I am experienced but have more to learn and I enjoy your format very much! I remember the way you explain things. I made my first own pancake "platters" as I call them only 14 years ago when I got my first 1/4" 2 track. Now I tune those machines. (I've been repairing tape machines since 1996 when I was a kid). Thank you for these videos!
Thank you for your kind words! The tape machines have been my life long obsession... second to only my wife, who's been totally supporting and tolerant of the basement machine shop and all those metal shavings around the house. :)
@@Foxbat9000 When I first realized I had a repairable OTARI I had to make NAB hubs for 10" reels, so I also made a platter. I just wanted it good enough so it didn't damage tape or the machine. Every attempt was a disaster except for the platter. That's because I have no machine tools. But I used a rotary cutting tool, cut a plastic reel down so the center fit badly (loose but possible to center) and attached a metal NAB reel with one flange removed. Then I injected loads of hot glue with a long metal nozzle into all the empty space after centering it. So it's not "glued" in, rather I made a part out of hot glue that fills the spaces and it can't come apart. I have to say "never try this" but it worked perfectly one time out of 3.
@@Foxbat9000 Also, I got used to the very VERY WEIRD Hewlett Packard 3964A 4 track recorder when I was in a band 20 years ago. If you don't know its made for lab use, remote controlled by other HP lab gear I don't have. It can record a sync track. It has all pancake motors and has FF and REW speed that is absolutely terrifying!! On our 'room mic' session recordings it sounds like someone is over-speeding a desk fan so fast it's going to kill everyone. When you run out of tape the take-up reel goes so fast you get many bits of tape floating in the air. Also has weird amorphous heads with no position/angle adjustments AT ALL, yet it's made of gold plated boards. Ugly on the outside but beautiful on the inside, ceramic capstan, extremely direct drive heavy fly wheel. It's absolutely brutal to it's non-adjustable heads though so I added resistors to lower the voltage/amps to those reel motors. It's fantastic for echo effects when you chain all of the channels (4 taps).
Thanks for your efforts to describe your great collection. Could you please check what heads do you have on this machine? Are there any benefits to store tapes magnetic layer out vs in , American way?
I had to rebuild the head block on that machine, as it came as a mono full track configuration. Finding the heads was not that complicated, fortunately, and the machine itself had the electronics for both channels already in it. As far as that tape orientation I have seen some discussion, but none too convincing, so I think it is just the matter of tradition, more than anything else. This was the way the first tape machines in the world, built by AEG, were built, and then that German tradition remained, also called the "B-wind". It's been conjectured that putting the head block INSIDE the tape loop makes the transport layout more compact, and the Americans are usually credited with that switch... of course you can always blame that on the Russians, in this case Mr. Poniatov, or Mr. Ampex. :)
You machined your own 60 minute 15 ips platters. Wow!!! I've been wanting 60 minute 15 ips audio reels with video for a while, it's the upper end of what I want to go with film/video (live synced for audience)
Making those platters is actually not that complicated, but you need a vertical mill to precisely drill the peg holes. The biggest challenge in making large ones is finding the flat stock that is flat enough. A lot of sheet aluminum alloy has some very subtle curve to it, that becomes obvious once you start spinning it. And some of it is impossible to get rid of, as it is like spring steel with some residual internal stress. For this reason I have been toying with the idea of using carbon fiber sheets, which are becoming more available these days.
First - attach a piece of hold down tape to the end of the pancake, and it will hold the turns securely. Don't put it anywhere without first fastening the end like that. I take a 2.5" piece of hold down tape and roll 3/8" of it under itself, then attach 1/2" of the other end to the tape. This way it is easy to undo it when you want to play it. There are different options for the boxes. You can use the brown boxes the pancakes come in - they work very well and cost nothing. I have tons of them. Then you can buy nice white boxes from Boxes, etc. specifically made for 10.5" reels. Remove the center post, or leave it there, it doesn't matter. I also always use a plastic bag, I buy them on ebay, 11" x 14".
No, but I have a friend who does. I have too many machines so some of them remain in their stock form, Based on my experience, I would expect very good results here, given the quality of that tape drive.
Two things... one is purely superficial... the elegant, complex 3-dimensional, finely finished shapes of Studer or Nagra, opposite of the functional, simple, flat painted surfaces of this machine. The very common comparison to a Tiger tank is totally appropriate here. The other thing has to do with the Telefunken's tradition of belt driven capstans as opposed to the direct drive systems. As I mentioned, I can see some benefits to either with my heart being slightly on the belt side.
@@Foxbat9000Oh, I get it, I was completely fixated on the sonics, which can't be so far away from each other... so, comparing the sound what is your opinion?
@@ferencgraca7574 At the moment I am not in position to make meaningful comparison, as i have not done a side-by-side comparison between these two machines and perhaps that would be an interesting test to run. Thank you for the idea!
this used to be the workhorse in every German radio studio until ~2000 - absolutely indestructible and rock solid.
I am experienced but have more to learn and I enjoy your format very much! I remember the way you explain things. I made my first own pancake "platters" as I call them only 14 years ago when I got my first 1/4" 2 track. Now I tune those machines. (I've been repairing tape machines since 1996 when I was a kid). Thank you for these videos!
