Tape Echo Project

[thelastleroy]

Hello all,

The time has come for another project, and I'd like to build a decent sounding tape echo for use at home/recording. I've done a little research and it seems the easiest way is to find a reel-to-reel recorder with 3 heads, and re-send the playback head output back to the record head input via a simple mixer circuit.

I'm scouring the local classifieds for the right unit, and if I'm lucky I'll find a tube one. I think I'll do a step-by-step build report of the process, as I really can't find anything specific on this topic. I'm fine with shorter repeat times, as is the nature of using a reel-to-reel device with limited tape speed options.

Does anyone in here have experience with this type of a project? Any ideas or insights about what I'm getting myself into here? I'd especially like to know if there is a specific make/model that is preferable for ease of use and quality in this application.

Wish me luck!

[N3m0 7h3 Fi5h]

Does anyone in here have experience with this type of a project? Any ideas or insights about what I'm getting myself into here?

Personally... I don't have any experience with this project..
I don't know how hard these projects, compare to your idea ..
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xelent/2455014579/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://lushprojects.com/tapehack/index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.interruptor.ch/Php5/dubboard ... .php?t=767" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://acapella.harmony-central.com/sho ... elay/page2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[thelastleroy]

Cool ideas with the cassette players, and these are definately cheap and plentiful. I'm pretty set on reel-to-reel at this point though. The parts are larger, and made of better materials, and the tape path would be much easier to deal with. I hope to have a more or less stock looking tape machine that connects to a small mixer enclosure with a bypass switch.

[N3m0 7h3 Fi5h]

Any ideas or insights about what I'm getting myself into here?

Just an idea or insights ..

Tape Echo

If tape loops are not the oldest trick in the book, then tape echo is, but even this hoary old cliche has its uses now and again. Tape echo is developed by the distance between the record and play heads on a tape deck. The tape must take some time to travel this distance. Therefore, if you are listening to the tape as you are recording you hear the recorded sound a little later than the original.

Multiple echos are achieved by using a mixer to combine some of the playback signal with whatever is being recorded. This is a feedback situation and care must be taken to see that echos diminuendo as they come around rather than build up. Whenever you do tape echo keep your awareness on the knob that controls the level of the fedback signal. After some practice you will be able to control the echos to the point where you can keep a constant signal level.



Here's how to set up basic echo on the revox:

Patch a source (better not use a microphone the first time you do this) to the left channel of a Revox. (Set both input switches to aux to get the patch bay).

Patch from the LEFT OUTPUT to the RIGHT INPUT of the same Revox.

Select the Revox output on the monitor.

Set the Revox switches: MONITOR TAPE, RECORD-L ON, RECORD-R OFF, both input level knobs down.

Start recording and start the source. Turn the left input level up until you hear the recorded material. Turn the right input level up until echos start. Now by playing with the two level controls you can vary the number of echos, the relative levels of the echo and original, or even eliminate the original and sustain the echos. (This works on the Revoxes because of the internal mixing feature. If you do this on another tape deck you will need a mixer in the patch.)

The first variation on this is to use two tape decks for longer delay. (Remember Pauline Olivereos' "Bye-bye Butterfly"?) The patch is almost the same:

Connect the source to the left input of the left hand deck, and the left output of the right hand deck to the right input of the left hand deck. The right hand deck does not need an input. Set the left hand deck to record and the right hand deck to play.

Thread the tape from the supply reel of the left hand deck through both sets of heads to the take up reel of the right hand deck. Hang a loop pulley on the tape to keep it taut.

Start both decks playing (they better be set at the same speed!). The right hand deck is deliberately a smidgeon faster than the left so the tape will stay tight.

Put the left deck in the record mode and apply the source. Presently you will hear an echo. The levels are controlled as above.

If you play with the varispeed at this point you can get some interesting Doppler effects. You will soon find the limits of this technique.

The most interesting applications of tape delay involve processing the fedback signal. This is simple to add, merely patch from output to input by way of some processing device. Now whatever that device does will be doubled for each echo, often with startling results. I leave the various possibilities to your experimentaion.

Site: http://artsites.ucsc.edu/ems/music/equi ... .html#Echo" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

or ..
http://www.livelooping.org/history/theo ... oop/#hist7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.livelooping.org/history/theo ... oop/#hist9" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;








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[thelastleroy]

It seems that my latest idea is actually one of the oldest studio trick in the book! I ALMOST got hold of a really nice tube unit on the 'bay, but it slipped out of the budget in the final hours. I'm not in any rush, so I think I'll wait for a local unit to come up and save on the shipping costs. That way I can justify an extra 30-50 bucks spent on a great piece.

I'm going down to the salvation army sometime this week, there's always a pile of old obsolete electronics in the basement there. Maybe I'll get lucky!!