Why would you want a Cassette Deck for your PC? | Tech Nibble

[@chrisjamesr77]

The front of that thing reminds of some of the Winamp skins I'd use back in the day

[@jasondinger9984]

I forgot Winamp even existed! "It really kicks the llamas....."

[@chrisjamesr77]

@@jasondinger9984 Haha, yeah, I used to love Winamp! Back in the days before Windows Media Player would play .flac files and such, it came in quite handy, lol. Nowadays, I swear by foobar2000. Also, though, I think it was not too long after I made that comment, I downloaded Winamp just for nostalgia, but it kinda sucks, cuz I can't find the one skin I loved (which didn't look like this thing, though)

[@kevinh96]

Unfortunately for many of us our experience of the humble cassette was cheap quality tapes played or recorded on a cheap boombox or our parents Amstrad HIFI stack system so it's no surprise many don't think much of the cassette today. Me, I was lucky I bought a fairly expensive Technics MIDI system back in the mid 80s with my first salary payment, something I still have today and still use regularly. It has a Technics linear tracking turntable and a double cassette deck that sounds excellent. Over the years I've had to replace belts, clean tape heads, re-lubricate bits and clean the volume controls etc. but surprisingly it still sounds as good today as it always has. However to really hear how good the cassette can sound listen to a home recorded Dolby S recording from CD on Chrome or even better, Metal cassette. Little to no tape hiss and absolutely outstanding sound quality. Dolby S on a Metal tape sounds so good that it's very, very difficult to tell the difference from CD or DAT, and Dolby S recordings are compatible with Dolby B so can be played back on standard equipment without sounding awful like Dolby C recordings did. I'm no tape evangelist, I'm happy to subscribe to Spotify for everyday listening convenience and access to pretty much all the music I could ever listen to, and I still buy CDs and vinyl records when I want to support an artist, but I still like to record to analogue tape or DAT both for fun but also because it's just nice to have something tangible, something that wont disappear if I stop subscribing to streaming services or if I lose internet connection.

[@Cthulhu1970]

Well said! Tape sounds great if it's played back on decent equipment. Everything sounds crap if it plays through rubbish gear.

[@Nanoka_the_Civic]

Tldr: watch Techmoans video "casettes - better than you don't remember"

[@centurybug]

It's like any analog format - you get out what you put in. Good quality tapes on a good quality machine can sound great. Worn out or crappy tapes on a bad quality or broken cassette deck can sound really *really* bad. High end tape formulations recorded on an enthusiast grade deck can even rival CD quality!

[@pancudowny]

OMG, what horrid wow & flutter! One wonders if it's result of the tape or the deck in question here. One thing's assured... it's like Tony of Cassette Comeback always says: Garbage in, garbage out! Meaning: A good, quality deck can make a good cassette sound great, but a crappy deck won't make a great cassette even sound good! :\

[@DaXande135]

That's exactly what I always say. And yeah, I also recommend Techmoans video

[@ExperimentIV]

omg the ashens hello caught me by surprise!

[@itogi]

Ah yes, sounds of Internet consist of: - Screams of unfortunate souls - Dial up - Ashens' intro

[@RMCRetro]

Accurate?

[@BertGrink]

@@RMCRetro Yeah I'd say so, especially the tormented souls lol

[@FatNorthernBigot]

I suspect the sound of the Internet is a bunch of millennials taking offense at everything.

[@nekomasteryoutube3232]

Don't forget the meme sounds of the internet such as : Rick rolling, Nyan cat, Gnome HOO, and many more!

[@shadowtheimpure]

I was wondering who else was gonna pick up Ashens' signature 'Hello!'

[@therealjammit]

I don't know why KZbin suggested this video, but I do have a memory to share: Many years ago all I had was dialup. My 486DX machine didn't have a CDrom or the hard drive space to store music. Dialup cost too much to leave it running long enough to download anything serious. Since my sound card was only being used to play sound from games, I decided to put a car stereo in it and hook it up to the CDrom analog audio jacks. I could listen to the radio (not AM unfortunately. Too much digital noise) or listen to a tape. 12V from the power supply powered the radio and an NiCd battery pack being charged through a diode and resistor that was hooked up to the 12V when the computer was on. The radio was given to me because they blew the output amps. I ripped out the amp chips and tapped into the audio that used to go into the amps.

[@millomweb]

1995 I had a computer with a modem. As did my friend. My computer dialled to his. We teletyped for 30 mins. #novelty.

[@aaronstepien2363]

My C=128 had a 2400 baud dial up in 1988.

[@millomweb]

@@aaronstepien2363 That's twice the speed as the standard cassette load rate of the BBC model B micro (or was it Tandy TRS 80 ??) with the optional backup rate of 300 baud!

[@aaronstepien2363]

@@millomweb it was some hot shit back then

[@iconoclasttastic9258]

Congratulations. You’ve won the most British thing on the internet today award. Excellent stuff. Most enjoyable.

[@JendaLinda]

An unshielded cable carrying analog audio going through the internals of the PC. That's a brilliant idea!

[@enginerd80]

Wasn't the audio cable from CD drive to sound card analog? Was it shielded?

