Composer & synthesist Vincent Taiani (A Last Picture From Voyager) shared this look at how to sync your modular synth to a tape recorder.
This used to be fairly common practice, but is rarely seen today. Here’s what Taiani has to say about the video:
“I this video, i explain how i synchronize my Tascam 414 multitrack tape recorder with my modular synth. This is a nice trick if you want to make something rhythmic.
For this musical piece, i made a drum tape loop on a cassette, and i use it to send beats to my modular synth. The first part of the video explain how it works, the second part is a little live music performance using this set-up. Enjoy !”
i love tape. nice work Vincent!
Tangerine Dream did it in 1980
I just had a flashback to my teenage self synching a 4-track to an MMT-8 sequencer in the late 80s, and I don’t miss those days at all. Using cassette multitrack in 2023 is a bit like being a steam train enthusiast.
Say what you like. I thought that was pretty damn good.