I’m old! I still have a large box of cassette tapes, both commercial and home recorded from my music listening period pre-CD (and MiniDisc as that was a platform I jumped on also!). It’s a tantalising form factor and I’m glad to see it appealing to a new generation attracted to its warm analogue sound and fun form factor. As such it’s excellent to see this Open Style Cassette Player Recorder device appear on Tindie.
The project creator mentions the idea that we can “Enjoy cassette tapes not just with your ears, but also with your eyes!”. The open frame nature of the device really does show off the tape and its mechanism and is a sure talking point that would look great atop any amplifier. The machine has a set of line-out phono plugs on the back so is perfect to patch into an amplifier or indeed directly to a powered speaker.
There are 6 switches across the front of the machine which are the usual transport controls and there is a separate button on the side of the device which enables recording. For recording there is a 3.5mm stereo socket on the front of the machine for input. Of course, you can also play pre-recorded tapes of any type!
Power comes from the very modern feeling USB-C port on the rear of the device. It makes a lot of sense as most people will have a spare USB supply somewhere, even if we might struggle to find a cassette! Hopefully, we will see people integrating these into their new and old retro computers. You could connect it directly to a ZX81, or save data from an Arduino using simple audio modulation techniques. In any case, bring a pinch of the 20th century into the 21st!