[@TheRailroad99]

@@enginerd80 not all of them, but yes, a lot of them contained the standard tin foil shielding. Something modern PC case manufacturers could take a look at. Most of the front panel audio cables on modern cases aren't shielded...

[@tokyo-v3200]

@@TheRailroad99 Yes, I retask my rear outputs so I can plug in both my headphones and line out to the rear of the case.

[@cleitonfelipe2092]

Yes, because it doesn't do shit to anything inside. It's not a 220V 10A wire running along other components you dipshit

[@jacekschneider4686]

@@enginerd80 You don't expect 80db S/N ratio from these readers? It should be ok then.

[@screamengine]

Picked one up about 15 years ago and popped it in a purplish case for a fine match. Still works great. I especially love the autoreverse functions. Glad to see someone else appreciating the old 486-to-pre-mmx compaqs. Loved that era!!!

[@rjgscotland]

I'm sure there's some mention of it already but I couldn't see in my brief look: azimuth adjustment. It's the key to getting surprisingly good quality archives from even somewhat mediocre decks. That's the little screw adjustments on the tape head that you can usually access with either the door open while the tape is playing, or with the front part of the door removed, depending on the model. Bad head alignment is often what causes the muffled sound that most people associate with cassettes. Turning that screw can really bring out the best in cassettes when archiving. The quality can be surprisingly good. Devices like these totally fail for their intended purpose because there's no way to easily adjust the azimuth. So in that sense, this is only really good for archiving data like you successfully did.

[@AriKona]

I actually purchased one of these when they came out years ago (I would say about 15 or so). They weren't 5£ at that time. Until recently this was how I digitized cassette recordings and it is still in my computer. Now, however I use a Behringer U202 USB connector from my tape deck (yes, I still have a cassette tape deck) to the computer. This allows me to manipulate far more parameters than the Plus Deck C. But, if you want the deck to be an integral part of your computer, they work and the software for them is still available on the Internet. You do have to give up one audio input, but all things have compromises. Thanks for posting this. I love it when I see people who still appreciate the analog audio side of life. Cheers!

[@benjaminsurname5584]

Is there a possibility of recording sounds from the PC onto the cassette? Or does it only capture audio from the cassette?

[@AriKona]

@@benjaminsurname5584 Sorry, it is a one way transcription. It doesn't have the capability to record to cassette.

[@benjaminsurname5584]

@@AriKona :( damn. for some reason I've become obsessed with the idea of putting a cassette deck into my PC, but so far this looks like something you could just rig up using any household cassette player and janking it together with audio cables. oh well, a man can dream

[@markboz3366]

Clint has just turned a rather unfetching shade of envious green.

[@Gappasaurus]

It would make the perfect match for his drive bay cigarette lighter & ashtray 😂

[@erik365365365]

These two boys are friendly though so maybe they will work together to get another one for the megaluminum monster!

[@LGR]

I've had one for ages, just never made a video on it :) twitter.com/lazygamereviews/status/1291753255962320900

[@harrisonsmetana2506]

Yes

[@005AGIMA]

@@LGR Lazy. Perfect. :)

[@xavierrose8208]

"It wasn't a great sounding format." *Techmoan has left the chat.*

[@versedbridge4007]

That’s what I was thinking

[@fallwitch]

I laughed way too hard at that! Well done.

[@jorgepais2876]

Did you said "Techmoan"? Because now I suspect that the price of this deck raised everywhere to $500!!!

[@SenileOtaku]

I had considered getting one of these when they came out (have enough of a collection of old tapes that I either never had otherwise, or were only released on tape). What turned me off on it was the hack of running the audio cables around on the outside of the PC. I already had a cassette deck, so I could just as readily use that with the PC instead. Now, had it used an IDE cable (and a Redbook audio cable would have been handy too, for occasions where audio over the data bus wouldn't work) I'd have bought it. These days I just use an Ion USB portable unit for digitizing audio tapes. And for my (MUCH larger) vinyl collection, I have a conventional turntable and a USB-based turntable preamp. (but still have to visit a friend's basement broadcast studio, to convert some WWII 16" transcription disks to CD).

[@krashd]

I use a USB Walkman, it looks just like a silver 90's Walkman but can be plugged into a USB port for ripping audio to MP3.

[@retropulse03]

"I feel a responsibility to backup and preserve" Heroes don't wear capes my friend. God bless you.

[@himselfe]

If you can reverse engineer the serial protocol... 10x tape decks, 10x USB sound cards, 10x USB to RS232 converters, 10x of the cheapest Raspberry Pi's, 1x case with 10x 5.25" drive bays = automated archival machine. Also, just to add, the one thing this does offer over regular tape decks is the serial interface enabling automation of the process.

[@martin_hansen]

Well even with just the one casettedeck. Tapping into the serial control and a bit of python, you can get rid of a lot of repetitive clicking and button pushing.

[@devmas]

Oh yeah, I can see it now... Write a script so you can just put in a tape, and the device can auto rewind to the beginning, record side A until it stops, then record side B until it stops, then eject the tape for you. And the only thing you need to do is watch / listen for when the tape ejects before you put in a new tape.

[@digiowl9599]

@@martin_hansen Or use something like autohotkey to script the UI clicks (or maybe the UI offers keyboard shortcuts one can exploit).

