[sdiy] BBD for delay and other things

[Tony Clark]

> Speaking of tape echo, is there a tape loop cartridge similar to the 
> echoplex cartridge that will fit over a standard home-stereo 
> audiocasette head?  I'm on a quest for analog echoes, and if I have to 
> resort to tape delay, I'd rather do it via commodity components from 
> busted tape decks instead of building an echoplex and using those 
> funny cartidges. 

   Heh.  Well if you are adventurous enough, you could buy an old 
8-track player to modify, specifically one that can record.  8-tracks are 
cheap and cartridges a dime a dozen (literally!).
   There's a lot of modification that would have to be done to get it to 
work though.  The heads have to be reversed around so that the 
record/erase head is in front of the playback head.  In fact, depending 
on how keen you are on the audio quality, the heads should be replaced 
with two-track versions for better bandwidth.
   You'll probably also want to figure out how to adjust the speed of 
play to get different delay times out. 
   The cartridges of an 8-track have a special metal splice in the tape 
that signals the player to switch tracks.  It will have to be removed and 
the tape respliced.  Easy enough to do since I doubt anyone would need 
all the tape that's in one of those things anyway!
   You could also probably do this with a conventional tape player, but 
it would be harder to set up a continuous loop tape with one of those.  
Besides, 8-tracks are bigger and probably easier to work on.  :)
   It'd probably be far easier to buy an old reel-style tape recorder to 
do this on, but I like the compact space that a small 8-track unit takes 
up.  :)
   Anyone ever seen or done anything like this?

   Cheers,

   Tony

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