Forgotten Format: SANYO Micro-Pack 35 Tape Recorder

[@q61org]

I listened to all the audio, and found it was a recording done by someone who lived in Sapporo, taking "sound snaps" of tour guides during an extensive tour in northeastern Japan, somewhere in mid 1960s, possibly 1965. The label on the cartridge says Asamushi, Mt. Iimori, and Nikko. The entire audio seems to be recorded on a bus, and from what the tour guide is saying I guess the bus was at: 0:00- Asamushi hot spring 4:16- Shiogama shrine to Sendai city (intermittent, the traveller seems to have recorded important parts only) 10:00- Tohoku University in Sendai, the guide mentions metals research building (the section in the video) 11:10- Iisaka hot spring to Aizu, the bus will go via Fukushima and Inawashiro (near Mt. Iimori). The day's destination is Higashiyama hot spring. 12:50- Somewhere in Aizu, the guide mentions Noguchi memorial 15:00- Audio repeats, from Asamushi hot spring The traveler seems to have recycled a tape that previously had recording of some classic Japanese shows or dances, as the music pops up between the recordings of tour guide listed above. Among all the trivias you would hear during a guided tour, at Shiogama shrine the tour guide wishes luck of everyone because "you have come all the way from Sapporo." The same guide says the population of Sendai is about 480 thousands, which is the population of the city in year 1964-1965. After leaving Iisaka hot spring, the tour guide says the tour will eventually reach Tokyo, and I suppose they spent some time in Nikko which is between Aizu and Tokyo. Despite the cartridge's label says Nikko the audio does not have anything in Nikko. (Maybe Techmoan has recorded the same side twice and Nikko was on the other side?) The trip is very extensive even in today's era, with all the Shinkansen trains and airplanes. I suppose the tour took at least two weeks, which is very unusual for "busy Japanese people". The owner of the tape must have been rich (or have spent a big budget he/she had built up), for both taking such a long tour and buying a portable tape recorder in 1960s. It was very interesting and exciting experience to listen to an old recording (on a format which I didn't know it existed) and imagining how it was like in 1960s to tour around Tohoku region, where I was born in much later. Great find. Thanks so much for the video, and the audio. -------- UPDATE: Side B contains sounds from onward journey: 0:00- Heading to Mt. Iimori, tour guide talking about Byakkotai. 1:30- Someone describing history of Byakkotai, not on a bus, maybe at a museum? 5:40- Some talk about sake (alcohol). 6:00- Heading to Nishi-nasuno. 6:48- On a bus, tour guide singing "song of Nasu Highlands" -- I couldn't find the exact song by the name or lyrics. 7:25- Renju no Taki and Enbi on Taki, waterfalls in Nasu. Not sure if tour members are on a bus or on foot. 7:55- "song of Nasu Highlands" continues. 8:55- Imaichi, heading to Nikko. Tour guide describing Kinugawa river. 10:10- Driving through city of Nikko, lots of information on how Nikko was built and landmarks in Nikko. 14:32- Some quiz going on, tourists yelling numbers. The recording ends before the tour guide tells the right answer or what the quiz is about. My assumtion of when the recording was made (1965) was almost exact, because in the Byakkotai section the speaker tells the event (Boshin war) happened 97 years ago. Boshin war was fought from 1868 to 1869. I am fascinated by the tour guide singing, I've heard singing tour guides were once very common in bus tours in Japan, and this recording has it! It is also fascinating that the song cannot be identified easily. Possibly a very local song? Except the waterfalls, all the places are still very popular tourist destinations today (Sendai and Aizu are my favorites). I'm sure you can take guided bus tours for those places, but I'm not sure if today's tour guides are as informative as the guides in this recording, and I doubt they would sing. I really enjoyed listening to the old recording and finding what has changed and what hasn't in 50 years. Even though they were not successful in business, the tape format and the machine actually did what they were intended for. Thanks again for sharing this video.

[@Techmoan]

I must have recorded the same side twice - I was playing it through a few times on different machines. Thanks for all the information on this.

[@doctorx0079]

q61org Arigato gozaimasu! ありがと ございます！^_^

[@Ypnovatis]

Dude, thank you. Amazing. It's a form of time travel, isn't it ?

[@DanVR001]

Could it have been a travelling business man who owned that recorder, perhaps?

[@OutdoorsIQ]

Techmoan - I wonder if it might be possible for you to record the other side for q61org? I'm sure his very interested to hear the full recording, as much as we are to hear his fantastic translation.

