Would this be used for tape saturation?

mr_debauch wrote:Wait, while all that stuff is true.... does the OP have those goals in mind or does he just want a cheap 10 dollar way to make low quality drum sounds?

Well, I feel it's my duty to help keep folks from making bad decisions, and this seems to be one of them. My advice is to invest his money into something worthwhile rather than wasting it on some silly b.s.

dabmeister wrote:

mr_debauch wrote:Wait, while all that stuff is true.... does the OP have those goals in mind or does he just want a cheap 10 dollar way to make low quality drum sounds?

Well, I feel it's my duty to help keep folks from making bad decisions, and this seems to be one of them. My advice is to invest his money into something worthwhile rather than wasting it on some silly b.s.

Yeah I get what you mean and your intent.... you are probably right.


I guess what I am thinking is that maybe the dude might be one of those guys who does random shit to with random gear to make odd sounding (without really aiming for high quality) stuff... hard to explain.... like once I saw a video of this woman who made a sort of tape echo with a floppy drive by hacking it apart and wiring up the wires differently... then they put a knob on the voltage for the motor or something like that to change the speed of the echo. It was crap quality but it was done just to get a cool sound..... for the sake of making a cool sound. I could appreciate that type of stuff.

I don't know..it's not so BS if he wanted to add crunch..I mean that thing looks like it will sound like cr*ap lol That can be a desirable effect..wow and flutter it will add too.
You remember them Tony Touch mix tapes that sound like they were recorded on your grandmas answering machine? perhaps thats the effect he's after


Nah just playing, there is a huge choice out there if you want a cassette deck from the bad to the good and plus is none are that expensive except the desirable Nak's and Aiwa's

I use a Fostex 4 track to add that tape sound and I over drive it to hell, sounds good to me and better than any plug-in I heard. I'm so fed-up and bored of recording to digital and having to watch my levels hahah

well look at some of that tom waits stuff... dude could record in any studio he wants but he often makes that lo-fi grainy porta studio shit and when he doesn't do it for some reason it dont sound the same. so there are people out there after that type of shit.

Porta Studios are a lot of fun.
Probs the most famous use that I know of is when Tascam released the first porta-studio; Bruce Springsteen used it to record the whole of the "Nebraska" album..what happened is he did the demos at home just with that mutli-track and then they went in the big studio to record the album after hearing the demo's he recorded by himself at his house...more money down the line they preferred the original that was recorded by him on his Tascam so they went with it...pretty cool I think and you can totally hear the album is coming from cassette it adds a nice lo-fi gritty warmth and feel

I read somewhere the Wu-Tang's Enter the 36 chambers was also tracked on to a Tascam 4 track...we all know what that sounds like

I can't knock what folks prefer. I've actually done some of my best recordings in the past using multitrack cassette tape and an Aiwa AD-F1000 3 head cassette recorder.

I still have the Aiwa but don't use it because there's no market for that anymore, at least not here. But going through one analog stage (mixer of course) is enough for me since I already consider my setup as being hybrid like most folks' setups are anyway.

vinyl_junkie_1620 wrote:Porta Studios are a lot of fun.
Probs the most famous use that I know of is when Tascam released the first porta-studio; Bruce Springsteen used it to record the whole of the "Nebraska" album..what happened is he did the demos at home just with that mutli-track and then they went in the big studio to record the album after hearing the demo's he recorded by himself at his house...more money down the line they preferred the original that was recorded by him on his Tascam so they went with it...pretty cool I think and you can totally hear the album is coming from cassette it adds a nice lo-fi gritty warmth and feel

I read somewhere the Wu-Tang's Enter the 36 chambers was also tracked on to a Tascam 4 track...we all know what that sounds like

so the 'generic' name for a portastudio is four track cassette recorder?

Drinks wrote:If you are talking about the emphasis then its only in the digital domain. Analogue output compensates.

You would take your video signal out from your PCM Encoder into your S/PDIF.

Colours on cables are just that. They're the same cables.

maybe this wasnt clear, but i was talking about the IN and OUTPUTS (not the cables)!

so does recording audio on a composite video channel (via rca plugs in my case, if our vcr gets repaired :p) and playing it back, change the audio?

Ghosty i think thats some kool stuff right there far as using a VCR and VHS tapes to reach saturation. I'm going to try that when i get a chance, i just researched the definition and seeing how you all are trying it with different pieces of equipment i wonder what other recording equipment (outdated wise atleast) could be used to get these desired effects.

more and more im learning the true meaning/reason of calling a studio a lab. this shit is truly a science, and im loving what im seeing so far.

AntonPD wrote:
maybe this wasnt clear

Still isn't I'm afraid!

i was talking about the IN and OUTPUTS (not the cables)!

so does recording audio on a composite video channel (via rca plugs in my case, if our vcr gets repaired :p) and playing it back, change the audio?

You can not record audio this way. You need the PCM adaptor, which has the analogue audio inputs. The audio gets coded and modulated into a monochrome video signal (the luminance is the carrier). There's no audio at this stage - its all binary until it is decoded.

what if i rephrase it as:

does the signal from 'the yellow rca plug' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video) get processed in any way, from (video)input to recording to (video)output? filtering, or compression and expansion afterwards, for example?

if so, maybe this 'processing' can be interesting, if applied to a signal that is considered audio

AntonPD wrote:what if i rephrase it as:

does the signal from 'the yellow rca plug' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composite_video) get processed in any way, from (video)input to recording to (video)output? filtering, or compression and expansion afterwards, for example?

if so, maybe this 'processing' can be interesting, if applied to a signal that is considered audio

The only "processing" done to an analogue signal recorded digitally on a system such as this is the PCM encoding to 14-16 Bit. Does your current ADC add something to the sound? I would say it doesn't. If anything, it takes away. An F1 system, though very good in its time (possibly the only thing in its time bar Dash!), has nothing on today's crop of converters.

The only useful application of such as system today would be for extensive digital backup. Having said that, the luminance signal on betamax / vhs degrades considerably over time. So if you are happy getting dropouts on your output, then by all means... although I would classify that as an undesired effect.

Honestly, the price of digital storage being so cheap nowadays, this system really is a non-starter.

You want tape saturation? Get a well calibrated machine, align it to some virgin stock, and run it at 15 ips with your peaks hitting well above 0VU.

Want it on cassette? Get something like a Tascam 122 MkII or a Nakamichi and be done with it.

Linear PCM of the F1 ilk is obsolete. And for good cause.

man i keep asking questions, but

are all vcr's with the F1 technology?

AntonPD wrote:man i keep asking questions, but

are all vcr's with the F1 technology?

This is a Sony F1 system (Notice I say system as there are 2 components: the video tape recorder and the PCM adaptor. This is the first digital system utilising Betamax as the recording format.



Those bits to the side are the batterie compartments for each unit.

Later on, when Sony lost control of the video cassette war, it added some encoders to their range for consumer use including the PCM 501. These could be used with VHS.




and the sought after ( ) PCM 701 which, IIRC, gives you balanced outs.



You connect your VCR using a SCART Composite Phono.



Digital signal leaves VCR via SCART. Into PCM adaptor which decodes it and plays it back via the outputs on the adaptor. Just think of it as the first audio interface. It wasn't linear though.

Hope this helps clear it up.

I just want the drums sounds expanded. I actually found a good freeware plugin that is satisfying at this point. Hardware causes me too much stress, and I think i need to form more understanding of what I currently have then get more. haha But thanks for all the info