mellotron sampler?

[ScotFraser at aol.com]

In a message dated 3/27/2000 9:00:30 PM, t02e at hotmail.com writes:

<<I know this is way impractical, but I have plans to build a massive 
sequencer & sampler that runs off of lots of relays and tape decks with 
rec/play heads and looped tape.  I have two questions:
whats the minimal amount of circuitry I need to make a device that can 
convert a normal audio signal to the signal that a record head needs, and 
converts what a play head reads back to another standard audio signal? Does 
this involve complicated processing? or are tape heads pretty simple 
devices?>>

That's definitely the hard way. An easier, but much less flexible approach is 
that taken by, I think, a guy in Cabaret Voltaire. He had a bank of Sony 
Walkmans sitting on a table with the Play/Pause buttons facing up. He played 
this like a keyboard, unpausing & repausing deftly. The cassettes were 
prerecorded noises & loops.

Scott Fraser