Thank you for your kind words! The tape machines have been my life long obsession... second to only my wife, who's been totally supporting and tolerant of the basement machine shop and all those metal shavings around the house. :)
@@Foxbat9000 When I first realized I had a repairable OTARI I had to make NAB hubs for 10" reels, so I also made a platter. I just wanted it good enough so it didn't damage tape or the machine. Every attempt was a disaster except for the platter. That's because I have no machine tools. But I used a rotary cutting tool, cut a plastic reel down so the center fit badly (loose but possible to center) and attached a metal NAB reel with one flange removed. Then I injected loads of hot glue with a long metal nozzle into all the empty space after centering it. So it's not "glued" in, rather I made a part out of hot glue that fills the spaces and it can't come apart. I have to say "never try this" but it worked perfectly one time out of 3.
@@Foxbat9000 Also, I got used to the very VERY WEIRD Hewlett Packard 3964A 4 track recorder when I was in a band 20 years ago. If you don't know its made for lab use, remote controlled by other HP lab gear I don't have. It can record a sync track.
It has all pancake motors and has FF and REW speed that is absolutely terrifying!! On our 'room mic' session recordings it sounds like someone is over-speeding a desk fan so fast it's going to kill everyone. When you run out of tape the take-up reel goes so fast you get many bits of tape floating in the air.
Also has weird amorphous heads with no position/angle adjustments AT ALL, yet it's made of gold plated boards. Ugly on the outside but beautiful on the inside, ceramic capstan, extremely direct drive heavy fly wheel. It's absolutely brutal to it's non-adjustable heads though so I added resistors to lower the voltage/amps to those reel motors. It's fantastic for echo effects when you chain all of the channels (4 taps).
Thanks for your efforts to describe your great collection. Could you please check what heads do you have on this machine? Are there any benefits to store tapes magnetic layer out vs in , American way?
I had to rebuild the head block on that machine, as it came as a mono full track configuration. Finding the heads was not that complicated, fortunately, and the machine itself had the electronics for both channels already in it. As far as that tape orientation I have seen some discussion, but none too convincing, so I think it is just the matter of tradition, more than anything else. This was the way the first tape machines in the world, built by AEG, were built, and then that German tradition remained, also called the "B-wind". It's been conjectured that putting the head block INSIDE the tape loop makes the transport layout more compact, and the Americans are usually credited with that switch... of course you can always blame that on the Russians, in this case Mr. Poniatov, or Mr. Ampex. :)
You machined your own 60 minute 15 ips platters. Wow!!! I've been wanting 60 minute 15 ips audio reels with video for a while, it's the upper end of what I want to go with film/video (live synced for audience)
Making those platters is actually not that complicated, but you need a vertical mill to precisely drill the peg holes. The biggest challenge in making large ones is finding the flat stock that is flat enough. A lot of sheet aluminum alloy has some very subtle curve to it, that becomes obvious once you start spinning it. And some of it is impossible to get rid of, as it is like spring steel with some residual internal stress. For this reason I have been toying with the idea of using carbon fiber sheets, which are becoming more available these days.
tip for video audio track: convert it to mono and apply volume normalization aka compressor
How do you store the pancakes wound on aeg din gin hub? Nab hub has nice boxes with post in middle
First - attach a piece of hold down tape to the end of the pancake, and it will hold the turns securely. Don't put it anywhere without first fastening the end like that. I take a 2.5" piece of hold down tape and roll 3/8" of it under itself, then attach 1/2" of the other end to the tape. This way it is easy to undo it when you want to play it.
There are different options for the boxes. You can use the brown boxes the pancakes come in - they work very well and cost nothing. I have tons of them.
Then you can buy nice white boxes from Boxes, etc. specifically made for 10.5" reels. Remove the center post, or leave it there, it doesn't matter.
I also always use a plastic bag, I buy them on ebay, 11" x 14".
Ah you have the German broadcast version with the inverted heads.
Yes, of course, it is the B-wind configuration, some people are afraid of it, but in reality it is easy to use.
what a beauty!
Did you try to use external tube playback amplifier?
No, but I have a friend who does. I have too many machines so some of them remain in their stock form, Based on my experience, I would expect very good results here, given the quality of that tape drive.
I'm curious, what you mean by "direct opposite"?
Two things... one is purely superficial... the elegant, complex 3-dimensional, finely finished shapes of Studer or Nagra, opposite of the functional, simple, flat painted surfaces of this machine. The very common comparison to a Tiger tank is totally appropriate here. The other thing has to do with the Telefunken's tradition of belt driven capstans as opposed to the direct drive systems. As I mentioned, I can see some benefits to either with my heart being slightly on the belt side.
@@Foxbat9000Oh, I get it, I was completely fixated on the sonics, which can't be so far away from each other... so, comparing the sound what is your opinion?
@@ferencgraca7574 At the moment I am not in position to make meaningful comparison, as i have not done a side-by-side comparison between these two machines and perhaps that would be an interesting test to run. Thank you for the idea!
What is the diameter of your custom platter please? And the name of the album?
Красиво!❤