[@cdigames]

With every 'new' tape format you review, it becomes more and more evident that Philips hit the nail on the head with the Compact Cassette. It is by far the simplest way to accomplish what it set out to do, and also seemingly the smallest ( for what was available at the time ).

[@AttilaTheHun333333]

To be exact, "what it set out to do" was pretty far away from what it become over time.

[@caseylowrie6133]

Brad Sparks :-):-)

[@dazaspc]

Eventually the compact cassette was sorted but it took a long time to reliably sync the capstan pin drive to the spool drive especially when there was vibration around. Remember all those tapes that would either spool up into the drive mech or become so tight that they would become unplayable. All this format needed was a little pinion gear in place of smooth drive pin and it would have been bullet proof from what I can see? Of course the slip would have needed to be built into the unit and not the tape. Cheers

[@GreenAppelPie]

dazaspc this is true, I think Mr. Techmoan should do an episode on just how this was accomplished.

[@ct6502c]

dazaspc I've always wondered about something though - why not just turn the reels directly with motors instead? Why even use a capstan? I'm sure there must be a reason why, but to me it always seemed like tape recorders were more mechanically complicated than they had to be, with all the belts and pulleys, etc. Why couldn't they just have maybe two separate motors, one for each reel, for rewind and play/fast forward?

[@molletts]

My parents have (had? I haven't seen it for a few years) a similarly beautifully-made Sanyo portable Compact Cassette recorder, probably from the late 1960s or early 70s. I remember as a young boy I used to love the feel of the brushed steel surfaces, the gorgeously-smooth volume/tone controls (they almost felt like they were weighted in some way) and the firm, positive touch of the buttons. They bought me my own modern (i.e. all-plastic) Ferguson cassette recorder in the end, but I always tried to find excuses to use the Sanyo. I hope they do still have it. I'll have to ask them. If they still have it, it'll be stored in its original box and they'll probably still have the receipt too! (They have a Sony HMP-70 radio/turntable/amp which still sounds very good through its original speakers, with a CD player hooked up to the "tape" input; the receipt is in the "appliances" file. I believe the box was destroyed about 10 years ago when they had a serious dampness problem in the loft after some building work.)

[@the40yearoldnewb]

You're spot on. My wife is Japanese and she took a listen. The voice you included in the video isa tour guide on a bus tour and she's asking everyone to look outside to see the world famous blah blah institute. Riveting stuff, eh? The label says they were in in a popular sightseeing area called Nikko. Great vids man.

[@user-pi5xz5je4y]

Well, That's disappointing... I was actually considering getting it translated.

[@zyxwvut4740]

Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Purchase. :-)

[@3rdalbum]

I visited Nikko briefly a few years ago. Unfortunately we got slightly lost on the way to our other destination and so arrived at Nikko a bit too late to really see anything. We took a public bus to the first tourist stop, then the sun set and we decided to go back to the train. By this time, the bus was only running hourly so we walked about 40 minutes back to the train station in the dark with some German tourists we met on the way. Good times.

[@ZGryphon]

I love the aesthetics of Japanese gadgets from the '60s and '70s--their surfaces, their proportions, their solid heaviness. Even the typography.

[@MrDrewmeyer]

I love to imagine that in an alternate universe this system took off and today Techmoan is doing a video on "Forgotten Format: Phillips Compact Cassette"

[@befru]

To be fair, In today's world all tape media is mostly forgotten by the general public. It wouldn't be out of place to do Forgotten Format episodes on Cassette and VHS tapes.

[@shannondove96]

befru you have a good point there

[@MrsZambezi]

Unlikely, because, unlike the Philips cassette, it is crap. The tape speed isn't constant with spool drive so it would be hopeless with music.

[@waldsteiger]

some people say he sleeps in a web of magnetic tape, some say he only eats from laserdisc. all we know is,

[@watershed44]

BRILLIANT! Why can't Jeremy Clarkson make a guest appearance on Techmoan.???

[@greggeshelman]

they call him TECHMOAN

[@watershed44]

Gregg Eshelman It'd be hilarious id techmoan would do one of his videos with a Stig outfit on.

[@johnfrancisdoe1563]

watershed44 Check out his recent tests of motorcycle action cameras.

[@FIXTREME]

I'd love to see Techmoan drive a Morris Marina for some reason, maybe to review a car DAT player or something 😂

[@AhmedSalam]

Nothing suits me better than a nice afternoon while watching a forgotten piece of tech presented by the man with muppets .. Thank You Sir

[@DanVR001]

But there were no muppets in this episode. Needs more muppets.

[@AhmedSalam]

DanVR exactly, we demand more!

[@adsilcott]

Seriously-- I need a "no muppets" warning so I don't get sad when the video just ends... Still a great video though-- that device is freakin beautiful!

