Cassette loading / readin help pls!

[+OLD CS1]

9 minutes ago, jetset said:

Except…it *is* picking up background noise. I heard the TI beep from my tv and me moving to press stop after I record a file. 

Jokes aside, that sounds like a malfunction of the unit.  Ed is correct, and in every portable tape deck I have ever touched the mic is switched off when the plug is inserted into the jack.  Could there be exceptions?  Sure, but seems like there would be no practical purpose.

[HOME AUTOMATION]

1 hour ago, OLD CS1 said:

I used to sing into it when I would record my programs so that loading them later was less boring

I'm guessing...

[+OLD CS1]

@HOME AUTOMATION Nah, mate... we have Munch Man.

[sparkdrummer]

Since the QFX recorder does not have a MIC jack I am assuming that the mic should be disabled by setting the switch to LINE IN, but who knows.

 

[jetset]

19 hours ago, OLD CS1 said:

Jokes aside, that sounds like a malfunction of the unit.  Ed is correct, and in every portable tape deck I have ever touched the mic is switched off when the plug is inserted into the jack.  Could there be exceptions?  Sure, but seems like there would be no practical purpose.

Just for the hell of it, I'm going to buy a new cord. I've had three cassette players. The TI model played and loaded fine, recorded and would read/load the saved file. Then that stopped. The 2nd was fine all around, that one was just cheap crap, the play speed started warbling on that one. This latest one straight up won't record. Gotta be worth a try.
One thing that *was* weird..the TI unit...that problem was it not playing loud enough to load, but when I'd plug in my iphone earbuds it was loud as hell??

[+OLD CS1]

13 minutes ago, jetset said:

One thing that *was* weird..the TI unit...that problem was it not playing loud enough to load, but when I'd plug in my iphone earbuds it was loud as hell??

That could be the cable if it has some damage.  I have to go back and read through the entire thread to see if this was covered: one thing I found is the TI expects speaker-level output from the deck.  I would think in most cases headphones would present the proper load and be indicative of the output level, but I cannot be certain.   "Loud as hell" sounds like the proper level to me

[oddemann]

I have a "modern" cassette player that I can plug into my PC via USB. But reading here and having tested it to read wav files from that player, it dos not work. So the question is... The old "Data-cassette-player", does they play correct speed or does it not matter?

[Ed in SoDak]

Sorry if I steered anybody wrong. I've sure never noticed the internal mic being live when something's plugged into the Mic jack.

 

The circuit diagram in the TI GE 3158 service docs shows the switch that disconnects the mic. Unfortunately I can't seem to upload a screenshot to this post.

 

I'll have to dig out my recorder and see what's up so I know for certain.

-Ed

 

EDIT: Oh you guys!  I didn't read past page one where @OLD CS1 exonerated me at the top of page 2.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Ed in SoDak

[Ed in SoDak]

[jetset]

Well....it's not the cord. I tried the new cord on both cassette players and it's not recording at all. I get the prompts, but then when I go back to check it says no data found, and sure enough if I play through the cassette players speaker there's no computer/ data sound.

Is there something Internal on the TI unit itself that can be the problem? That's the only thing left. I haven't tried checking the alpha lock to see if it's up or down, but that shouldn't matter for recording?

 

 

On 7/22/2022 at 12:25 AM, OLD CS1 said:

Jokes aside, that sounds like a malfunction of the unit.  Ed is correct, and in every portable tape deck I have ever touched the mic is switched off when the plug is inserted into the jack.  Could there be exceptions?  Sure, but seems like there would be no practical purpose.

Just for the hell of it, I'm going to buy a new cord. I've had three cassette players. The TI model played and loaded fine, recorded and would read/load the saved file. Then that stopped. The 2nd was fine all around, that one was just cheap crap, the play speed started warbling on that one.

[sparkdrummer]

I wish you were in Phoenix so I could have a look at the TI recorder. I can’t help feeling that it just needs switches cleaned. 

[jetset]

1 hour ago, sparkdrummer said:

I wish you were in Phoenix so I could have a look at the TI recorder. I can’t help feeling that it just needs switches cleaned. 

If you're willing I'll ship it to you to look at, if it's unfixable you can keep it for parts. I'm so frustrated at this point I'm ready to put everything I've bought on Ebay. It's not recording at all. Not on the TI player, or the QFX unit I bought. With both of them, with the red cord plugged in, it's picking up background noise. That's why I'm wondering if it's something internal with the TI itself. Both players load games like a champ, I have the first adventure and mystery funhouse. Both load, but won't save game progress.

[Ti_99_Guy]

Hi I have read through this post - I did purchase a Ti Program Recorder off of eBay that works. For the most part I can save my ToD games to a fresh cassette and load them back, all within the Tunnels menu. As time wears on, the cassette is displaying a data error message - I just power cycle the TI and cassette player and somehow this seems to work. I initially got the Quest for the King game from the web , playing it (WAV) from my laptop to the TI recorder and it worked !! I'm struggling to get a decent Sony cassette recorder/player to work at all - it has a mic line in and headphones out. When I play back a recorded game save on the Sony the TI gives a no data found error. When I play back the data through the Sony speaker it's quite loud. Does the headphone out jack need to be amplified more?  Also when I try to use the Sony machine the data that used to play through the TV using the TI Program Recorder is not present (silent). Sigh - any recommendations? 

[Ti_99_Guy]

Ok an update. My Sony TCM-929 works perfectly with this setup : 1) volume slider set to max volume. 2) Record with stereo/mono setup as pictured ( red ti cable to white side of stereo 1/8" cable plugged into mic port) . When recording keep the headphone/line out plugged in (TI white cable to white side of of stereo 1/8" cable plugged into headphone port) . When loading a saved game from cassette, UNPLUG the the cable from the mic port. In this setup when you load the saved game the sound through the TV / Monitor will not be present or be extremely quiet.I have tried this 5 times so far with saving and loading data for tunnels of doom. Saved and loaded correctly every time.