Issues with rare tape/game

[+Allan]

I have a rare 8-bit cassette that I am trying to load/copy. I am getting an error 143 every time I try to load it. Any suggestions/thoughts.

 

Allan

 

[Bryan]

If you can post a .wav of it maybe someone can figure it out or fix it.

[+Allan]

yea, I make a Wav. in the morning.

 

Allan

[+Allan]

I made some wav files and put them up on the Atarimania ftp site in the '2017 August Wav files' folder. Hopefully some savvy with WAV2CAS can convert these to .CAS files.

 

Allan

[Fred_M]

Hi Allan,

 

I examined almost every file, before I got kicked out of the ftp site

 

There is almost no sound in those wav files. I don't know who made them but it sounds like they did the recording wrong. You can hear some kind of background noises and sometimes a very faint atari "beep". I guess the guy who made this recordings did not choose the right sound source on his computer.

 

Use a media player to play these wav files and you will hear there is virtually nothing on them.

 

As far as I know, these files are not usable at all. Sorry

Edited August 22, 2017 by Fred_M

[baktra]

Hi Allan,

 

I examined almost every file, before I got kicked out of the ftp site

 

There is almost no sound in those wav files. I don't know who made them but it sounds like they did the recording wrong. You can hear some kind of background noises and sometimes a very faint atari "beep". I guess the guy who made this recordings did not choose the right sound source on his computer.

 

Use a media player to play these wav files and you will hear there is virtually nothing on them.

 

As far as I know, these files are not usable at all. Sorry

 

Welcome to the reality of cassettes and digitizing them. Well, nobody is perfect (including me), so please take my experience as humorous stories, nothing else.

 

1. There was a user who used a dynamic microphone placed near TV speaker for recording.

2. There was a user who used audio output of the monitor output.

3. Some users have trouble using simple consumer's electronics properly, such as cassette players/recorders

4. Some users have trouble using Audacity or similar software and have trouble configuring their sound card/cassette recorder and do not digitize audio properly.

5. Some users sent me a WAVE file with almost nothing else than background noise.

 

Number 4 is the most crucial, but also the most excusable one. You have to be at least an advanced user, know the theory in the background, be able to wire everything properly, and conduct experiments.

Edited August 22, 2017 by baktra

[Fred_M]

I have digitized over 30 cassettes successfully now and I think it isn't that hard

 

I found out almost everything myself with some help of Marceau and his page: http://atarinside.dyndns.org/blog/index.php/tutorial-how-to-dump-an-old-atari-cassettetape-to-a-cas-or-wav-file/

 

In this case, I think Allan's wav files are in category 4 or 5

 

This is a successful recording:

 

And this is Allan's wav file:

Edited August 22, 2017 by Fred_M

[baktra]

I have digitized over 30 cassettes successfully now and I think it isn't that hard

 

I found out almost everything myself with some help of Marceau and his page: http://atarinside.dyndns.org/blog/index.php/tutorial-how-to-dump-an-old-atari-cassettetape-to-a-cas-or-wav-file/

 

In this case, I think Allan's wav files are in category 4 or 5

 

Wow, Marceau's tutorial is good. It deserves more visibility.

[baktra]

Allan, this is a common "accident."

If you have some time to spare, please read Marceau's tutorial and try again. You will do better for sure.

 

And if you don't mind, do us a favor and try to convert the WAVE file to .FLAC format before uploading it to Atarimania. It will save some space, but the signal will be the same, because FLAC is a lossless compression.

[+Allan]

Hi Allan,

 

I examined almost every file, before I got kicked out of the ftp site

 

There is almost no sound in those wav files. I don't know who made them but it sounds like they did the recording wrong. You can hear some kind of background noises and sometimes a very faint atari "beep". I guess the guy who made this recordings did not choose the right sound source on his computer.

 

Use a media player to play these wav files and you will hear there is virtually nothing on them.

 

As far as I know, these files are not usable at all. Sorry

Thanks for looking at them, Fred_M.

 

I made them. Since my old Imac died I've had to resort to using my wife's old PC to copy Atari cassettes. Yes, I know that the sound was very low. I had the output volume up pretty high on my stereo cassette deck. They all sounded 'low' while recording them and of course while playing the recordings back. I am guessing it may be the computer. Your input was helpful. I figured they were to low but wasn't sure.

 

Allan

[+Allan]

I have digitized over 30 cassettes successfully now and I think it isn't that hard

 

I found out almost everything myself with some help of Marceau and his page: http://atarinside.dyndns.org/blog/index.php/tutorial-how-to-dump-an-old-atari-cassettetape-to-a-cas-or-wav-file/

 

In this case, I think Allan's wav files are in category 4 or 5

 

This is a successful recording:

 

And this is Allan's wav file:

 

Yup, four and five.

 

Yea, Have done recording in the past and could see that my new recordings looked too low. I tried raising the volume but didn't want to raise them all the way because this can cause other issues. I may have to wait and until I can get a USB sound input adapter for my newer Mac (there's no sound input jack. )

 

In the mean time, I'l play around a bit more and see if I can get the recordings up higher.

 

Allan

[+Allan]

 

 

I found out almost everything myself with some help of Marceau and his page: http://atarinside.dyndns.org/blog/index.php/tutorial-how-to-dump-an-old-atari-cassettetape-to-a-cas-or-wav-file/

 

 

 

Thanks, I will take a look.

 

Allan

[+Allan]

And if you don't mind, do us a favor and try to convert the WAVE file to .FLAC format before uploading it to Atarimania. It will save some space, but the signal will be the same, because FLAC is a lossless compression.

