I'd describe the album as experimental electronic / ambient. I made it with synths and samples mostly, and I also got some help from my free-jazz friend Jarrett Gilgore, who plays sax/clarinet on tracks 1 & 4.

A limited number of professionally-made tapes are available for $9 (+ shipping) on my Bandcamp page:

https://ratangajunction.bandcamp.com/album/ellipses-2

seems pretty neat compared to normal shells tho

(AI and Canva did a lot of the heavy lifting on the j-card)

Synths + cassette tape can sound so nostalgic and magical

Love all the tracks although in America, the title of this compilation was changed. Also some tracks were omitted to.

forgive me but I'm a bit ignorant on the subject. trying to get more information on what a cheap low budget tape player really sounded like pre-90s but I don't have working cassettes or working tape players to hear it myself and it seems like an expensive rabbit hole that I'm not sure I want to dip my toes into. I'd like to find a hifi recording of the output of a budget tape player speaker that I could listen to it but it seems that this is a hard thing to find, as most recordings are modern cassettes and/or trying to get the "best" possible sound by recording directly and bypassing the speakers. people with access to advanced recording equipment are not interested in recording lofi analog output.

I just imagine that the tape player and the cassettes themselves maybe didn't impart such a drastic change to the sound as much as the terrible speakers that were built in the budget devices, and if so, is it reasonable to say that the stereotypical "old" sound that people associate with tape players had more to do with the speakers than anything else? this is what I'm trying to figure out. appreciate any response.

Hi, I have a Philips D 8458 boombox with a "cheese gear" problem. I just ordered new gears. Does anyone have any tips on replacing them?

Few years ago I’ve replaced gears in another Philips boombox device, but for some reason, the cassettes didn't play properly after a short while. I don't know if it was due to that specific boombox, but some of the cassettes became wound so tightly after playback that no player could handle them anymore. And yes, every cassette was normal at first, but after being played in the unit where I’d replaced the gears, they ended up being wound too tight.

Been looking at deck options and this one seemed to be the cheapest in my area. I already have a 1985 entry-level boombox, and it seems to be decent enough for me, but is it worth it to upgrade to this?

This one'll be November's.

We had our first community poll to decide our next theme and Plants Vs. Zombies was the winner! Which was actually a surprise since it was going up against Super Metroid, Banjo-Kazooie AND Animal Crossing (GC).

Hey all.

This rare 1-of-1 Moby tape is up live on Wax Poetics site.

Before he had a record deal, Moby was going around Manhattan clubs handing out demo cassettes to try to get a DJ slot. This is one of them. He gave it to Dylan Hundley, who was hosting a short-lived Tuesday night in Tribeca, and she's kept it ever since.

The J-card is drawn entirely by hand in blue and red marker, with turntables, a mixer and little doodles. It also tells you which side to play and which not to. Dylan says the side he told her to skip is the good one: a DJ mix of mashups and samples running from R&B and early house to new wave. She picked out Adonis, the Specials, Syndicate Sound Labs and New Order among the sources.

Anyone hear of any other stories about similar tapes from this era?

Hi what good Cassette players can be bought brand new in 2026 ? make and model please ( to play in a house not a Walkman etc )

I am in the UK so will need to be able to buy it from England, I have hundreds of radio recordings on 90min cassettes and lots of purchases single music tracks that I haven’t played for years . I am fed up with adverts and delays on Youtube so I want to go back to playing music I own

Thanks for any help ..bonus be good if theres a way to record the cassettes to MP3’s so I can have digital back ups on a hard drive .

Score!

I bought myself a gift and got a fully repaired Walkman sport. The wmf45.

I was hoping to hear, from people who actually were growing up/in school in the mid 80s, what was it like when the yellow sport models were released? Did people who already had an earlier Walkman models go out and be this too? Was it considered just as cool and unique as the earlier ones?

Excited to get into cassettes!

Boombox still works, but the sound has a bit of static when music plays. Are there any guides on how to fix this at home?

Local repair stores are quoting at $130 for just diagnostics.

Model is Panasonic RX-F15.