[@takix2007]

You might just want solder transistors or relays to the electronic part of the buttons on any cassette recorder, control these transistors or relays with the RPi, and not bother going through the serial reverse engineering altogether

[@MrDuncl]

What you really need is a cassette changer. Go out for the day and come back when it is all done. The Philips Ski Jump gets the prize for being the coolest design kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJK4hJZ7lJepkNU

[@Rockabillyrabbit]

I love that I can never really tell how sincere you are when you say how good looking the beige 90’s desktops are

[@RMCRetro]

They are glorious Craig!

[@metalheadmalta]

I heard you say 'Not that the cassette had great sound'.... I beg to differ. Chrome and Metal cassettes had superb sound... would like to get my hands on one of these.

[@techbaffle]

Would this deck play metal tapes though?

[@demonufo]

@Dr ROLFCOPTER! Decent Ferrite tapes weren't garbage at all. Higher level cobalt-doped ferrics like TDK's AR outperform 95% of CrO2 cassettes, having better bass response, and higher MOL resulting in equally low noise and still have the top-end response.

[@HostiaRecords]

@Dr ROLFCOPTER! There are a ferric tapes that sounds better than a Type II (Cro²) tapes, look for TDK AD, Sony HF-S, etc

[@bangerbangerbro]

Well the thing that was advertised was "CD quality sound". So that sets a high precedent. If a cassette can't match a CD that's doesn't make it bad. I have 5 of new in box TDI cd-ing chrome ones cheap from a charity shop but I and I haven't really used them. I took them out of the plastic covering though. I started trying to record the streets of rage soundtrack from my mega drive as an experiment but then I noticed it was recording speeding up and slowing down thanks to crap Dixon's recorder so I stopped for fear it was stretching stuff.

[@aaronstepien2363]

This is a Techmoan conversation

[@minimoe2807]

You sir have now have a duty to preserving all those old tape games. I had the Atari 800 in my youth with a tape deck. It took 25 minutes to load Frogger!!! But I lived the experience. It felt like magic that all that hissing popping up and tones turned into a fun game on our Atari.

[@deathbyteacup]

I was thinking this is a very Ashens product and then I hear "Hello!" lol

[@FirestormDDash]

He is now the sound of the internet

[@gpturner0924]

I LOVE listening to cassette tapes! My childhood saw the transition from analog tape to digital CD. There is no question that CDs produce better quality audio and higher data storage capacity, so longer albums, some with hidden features that you can access when loading into a computer. However, the CD didn't really take off for me like it did for most people. Yes, I bought them and listened to them, as they had become more prevalent than my beloved compact cassettes, but I strongly preferred the cassette, even the crappy Type I ferrics. It helped that we had a really decent deck in the hifi system at home, and my dad used to buy me the latest and greatest portable cassette player/personal stereo for the holidays every other year. We always had a stack of blank Type IIs and Type IVs for when we wanted to make mixtapes, save a radio broadcast, or make a copy of an album we had bought or borrowed. The best Walkman I ever had did have a track-skip feature that used a laser to scan the tape for the small blank section between each track. I loved that little box more than anything!

[@jeromeglick]

Interesting that you say your Walkman had a laser-based track-skip feature. This reminds me of the APSS (Auto Program Search System) available on some '80s Sharp boomboxes. When activated, the playback head maintained slight contact with the tape as it was rewound or fast-forwarded (in APSS mode) and I think the simple detection of low signal level (i.e. >2 seconds silence) through the head (instead of a laser) switched the deck back into play mode at the start of a new "track".

[@ExperimentIV]

i have a usb cassette capture card, but it’s mostly for cassette-only releases, or transferring the weird sounds i find on broken cassettes (to process them into samples!)

[@Covesthur]

yeah, the noise inherent in cassettes sounds great in my opinion. I may sometimes record loops, samples and single hits to cassette, and when I bring them back on my computer I find variations I really like. trying this with different tape types also.

[@JoeSteele]

I have one as well! It was great for converting all my old mix tapes from the 80's.

[@ExperimentIV]

@@Covesthur if you'd ever be keen to share some of your samples, I'd love to hear them!

[@haywoodjablome440]

My heart melted when you pulled out that Compaq. That machine got me through my teenage years.

[@Ratchet_effect]

They where £95 back in early 2000s Had to put some of them in family's PCs. Thanks to the Plus deck 2c. You to, can now turn your pc into a 80s Audi quattro dash. 😂👍

[@Cypherdude1]

Just curious, can you install the software for the Plus Deck 2 into Windows 7 Pro? Although, I don't have any serial ports. You can possibly use a USB to Serial port converter such as $8 .40 Amazon ASIN: B0758B6MK6. I have an old dual boot Windows 98 SE/XP PC but the capacitors on the mobo and possibly PSU would need to be replaced and I don't have the time for that.

[@Ratchet_effect]

@@Cypherdude1 You should be able to, If memory serves me right, you can use. Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP & They also worked with Win95/98SE The adapter you reference there, uses the' Prolific PL2303 Chipset, and that can can be used with numerous devices. So IMO, I don't see why it wouldn't work for you.

[@dafoex]

Yes, but "Right! Let's fire up the Compaq" doesn't have the same ring to it.

