lowph
41
So with 3 heads, would that be one for playback, recording, and erasing? Or are there tape recorders with “multipurpose” heads? I don’t really know that much about cassette stuff, other than the basics.
What kind of recorder would allow overdubbing? Would that be something with recording+playback head and then an option to disable the erasing head? That mod link I sent above doesn’t overdub, and I wish it did, especially when using tape loops.
The Neve 542 rack module is an expensive way to get tape emulation. Around 850 € and it’s mono. I don’t know much about tape, but it sounds good to me.
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Oh, didn’t know. So I must have a 3-head one!
So it should be feasible to create some tape delay out of this unit!!! 
I just thought there was a recorder head then the playback head, as I can hear the impact of raising input level on tape saturation…
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Yea here’s an idea of how a 3-head works:
And as you indicate the distance of those heads creates a delay of sorts!
A ‘2 head’ deck has a single head used for recording and playback (plus the erase) so it’s either doing one or the other - you can often monitor the recording but you’re just hearing the input in that case.
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So to get a variable delay you would need to have the reading head to move, or act on the path of the tape between the two last heads…
Seems I need to check some diy schemes ^^
Someone has good pointers?
bwo
46
I think on some tape delay machines they had something like 4 read heads in a row… would be cool it moved though.
Matmcr
47
“Maybe a small 3U with some choice modules would be the way to go for you?”
Just looking into this and checking out those 2 modules - I’ve always been scared to death of going down the modular path 
, just due to the amount of options available mixed with my obsessive nature. I having said that, a smaller ‘effects’ rack could be a solid route. That or even a 500 series set-up (but again could end up silly money).
To get variable delay you need to have speed control over tape, some units have it others don’t, FYC I saw this recently from adafruit 
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Do you have one? I’ve been going back and forth on getting a pair for a few years now. I generally like the demo’s I’ve heard of it, but sometimes the low end bump seems a bit too extreme.
No man, no way I can afford that kind of gear 
Of course!
Easiest way indeed!!
That’s the path I have to investigate for sure.
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