[@AhmedSalam]

adsilcott I usually rate the video out of 70% . the remaining 30% goes to the muppets bit

[@pancudowny]

adsilcott Agreed--the silver with leather-textured black inlays is a classy, modern look... Something lost in the following times and change of trends.

[@jstagzsr]

i have discovered literally probably over 100 formats of audio and video storage that i had no idea existed. this is a fascinating channel. i absolutely love this stuff!!

[@trentblades6668]

"Like everybody does, I've got some rubber roller restorer" LOL

[@cipndale]

What do you mean? Don't tell us you have not this at hand. How can you even live.

[@BlitzHopB]

@@cipndale Lol, I never know that thing exists!

[@bobbyberetta4206]

My favorite channel on KZbin! Love forgotten format episodes.

[@AdamBaranec750]

Me too

[@Sam-lr9oi]

These forgotten formats (and even the less forgotten ones) are ridiculously interesting. I feel like I'm learning too much to even retain and I'll probably revisit these all eventually.

[@PearComputingDevices]

This was back when Sanyo made very high quality stuff. I have a rare Sanyo computer. Sure, I don't think it was very rare in Japan.. but rare here in the states and it's built to function like an appliance. It reminds me a lot of a VCR. Built incredibly well for being so compact. Neat device. A nod to Japanese engineering.

[@mikanichie4849]

The Japanese Cartridge is indeed sounds like a trip in Aomori（青森） prefecture including Asamushi（浅虫, also written on the label） and other spots. The speaker was probably a tourist guide.

[@MagicPlants]

Awesome! Can you translate the entire thing?

[@トムちゃんだ]

Mikan UK my daughter speaks Japanese and she said something about it being a tour guide on a boat or ferry, at least for the first section. She lost interest quickly. :)

[@lordmuaddib]

i will check myself once i can listen to it with headphones but aomori is clear enough yes. edit: i'm listening to it right now, it's likely on those little trains and also those bus with open top (or boats, i can't exclude that) that go slowly around the city with the guide, for what i can gather from all the noise speedups and down, the guide is talking about festivals(matsuri) that are held in the place. they are passing over temples and she's talking about the statues. she also talks about local food. there's like a memorial place with important researchers and victims of some kind. also a castle. at some point a person says something like (once) we reach aomori and we go back(home), and a "yes" from a younger one, which i'm guessing is holding the recorder, since there's a lot of empty recording with just communications from the train or at the station. maybe the first trip. quite an interesting tape and also hard to understand :D worth for the memories, i wonder if any noise reduction can be done

[@XeOn1989891]

Yes, it also mention quite a lot of instruction and direction, some music that similar to ondou (音頭).

[@StAlchemyst]

Thank you for your translation. I have a slightly better than rudimentary understanding of Japanese but not well enough to make anything their saying. I was curious.

[@onedeadsaint]

what's amazing is yesterday probably only a handful of people ever heard this recording! love hidden audio treasures like this! even if it's not all that interesting I still find it fasinating.

[@Kiwibloke2025]

Techmoan you never fail to keep me glued to my screen, amazing museum of audio you are building

[@guyfawkes9951]

There was some sort of early Cassette recorder around our house when I was growing up and for some reason I was ALWAYS fascinated by the leather case it came with. Beautiful devices back then. Thanks again for a great vid!

[@SCRNSH0T]

Just discovered this channel, and as a videographer, photographer, and allround techie, this is fascinating, what a amazing channel. In depth, interesting, easy to listen/watch, keep on going!

[@ZJP]

I definitely recommend you dive into some of Techmoan's other videos! The thing I really like about him is that he makes it very clear and obvious when something isn't purely "informational". If he's bringing up an opinion, or something where he's been compensated, he's very transparent. Not to mention, the stuff he presents is almost always deeply interesting, and well-researched.

[@w7777777s]

I collected a couple of these. A Sanyo and a Channel Master. I agree with all your points in another excellent presentation by you. Nice to see this very obscure format remembered. It strikes me more as a very clever repackaging of the then quite popular 3" rim drive battery reel to reel recorders that became very popular in the early 1960s along with pocket AM transistor radios. Japan flooded the market then with low cost, small battery powered consumer electronics. Record players and even very small battery TVs as well. It was the beginning of an era of personal electronics that continues through today I had one of the little 3" reel to reel machines as a boy and indeed attempted to record music off the radio via it's microphone. These machines got smaller and smaller reels, or went the other way and got capstan drive and up to 5" and some 7" reels. Even stereo battery machines were brought out, bridging the gap between portables and home decks or AC portables. But it was a brilliant idea to repackage the reels coaxially, like a tiny version of your giant background music machine. Beautifully made and cleverly executed. Much smaller than the first cassette recorders. But the pocket cassette, then the Walkman were just around the corner.