[@hardcorehardware361]

Best way is to get yourself a decent quality tape deck and use a 3.5mm cable to your PC also get yourself some rca extensions. That's how I do it, of course I tried various decks that hook to your PC via USB but they sound absolutely horrible.

[@wojiaobill]

Old castles, pubs, and Neil are my three favorite things about the UK

[@KJohansson]

I was sort of expecting a 3d print as rails for the case. And I do remember them as a novelty when new.

[@RMCRetro]

I'll be printing some rails when I come to work on this tower I'm sure

[@eDoc2020]

@@RMCRetro Couldn't you drill some holes in some cheap sheet metal to hold the two drives together, then just use the rails on one drive? That's probably what I'd do.

[@broken_font1881]

@@eDoc2020 "cheap sheet metal".. I'd hate to see what e x p e n s i v e sheet metal looks like 😂

[@johnmcl7]

The shelves and shelves of cassettes really brought a smile to my face reminding me of a time when my brother and I go would go into the local computer shop each weekend, browse through the C64 games and choose one amongst the many available, hand over our two or three pounds then do pretty much exactly the same the next week.

[@krashd]

Still remember the very last game I ever bought for my Spectrum, Jack the Nipper II and I believe it was 2.99 as you said.

[@PuffyRainbowCloud]

You're right in that prerecorded cassettes never sounded very great. However, with a decent home deck, regular tapes, and a good source you can get some very decent sounding audio. In terms of quality I'd say it's on par with CD, with the addition of tape hiss of course.

[@antn537]

Theoretically compact cassette should be able to match the frequency response of (standard) audio CD (20Hz - 20KHz), but as you hint at you need a decent deck (jog along Amstrad Music Centre!), but also a good quality tape formulation (BASF, Maxell high chrome etc), otherwise you're really wasting your time. Of course even then you're always battling the S-N-R issue (aka hiss) and while Dolby had a good stab at it, you're only ever really just shaping the frequency response to workaround it. Anyway, loving those "internet sounds"...

[@Stormy2142]

or you can just play a cd and have better sound without any hassle

[@PuffyRainbowCloud]

@@Stormy2142 CD-Rs aren't reusable. Compact cassettes are really cheap and my family had huge amounts of them lying around. I like analogue formats. If I want digital I do FLAC or AAC on my phone.

[@robintst]

I prefer the hiss. I like a little white noise with my music. ;)

[@akaJughead]

If you had a high-end deck with Dolby noise reduction, and we're using quality metal or chrome tapes, you really didn't get much noticeable hiss. If done correctly, audio tapes can actually sound ALMOST as good as vinyl. Back in the day, some folks would dub their vinyl records to high-quality tape and basically just listen to that. That way they could preserve their vinyl for longer, and only bring it out for special occasions. No conversion was needed for this method since it was analog to analog.

[@momsel9378]

I was born in 1993 and Im enjoying old tec Videos. They just reminded me of my Childhood. Greets from Germany! 🇩🇪

[@il_nostro_della_segreto]

I wonder what's the mechanism in that. VWestlife and Techmoan would be interested in it I'm sure.

[@pianokeyjoe]

So would I! I thought about THAT first when he opened it up! If it is direct drive and not belt drive, it would be really good investment for remastering tapes!!

[@unusualstuff]

I have a strong feeling it is a mechanism intended for car radios. I have seen several late 90s-early 2000s car radios with mechanisms that works like this, with the motorized cassette loading, autoreverse, electronic controls and motor driven transport mode selector. The Blaupunkt that came with my Toyota Carina E is exactly like that. Still have both the radio/cassette and the car, both still running perfectly.

[@TimmyJoe633]

Did anyone else find the need to youtube the "everyones a wally" song just to hear the rest of it? Ok just me then! 😄 I actually quite like that tape unit, the problem with using walkmans is you get extra hiss from the built in amplifier, you also need external power e.g. batteres etc, so the idea of a built in cassette drive that used a line level output for your pc isn't a bad one. In addition, back in the mid to late 90's alot of us owned cds, but were still using cassettes alot too, cause CD burning wasn't so redily available untill the late 90's/early 2000's. So interesting find Neil, I like that one 🙂

[@ciddax754]

There are tape-decks which can have quality very close to CD. Using the right noise suppresion, tape-type etc. Sometime you want record those old stuff from cassette. Maybe it's a recording of the first words of your son or daugther, some old music you played on an instrument or it's a recording of really rare music. The type of music, you can simply get any other way. You know: Old recordings of long gone bands etc.

[@ciddax754]

@Zwenk Wiel sure you could. But just try to get a decent tape-deck for the price he got this one.

[@SuperPickle15]

@@ciddax754 implying the tape deck in this thing is great.

[@ciddax754]

@@SuperPickle15 I would say it's better then the shit you can buy nowadays. This thing will be on the standard of a decent Sony walkman. Nothing stellar but good enough for most purposes.

