Cassette Stylus TestCassette Stylus Test
There's been a lot of pictures posted of tape canvases and tape-stylus type instruments online, but few audio recordings. This attempt didn't work that well, but I just wanted to try out the concept and really hear what it sounds like.
This is a short video with some (low-quality) sound from the Marvin Gaye tape, as well as the back of a Safeway card. Notice the difference between the "clean" half of the card and the "rough" half which has data. This is mainly a demonstration that it works, the audio isn't really intelligible. Perhaps using a pen shape would allow more control in the alignment with the magnetic strip.
I made a crappy cardboard box from some scraps laying around - a skill I've honed to perfection as an architecture student.
Here is the crude "stylus", which is just the tape head soldered to a short length of shielded cable. I just wanted to do a proof-of-concept, so it's not very well constructed.
An shot of the whole setup - a bit shabby but a lot of fun. I wanted to record my voice and clip up the tape, then paste each "word" under the corresponding printed word in this book I'm working on. That way the reader could run the stylus along the page and hear me read the text to them - but while going through the motions of "writing" the book.
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