TSR8 spool mode and remote project for tascam RtRs
- Thread starter fgonza2
- Start date
The Ghost of FM
Banned
Pretty cool! 
I'll just add a direct link here to make it easier for folks to watch the video.
Cheers!
I'll just add a direct link here to make it easier for folks to watch the video.
Cheers!
Amazing work. I have long wished to be as technically talented as you obviously are. Very impressive indeed. My TSR-8 is keenly interested in this project and my Tascam 238 wonders if he might also get some love down the road.
Do you have plans to make this more widely available? Obviously the hardware kit would need to be built...
Do you have plans to make this more widely available? Obviously the hardware kit would need to be built...
thx for the words. I want to help modernize these machines somehow
any tascam machine with Accessory 1 or Accessory 2 ports will work. Some features will not work on some. For example spool mode may not apply at all to your 238. But for example SPOOL now works on the TSR8 which is not something that it came with. I am making progress and i am almost done with the microcontroller part of it, as i have to find free time to work on it. I've been chasing a nasty SW glitch for a couple of days, also thinking on how to make this as cheap as possible so other people can use it. I may need the help of owners of machines other than the TSR8 to test some features or get some information that i dont have access to, so it works on other machines besides the TSR8
Hammerstone
Out of style
This is really something. If I'm understanding correctly, your computer is in complete control of the transport?
I see a lot of potential in this, and I'm wondering...how hard would it be, assuming you had the assistance of a DAW and SMPTe (or some sort of timecode), to record different parts of a song on different parts of the tape?
Here's what I'm thinking:
You have a TSR-8 and a BR-20T both slaved to your computer (hypothetically), plus CLASP, a DAW, and an analog mixer. Also, you have found some way to bypass the half-track deck's erase head. (possible?) Now, you want to record more than 8 tracks, but you'd rather not do an internal bounce, so you record 7 parts of the song (and 1 for timecode), and then using your DAW to comunicate to your tapedeck, you record another 7 parts for the song further along the tape so as not to erase the first parts. Then, using the computer-controlled transport and the timecode on the tapes, you mix down the first 7 tracks to the BR-20T (in real time through your analog console...keep the signal chain analog), then go back and mix down the 2nd set of tracks over the first set, being perfectly in sync and remembering that the erase head is disabled. Get my drift? Is this possible?
Or, for instance, say you had a multitrack machine (that had could do 30, 15 and 7.5ips) slaved to your computer. You want to record the drums and bass at 7.5ips, electric guitar and vocals at 15ips, and acoustic guitar and a string quartet at 30ips, all in the same song and mixed down to 2-track at 15ips. Beneficial at all?
I see a lot of potential in this, and I'm wondering...how hard would it be, assuming you had the assistance of a DAW and SMPTe (or some sort of timecode), to record different parts of a song on different parts of the tape?
Here's what I'm thinking:
You have a TSR-8 and a BR-20T both slaved to your computer (hypothetically), plus CLASP, a DAW, and an analog mixer. Also, you have found some way to bypass the half-track deck's erase head. (possible?) Now, you want to record more than 8 tracks, but you'd rather not do an internal bounce, so you record 7 parts of the song (and 1 for timecode), and then using your DAW to comunicate to your tapedeck, you record another 7 parts for the song further along the tape so as not to erase the first parts. Then, using the computer-controlled transport and the timecode on the tapes, you mix down the first 7 tracks to the BR-20T (in real time through your analog console...keep the signal chain analog), then go back and mix down the 2nd set of tracks over the first set, being perfectly in sync and remembering that the erase head is disabled. Get my drift? Is this possible?
Or, for instance, say you had a multitrack machine (that had could do 30, 15 and 7.5ips) slaved to your computer. You want to record the drums and bass at 7.5ips, electric guitar and vocals at 15ips, and acoustic guitar and a string quartet at 30ips, all in the same song and mixed down to 2-track at 15ips. Beneficial at all?
you mean recording on a recorded tape without erasing. Not sure how will that come out, as it is destructive and will bring potentially distortion. I think the integration into the DAW se is possible as a plug-in
no capstan clock has limited range (25% or so) and it wont be able to FF the tape or rewind as you will need to get the capstan direction inverted and also engage the capstan which will put the tape in contact with the heads.
There are two ways that it can be done. PWM control of the motors or in the TSR8 case finding the ROM command, so it does it natively. That feature for some reason it was never productized on the TSR8, but it exists in the ROM. I think the ROM is the same on the TSR8/MSR16/MSR24
jpmorris
Tape Wolf
No, I meant that there's a pin on the accessory cables which provides a tach signal to control the capstan motor externally for machine sync. I was wondering whether it used the same signal as a timebase for the wind motors while the machine was in wind mode.
That makes sense. Though I wonder what the EPROM is on the MSR-24, because the TSR-8 doesn't seem to have one and the program is masked into the controller chip AFAIK.
Yes i am referring to the same pin, that can only be used for changing the capstan speed, basically to mirror the pitch knob functionality in the recorder. About the ROM you are right, i just checked the schematics. It is a 16K PROM that is embedded in the HD63701YOP microncontroller that the unit has. They may be using the same program on it vs the discrete ROMs of the other machines. Or they did a last minute decision to drop some features, as it is a PROM, not EPROM, it was probably a design decision to include the extra features for potential later use by an accessory that enabled them that was never productized.
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trancedental
New member
Very impressive, especially the spool mode, that must have been a Tascam trade secret!!!! I would like to build one of these, are you going to sell them?
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
I totally missed this thread last year. Wow...that is really, really cool. Very impressive indeed.
Any updates to this?
Any updates to this?
Good to see interest on it. I have it working now with also an iPad app. Added new functions to it ala AQ-65. I'm also debating between wifi and Bluetooth as the comminterface. Also adding Studer support soon as I got an A807 recently. I would like to productize it if there is enough interest, I'll probably do a run of 20 units initially so the PCB cost is not crazy. It is on breadboard now. I'm not at home now but as I get back I'll post some updates and screenshots for feedback. Let me know who will be interested. Cheers
Felipe
Felipe