[@KeatingJosh]

@@SuperPickle15 exactly..i wanted one when it came out...now I know better

[@kirkmooneyham]

The reason many thought that cassette tapes sounded badly was two-fold. First of all, mass-produced pre-recorded cassettes churned out by the hundreds of thousands to millions. They used cheap shells and cheap tape to keep costs down and profits up. The second part was most people listening to cassettes on cheap equipment such as bargain store boom boxes, all-in-one systems, and the like. Good quality cassettes recorded from a clean source on at least a mid-range consumer deck can sound quite good, except perhaps music with very quiet passages such as symphonic music, which might suffer from the "hiss factor".

[@P37R1X]

Not only was there an Ashen's reference for one, this whole thing looks, sounds and feels like a LGR video.

[@MarkTheMorose]

I want to hear RMC's Duke voice. it will be the most polite-sounding Duke imaginable, I'm sure. "Shake it, baby" will become "Make it, baby" (referring to tea), for instance.

[@middle_pickup]

When I was a kid I spent many hours recording my favorite songs on my Sony boom box from the radio, then transferring them from the tape to the input of my Windows 98se PC to make playlists. I probably would have loved this drive. lol

[@Ian_Staff]

I had one of these back in the day, when I was going through a phase of putting weird and wacky devices in my 5.25" drive bays. I had a lot of audio cassettes at the time and it was great for converting them to mp3s. Now, alas, the mp3s are no more, the hardware is no more, save for the blue 3.5mm cable which, for some reason I will not fathom, I still have... Oh, and the PC it went in was white and blue acrylic (or perspex, can't remember which) and the purple detail complemented it nicely. Actually, thinking back to that case (and the 18" fan it had on the side!), I think I must have been going through a weird and wacky phase in my PC builds...

[@CptJistuce]

I saw a few cases like that, they were awesome. And you can't remember if it was acrylic or perspex because they are actually different names for the same thing.

[@Ian_Staff]

@@CptJistuce It may surprise you to learn that I typed that comment on the fly without bothering to perform any sort of prior fact-checking (I know, yeah? Like anyone do THAT on the internet... 🤣) Anyway, after the most rudimentary online search, and discovering that Perspex® is a proprietary brand name (Didn't know that. Every day is a school day...), I'll wager that it was advertised as acrylic as, 1: I doubt Perspex® have ever made PC cases; 2: If they did, it would be a damn sight more expensive that what I paid for mine at the time! 😁

[@ThingsWhichArentWork]

In a modern PC, USB based sound dongle and USB serial dongle could hide nicely inside the case and you wouldn't have to have the cables sticking out the back taking up ports on your regular sound card. It would make for a much cleaner installation.

[@miguelnglopes]

This probably has a better mechanism than any new recorder you can buy nowadays 😊

[@buretehudesi]

Im sure its car deck mechanism.

[@miguelnglopes]

@@buretehudesi Still better than what is made today 😊

[@Mostlyharmless1985]

@@buretehudesi Car deck mechs are pretty good, they sound like trash now because they are nearly 20 years old and spent the entirety of that time under constant torture and abuse.

[@nickwallette6201]

I haven’t heard anything on this that would suggest it’s even competition for today’s knock off Tanashin mechs. But hard to tell if it’s a cheap deck or just poorly recorded source material.

[@aaronstepien2363]

I’d like to see Techmoan compare it to the one remaining commercial tape mechanism currently on sale

[@JPMonteith]

Years ago I converted hundreds of pirate radio on-air recordings to digital and a device like this would have made the process much simpler, so I can totally see it being an outstanding purchase for those niche needs. But, yes - for an average home user, even in the year it was released - it is easy to see why the product never went anywhere. Thanks for making the purchase and the video.

[@markwalsham7115]

Sneaky Ashens sample there Neil!

[@MontieMongoose]

He's part of the sound of the internet. An excellent sound.

[@gunma747j]

Wait where

[@gunma747j]

Nvm i heard it

[@Gigidag77]

*Hello!*

[@MeltWithU]

Thank you for posting this video. I have a ton of cassettes from when I was a kid that I wanted to transfer over to digital for a very long time and this makes it so easy to do so. Thank you so much for posting this video.

[@darrengeorge9965]

I literally just put a PC down on the floor in the spare room that has this device installed before coming back to youtube in the study... This video was the first result in the youtube feed - no searching

[@boriscat1999]

finally a sponsor I approve of. pcbway is fantastic compared to how we used to make printed circuited boards back in the olden days of the 1990's, with tubs of etching chemicals and a laser printer and a lot of trial and error.

[@cleanycloth]

Time to 3D print some rails for that Compaq!

[@ryuchao008]

Nice find. Far more compact than plugging a cassette deck into the PC audio in, mucking around with the input volume, waiting around for the side to finish, then exporting from Audacity

[@waynenewark5363]

I'm sure that I remember seeing adverts for this in old PC magazines.

[@dimlightbulb10]

Finally! Now I can transfer my cassette copy of "War" by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony (ft. Henry Rollins, Tom Morello, and Flea)" off the 1998 motion picture soundtrack for "Small Soldiers" into a usable mp3 format!

[@piwex69]

Next: VHS in 5,25" reader (no need for auto reverse!)

[@MegaManNeo]

Clint (LGR) actually showcased a VHS backup solution for data. It wasn't doing great.

