Considering I used leftover 9mm underlayment to build it, I’d say that’s highly likely in this case ![]()
Straightening things up, hooked in the portastudio (and made tape loops and modded a cheap tape player to for voltage control over speed), got a riser and 3-d printed a couple Moog sound studio cases to make way for a spectravox and a few diy modules (inside a 2nd-hand Moog metal frame).
Wow! I would love some details on this. ![]()
Sure! Not extensively tested yet, but the speed trimpot is a voltage divider, so I trial-and-errored a homemade vactrol circuit out of parts I had laying around. I managed eventually to match the 0-5v range to the range of tape speeds…
I’m curious too. I’ve done it but I’ve never been satisfied with the results. Best I could come up with was making a pwm controller to smooth out the stepping of the dc motor. I figure the next experiment would be swapping the motor itself.
I looked for the pwm-type speed control circuit that they say is typical for speed control, and on this super cheap model ("Better Sound Quality” branding) it seems like the voltage divider between 1.8v and 2.6 feeds an op amp that goes directly to the motor, and that’s it.
Thanks for the photos. Nice work!
haha this gave me a good chuckle
It just made me want cake
This morning I got unceremoniously turfed out of my little studio corner at home by my wife, who needed the desk to work from home with (fair enough… She puts up with my noise otherwise
). So I grabbed the bits that I have left here after downsizing quite massively and plugged everything into a spare channel on my DJ mixer and thought I‘d give this whole DAWless thing a go… as a bit of fun. I can see why people enjoy it so much! Also there‘s definitely a slightly different mindset about tracking to a stereo WAV file, rather than multitracking everything and arranging in the computer. I might actually keep this set up in here for a few days and record a few more jams, just for fun! Might have to do something about the mental spaghetti behind the instruments though ![]()
Here‘s the track, if you want to have a listen. Go easy on me though, it‘s literally the first time I‘ve ever recorded something straight to 2track…
I solved the whole Dawless/DAW thing by having my Dawless stuff hooked into my computer so I can fire up one, the other, or both simultaneously.
I assumed everyone did this if they used both DAW’s and Dawless gear. If not I highly recommend. That way I don’t have to worry about if I’m a cool hardware knob turning midi twisting music jockey, or a pocket protecting slide rule having mouse clicking multi-monitor near sighted VST hoarding lab science geek.
I can just be me. Bedroom (producer) warrior.
Edit - and a picture of my main setup, a daw in a box, a sequencer/keyboard/fm synth in a skinny box, and a sampler in a calculator box, that runs into my Mac box which has a couple Daw’s in it.
Edit #2 - My relationship with DAW’s has changed from a tool for producing music to a fun experimental playground for sound design, jamming, creating music to then send to my other gear.
This makes firing up Live or BitWig exciting and wondrous, all those debilitating options become welcomed avenues.
I got a second daw in a box dawless setup but I’m rewiring it ATM.
My second happy place, first one being on the couch next to the family with OP-1 Field and one of these.
Not visible: Bluebox on mixing duties, controlled by launchcontrol, Zoom MS-50G and Blackhole on Microfreak’s out.
My setup for the summertime DnB Battle
(psst—if you want to participate, you still have till Monday to send me your beat!):
- Main loop/hook on the SP404
- Acid on the Monologue
- Everything else (breaks, bassline, etc.) on the DT,
which is also the clock source
My little Midi-to-1/8" adapter is broken, so I’ve gotten really good at hitting Play on the SP and DT at the same time. Also means I have to keep notes to remind myself exactly when to move the SP over to the next pattern. It’s pretty annoying, but it’s also sort of cool to hear them moving in and out of sync with each other as the song progresses.
And here’s my messy spaghetti of a recording and mixing setup:
SP, DT, and Mono are recorded to tracks 10 thru 6, with the Mono signal being routed out via Aux 1 to an MXR Carbon Copy delay and TC Hall of Fame reverb, which then gets recorded on track 5. SP also gets a little bit of delay, but not reverb, during mixing, which lands on track 4. The whole shebang is then routed through the sub bus to the RNLA, which lands on tracks 2-3 and is mixed in at a very low volume (I honestly have no idea if this adds anything but the goals is to give the song a bit more bounce).
Meanwhile, RNC is really just acting as a bridge from the mixer’s main out to my monitors because the cords aren’t long enough to reach ever since I moved the setup across the room so I can see the TV while my wife watches Jeopardy. But also good as a limiter so I don’t blow my ears out.
This corner looks like A LOT of fun.
It has a great value for me also, not in terms of sound these days, but more on the emotion ![]()
I bought this machine new @ Staffhorst Paardenveld in Utrecht when I was 17yrs old, saved from money as a paperboy year in and out. I hoped at that time it was the ultimate gabbermachine next to Fasttracker 2 computer setup. For the money you would buy now 6x the Behringer Edge ![]()
I think the octatrack and snow is such a nice pairing. I love using OsiTirus as a plugin. I might opt for a set up like this in the future when I feel like a change.
how is everything routed here if you don’t mind me asking?