[@martinda7446]

That is just beautiful....I want one. Amazingly after 40 years in audio I had never seen this system. Cheers to the best quality, production and content KZbinr I follow. Great stuff.

[@perrybarton]

13:41 By now this has probably been mentioned in one of the previous 900+ comments 🤓 but the song here is an instrumental cover version of "Winchester Cathedral," a hit for British novelty group The New Vaudeville Band in 1966.

[@gtoger]

Ha! You mentioned the Clarkson bit and I thought "oh no, I bet not." And then YES! Totally!

[@maplecinna3979]

He went from May, to Clarkson, to Hammond.

[@jasnterry1313]

And on that bombshell...

[@mosdeath9159]

Best comment....................in the world.

[@AtomicShrimp]

I'm continually amazed that you keep finding more of these old formats to explain to us. Don't ever stop.

[@thunderbirds9319]

My father and I both watch your videos and we love them! Especially the puppets! Your videos are excellent and I don't know what we'd spend our Saturday doing without them. Don't ever stop making these videos because they make a lot of people happy. Especially me! - Callum

[@zappawench6048]

I feel like manufacturers tried every type of configuration of tape cassette that was possible. One reel, two reels side-by-side, two reels on top of each other, big, small, micro, 8-track, 4-track, stereo, mono, mobius strips, everything! About the only thing they didn't try was putting a tape inside a Klein bottle!

[@steadycamuk1]

Wow. YET AGAIN you unearth yet another tape format - and an impressive one at that especially when you think of the times and technology they were in when this was developed. And 1000 points because you find ACTUAL PHYSICAL SAMPLES to boot. Big up Techmoan

[@oldico5597]

12:23 - I like how the Uher Report 4000 crushes every other recorder in specs. I have an Uher Report 4200 Stereo and I can confirm; They are great little machines. They were used for interviews well into the 90s.

[@MattMcIrvin]

The "camera of sound" point is an interesting one: I remember my father hauling out his GE compact cassette recorder every Christmas morning to record us opening our presents, arguing with each other, singing songs, etc. Every tape ended with my mother telling him to turn that thing off. I think my sister retained the cassettes for decades as blackmail material.

[@zappawoman5183]

One Christmas I bought Hot Wheels and Micro Machines stuff for my son. It was all self-assembly, very fiddly with tiny parts and just very stressful. From then on, I opened those type of playsets ahead of time, assembled them at my leisure and wrapped up the result. No ankle-biters looking over my shoulder, telling me to hurry up so they can play with it!

[@Toklineman]

Standardization of anything gives us more reliable devices, but the lack of standardization gives us more interesting ones. Thank you for your knowledgeable presentation of audio devices that did not become the standard--I learn a lot here.

[@moonmanvic]

Just when you thought you knew all the tech formats that existed, TechMoan makes a new vid.

[@pHD77]

moonman_v Will he ever NOT be able to find some obscure format/machine?

[@bob963me]

Saw a few of these cartridges for sale when I was a kid, and thought they were along playing alternative to compact cassettes! Never saw a player for them until today, or had any idea how short their play time was. I thought is was something new, not something almost 25 years old at the time! (Also thought is was a pack of 2 tape cartridges.) Thank you for solving the mystery of what they were and why I never saw them again.

[@izzieb]

Sanyo always seemed like an underrated brand to me. I know they had some great battery/solar panel tech too. Shame they got bought out.

[@timmmyj]

I grew up with a Sanyo TV, old two knob type. Near 30 years and it never died, just got thrown out because it was obsolete, very underrated!

[@izzieb]

timmmyj We had a Sanyo VHS player. In 30 years, we had no issues with the VHS player and used it till DVDs took over. It was built like a tank.

[@izzieb]

dumblittlekid Don't get me wrong, Sanyo was cheaper. But being cheaper didn't necessarily mean it was worse. I feel a lot of Sony products were sold for their name alone, but weren't the best product for the price.

[@dfc99nyc]

In the US Sanyo was sort of a reliable 2nd-tier brand. I owned a Sanyo Receiver and used it for 13 years, then put it away when I upgraded to a better Onkyo receiver. I gave the Sanyo unit to a guy who was doing work on my house and needed a stereo.

[@IVR02]

I'm a fan of Sanyo. I've had a Sanyo air conditioner from the early 80s in my bedroom for about 2 years, and it's superior to any modern air conditioner.