 

Can you do this in Audacity?

 

Allan

[Fred_M]

Hi Allan,

 

If you are using Audicity, I think you should check the input source of the audio. It sounds like the PC is recording from microphone in stead of the audio line in.

 

 

If you have new wav files, I am happy to try them. Do you know why I am always kicked off the ftp site after a minute or 5 and can't log in for the rest of the day? It is hard to upload some stuff to you that way

Edited August 22, 2017 by Fred_M

[Fred_M]

 

Can you do this in Audacity?

 

Allan

 

Yes, when you export the file you can choose flac. There are also some good converters online.

[+Allan]

Hi Allan,

 

If you are using Audicity, I think you should check the input source of the audio. It sounds like the PC is recording from microphone in stead of the audio line in.

 

 

If you have new wav files, I am happy to try them. Do you know why I am always kicked off the ftp site after a minute or 5 and can't log in for the rest of the day? It is hard to upload some stuff to you that way

Sorry that is happening. I don't know why. It used to happen to me a lot.

 

Even though I am part of the team of people who ad stuff to Atarimania I have almost zero contact with anyone else. So beyond the 800/XE/XL section I have nothing to do with the rest of it.

 

I will check the audio input with the next tape I copy.

 

Allan

[+Allan]

Can you try this one and let me know if the volume is high enough or not?

 

Allan

 

Intruder_Alert_rec_5.flac.zip

[Fred_M]

Hi Allan,

 

This is much better. No background noises, but..... it is still not loud enough.

 

 

You started okay. But you should have kept the volume like the first seconds of your recording

 

But I boosted the volume of the audio in Audacity and after that a8cas did the conversion successfully.

 

 

So here it is. Boot with basic and cload the program

Intruder_alert_rec_5.zip

Edited August 22, 2017 by Fred_M

[+Allan]

Hi Allan,

 

This is much better. No background noises, but..... it is still not loud enough.

 

 

You started okay. But you should have kept the volume like the first seconds of your recording

 

But I boosted the volume of the audio in Audacity and after that a8cas did the conversion successfully.

 

 

So here it is. Boot with basic and cload the program

The weird thing is that I never changed the volume once I started to record.

 

Thank you for converting it. I post a few more once I can re-record them at a higher level.

 

This one wasn't extremly rare but a couple of the others ones I have are. I do have one that I can't even seem to load it on a real Atari without it giving me an error half way through loading.

 

Allan

[Kr0tki]

Fred_M, your CAS file contains a bit of noise at the end. I'm attaching the cleaned-up file.

 

But I boosted the volume of the audio in Audacity and after that a8cas did the conversion successfully.

By default A8CAS treats low-volume signal as silence, but you can control that with the --silence-level parameter. Allan's file converts fine with --silence-level=0.0 although it needs manual removal of noise from the start and end after the conversion.

 

is one wasn't extremly rare but a couple of the others ones I have are. I do have one that I can't even seem to load it on a real Atari without it giving me an error half way through loading.

Give us the recordings and we'll see if it's possible to rescue them.

Intruder Alert! (1981)(Artworx)(US)CLOAD+RUNBASIC.cas.zip

Edited August 22, 2017 by Kr0tki

[Fred_M]

Fred_M, your CAS file contains a bit of noise at the end. I'm attaching the cleaned-up file.

 

By default A8CAS treats low-volume signal as silence, but you can control that with the --silence-level parameter. Allan's file converts fine with --silence-level=0.0 although it needs manual removal of noise from the start and end after the conversion.

 

Give us the recordings and we'll see if it's possible to rescue them.

 

I know, but it was a fast job Normally I make sure the volume is the same everywhere and I cut unused pieces

[baktra]

For fast-paced gameplay, try running the game with TURBOBASIC XL or Altirra BASIC.

[Fred_M]

The weird thing is that I never changed the volume once I started to record.

 

Thank you for converting it. I post a few more once I can re-record them at a higher level.

 

This one wasn't extremly rare but a couple of the others ones I have are. I do have one that I can't even seem to load it on a real Atari without it giving me an error half way through loading.

 

Allan

 

That is strange indeed. The volume at the beginning was much higher than the rest.

 

I am using a cheap device to digitize cassettes. It isn't built well, but it does do the job for me and the digitizing is surprisingly good. Maybe it is an option for you. I see that the price in the US is higher than in Europe sadly. We can buy them for about 25 dollars: https://www.amazon.com/Ion-Tape-Express-Cassette-Converter/dp/B00456O2IQ/

[+Allan]

Here's another one. Not very exciting but a un-dumped one.

 

Another really rare one is a dual track cassette. There is some computer generated music on one track. Do I need to record the computer track alone to get the program or can you do that with a dual track Flac image?

 

Allan

 

Loan_Analyzer_rec_3.flac.zip

[Kr0tki]

Here you go.

 

The recording had one significant drop-out of signal in one place, but I was able to restore the missing byte by using the block's checksum byte.

 

The date in the filename was taken from comments in the program's listing.

 

EDIT:

Another really rare one is a dual track cassette. There is some computer generated music on one track. Do I need to record the computer track alone to get the program or can you do that with a dual track Flac image?

Simply record in stereo - the resulting two-track FLAC file will be most useful, as it will be appropriate both for preservation of the original tape's contents and for conversion to CAS.

Loan Analyzer (1982-03-24)(Creative Software)(US)CLOAD+RUNBASIC.cas.zip

Edited August 22, 2017 by Kr0tki