There was a time in the not-too-distant past when magnetic tape was the primary way of listening to and recording audio. Most of us are familiar with the cassette tape, a four-track system that plays first one side of the tape, then the other. There was the eight-track tape as well which did not have quite as much popularity or longevity but did have a few interesting features that [Serial Hobbyism] took advantage of to make an interactive game.
The defining feature of the eight-track system, beyond the obvious eight tracks on the tape, is that the tape runs in a continuous loop, never needing to be stopped or flipped over. Instead, four buttons select pairs of the eight tracks, moving a head immediately to make the switch on-the-fly. [Serial Hobbyism]’s game plays a trivia-style audio recording and asks the player to answer questions by pushing one of the four “program” buttons to switch tracks. If the correct track is selected, the recorded audio congratulates the player and then continues on with the game. Likewise, if an incorrect track is selected, the recording notes that and the game continues.
Another interesting feature of this game is that it can be played without modifying an eight-track player, as the selectable tracks are a core function of this technology. They can be used in a similar way as cassette tapes to store computer data and a data recorder similar to the eight-track system was used on the Voyager space probes, although these only bear a passing resemblance.
Use case again. The wood case in the photo? The case for 8-track to be used in judging the case for 8-track? I can’t help it. It is just so sooo…… such a bad use case for the word use!
When I was a little boy, One of my first robot toys,
The Mego 2-XL used 8 track tapes and overlay cards to play quiz games
Per wikipedia “employing mathematical decision tree programming methods over 20 interactive modes of operation were achieved.[23] The result had enough information and interactive questions to entertain and educate a person for up to two hours. Subjects included sports quiz, Guinness Book of World Records, the metric system, general information and jokes. “
I was also surprised not to see a reference to 2XL in the article.
I had an Italian version, released sometimes in the 90s, that used normal 4 track cassette tapes.
I have a feeling this has featured on HaD before due to the ingenious scheme employed for the robot to “remember” if your last choice was wrong or right and interleaving different quizzes (the “answers” of course didn’t know what question preceded them – it wouldn’t tell you the correct answer if you got it wrong, it would only tell you if you were wrong or right, but the next question would give you more hints or be easier (and thus totally different) depending on if your last answer was right or wrong).
I can’t find the article on the fly though. There is a Techmoan video about it though. I’m probably mixing it up with that one.
Can’t watch the video atm, but the description sounds like 2-XL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-XL
We had a similar device when I was a little kid that used cassette tapes to play interactive books. We just called it “The talking machine” and it had four colorful buttons that you’d have to press during story according the recorded voices with help from the illustrations. A pretty clever use of the tracks and a lot of fun – until home computers came along.
Per the photo, I really hope all the trivia questions are about the Michael Stanley Band!
The quizzes should be about POCO…Richey Furay…the Don Henley era….
I couldn’t love this comment more!
Data travels slower uphills.
Reminds me of the MB OMNI Entertainment system
This is a cool hack and no sacrilege occured (destructively modifying a vintage 8 Track player). Excellent video and tutorial. Sure the audio quality of the cassette was superior and less hassle with tape problems (scotch tape splicing and pencil rewinding) but if you had an 8 track in your car you were cool. Now I want to add an 8 track player/recorder to my home stereo next to my turntable. I do miss the ka-chunk sound of the track switching.
There should be a article on the various tape cartridges that have come and gone in data and audio. I just recently came across a video on the Cartrette used in fire alarms. (It looked like a miniature Jumbo data tape cassette but the tape ran across the bottom of the cartridge instead of the front.)
The Voyager space probes use an 8 track tape (along with an Intel 4004 processor) to store data . They have survived the vigors of space and are still working after almost 50 years!
I believe that was eight simultaneous digital tracks from a fixed head in the case of the Vohager D2R. The machine was a lot more complex than a consumer 8-track and it was reel-to-reel rather than a tape loop.
Consumer 8-track tapes are destined to fail after a limited number of playbacks because the lubricant which allows the tape to be pulled out of the reel and fed back to the outside invariably wears out. I can remember walking along a busy road and every day there would be new smashed 8-track cartridges and long streamers of tape when people [angrily] flung the broken cartridges out of their car windows. I never saw a smashed cassette tape at the the roadside.
I had an 8-track player in my car and six months seemed to be the half life of tapes which I liked and played frequently. Cassettes turned out to be much more durable and didn’t sound too bad once manufacturers were able to regulate the capstan motor speed for the tape moving only 1-7/8 inches/second. I still have some cassettes going back to the 1980s. The two main problems are tape adhesion and wow near the ends of the tape after it gets bumps from the clip having been wound on the reel for years. The wow is hard to fix. I always left a very long unrecorded leader on self recorded tapes. The adhesion can be treated by baking tapes in a low temperature device – a fruit dehydrator, for example.
Both sides of the tape you say? I learn something new every day. For this listener any coolness was cancelled by the kachunk.
the problem was fading out before the kachunk, then back in after it even if the kachunk was in the middle of a song.
Bad use case for wood?!
J’accuse!
The Wood Preservation in Audio Act of 1970 required all audio products include some form of wood trim. Perhaps the best adherence to this was found at McIntosh.
All the cool kids in the 70’s had wood trimmed audio gear, even if it was just wood grained vinyl.
But you try telling kids about that nowadays and they think you’re nuts!
Now get off my lawn…
/s
8-track, the ultimate american indulgence. You close your eyes, see Marianne walk away.
+100
Wow a Craig recorder with manual level control. That was rare, only that auto level abomination was on most recorders 8TK and cassette in that early era. I don’t remember any 8 track with 4 buttons that sequenced till on the correct numbered track played just click however many time from where you were. There were 4 lights though so I assume the modern tech gets feedback from those lights to go to track (n) where n is one of 4 possibilities.
This reminds me of LA Belle tape players, which were used for Dial A Joke, among other things. They basically used a cassette similar to an 8 track. The most interesting use was for exhibits in museums and the like: they would control an outlet you plugged things in to. The spiel would be on one channel and a 1000hz beep would be put on the other. The beep would close a relay, energizing the socket. Generally a stepper switch would be plugged into that. As each step closed a switch, a light, motion or sound device would energize.
‘Tape quizzes’ using multi-track tapes are an old technique: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amuRIydCoJk
I had an 8-track that had this little joystick with a pipper/dot in concentric circles—to control sound—I forgot who made it…any help?