DIY Pitch/Speed Control on a cheapy Cassette player?

[wblackledg]

Hi,

I'm want to do what Prince Fatty is doing in this video (26:15 )


But instead of doing it with a reel to reel as he has, do it with a cheapy $25 tape player. (see Amazon Link)

https://www.amazon.com/Cassette-Converter-Earphone-WeaKoo-Portable/dp/B0752YR9Y9/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1508176202&sr=1-3&keywords=cassette+tape+player&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011%2Cp_72%3A1248879011

I've been told I can only do with machines that have a DC motor.

Granted this cheapy tape machine isn't the greatest, but for my needs the quality is fine.

Can someone tell me if this will work on this machine?

Any other technical advice would be highly appreciated.

thanks.

[wblackledg]

shameless bump..

[WZOLL]

Depends if the motor is pwm driven or not. You might be able to use a high wattage potentiometer or a LM317 variable power supply. There are probably better ways to do it but these are the simplest.

[BradC]

Most cheap cassette players I've messed with over they years have had an adjustment pot either in or close by the motor, so you're probably half way there.

[wblackledg]

Depends if the motor is pwm driven or not. You might be able to use a high wattage potentiometer or a LM317 variable power supply. There are probably better ways to do it but these are the simplest.

thanks!

[wblackledg]

Most cheap cassette players I've messed with over they years have had an adjustment pot either in or close by the motor, so you're probably half way there.

do you believe that would be enough of an adjustment to get that same effect as I'm after?

thanks

[BradC]

Most cheap cassette players I've messed with over they years have had an adjustment pot either in or close by the motor, so you're probably half way there.

do you believe that would be enough of an adjustment to get that same effect as I'm after?

thanks

Maybe. It's probably 30 years since I last had my head in a cassette deck. All my open reel machines have synchronous capstan motors, so without a vfd that would be difficult. The cassette motors I dismantled all and little adjustable speed control boards built into them.

Buy one and find out. You'll probably have more trouble with tape tension and the associated mechanism if you try to make rapid speed changes, but there's only one way to find out.

Funny, I was re-watching a docco on Sgt Peppers on the plane tonight and they were discussing the invention of "Vari-speed" by George Martin and his engineers. Man, that was 50 years ago! Time flies.

[wblackledg]

Most cheap cassette players I've messed with over they years have had an adjustment pot either in or close by the motor, so you're probably half way there.

do you believe that would be enough of an adjustment to get that same effect as I'm after?

thanks

Maybe. It's probably 30 years since I last had my head in a cassette deck. All my open reel machines have synchronous capstan motors, so without a vfd that would be difficult. The cassette motors I dismantled all and little adjustable speed control boards built into them.

Buy one and find out. You'll probably have more trouble with tape tension and the associated mechanism if you try to make rapid speed changes, but there's only one way to find out.

Funny, I was re-watching a docco on Sgt Peppers on the plane tonight and they were discussing the invention of "Vari-speed" by George Martin and his engineers. Man, that was 50 years ago! Time flies.

if its a function of a reel to reel physically able to do this and a cassette cant, then thats fine,  i abandon the cassette idea.  I know tascam portastudios do something similar, but not sure if its exactly what I'm after.  The rapid speed change is.

thanks.