tape delay

2 Articles

Streaming Music To Cassette

December 28, 2025 by 13 Comments

In almost every measurable way, a lossless digital audio file is superior to any analog media. This doesn’t mean that analog audio isn’t valuable though; plenty of people appreciate the compression, ambiance, and other side-effects of listening to a vinyl record or a cassette tape despite the technical limitations. To combine the audio technology of the modern world with these pleasant effects of old analog media, [Julius] built a cassette-based media streamer.

The music playback device takes input from a Bluetooth stream of some sort, converts the digital stream to analog, combines the stereo signal into a mono signal, and then records it to a cassette tape. The tape is then looped through to a playback device which outputs the sound to a single speaker. This has the effect of functioning as a tape delay device, and [Julius] did add input and output jacks to use it as such, but in its default state it has the effect of taking modern streaming through a real analog device and adding the compression and saturation that cassette tapes are known for.

The design of the device is impressive as well, showing off the tape loop and cassette front-and-center with a fluorescent vu meter on the side and a metal case. Getting all of this to work well together wasn’t entirely smooth, either, as [Julius] had to sort out a number of issues with the electronics to keep various electric noises out of the audio signal. Retro analog music players are having a bit of a resurgence right now, whether that’s as a revolt against licensed streaming services or as a way to experience music in unique ways, and our own [Kristina Panos] recently went down an interesting rabbit hole with one specific type of retro audio player.

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DIY Cassette Tape Guitar Delay

November 3, 2019 by 19 Comments

Digital delay pedals are pretty good nowadays and even the cheaper ones do a pretty good job at emulating the sound of old analog delay effects. And that’s good, because the original delay effects can run you a pretty penny. If you’re in to DIY electronics, though, analog delay effects can still be built without breaking the bank, and, as an example, [Matsound] has made a tape delay using an old tape deck and regular cassette tapes.

The core of the build is a portable 3-head cassette recorder, in this case a Marantz PMD430. The circuit has been around for a while – it was originally found in an issue of Stompboxology in the 90’s. The basic idea is that with a three-head recorder (erase, record, play) the distance between the record and play heads creates a delay and you increase this delay by slowing down the recorder’s motor. You combine the output from the recorder with the dry signal from your input and, viola, tape delay.

[Matsound] added a cool feature where you can control the speed of the motor with a control voltage, so if you connect it to a keyboard and produce different voltages from different keys, you get weird, spacey effects. The video gives an overview of the features and some details of the build process are in the video’s description.

A nice build built into a nice case and a great effect! Maybe you wouldn’t take it out gigging with you, but it sure sounds pretty good!  Other delay pedals have been mentioned on the site before, like this digital delay pedal and here’s another take on the cassette tape delay.

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