Steven C. Barr wrote:
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ted Kendall"
> <[log in to unmask]>
>> I just hod-rodded one of those Fostex 8 track things - surprisingly
>> good!
>>
> "8-track" tapes used 1/4" tape, but arranged in an "endless-loop" format;
> they actually, being stereo, used all eight tracks (.25"/8) on the tape.
You have not taken into account that there is a guard band -- meaning
"space" -- between the tracks. They are narrower than .25/8 .
> Metal
> (IIRC) portions at either end of the cartridge signaled the player to
> play
> the next set of tracks...
In a continuous loop tape there is no "either end". That is a
cassette. What they did was use a foil adhesive tape to splice the ends
together, and this foil completed the circuit which moves the head down
one step..
> this would continue (as I discovered one drunken
> night...?!) for as long as the player was operative...?!
>
Because when the fourth program plays the foil tells the head to bounce
back to the top. Sober people figured that out the first time they used
their machine.
> I would guess that the tape, if removed from its cartridge, c/would be
> played on an r2r machine, providing it was capable of playing 8 separate
> tracks on a .25" tape (standard r2r "stereo" on a back & forth
> format...?!)
>
> Steven C. Barr
>
Funny, there have already been 3 or 4 postings earlier today that
discussed doing that very thing, including one that gave the actual
width of the tracks. 21 mils.
Dan Nelson wrote:
> I modified a Viking R2R deck with 2 Nortronics 4 channel 1/4" tape heads. Each played 2 pairs of stereo tracks (4) the other head played the alternate channels.
Are these the quad 8 heads Richard Hess mentioned? Regular 4 channel 4
track heads wouldn't work with 8-tracks,
Mike Biel [log in to unmask]
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