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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]