod1]

Back in the day, my friend had a Spectrum running off a regular tape deck and he was constantly messing with the azimuth. Pretty much every tape needed the head readjusted. I, with my C64, never had any issue with the datasette

[@markpitts5194]

@@philrod1 for my spectrum, running on a WHSmith datacorder, i never took the screwdriver out of the hole!

[@Okurka.]

All PCB designers seem to make the same mistake and use small solder pads. Why not use bigger solder pads to make hand-soldering easier? You have plenty of free space on the PCB.

[@bwack]

I will add those long pads for easier soldering.

[@MichaelDoornbos]

That looks pretty fun

[@BleughBleugh]

Awesome project, Thankyou! You’ve gained a sub

[@bwack]

Thank you very much. Please enjoy the stay for more videos.

[@CaptainCommodore]

Nice idea and build, although perhaps you could replace the bar graphs with a 128x64 oled ??

[@Epezpalace]

Off course it's possible but way more complicated to control one pixel in oled matrix than use single leds. But maybe you could use less wiring using oled with i2c?

[@bwack]

Check out Luigi Di Fraia's DC2N. He has several versions of it. He has Tape Port Monitor, which does just this. www.luigidifraia.com/sales

[@Rick_Todd]

Also A VU-METER Version Would Be Extra Cool For Maximum Signal Strength.

[@bwack]

Hi thanks for the idea, but the analog signals are in the datasette. On the outside of the datasette we only have digital signals and power.

[@ChristCenteredMinist]

The LED bars have a bevel on one corner... And the Number is printed on the Anode side

[@bwack]

Thanks. Is this common for barleds ?

[@TheReimecker]

Awesome work !!!!

[@bwack]

Thank you :)

[@MrGareth1973]

Nice! Thx for video.