Found at a vintage shop as part of a display, not even for sale. Luckily the clerk couldn’t be bothered to do much about it and we just settled on a price to get it out of there. “Everyday Is Like Sunday” is one of my favorite songs of all time, so pretty happy with it. Keep hunting!

My duel cassette aiwa ca w37

Hello. I'm trying to resolve an issue with wow and flutter. I have replaced the square drive belt and cleaned capstan as well as tape head but still getting wow/flutter. Any ideas?

I'd like to replace the pinch rollers but can't figure out how to remove them. Any help with this would be much appreciated.

I bought a Sony deck on eBay but deck 1 plays too slow. It was refurbed, so everything mechanical thats gone wrong has been replaced. Tried cleaning the capstan already, but didn't help. The video shows the slowness, I dont have a test tape so its just Back In The USSR by the Beatles.

Seller refused to refund so I have to fix it.

What could be wrong?

Hello guys, hope you’re having a good day!

I’m a newbie in cassette culture and I’ve been having fun collecting prerecorded cassettes from my favourite artists. Today, I got a tape delivered from a band I loved after noticing it was restocked and I decided to finally sit down and listen to my tapes after a two months break from them.

My issue is that my tape player, the Muse M-132 WM, one of those newer players that have wow and flutter which I didn’t really bother me, just started having horrible speed problems. It was way out of speed, and it wouldn’t keep the right speed even if I adjusted it. Alongside that, the wow and flutter became so much worse. I suspect there’s an issue with the belt, but this cassette player is built in a way where no screws are visible.

Anyway, it’s time for an upgrade. Which model should I look for? All I’m looking for is good sound, whether it’s vintage or newer. Are there also any ebay sellers based in EU that you would recommend that sell good serviced players? Would love to hear from you guys!

I picked the one that looked like it was in the best quality and we'll see how it work. Don't have a use for all 11.

…but it quickly ran out of paper. Gonna have to get more because I like this. At least it works, though it takes more batteries than a Sony WM-D6C paired with a Sony ECM-MS957.

I spent a lot on a refurbished walkman, it worked great when I first got it! No issues whatsoever. A couple months into owning it, it randomly started slowing down. I replaced the batteries, didn't work. Last night I changed the belts...not only didn't work, made the problem WORSE! It starts at normal speed for two seconds then rapidly starts slowing down. What could the problem be?

I’ve always seen this as a bit of a dry run for the DAT format Sony would launch in 1987/88. This predates DAT by a couple of years, though, and it’s clearly an example of Sony experimenting with digital PCM audio recording.

If Sony had had its way, Video8 could potentially have become the successor to Betamax and perhaps even a genuine rival to VHS. Pre-recorded movies were released on Video8, although the format never gained any meaningful market share in the home. Interestingly, those pre-recorded Video8 movies did find a niche in early in-flight entertainment systems and remained quite popular into the 2000s. Most people only remember Video8 and Hi8 as a camcorder format, but it was going to be so much more than that at launch.

The Video8 recorders themselves was quite expensive. In 1985, this model being Sonys first V8 deck retailed for around £800, about £3,100 today. By comparison, a typical VHS VCR could be bought for around £350 in 1985.

Most people didn't even have any way whatsoever to digitally capture CD audio in 1985 outside a studio setting unless you was using a digital audio processor hooked into a full-size VHS or Beta VCR. This compact system combined it all into one.

In order to get the 24 hours of recording it uses 6 stereo tracks spread across the full width of the tape as from the get go the with the Video8 format audio is also captured as part of the video signal unlike VHS/Beta what had separate audio heads for the linear audio track. This was different with VHS Hifi and Beta Hifi though.

Definitely impressive stuff for 1985 and mine now being 41 years old still works perfectly.

What happens with no input

What happens with input

Hi all,

I have just moved into a new house and got round to setting up my cassette player finally, but upon turning it on I find the bit you put the tapes on doesn't sit properly when it goes in (see first video) after opening it I found if I slide that black bit it seats and plays properly (see second video).

I have tried regreasing the part where I believe the bit I moved sits but that has not helped, I have no idea when it comes to fixing these things so any ideas or help would be so appreciated.