[@andrewpannelli8016]

This was really cool to learn about. I swear, I'd be broke if I tried to collect all these things that you manage to show us. Great stuff

[@donmoore7785]

I find this a fascinating design. I saw the camera-like features - including the neat transport knob. The tape cartridge is cool. The vintage spec comparison chart is pretty valuable information for someone doing research like you. Excellent video as usual.

[@SeraphinaPZ]

I always learn so much from these videos, not just on the tape but the context of it all. This channel by now has pretty much taught me 90% of what I know about tapes, laserdiscs, and etc.

[@CuttingtheCaboose]

Absolutely loved this video! Your production quality gets better and better and better! Brilliant!

[@CuttingtheCaboose]

Not at all, just because my own channel deals with weight loss and more personal issues, does not mean I don't love gadgets too. I've been a fan of Techmoan since I stumbled on the Nixie Calculator review years ago and let's be honest here, there is very little demographic overlap between our channels :)

[@RicardoCanedoMX]

Cutting the Caboose Your channel is awesome :)

[@billmyke746]

@@CuttingtheCaboose 9

[@philipsuper]

Great explenation to a forgotten format. Please keep them coming. allot of nice things. This machine looks quite cool and well constructed. Too bad they dont do that anymore in this era..... Thanks again Techmoan !

[@1L6E6VHF]

16:55 I've never seen a magnetic recording tape so light in color! 14:00 A background music cover of "Winchester Cathedral", the vocal version of same was popular in 1966. The Sanyo/Channel Master cartridge has the same form factor as the Super 8 (mm) home movie film cartridge.

[@FCV0511]

As if listening to you speak wasn't mesmerizing enough, listening to you through a Micro-Pack Tape Recorder allows for that vintage crackle to take the narration to the next level!

[@mikehorrod4367]

Its indeed a recording of a tour in japanese. Its been recorded over a music recording which occasionally comes through.

[@kbhasi]

Ah, I see. (I'm also commenting this to hopefully get this comment further up in the comments section)

[@ruglund]

It just amazes me everytime You present a "new" forgotten piece of technology, as always well researhed, and nicely presented :D

[@yushatak]

I was pretty impressed by the audio quality given the age of the machine and using a NOS tape with a hackish solution for the capstan.

[@twce5576]

I could listen to every one of these videos played back from a tape. Your voice is extra-soothing when it's coming over some old obscure audio format.

[@kamiboy]

Ah, once again back into the magical world of obsolete consumer formats.

[@GauravA42]

Thanks for another great video, it's clear this is your passion, and it makes it so entertaining to watch, even for people who didn't previously have an interest in it. The time you spend in procuring tech and producing your video really pays off!

[@AirborneSurfer]

That's a beautiful piece of midcentury tech right there. Nice angles, chrome metal construction, monochrome accents. Simply brilliant!

[@mattbrown5511]

That is definitely a divergent way of designing a compact reel-to-reel cassette. Thank you for showing this to us.

[@Doctor_Robert]

Every time you bring out one of these rare and obscure little machines I can't help but imagine an alternate universe where the mainstream went with one of these formats... I guess a Micro-Pack world would be one of the worse ones... but who knows? They might've had hi-fi by the late 60's and stereo by the late 80's! Still, they wouldn't have any shortage of style. Reminds me of a vintage 60's tricorder... 2260's, I mean.

[@shinjisan2015]

This is such an elegant device, like all Sanyo products of that era. They were all very well constructed, stylish and clever.

[@SonnyKavanagh]

I actually never seen or used this unit, very unusual design but very well built the control mechanism does remind me of the Channel Selector on the 1970s television sets... Great video 🎬📽

[@jamesslick4790]

I love this stuff, the variations of the attempts to make tape portable AND fool proof is fascinating, But it easy to see why the Compact Cassette won. It took the existing,logical concept of open reel and put it in a box. Easy Peasy (as the kids say). The RCA cartridge had a similar concept, but the C.C. had the advantage of size.

[@aegisofhonor]

12:00 you'll notice at the very bottom is the famous Uher 4000 L, a famous portable recording and playback device, famous for it's true high fedelity with it's 55 S/N ratio, 40/20k frequency responce and a mere 0.15 wow and flutter, all in a 7 pound, 10.5x8.5x3.25 space; which is outright tiny for such a high quality full blown reel to reel hi-fi recorder and player at the time.. This was the gold standard for compact reel to reel tape field recorders at the time and only beaten out by full sized reel to reel tape systems for home audio enthusiests. It would be nice to track one of these down to test how good it is today compared to your full sized Pioneer reel to reel.

