Although every 1530/C2N I've encountered is capable of reading Commodore brand commercial tapes (not true of other brands), I've never encountered a drive that can read a tape recorded by a different tape drive.
I've gone through a number of them. All capable of reading tapes recorded on the same drive, of course. But they simply cannot communicate with one another. Despite routine thorough cleaning, when I record a tape on one drive (and successfully read it on the same drive), it will not read on any of the other tape players. They don't even acknowledge the presence of any information on tape.
Does volume play any role in reliable tapes? What did commodore do differently from other publishers? Although a lot of information on disk drive alignment has been posted to various websites, there doesn't seem to be anything on tape readjustments.
For my tape project (my last ever effort on tape), I'll include digital files. I'm completely annoyed with tapes now.
Trouble with Tape Drives
Moderator: Moderators
I'm trying WAV-PRG with no success yet. Any recommended settings for a VIC?
I would bet some of your problem lies in bad azimuth angle on the tape R/W head. You know there is a small screw underneath a hole. Usually you shouldn't touch it, but sometimes you need to align the head again. Somewhere around the days of the C64 more and more people began to adjust the azimuth angle back and forth.
Anders Carlsson
http://www.com64.net/board_pics/LOADIT.gif
And then there is this Load-it tape player. That shows with red bars how strong is signal and you can tune that azimuth easy with knob.
And then there is this Load-it tape player. That shows with red bars how strong is signal and you can tune that azimuth easy with knob.
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Commander#1
- Vic 20 Drifter
- Posts: 38
- Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 1:48 am
Trouble with tape drives
Hi Jeff --
.
Here's my two cents worth -- do degauss the heads ! ! You are dealing with magnetic materials (which includes the heads) and
the heads WILL slowly become magnetized over time - and will start degrading data on the tapes you are playing ! !
(Also, your recordings start to become degraded right from the git-go). When I was working on telemetry taperecorders
(they were being used every day), I would degauss the entire tape path about every two months. This would literally clean
up a lot of problems. Use a hand held degausser with a probe at least 2 inches long. If the tip is bare metal, put one wrap
of electrical tape around it so that you don't have metal-to-metal contact on the heads. Keep anything that can be affected by
a magnetic field (such as other tapes, etc.) at least 3 feet away. With the player off and unplugged, turn the degausser on about
two feet away from the player and s l o w l y advance to the record/play head (this movement should take about 5-6 seconds),
rotate around the face of the head for about 5 seconds, then s l o w l y move to the bias/erase head and do the same thing.
When finished, s l o w l y remove the degausser two feet away and turn off. Slow movement is the key. If you jerk the wand,
move it rapidly or allow it to turn off in the middle of this exercize, you just magnetized the head/s and you will need to start
all over again. It's a little labor intensive, but well worth the effort. I hope this helps. Let me know what happens.
.
Phil Potter
.
Here's my two cents worth -- do degauss the heads ! ! You are dealing with magnetic materials (which includes the heads) and
the heads WILL slowly become magnetized over time - and will start degrading data on the tapes you are playing ! !
(Also, your recordings start to become degraded right from the git-go). When I was working on telemetry taperecorders
(they were being used every day), I would degauss the entire tape path about every two months. This would literally clean
up a lot of problems. Use a hand held degausser with a probe at least 2 inches long. If the tip is bare metal, put one wrap
of electrical tape around it so that you don't have metal-to-metal contact on the heads. Keep anything that can be affected by
a magnetic field (such as other tapes, etc.) at least 3 feet away. With the player off and unplugged, turn the degausser on about
two feet away from the player and s l o w l y advance to the record/play head (this movement should take about 5-6 seconds),
rotate around the face of the head for about 5 seconds, then s l o w l y move to the bias/erase head and do the same thing.
When finished, s l o w l y remove the degausser two feet away and turn off. Slow movement is the key. If you jerk the wand,
move it rapidly or allow it to turn off in the middle of this exercize, you just magnetized the head/s and you will need to start
all over again. It's a little labor intensive, but well worth the effort. I hope this helps. Let me know what happens.
.
Phil Potter
The earth is - oh my gosh - ROUND ! !