[@andlabs]

@@MegaManNeo But that was an ISA card that required an external VCR to work. A quick Google search reveals that no such mechanism was ever made, however - and judging from what Sony had to do to make the Betamovie camera, it's not likely that one *can* be made because of the size of the tape mechanism itself. Technology Connections explains: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b6a9YmZ_Z9-pnK8 And yes that's for Betamax, not VHS, but the point is the same. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if a VHS-C mechanism was possible...

[@startedtech]

@monsieurtechnical Even though it was a prank, their were solutions out there that used VHS! They weren't common at all, though.

[@Covesthur]

I would actually get that in a heartbeat lol

[@digiowl9599]

@@MegaManNeo Pretty much all the inconveniences of a 8-bit tape drive, but bulkier, as i recall. In particular as at least the 8-bits didn't work with individual files much unless you had a floppy drive. That VHS system had to first read the content listing, then get rewinded and read again to get files out. Now if there had been a way for the PC to control the player, you would get something akin to a proper tape drive as found even in a modern server rack. On that note i am kinda annoyed that the data storage industry decided that the money was in the drive rather than the tape. End result is that getting a tape drive these days is expensive as hell, even if you want something "simple" as a desktop USB attached model.

[@CommodoreFan64]

I do remember seeing these for sale on websites like TigerDirect, and thinking what a silly thing, but I'm honestly glad you found a use for it backing up cassette based games, and programs so future generations can go back, and play them. 👍

[@charleschamp9826]

Even if those tapes have been preserved elsewhere I'd still make uploads from your sources. More back ups, more options is always a good thing.

[@damian9303]

I don’t see how that creates more options when the same version of the same game is available to be used.

[@vikinglife6316]

This is a wonderful thing. I can rip songs not found online anywhere and upload them now.

[@pauldcocker]

I used to sell Compaq's when I worked for Silica in the early 90s - great computers, that used to retail easily at £2k+, that looks like a beauty. As to the tape deck with internet sound ... Just why?

[@petersterk245]

I hadn't seen this video before, but wanted to watch it as I have one of these Plustec devices. I've got a lot of very decent quality recordings, almost all recorded with Dolby B or C. The Plustec does not have Dolby and that makes this device less suitable for converting audio tapes recorded with Dolby. It's really just as easy to connect a decent cassette deck to a computer and record audio to disk with software like Audacity. No matter what you use, converting a lot of tapes is time-consuming and after a while you may think "life is too short to be doing this".

[@shirobane]

There’s something instantly recognisable about the button layout on a CTX monitor.

[@krashd]

I miss my 19" CTX, although I could never understand why it weighed about 3x as much as my 21" Sanyo TV. It was like carrying a fish tank that had not been drained and I hated having to lift or move it.

[@xXTECHxKNIGHTXx]

That's an awesome tool to preserve these old games!

[@loopenox]

Ashen's "HELLOOO" sample absolutely destroyed me, lmao. Had to pause for a moment

[@WallisHall]

Oh My God!!! I miss you old Timex Sinclair 1000 computer!!! I recognize that sound. I didn't know there was an emulator and could convert the old cassettes to a usable program. This is the coolest video in a while. Thank you so much!!!

[@DaniRadioCat]

I have one of these, along with a Nakamichi CD changer and a beige DVD burner in a Windows 98 jukebox machine :D (I'd love a NewQ equalizer too but they appear to be unicorns sadly)

[@hikariyouk]

I had an external 7 disc Nakamichi SCSI CD changer once. I suspect it got thrown out years ago in one of the many clearouts :( Do still have an ancient external Plasmon x2 SCSI CD writer in the loft though.

[@jfroco]

No way! Before your video about the MiSTer desktop I was doing the same, and now I have been thinking about buying a cassette desk a couple of week, and now you give us this! Great mind think alike :) Greetings from Chile.

[@RMCRetro]

Now.....what if we installed the tape deck.....in the MiSTer Fusion?

[@hkszerlahdgshezraj5219]

Greetings, and welcome. To RMC Oddware.

[@techmantim7036]

I have one of these I got from Goodwill in the US for 1 dollar brand new in the box. I originally purchased it to archive the over 200 audio tapes of old radio shows that were broadcasted in the United Stated in the early 1930's to 1970's. I'm using a modern computer with windows 10 but have to use a serial to usb converter. I really like this device.

[@stewartbladensb]

Head phone users beware! Me: that’s the best sound I’ve heard all day.

[@PaulinesPastimes]

A use for which the original creators could never have guessed. Excellent. I think it looks quite cool! Cheers

[@abucketofelves]

"The Secret Seven's falling to bits It doesn't meet any more, The only thing that is left of it Is the silly S.S. on the door!'

[@BitwiseMobile]

I remember the Presarios! We had them at work. We actually ran OS/2 on them if you believe that. They were pretty beefy machines for the time.

[@maciejstachowski183]

"Nothing's stopping you from installing it in a modern PC" - provided your case actually has a 5.25 inch bay. Sign of the times...

[@johnathin0061892]

Yeah, it is crazy hard to find a case with 5 1/4" bay nowadays. Did everyone on earth decide to stop using optical media overnight or something?

[@CptJistuce]

@@johnathin0061892 Pretty much exactly what happened. The masses suddenly just went all "We get our movies on Netflix and our games on Steam, what do we want a dumb old disk drive for?" They are all wrong, but good luck explaining that to them.