[@gregx5096]

This was exactly the question I had with that glance at its specs on the table. Thanks!

[@dmrr7739]

aegisofhonor Yes, I noticed the Uher model not only included high-fidelity 7-1/2“ per second, but also super low-fidelity 15/16” per second. I never heard of anything running that slow. I’m guessing it was for surveillance and phone taps.

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

These older recordings that have sat in a box for decades are fascinating to me. There's a story to that tape.

[@RoundAtMilligans]

Every time I think you must have found every format ever made, you find another one! :D

[@Sm6ype]

Totally love this review of old forgotten stuff. Incredible you manage to find all of those old machines. Keep on your good work. This is my absolute top favorite channel on u2b

[@JacGoudsmit]

I wonder if Philips got some inspiration for their "VCR" system (1973-1979) from this system. It used 1/2" tape on two stacked reels inside a cassette (but obviously not the silly reel-drive system of this one). The diagonal path of the tape between the two reels was ideal for a helical-scan video tape recorder: the axis of the head drum could just be mounted in parallel to the axis of the reel spindle, which was probably much easier to engineer and produce than the diagonal head drum of U-matic, and later VHS and Betamax.

[@JacGoudsmit]

piwex69 I owned an N1700 once, and later on an N1500. The 1500 never worked because it had broken heads. But the 1700 had a very decent picture quality even though it was 15 years old or so. And the sound was really good compared to (non hifi) VHS because the tape ran so fast. The crappy thing was the tuner: the adjustment potmeters would get dirty and it wouldn't stay on a channel anymore. And it only had 6 presets though my cable tv had a whopping 10(!) channels.

[@mbvideoselection]

Absolutely fantastic piece of kit there. Sanyo and Philips may have been blissfully unaware of each other in the run-up to 1963 but Philips clearly found out later and thought Sanyo had been onto something, because the Sanyo cartridge almost directly descended into the Philips VCR (aka N1500) videocassette in 1972!

[@mbvideoselection]

Oh yes, and try looking at an Elcaset and a Video2000 cassette side-by-side!!!

[@foundatlantis]

i would be extra hipster and release my mixes on this format.

[@jakethreesixty]

Imma release _my_ mixtape via *smoke* *signal*

[@juango500]

@HyperShadow345 imma release me mixtape in an edison physical recorder.

[@9gloss]

Release my mixtape on ancient neanderthal caveman drawings the true method

[@rossfordrock9018]

Go for it. I'd be even more hipster by buying a copy lol.

[@lundsweden]

You could just sell blank tapes, after all its a long shot to find a working player for a 55+ year old failed format!

[@StusReviewsUK]

I love seeing retro tech like this. Just bought an old valve radio I'm using in a raspberry pi project!

[@jfwfreo]

This is a great channel for charting the history of all the many many formats of audio media that exist on this world. Any formats Techmoan hasn't covered yet will be formats he doesn't know about, formats he doesn't yet own (and can't cover) or formats he is working on a video for :) He even has videos on Edison Cylinders...

[@Arkavyn]

Your appraisals of old tech are brilliant and needless to say, satisfy the inner geek in me. Keep up the good work!

[@arzamaster]

A funny thing is that the first Philips video VCR, N 1500 (1969) and N 1700 cassette systems were based on the Sanyo micro-pack design, 2 tape reels on top of each other.

[@shilloshillos]

I can't really sleep if I don't get my nightly dose of forgotten audio tech from techmoan. Thank you, and goodnight!

[@joshpayne4015]

I absolutely don't understand people giving videos like this a thumbs-down. If this type of review isn't your thing, just quietly go away. His reviews are regularly quite awesome.

[@SmoothEmJay]

That theme music at the end of all these videos is the only outro I let play all the way through. Awesome bit of music that. Quality review as always sir.

[@Beachclub463]

Quality build.... that's something mysterious to younger generations....

[@micomrkaic]

As always, a superb video. Many thanks for making these videos and making our days a bit more joyful.

[@dazaspc]

Ahh the days when personal electronics were valued enough to have a decent factory leather case.

[@pHD77]

For some reason I've always loathed those leather cases (and still do). I find that they kind of "destroy" the aesthetics of the actual player. Sure, they might serve a purpose of being protective of the machinery, but as far as looks go, I have always found those leather cases horrible to look at. But hey, each to his own, right...? 😉 I can barely accept cases for phones even though they are meant to be protective. However, I do now have a rubber case on my OnePlus 5. But it is a discrete compromise, as the phone without the case would slip out of my grip due to a (too) smooth backside.

