Create accountLogin

Recent searches

No recent searches

Search options

Only available when logged in.
mastodon.social is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
The original server operated by the Mastodon gGmbH non-profit

Administered by:

Server stats:

353K
active users

mastodon.social: AboutStatusProfiles directoryPrivacy policy

Mastodon: AboutGet the appKeyboard shortcutsView source codev4.4.0-nightly.2025-03-25

#masterofpuppets

1 post1 participant0 posts today
Replied in thread
Public *
Dendrobatus Azureus

@dryak @argv_minus_one @Timpostma

Yes I've seen that horrible concoction where they put + 5 volts somewhere that you can't protect your equipment if you don't know about that

It's not like 48V phantom power on PA & studio 🎙️ hardware, which does nothing to your equipment if it is wired properly

However this is not the case with all PC sound cards
The ones that I used, only have tip sleeve for the mic input, but I made sure that they were wired that way. I could never use those by the way, an XLR microphone just sounds way better, the balanced input is key here

#RetroComputing#RetroAudio#Audio
Replied in thread
Public *
Dendrobatus Azureus

@dryak @argv_minus_one

You have pointed it out correctly, the regular XLR microphone input on a mixing console, has a different level of voltage and current in mili amperes, that it expects, than the line level output of a cassette deck
You have to match those with a direct box.

With home equipment it's also not feasible to use the microphone input of a sound card, which is just tip sleeve, thus unbalanced, and sent the high level line output of a cassette deck to it; you would get extreme levels of distortion.

With professional audio, you always have to match the input levels of the channel strip, with the output levels of the device. With home audio you still have to match the input levels of your recorder with the output levels of your device.

For the best results you still have to get a digitizer which is properly matched with its input levels towards the output levels of the tape deck.

@Timpostma

#RetroComputing#RetroAudio#Audio
Public *
Dendrobatus Azureus

A Couple of hours ago somebody asked me how you would go about digitizing a cassette tape.

In the short run it's simple if you are Sound Engineer like me:

* you take a Dual Channel passive direct-box
* you take an output cable which goes from RCA to quarter inch plugs
* you insert those in the direct box
* you pull two XLR cables to your mixing console

From your mixing console you send the analog audio from the subgroups outputs to one of your many digitizers and you're done.

For a home user there's a challenge; the home user first needs to get a working cassette deck, most Engineers who have been in the profession for years have at least one or two of them. Some Engineers even still have Quarter inch tape decks in running condition.

So the home user will need to buy a brand new cassette deck which has a USB output which is in fact a built-in simple digitizer.

I have a check for those, because I do not wish to play my retro cassettes again, even though they are in perfect condition. Compact cassette always sounded low quality to me.

So in conclusion, you need a running cassette deck with demagnetized Heads, new belts, a pre amp and a digitizer, then you can digitize your analog cassette tape

#RetroComputing#RetroAudio#Audio
ExploreLive feeds
About