At 21:30 03/01/03 +0000,
tron@... wrote:
> > What was the big problem with the Birotron....?
>
>It sounded like shit, it was ∗very∗ poorly implemented, it had crap
>recordings to start with (mostly) and had no real industry 'back up'.
A bit harsh but sadly not far from the truth. In terms of implementation
the Dave Biro original used discrete auto 8-track players, (so subsequently
was huge) and sounded OK. A bright engineer (who shall remain
nameless) suggested making it smaller by mounting the 8 -tracks
vertically on a common frame - only after this design decision was taken
did someone dig out the BS (British Standards) documents for 8-track cartridges
and players - they were not intended to be played vertically, hence some
horrible
tracking and tape jamming problems.
<Sigh>.
The crap recordings were probably a result of the limited industry 'back up',
(manual fading between two tape loops - resulting in some interesting
audio effects) the whole thing was being done on a shoestring budget (and I
mean shoestring
even in terms of the industry at the time) and being involved in building
the darned
things I know how hard a couple of us (more dedicated) engineers struggled
to make
a silk purse out of a pig's ear. With hindsight it was probably doomed to
failure,
but at least we had some fun.
I still intend to restore a Birotron - more for interest and maybe a
Machiavellian sense
of fun, than to produce a useable, playable, instrument. Unless of course
there is
anyone UK based on the list that would be reckless enough to try one on
stage :-)
<Duck, in preparation for flame attack>
Best Regards,
Nic
Birotron #009 still awaiting rebuild :-(