[@ozric73]

@@johnathin0061892 I think it went something like this... Apple ditched optical drives. The world complained. Every PC manufacturer copied Apple... The world forgot all about it until we watched this video!

[@digiowl9599]

@@johnathin0061892 Pretty much, because A: Steam, B: flash memory.

[@davidrumming4734]

Is there a USB-C converter? Lol.

[@kamil4151]

I remember wanting this (or very similar) device back in the days. As a kid, I was obsessed with digitalizing stuff - I had a a TV card to digitize family VCR recordings, scanner for photos, and I saw this somewhere in the magazine and wanted it for my music. Never got though.

[@ZILtoid1991]

Technically very high-end tape decks were able to have a near CD-quality sound, bu that required noise reduction stuff, which is not present on this. Should have had a record functionality, then you could use it as a very crude drive.

[@virtualtools_3021]

use it to load C64 tapes for emulator lol

[@BertGrink]

It does actually have a record function; I know because i have one myself.

[@thanthanasiszamp4707]

"Should have had a record functionality, then you could use it as a very crude drive" You forgot that this cassette deck is auto reverse which means that it has 2 pinchrollers, 2 capstans and a read-only head which has 4 electromagnets. From the other hand, a playback/recording deck can play/record only to one direction as it has a read/write head with only 4 electromagnets (2 for read and 2 for recording) and an erase head. In order to turn a playback only auto-reverse deck into a recording machine while preserving the auto-reverse fanctionality, one should make a tiny auto-reverse read/write head (consisting of 8 electromagnets, 4 for reading and 4 for writing) with side erase heads which is technically impossible.

[@ZILtoid1991]

@@thanthanasiszamp4707 it does exists. In that case, the head rotates over.

[@thanthanasiszamp4707]

@@ZILtoid1991 Rotating head? In that case I agree, I've seen one myself

[@MagikGimp]

What gorgeous shelves. Worth getting a loft conversion for!

[@etms]

You never listened to cassettes on a Nakamichi Dragon then 😉😀

[@nihonam]

at least some decent Pioneer, Denon, Akai etc.

[@dazaspc]

A true gem. To get a decent quality cassette player/recorder is nearly impossible today as a new or near new like this. I am impressed that you beat out Techmoan on the auction as he would normally be on something like this even though it is a bit out of his specialist field.

[@ProdigalPorcupine]

It sounds like anything but decent quality! I’d sooner plug a proper old cassette deck into my PC and do it that way.

[@dazaspc]

@@ProdigalPorcupine New players are not even stereo.

[@WildkatPhoto]

You question why, I say "Why wouldn't you want one?"

[@theduderski2848]

said the same thing to myself aloud before even clicking the video lol

[@lubodega1638]

It was either a clever ploy, or we're all massive nerds.

[@DJGodaryD86]

I remember seeing something like this ages ago in a friend's studio but we never used it. We always either burned music or sound banks onto a CD or tape through high quality cables and actual tape deck. I remember he said he got it as a gift and felt bad to get rid of it so he kept it in one his PCs just as a display piece I guess.

[@OtreblaMaslab]

"high quality Japanese deck" --> *actually probably just another cheap Tanashin mech*

[@TheRailroad99]

I don't think its a Tanashin mech. (did Tanashin even make auto reverse decks?) The mechanism probably is specifically for those slot-loading tape decks. Most likely from a supplier for car stereos. (Because of that it is probably - as most car components - made rather durable). But the sound quality is not that great.

[@MrDuncl]

@@TheRailroad99 I have a JVC mini system with a slot loading Auto-Reverse cassette deck. The big surprise when I bought it (second hand) was finding that it has motorised load and eject like a front loading VCR.

[@PPESuperstar]

just an info... the included RS-232 cable is a 1:1 cable, another cable will not work, the solution to use another cable is to cut the cable open and swap the red and brown cables! :-) That's how I did it

[@robintst]

Tapes *can* have a better playback sound than CD and Digital if they're high quality tape and you're using a super high end player, the issue is just durability over time and how well you take care of them. People forget that early CD audio was terrible because the analog master tapes they were made from were a far higher resolution, something that marketing people twisted around to make it sound like source tapes were inferior, which they weren't. Thus, audio cassette versions of the same recordings still had a warmer and richer sound with a higher noise ceiling. Once the industry shifted to digital masters and CD's were the primary delivery method, that wasn't an issue anymore and that carries us to where we are now except we can now skip over the still limited resolution of Compact Disc and just get the lossless digital tracks directly.

[@RobA500]

At first glance of the thumb nail I thought why would you want a car radio in you PC. Turns out to be a genuine PC peripheral but equally as bizarre 🤪 but also strangely useful. Happy archiving.👍

[@AlexKidd]

Where are my Sanwa arcade parts?

[@RMCRetro]

They will return don't panic!

[@BertGrink]

@@RMCRetro Neil, have you somehow turned into the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy?

[@Krishna-of1hv]

It's a great review. Happy to see cassette deck system with PC. I have still cassette deck player.

[@heskrthmatt]

* Replaces CD drive with a tape deck * CD drive: “Am I a joke to you?”