[@dazaspc]

I was referring to the way people/manufactures valued their product to supply/use those old style leather cases. They were not disposable like they are now (And they were priced accordingly). After all it was not a pocket device and if you had never had a portable device that was so nice looking before most people would value it enough to want to protect it. But as you say we live in a disposable society now. Cheers

[@pHD77]

dazaspc Well, I never mentioned anything about how products are considered disposable these days. I merely brought up the point, that I value the looks of a great design quite a bit. If any sort of protection is to be developed to a great looking product, it should *work* with the original design rather than hide it (or completely ruin it) altogether.

[@lezzman]

My father was a bricklayer and I remember his National Panasonic battery radio with the leather case covered in spots of cement. Take it out of the case and it looked brand new! He owned that thing for years before a brick fell on it from a great height and it was never quite the same again.

[@CassetteMaster]

I got one of these a while back with the Channel Master brand. Quite an interesting device indeed, and DC bias. The felt pad is for tape tension to maintain tape-to-head contact.

[@MattHayesVinyl]

Quite similar to the 8-Track except you actually CAN rewind these owing to the double loop inside the cartridge. The cartridges look wonderful. I bet they were futuristic at the time. Very little came in clear/transparent plastic back then.

[@richardmartin2399]

Thanks for uploading these videos about forgotten and arcane recording devices. Along with your comments they are well worth watching

[@TheDanielHolt]

>Uploaded 6 minutes ago Ah yes, nothing like the smell of a new techmoan video in the morning

[@totih144]

From the VU meter in your pro pic I can't do nothing more than a double "I agree"

[@momi193]

Daniel Holt oh yeah

[@MrJ0mmy]

its porno

[@SquareBiscuitProductions]

ikr?

[@costafinkel]

Either that or napalm

[@justinh.453]

Dude, you got one of those channel names... No matter how many times you read it. I still see it and say to myself "technomoan" or "technoman" lol. Either way, love the educational side of the channel and you have a great deal of experience with retro tech. Just an all around positive experience when viewing ur content. Good shit bro. *Justin H.*

[@JB2X-Z]

lol, that DOES make you sound like Jeremy Clarkson when slowed down

[@tanhockjun]

If you speed up will you sounds like Richard Hammond? :D

[@kylejscheffler]

@@tanhockjun normally I get a James May vibe from Mat, so we've got the trifecta

[@tanhockjun]

@@kylejscheffler great! He is grand tour 3 in 1 :D

[@macswanton9622]

So I checked available YT vids on Clarkson- That fright-wig hair! in the '90's no less

[@bobskie321]

4:40 With that design the linear velocity in not constant, it's slowest at the beginning when tape spool is empty and fastest when tape is almost full due to larger diameter.

[@id104335409]

Maybe you can do an episode on old magazines and broshures that you use to find info on old hi-tech. It looks like the only window back trough time before the internet existed.

[@gli7utubeo]

Amazing. I never heard of this after decades of tape experience. Thanks. [Diagonal tape flow? Incredible.] Your videos demonstrate human ingenuity at its finest.

[@miloakkad5084]

Can't believe people thumb down Techmoan videos.

[@MyJohncon]

It's the puppets

[@IrishKeshiHead]

I know right.. this is gadget history that is fascinating and could spark people into getting the old gadgets again

[@ZachAttackIsBack]

It's probably older people giving it a thumbs down (it's not new or interesting to them, because they probably had this old tech). Millennials are the ones buying cassette tapes and vinyl again.

[@PresidentCamacho24]

@john connolly The puppets are the ones giving the thumb down vote? That's pretty freaky! D:

[@circattle]

I can't believe people vote for Theresa May but they do. "England my country the home of the dumb"

[@QuintusCunctator]

When I was in middle school (circa 1989) I always used to lug around my trusty cassette recorder and tape my impressions whenever I was on a trip, and sometimes exchange those tapes with my friends. While that wasn't popular any more, I always found it fun. It was in high school that I started to use cassette players mainly for music-listening purposes only. By the time I went to university, I still had a Walkman, but it wasn't shielded against cellphone frequencies, and as they became popular it was almost impossible to listen to a tape without being disturbed every couple of minutes by shrill sounding interferences. Well, that was a trip down memory lane...

[@jeremyf9592]

What a lovely piece of equipment. Thanks for sharing! I'm having a really really hard time talking myself out of trying to get one of these...

[@Split10uk]

You must spend many hours researching and assembling these awesome videos. Thank you very much!

[@DECCAS8]

I was expecting "and on that bombshell"

[@teacfan1080]

I learn something new everytime I watch a video from Techmoan. I never even knew this format existed! Would have been better if they would have thought up a better tape drive system though. Great Video!

