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Cart machine recorder alignment

Sure... the machine doesn't much care where the audio comes from. And, if you only play back carts you recorded on that machine, you can also do the mechanical alignment. To feed a balanced input, simply ground the #2 pin - hook it to the #1 pin - and feed the unbalanced audio ground to 1+2, hot to 3. It will be about 10dB lower than the machine is used to, but the input gain ought to have enough room to pick it up.
 
littlejohn said:
Sure... the machine doesn't much care where the audio comes from. And, if you only play back carts you recorded on that machine, you can also do the mechanical alignment. To feed a balanced input, simply ground the #2 pin - hook it to the #1 pin - and feed the unbalanced audio ground to 1+2, hot to 3. It will be about 10dB lower than the machine is used to, but the input gain ought to have enough room to pick it up.
Click to expand...

My main doubt regards to bias tuning. I should have a reader (audio analyser) to see level coming out of the machine while injecting the tones into the recorder. That's not easily accomplished with a pc souncard, I supose ::) Right?
 
I always would play with the bias and adjust for the best dynamic range without audible distortion. Using "hot" tape you could let the peaks saturate the tape and gain a few more dB of dynamic range. A little tape saturation never hurt anybody (as the Beatles knew). Cart machines always worked best if fed through a Compellor/Dominator combination.

I then would align with a pink noise generator fed at opposite polarity into the L and R inputs and then in-polarity sum the outputs into a 1/3 octave analyzer through a minimum-loss combiner pad. You adjust the heads, eq and levels until you get the best null across the widest part of the audio spectrum. That method always gave the best phase response. It also helps to own a set of alignment blocks to optimize the initial physical alignment of all of the parts.

I was glad to see the cart machine go the way of the Dodo. They are glorified 8-track tape units. They were a big nuisance to keep sounding acceptable. The Apple lossless recording to digital works great for me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lossless
 
speakerman said:
I was glad to see the cart machine go the way of the Dodo. They are glorified 8-track tape units. They were a big nuisance to keep sounding acceptable. The Apple lossless recording to digital works great for me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Lossless
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Well between carts and cassettes... But that's a whole different ballgame. :) Carts are still used, primarily in third world countries, and some small US stations. From what I have heard, the third world countries are afraid of computers.

As for myself, I like to play with carts from time to time, since I have the patience to deal with all the tech issues involved. I could see carts being used as a backup system (I wish we had them for that reason, where I work), but I do agree there's too much involved in using them for a 24 / 7 operation on a long term basis.

R
 
Robert Bass said:
myself, I like to play with carts from time to time, since I have the patience to deal with all the tech issues involved. I could see carts being used as a backup system (I wish we had them for that reason, where I work), but I do agree there's too much involved in using them for a 24 / 7 operation on a long term basis.
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There's just a certain satisfying feeling when you slam a cart home into a machine that you just don't get by hitting colored squares on a TV screen -- I can't explain it. It's the same as cueing up a normal record vs. cueing up a CD or, again, hitting a button on a display. I'm just a very tactile person (GET YOUR BRAINS OUTTA THE GUTTER! ;D ).

I'm probably just way too old school for the room, I guess. I have a soft spot for the buggers -- even when they jam, just because I grew up with them. I'm with Robert, I'd still keep two or three of them in the control room, just for fun stuff (stingers, jingles, drop ins, sound effects, maybe some music).

But if I had to play spots, I'd rather put them on an Instant Replay or a computer. Best of both worlds. Eventually I'll warm up to the silicon beast.
 
Well, my cart machine expewrience began with RCA machines - the one with non-standard tones and offset heads, and continued through ITC top of the line and Tomcats. The latter two could at least be beaten close enough to submission that they were cPble of playing music on an ongoing basis. ?They will always be subject to timing errors, though. The NAB format - or any which is continuous loop - is going to produce inconsistent tension pretty much regardless what you do. Scotch minmized it in their desing, but it woul;dn't run reliably at 15IPS. The Tomcats were about as state of the art as carts ever got.
 
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