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I like how this sounds, but then again, I probably wouldn't

stanto

It's 3:30am and I've finished fighting with the Baldur's Gate 3 toolkit to edit a mod I'm working on, and a thought hits me.

Wouldn't it be funny to store music on a cassette?

No, not like that.

I'm talking about, digital music. Take say, an MP3 or equivalent, potentially lossy compression audio format - because it would be funnier. Then create an audio file at a low bitrate, depth and frequency. Then have write it to a cassette tape, like in the ZX Spectrum / Commodore 64 days.

Then play it back and decode it on the fly!

I believe it would be an interesting juxtaposition of technology while being a challenge to get the most out of the compression and data rates, and handling errors on the way. Resulting in a pretty hilarious audio file.

Consider it an art piece.

I wonder what the bill of materials would look like for that? I still have some as-new cassettes lying around...

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  • stanto said:
    Then have write it to a cassette tape, like in the ZX Spectrum / Commodore 64 days.

    The likes of the BBC micro used the 'Computer Users Tape Standard' (CUTS) to record to cassette which appears to have been around 1200baud. 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_standard#Enhancements

    Not sure how the ZX Spectrum / Commodore compared, but I don't recall them being any faster to load.

  • in reply to beacon_dave

    The Beeb also recorded and played back 300 baud to/from cassette. I used to use an old recorder that I regarded as 'sacrificial' in that I would freely (and frequently) adjust the azimuth alignment to cope with cassettes that were badly recorded and/or had arrived from dubious sources.

    Somebody on here said that tape could record and play with a maximum frequency response of 15 KHz or so. With cassettes I would say that that is a trifle optimistic, and anyway the frequency response varies with speed. The standard speed for cassettes was 1 and 7/8th inches per second (IPS), the tape width 1/8th of an inch, but if you used reel-to-reel 1/4" wide tapes (often known as 'wheel to wheel') much more was possible. Speeds available were 15/16th IPS, 1 and 7/8th IPS, 3 and 3/4 IPS, 7 and 1/2 IPS, 15 IPS, and I think in the early days, 30 IPS. The higher speeds with good quality 2" wide tape would record and play to over 25 KHz. However, the tape recorders that would go up to 25 KHz and above were mighty expensive!

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  • in reply to beacon_dave

    The Beeb also recorded and played back 300 baud to/from cassette. I used to use an old recorder that I regarded as 'sacrificial' in that I would freely (and frequently) adjust the azimuth alignment to cope with cassettes that were badly recorded and/or had arrived from dubious sources.

    Somebody on here said that tape could record and play with a maximum frequency response of 15 KHz or so. With cassettes I would say that that is a trifle optimistic, and anyway the frequency response varies with speed. The standard speed for cassettes was 1 and 7/8th inches per second (IPS), the tape width 1/8th of an inch, but if you used reel-to-reel 1/4" wide tapes (often known as 'wheel to wheel') much more was possible. Speeds available were 15/16th IPS, 1 and 7/8th IPS, 3 and 3/4 IPS, 7 and 1/2 IPS, 15 IPS, and I think in the early days, 30 IPS. The higher speeds with good quality 2" wide tape would record and play to over 25 KHz. However, the tape recorders that would go up to 25 KHz and above were mighty expensive!

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