MKII tape swapping stories
2002-10-21 by Robert and Suzanne Young
Hi Ken, Hi Folks: Yes, Ken M. and I embarked on a journey few have taken - swapping MKII tapes ! Of course, I had a superb and proven guide watching over me in the form of Streetly Electronics (i.e. Martin Smith and, no doubt, JB in the background going "What has that guy buggered up now ??"). Actually, I haven't had time to work on the cycling glitch on MKII #118 although I'm sure it will get sorted out. After the intitial anxiety attack of getting into the guts of the machine has passed, the process is straight-forward but a notable workout for the fingers and forearms. My mishap with the tape vs Wharfedale was the result of a blatant bit of carelessness on my part (i.e., not listening carefully to Martin). If one avoids such activity, I don't believe that there is really a need to remove the speakers. Considering the size of the magnet, the encounter had amazingly limited effect - about a 1-1.5.second drop out on Station 6. Most importantly, the new sounds are terrific !!! The new LH roster includes: Station 1: Fairlight Swanee, Adrian Belew's sus. guitar, Steve Hacketts' sus. guitar Station 2: Oboe, Russian Choir (IMPRESSIVE), St. John's wood organ Station 3: Cello, M300A strings, French horn Station 4: Gothic, Medieval woodwind, Orchestra (IMO, the best sound mix) Station 5: Recorder, M300B strings, Ian McDonald flute (NICE !!) Station 6: Woodwind 2, bass clarinet (rattles the windows), Cor Anaglais/oboe split The RH keyboard remain traditional leads. Having now delved a bit deeper into the workings of a MKII, I stand behind my contention of some time ago regarding the ingenious design and robustness of these MKII machines. They're really quite impressive and 37 years old !!! Later Bob Y. kenmerb@... wrote: > > In a message dated 10/22/2002 6:18:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time, > kenmerb@... writes: > > Regarding the cycling, Martin's tape replacement method > provided a way to bypass the timing issues. I replaced each > tape by attaching the new tape to old, and pulling it > through the tron, using the existing tape as a guide. This > way, I didn't have to take off the cycling chain or the > drums. That probably would have been a nightmare to adjust > afterwards > > To clarify here, both Bob and I had cycling problems after replacing > the tapes, but they weren't timing issues. It was just that, upon > replacing the synch tape, neither of our machines could find the tape > bank index marks on the new tape as they passed over the synch heads. > After a while, mine started working properly, but Bob's wasn't working > the last time I heard from him. Martin's sending him another synch > tape with a stronger signal, in case that's the problem. Bob - if > you're out there, let us know how it's going. > > Ken M. Hi Folks: Yes, Ken M. and I embarked on a journey few have taken - swapping MKII tapes ! Of course, I had a superb and proven guide watching over me in the form of Streetly Electronics (i.e. Martin Smith and, no doubt, JB in the background going "What the hell has that banjo-pickin' moron buggered up now ??"). Actually, I haven't had time to work on the cycling glitch on MKII #118 although I'm sure it will get sorted out. After the intitial anxiety attack of getting into the guts of the machine has passed, the process is straight-forward but a notable workout for the fingers and forearms. My mishap resulting in the tape vs Wharfedale contest was the result of a blatant bit of carelessness on my part (i.e., not listening carefully to Martin; geeze, I hate groveling like this). If one avoids such errors, I don't believe that there is really a need to remove the speakers. Considering the size of the magnet, the encounter had amazingly limited effect - about a 1-1.5.second drop out on Station 6. Most importantly, the new sounds are terrific !!! (timed impeccably I might add). The new LH roster includes: Station 1: Fairlight Swanee, Adrian Belew's sus. guitar, Steve Hacketts' sus. guitar Station 2: Oboe, Russian Choir (IMPRESSIVE), St. John's wood organ Station 3: Cello, M300A strings, French horn Station 4: Gothic, Medieval woodwind, Orchestra (IMO, the best Tron sound mix of all time) Station 5: Recorder, M300B strings, Ian McDonald flute (NICE !!) Station 6: Woodwind 2, bass clarinet (rattles the windows), Cor Anaglais/oboe split The RH keyboard remain traditional leads. Having now delved a bit deeper into the workings of a MKII, I stand behind my contention of some time ago regarding the ingenious design and robustness of these MKII machines. They're really quite impressive and 37 years old !!! Later Bob Y. kenmerb@... wrote:
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> > In a message dated 10/22/2002 6:18:19 PM Eastern Daylight Time, > kenmerb@... writes: > > Regarding the cycling, Martin's tape replacement method > provided a way to bypass the timing issues. I replaced each > tape by attaching the new tape to old, and pulling it > through the tron, using the existing tape as a guide. This > way, I didn't have to take off the cycling chain or the > drums. That probably would have been a nightmare to adjust > afterwards > > To clarify here, both Bob and I had cycling problems after replacing > the tapes, but they weren't timing issues. It was just that, upon > replacing the synch tape, neither of our machines could find the tape > bank index marks on the new tape as they passed over the synch heads. > After a while, mine started working properly, but Bob's wasn't working > the last time I heard from him. Martin's sending him another synch > tape with a stronger signal, in case that's the problem. Bob - if > you're out there, let us know how it's going. > > Ken M.