Like cassette tapes and floppy disks, 8-track tapes are very vulnerable to degradation as a result of knowledge is saved on magnetized media. On prime of that, 8-track tapes are sufficiently old that bodily injury is quite common. For instance, the froth pads on virtually all authentic 8-track tapes have lengthy since crumbled into mud. Alon Boris wished a solution to take heed to his 8-track tapes with out inflicting additional injury, so he constructed this very distinctive Raspberry Pi-powered 8-track participant.
8-track is a bizarre format with quirks which are essential to assist its options. An 8-track cassette comprises a steady loop of magnetic tape, so it’s going to play ceaselessly. However that implies that customers can’t rewind the tapes—solely play and fast-forward. And essentially the most distinctive function is correct there within the title: the tape has eight parallel audio tracks. Break up into two stereo channels every, that ends in 4 “applications” (songs, guide chapters, and so on.) that play concurrently. The person merely selects this system that they need to pipe via the amplifier at any given time.
One unusual impact of this setup is that switching applications doesn’t begin the observe over. Should you’re at 01:26 of “Come Collectively” (Program 1 of the Abbey Street 8-track) and swap to Program 3, you’re going to drop proper into 01:26 of “I Need You (She’s So Heavy)”. If you wish to hear that track from the start, you’ll should fast-forward the tape till it begins again over.
Boris wished to digitize his 8-track tapes, but additionally to duplicate that have. He began by recording the total size of each observe. He then wrote a Python script that performs again these tracks on the contact of buttons related to a Raspberry Pi 3 Mannequin B+. It performs the audio via a Robertsonics Tsunami 8-channel audio card—one channel for every observe. All 4 applications play concurrently, however solely the chosen program is audible. Analog VU meters point out the amount of every program and a small LCD display exhibits the standing.
That’s all digital, as a result of the audio is coming from WAV recordsdata. However Boris nonetheless wished to the sensation of inserting an 8-track tape. So he added printed QR codes to every of his tapes. A Helpful Sensors Tiny Code Reader scans the QR code of the tape and tells the Raspberry Pi the ID so it may possibly begin enjoying the corresponding set of WAV recordsdata.
Now Boris can take heed to his 8-track tapes as a lot as he needs with out worry of inflicting injury. He will get the total 8-track expertise purely from digital recordsdata.