Great video dude. Just FYI, I found a way to electronically disable the sensor! At the very bottom left of the PCB you’ll find a small transistor labeled “Q8”. If you wire the left leg (highlighted & labeled E on the PCB) of Q8 to the center leg via a toggle switch, it will act as a bypass switch for the auto stop. Oh and I wanted to ask btw, did you ever make any progress on the erase head mod mentioned at 3:39? I’m curious how such a thing would work (i’m not super familiar w/tape players). And how would one go about connecting an additional head to the PCB?
No, but I’m going to fall back to some simpler recorders. They should be easier to mod. This thing is wall power all the way inside and that makes it complicated and dangerous. Maybe someday I’ll pick it back up, but I think there’s a lot I can do modding shit Walkmans or even 3D printing my own deck.
@@joshuaa.c.newman7430 Ah I see.. Yeah I managed to get ahold of the official schematic (which is also how I ID’d the auto stop transistor), which has all of the high power danger zones marked. Based on that, it looks like the only sketchy areas are around the power transformer & solenoid. So if you avoid those, you should be good. Though I certainly can’t blame you for wanting to play it safe. Well, if you do ever end up experimenting with a DIY erase head in the future, i’d love to see a follow up video. A mod like that would be huge for giving cheaper recorders tape echo functionality, toggleable sound on sound, etc.
Got 2 of them recently, thanks for the guide about cassette loops. Would be nice to see some updates on cv controls and 12v conversion. I’m thinking on doing some of these mods but have no clue about the process.
Yeah, I’ll get back to this soon! The Akso video series is what I’m working on right now but I’d like to get back to this machine soon. I just blew out my power supply (again) last night so I gotta fix that before I convert this guy down to 12V.
Got one recently, but it has a strange issue. When trying to record to tape, the volume is extremely loud in the headset. However, the finished recording ends up being very very quiet. Any ideas as to what causes this?
Ah, that sounds like you're listening through an amp (maybe a headphone jack?) but recording from line level. Mine got pretty frustrating and hasn't gone back together, so I can't tell you for certain!
Are you recording to DIY tape loops? If so, you may have the tape inside out. I did the same thing & the recording came out extremely quiet. Re-opened the cassette and flipped the loop inside out and it worked fine
Hey! Sorry, I haven't, but my latest video is about the piece I was missing: a way to voltage control that I could jam into the space inside. In this case, I'm using a MOSFET as an input from an external CV source.
Thanks for your video! I just grabbed one of these machines a few weeks ago and your experimentation helped me get familiar with the Panasonic's mechanisms. I decided to work around the auto-stop function within the cassette tape itself. You can check out my mod here if you're interested: th-cam.com/video/XXkkQCQ1zok/w-d-xo.html Thanks again!
I’m looking forward to digging back in! I’m having a very frustrating time building an LFO right now but I really wanna get back to experimenting with tape soon!
Thanks for the video. Just picked this machine up.
Great video dude. Just FYI, I found a way to electronically disable the sensor!
At the very bottom left of the PCB you’ll find a small transistor labeled “Q8”. If you wire the left leg (highlighted & labeled E on the PCB) of Q8 to the center leg via a toggle switch, it will act as a bypass switch for the auto stop.
Oh and I wanted to ask btw, did you ever make any progress on the erase head mod mentioned at 3:39? I’m curious how such a thing would work (i’m not super familiar w/tape players). And how would one go about connecting an additional head to the PCB?
No, but I’m going to fall back to some simpler recorders. They should be easier to mod. This thing is wall power all the way inside and that makes it complicated and dangerous. Maybe someday I’ll pick it back up, but I think there’s a lot I can do modding shit Walkmans or even 3D printing my own deck.
@@joshuaa.c.newman7430
Ah I see.. Yeah I managed to get ahold of the official schematic (which is also how I ID’d the auto stop transistor), which has all of the high power danger zones marked. Based on that, it looks like the only sketchy areas are around the power transformer & solenoid. So if you avoid those, you should be good. Though I certainly can’t blame you for wanting to play it safe.
Well, if you do ever end up experimenting with a DIY erase head in the future, i’d love to see a follow up video. A mod like that would be huge for giving cheaper recorders tape echo functionality, toggleable sound on sound, etc.
Got 2 of them recently, thanks for the guide about cassette loops. Would be nice to see some updates on cv controls and 12v conversion. I’m thinking on doing some of these mods but have no clue about the process.
Yeah, I’ll get back to this soon! The Akso video series is what I’m working on right now but I’d like to get back to this machine soon. I just blew out my power supply (again) last night so I gotta fix that before I convert this guy down to 12V.
Got one recently, but it has a strange issue. When trying to record to tape, the volume is extremely loud in the headset. However, the finished recording ends up being very very quiet. Any ideas as to what causes this?
Ah, that sounds like you're listening through an amp (maybe a headphone jack?) but recording from line level. Mine got pretty frustrating and hasn't gone back together, so I can't tell you for certain!
Are you recording to DIY tape loops? If so, you may have the tape inside out. I did the same thing & the recording came out extremely quiet.
Re-opened the cassette and flipped the loop inside out and it worked fine
Did you ever finish modding this? Curious about the update.
Hey! Sorry, I haven't, but my latest video is about the piece I was missing: a way to voltage control that I could jam into the space inside. In this case, I'm using a MOSFET as an input from an external CV source.
Thanks for your video! I just grabbed one of these machines a few weeks ago and your experimentation helped me get familiar with the Panasonic's mechanisms. I decided to work around the auto-stop function within the cassette tape itself. You can check out my mod here if you're interested: th-cam.com/video/XXkkQCQ1zok/w-d-xo.html Thanks again!
I’m looking forward to digging back in! I’m having a very frustrating time building an LFO right now but I really wanna get back to experimenting with tape soon!