Vote for the May/Jun 2016 "Originals" festival

[Flash Harry]

Oh my goodness me!

All of you, get that stuff down to your local police station and hand it in, tell the duty sergeant that you found it in a hedge back so you don't incriminate yourselves...

[Hook]

Oh my goodness me!

All of you, get that stuff down to your local police station and hand it in, tell the duty sergeant that you found it in a hedge back so you don't incriminate yourselves...

I'm hiding this tape recorder under the passenger seat of my studio, just in case I try one more time
Rock on!

[64Guitars]

I found the power supply to my Fostex X-15 recorder from 1985! I checked that each track works ok!

The most important thing to remember is that there isn't undo button

           

I have the exact same recorder, Kari (although my power adaptor is different). It still works just fine except that the bottom three segments of my Channel B VU meter don't work. That doesn't affect the recording though. It's just annoying.

[cuthbert]

Cool looking recorders, guys. 64G, what's that accessory between your multitracker and its case? A battery pack of some kind?

I'm going to have to post a picture of my Tascam Portastudio 464, which I located in my attic and is still in working condition (amazing, considering the temperature extremes up in the attic, e.g., 100° F or higher in summer, and 25° F or lower in winter - and it's been up there for 11 years, in its original box).

[64Guitars]

Cool looking recorders, guys. 64G, what's that accessory between your multitracker and its case? A battery pack of some kind?

Exactly right. It holds 10 "C" batteries and is fastened to the back of the X-15 with the two large thumbscrews which you can see in the picture. I don't think I've ever used it because I bought the optional AC power adaptor with the unit and have always used that instead. The case (also optional) has enough space to hold the recorder with the battery pack attached, and it has openings in the sides and back for the connectors, on/off switch, and shoulder strap brackets, so you could use it as a completely portable recorder (though I never did).

Although I never used the battery pack, I think it's a great idea because it reduces the size of the recorder for people like me who are always going to use the AC adaptor anyway. I wish Roland would do that with their recorders. If the battery pack was detachable, it could be made to accommodate larger batteries ("C" or "D" instead of "AA" or "AAA") which would last longer between charges. And they could offer an optional lithium-ion battery pack for even better performance in a smaller size.

[Hook]

Cool stuff guys, and quite the complete (circa 1985) portable kit.

[Redler]

I started with batteries, because the adapter doesn't included to the package(?). When I realize how much it runs batteries, I bought an adapter. It wasn't original Fostex adapter, tho. The polarity was changeable, so I locked it with insulating tape.

That gorgeous bag is missing too from my recorder

Yesterday, when testing the recorder it worked ok, but when the volume knobs (not the level faders) are on the high level, it keeps a bit buzzing noise.

Any suggestions how to transfer the song onto PC? RCA/3 mm cable onto PC and record the tape with Audacity?

[Oldrottenhead]

On my tape deck. It has rca outs that I could have connected to rca ins on my br800. But I couldn't find my rca cables so I recorded via headphones output to line in.

[cuthbert]

Any suggestions how to transfer the song onto PC? RCA/3 mm cable onto PC and record the tape with Audacity?

This is exactly what I did yesterday with one of my old songs on cassette in my Tascam 464 - it worked great!

[64Guitars]

Yesterday, when testing the recorder it worked ok, but when the volume knobs (not the level faders) are on the high level, it keeps a bit buzzing noise.

You probably have a ground loop. I've had a similar problem with my X-15. I solved it by using a ground-lifting adaptor on the power cord of my Fostex power adaptor. However, that is considered dangerous and strongly advised against in the following Wikipedia article on ground loops:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_loop_%28electricity%29

That makes the problem much harder to solve. They recommend using isolation transformers but I don't know where you get those and you have to know which connection to put the transformer in. If you have many things connected to the X-15, it might be hard to find out which one is causing the ground loop, especially if there's more than one ground loop.

A ground loop occurs when you connect cables between two devices that are powered by AC. For example, if you connect the outputs of your X-15 to the inputs of your stereo amplifier to monitor the playback. One way you could test to see if the noise is being caused by a ground loop is to disconnect everything from the X-15 except the headphones. Then turn up the Gain controls. If you still hear the noise in your headphones, then it's not an external ground loop. It must be a problem in the circuitry of the X-15. But most likely, you'll find that there's no noise when nothing is connected except your headphones (mine is very quiet). That means the ground loop is occurring only when external AC-powered devices are connected to the X-15. To reduce or eliminate the noise, try not to connect to more devices than you have to. For example, you could monitor with headphones instead of using your stereo amplifier or powered monitors. You could also try running the X-15 on batteries instead of using the AC adaptor. That should eliminate the noise. Although, finding 10 "C" batteries around the house might be a problem.

Any suggestions how to transfer the song onto PC? RCA/3 mm cable onto PC and record the tape with Audacity?

As cuthbert said, that's a perfectly good way to transfer your song to the PC. It's what I would do. The only thing I'd add is that you should use a USB audio interface if you have one, rather than connecting directly to your sound card. You could use your BR-80 for that purpose. I don't have an audio interface (or a BR-80), so I'd just connect my X-15's Line Outs to the Line In on my computer's sound card and record it in Audacity, then export from Audacity in MP3 format for posting.