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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!tellab1!etan
From: etan@tellab1.UUCP (Nate Stelton)
Newsgroups: net.music.synth
Subject: the poor man's data storage
Message-ID: <851@tellab1.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 21-Mar-86 13:29:30 EST
Article-I.D.: tellab1.851
Posted: Fri Mar 21 13:29:30 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 24-Mar-86 00:33:26 EST
Reply-To: etan@tellab3.UUCP (Nate Stelton)
Organization: Tellabs, Inc., Lisle, IL
Lines: 82


                       The Poor Man's Data Storage

Don't you just hate dumping bits onto a cassette storage medium?  I have a Korg
Polysix, Poly-800, and a Yamaha RX15, but I never got one of those little
cheapo cassette recorders until recently.

Before, I figured that I could just use one of the three stereo cassette decks
around the house.  This is fun, because you get to try out special cables with
different connectors on each end, which usually aren't long enough unless you
balance the deck on the edge of the synthesizer and the back of a chair.  Then
you have the freedom to choose which stereo channel you will use, and to
remember which one you used last time.  Also, I found that using the mic inputs
on some decks caused errors due to preamp freakout (built-in limiters?), and the
line inputs provided just baaaarely enough gain to work.  Now, try taking this
wonderful setup on the road.

My solution evolved into trying to store all the important stuff onto one
load into the machines, and leaving them alone.  Now, my wife, who plays in a
band and uses this equipment, wants total programming freedom of the
instrument.  She never does any dumping or loading, so she doesn't know what
I go through.  I guess synthesizer data transfers are the job of the man of
the house, sort of like taking out the garbage.

The time came when I decided I had to break down and buy a dedicated portable
cassette recorder.  Off to Venture I went.  (I don't know if you all have
Ventures; they're sort of like a K-Mart who thinks they're Sears, but the
checkout lines are like Zayre's and the checkout person has to punch in seven
10-digit codes for each item).  A 19.95 Lloyds appeared to fit the bill.
That was until I got home and realized that it had no tape counter.
Imagine listening to 20-second bleep after 20-second bleep and making tally
marks on a piece of scrap paper until you reach load 27, which has "Wet Ones".

Back to Venture for a refund, and on to K-Mart.  For $29.88, K-Mart had an
Emerson with a counter.  They also had a Texas Instruments unit for 49.95,
but I opted for the cheaper one.  Home I headed, excited, with my purchase.
I was going to organize all the data stuff onto three cassettes, all nicely
labeled, and no level problems.  I got home, set the Emerson on the desk portion
of my mixer, then ransacked the house to find a special cable that a friend made
for me for this specific purpose.  (I had this cable ever since I used to have a
digital-control PAIA 8700 syn setup.  Did you ever have one of those?  No, eh?
That figures.  Most 8700 owners have long since committed suicide anyway.)

I got the cable, plugged it into the drum machine, then plugged it into
the...Wait... there's no mic input jack?! My wife came home about this time
to find me a sobbing, quivering blob of flesh on the livingroom floor.

2 days later...

This time, I tried Highland Appliances.  The salesman showed me a Sanyo M111.
It looks like a walkman, but records, and in mono!  Oh joy!  I asked if it
had a mic jack, and he said "Yeah, and you can also plug in a 6-Volt source
over here in this jack for power".
"Does it come with the power converter?"
"No."
"Do you sell one for it?"
"No."
"Does it take batteries?"
"Yes, four AA cells!"
"Good.  Now, do you sell those?"
The salesman silently got the batteries, and after standing in four different
lines (I'm telling you, this store is even goofier than Venture or Service
Merchandise), I was on my way.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, I opened up the package, and noticed a sample
C-12 tape in the machine, so I played it.   I heard a woman's voice saying,
"I don't think I like this tape recorder.  It makes my voice sound weird.  It
just doesn't sound like I would want me to sound like."  Hmm, apparently I
wasn't the first owner.  I hooked the machines up and did a data dump.
Verifying the dump produced errors.  I then noticed a strange crunching sound
coming from the tape recorder as the tape was playing.  Popping the tape out
and seeing the freshly mangled tape confirmed my suspicions.  AAAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!

Well, to keep a dumb story from getting too long, I stood in several long
lines at Highland and eventually got the machine replaced with a working
model.  Then I figured out that the cables I was using were mislabeled
(insert another AARRRGGGHHH here), so I fixed that.  Now, my files are
organized, my wife is happy, and I don't worry any more about what patch or
pattern she is erasing.  The good part, though, is that now I have more time
to take out the garbage.

                       -etan