[@chrispybee]

Great video. Loved the little sample montage. I used to own a TRS-80 Color Computer. Great little machine and games such as Cuthbert Goes Walkabout.

[@BobTheMartin]

"Cheap japaneese car from the 90s, Suzuki Cappucino perhaps" ah yes, that one that costs 12 000 today

[@jabbawok944]

BobTheMartin more like £4k

[@sasquatch6237]

That’s cool! I saw something like this at a yard sale recently. It was so rusty that it wasn’t even worth the effort.

[@SimmyBassline]

"Who wants to listen to music from cassette?" Anyone who is into 90s rave live sets would appreciate this massively, all the old rave recordings came on cassette til the mid 2000s

[@RMCRetro]

I do remember going to "Big Brians Record Shop" in the '90s and getting all the rave mix tapes with hand made covers from him, they would be cool to capture for sure.

[@handlesarefeckinstupid]

I still have some, somewhere. 😂 I remember buying a hand coloured tape from DJ Ratty, back in the day.

[@TerryMcKean]

04:41 Exactly... that's the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the link to this video: that'd make a very nice cassette drive....

[@megan_alnico]

Too bad it doesn't record. It might be cool to put software on tapes for use on a real system.

[@JohnnyWednesday]

It certainly seemed as if it had an audio input - 3 jack connectors? I'm a bit puzzled as to what the other four channels are used for. Can it read both sides of the tape at once and there are two outputs? what is the third jack for?

[@eDoc2020]

@@JohnnyWednesday It probably just acts as a passive extension cable going from the front of the case to the sound card.

[@JohnnyWednesday]

@@eDoc2020 - oh! yeah good one, must be that :)

[@timrhone3066]

Owned this by late 1999. It does record. I still use it to record podcasts and you tube shows.

[@FreedomAirguns]

@@timrhone3066 it's even written on the box under AUDIO PC at 2:00 "record/playback". Apparently, even reading is becoming obsolete... XD

[@RiotRetroGaming]

Great video as usual Neil, amazing piece of kit... I've never seen one and yes great for a retro gaming PC, it cannot get any better! Go to 14:50 and watch yourself blow out a tiny bubble 😂 I was in stitches.

[@RMCRetro]

oh wow! that's quite a skill! I didn't know I had it. It's like the start of the series Heroes....my power is taking shape. Bubble man.

[@RiotRetroGaming]

@@RMCRetro Haha it's too epic, this will never happen again and yes you are a bit of a Superman now!! ♥️🦸

[@plapbandit]

I unironically want to wedge one of these in the front of my PC. I don't even care that my case is black and the drive is beige

[@nocturnal0072]

I want to mount it in an external enclosure, with usb c. Edit: yes I would hack in an external usb "sound card".

[@lubodega1638]

I have legitimately been looking for a cheap 5.25 cassette deck for like 2 years now...I don't know why but I want one.

[@CarfDarko]

Would be neat for Synthwave projects if it was able to record my pc sounds to casette directly, ofcourse this can be done with an output but to have it inside a cabinet is just... Rad!

[@GreyHulk2156]

And, as you know, PCB stands for PainfreeCaveBenefits. Doesn't it? ;P

[@WalterGreenIII]

I wanted one of those for years and years and years, I first found out about them about a year after they stopped manufacturing them. Been looking for one for years, hoping one would be on eBay. However, my dad was using my stereo because at the time I had that place for it. But he died I got my stereo still don't have a place for it so I made a place in my bedroom and then lo and behold at the bright idea to run 2 cables to and from the line in Jack's of my computer and stereo system. Now I can record not only cassettes onto my computer, but also LP's!!!

[@simonj48]

I think you should be asking, who doesn't want a cassette deck for their pc?!

[@audioartisan]

WHAT!? How did I miss this product. I still have 100's of cassettes and this would be awesomely retro to own!

[@Safetytrousers]

Techmoan kicking himself he missed it.

[@dungeonseeker3087]

This is an LGR thing more than a Techmoan thing.

[@GeneralCondom]

dude your cave needs to be a national treasure

[@frostech3149]

Alternate Title: Why *wouldn't* you want a Cassette Deck for your PC?

[@dlarge6502]

I don't let my noisy PC anywhere near a tape that I'm capturing. In fact I turn them off to be sure I don't get any emi. I capture to a zoom recorder or onto my CD recorder then move to the PC. I remember how horrible mobile phones were years back. Buzz buzz buzz buzz .... Buzz buzz buzz ... It was an audio nightmare

[@wisteela]

Fantastic. Yep, superb for archiving. Love the use of the Ashens hello. 😀

[@DeLorean58]

Paging LGR. Time for a new oddware?

[@ilusha88]

Would be a great LGR/Techmoan collab

[@apemoon1731]

I had a Sharp RT10 cassette deck in the late 70's - early 80's. With decent quality tapes the sound quality was indistinguishable from a vinyl album. This cassette drive would be great for 'ripping' old cassette based software.

[@johnbailey1085]

I have a couple of Sharp RT10s restored and working like new

[@Jamal_Tyrone]

This is like an LGR oddware episode...

[@TheSugarDaddy1]

Reminds me of when I was in school and we use to copy games on the tape deck we had on the hi fi we had but that is a class piece of equipment for a fiver