[@tmofee]

And on that bombshell....

[@Renee_R343]

@ Terry, a great missed opportunity that.

[@tomaskovacik]

some say, there will be mapet scene at the end ........ but there is not. And on that boomshell....

[@kikurass322]

I have had many and varied devices over the years, some good, some not so good, but I am always amazed at what you feature on your videos. Love your channel mate.

[@belvederecasement770]

There was one of these in the Prisoner episode "The General".

[@tippitumbles5258]

Belvedere Casement The episode is "The General" he finds it on the beach.

[@anonnimouse2938]

I remember seeing this in "The Prisoner" and thinking that it was a reel to reel device, with the second reel being behind the speaker.

[@Fredy5100]

Excellent job, Techmoan. I am a huge fan of your Retro-tech videos... Keep up the good work, you have a gift for reviewing old devices! Cheers! :)

[@rams1943]

I don't think it would be appropriate to call this a capstan system....This should work like a rim drive with speed varying from beginning to the end of the spool..henceforth there is a pitch control...Nevertheless, a great presentation as always...thanks for sharing....

[@tziirkq]

You and Oddity Archive are by far the best, most interesting technology channels on the Internet. I love this stuff.

[@petethedrummer]

Do you have a little museum for the public to visit?

[@aljr357]

These variations of the tape recorder are so awesome and look a lot better constructed than most of the stuff made after about the mid to late 80s.

[@xyzshantaram]

Last time I was this early, I didn't know anything about Techmoan.

[@ct6502c]

You're right, that is a really nice looking and well built little tape recorder. I love machines that are all metal like that. Great video! By the way, you have a great voice for narrating. It's very comfortable listening to you.

[@AndrewDBunker]

another very informative and interesting video. Excellent work thank you for showing us this bygone device

[@ninjabluewings]

I find it MOST INTERESTING! how you find these inventions that most of us never knew even existed, you must literally scour the internet for THE MOST OBSCURE FORMATS KNOWN TO MANKIND! the amount of different audio/visual formats that have been introduced over the decades is MIND BLOWING! 😳😳 and without your hard work and research most of us watching would never know they even existed so on behalf of all of us enthusiastic people I say a MASSIVE THANK U!!!

[@jwproductions5070]

Man, how do you find these things?

[@shkeni]

A good amount of money and a pinch of ebay-fu.

[@user-pi5xz5je4y]

xelena *google-fu

[@Yeen125]

The way the two reels stack on top of each other reminds me of the Cartrivision, which was an early videotape format released in the early 70s.

[@stevemaherart]

Gorgeous machine.

[@watershed44]

Sound Trek I'm certain that the design was modeled after a Nikon SLR from the same period.

[@-The-Darkside]

I couldn't agree more. Definitely had a Nikon vibe. Techmoan always seems to sells these items to me and this one I might actually go out and buy one day.

[@GradyHouger]

If Techmoan was into unusual old cameras he would photograph this recorder next to a Topcon camera - they have the exact same aesthetics!

[@davidbutler5612]

I got one of the American models of this unit, the Westinghouse H29R1. This video was very helpful in diagnosing the problem with mine. Mine had the issue with slipping and not engaging properly. I used Techmoan's method of putting heat-shrink on the capstan to add more grip. Playback was somewhat working, though I had to turn the speed all the way up to get enough torque for it to move. Even then if there was too much tape on the reel at the front, mine still has trouble moving. Beyond that, rewinding didn't work at all. When I watched the video, I saw that Technmoan's unit would put the capstan sticking straight up when in the stop position. Mine was notably tilted towards the front when in the stop position. This is important, as the rewind position is meant to tilt the motor backwards. Because mine was already tilted forwards when stopped, it couldn't tilt back far enough to engage the rewind properly. I'm not sure how the motor got out of alignment, but I suspect that the prior owner didn't realise that the unit had to be in the stopped position to get the tape out, and they tried prying it. If you open up the unit, you find a disc attached to the rewind/stop/play/record switch. the Disk has a slightly springy wire that sticks up that tilts the entire motor depending on the position of the switch. It was quite difficult, but I had to bend that wire until the motor was sticking straight up while in the stop position. That got rewind working, and it thankfully didn't make the playback worse. I probably need to crack my cartridge in half and do some rubber restoration to properly fix the slipping on the playback and allow for playback at slower speeds.

[@mpingo91]

What a cute device! :) We lose something with our smartphone apps...

[@Maldunn]

Love your videos! I'm continually amazed at how many formats existed and at this point I'm beginning to wonder if you'll ever exhaust them