best way to write cassette games using pc

[discgolfer72]

so i have a Panasonic portable cassette player with in/out/remote inputs

have a mono stereo cable

and a case of brand new cassette tapes

 

have the cassette readers for commodore and atari 400 (and can use the Panasonic on my ti99)

 

wanting to try out some cassette games on the systems since i dont have any

 

whats the best way to write my blank tapes using my pc and the portable cassette player

 

 

i have a dual boot hackintosh running 10.12.6 and windows 10 so can run any software (can even setup a Linux box with one of my many spares lying around )

 

i did a quick search in the web but the directions are a bit cryptic and most just tell you how to convert files to play from the pc into the old computers

[BassGuitari]

I had to do this with my VIC-20, since Commodore systems use a proprietary tape interface. I used some utility (I forget the name of it--probably TAP2WAV or some such) to generate sound files from cassette files, and recorded it straight to tape by playing the sound file generated by the utility out through the headphone jack into my TRS-80 tape unit (which is just a regular tape recorder that says "TRS-80" on it).

Then I popped the tape into my Commodore Datasette, and entered "LOAD" and pressed "Play," and presto! A working bootleg copy of Sword Of Fargoal.

Theoretically, with the appropriate utility, you should be able to replicate the process for Atari cassettes as well.

[discgolfer72]

I had to do this with my VIC-20, since Commodore systems use a proprietary tape interface. I used some utility (I forget the name of it--probably TAP2WAV or some such) to generate sound files from cassette files, and recorded it straight to tape by playing the sound file generated by the utility out through the headphone jack into my TRS-80 tape unit (which is just a regular tape recorder that says "TRS-80" on it).

 

Then I popped the tape into my Commodore Datasette, and entered "LOAD" and pressed "Play," and presto! A working bootleg copy of Sword Of Fargoal.

 

Theoretically, with the appropriate utility, you should be able to replicate the process for Atari cassettes as well.

ok lol think I have the software

what's one of the best c 64 arcade style games that is on tape only lol (if I'm going to wait 10 mins for a game to load it better be good lol )

[carlsson]

I think there has been newer software in recent years, but I've used the software combo WAV-PRG and Audiotap. Some pointers to the process is to set a proper volume (often higher than you'd expect) and sometimes you need to invert the waveform when recording to tape, which can be done in audio programs.

 

As for most popular C64 games, you have a Top 100 list here. The majority will float around on the Internet as "single filed" versions which can be loaded from tape. You might want to see which options you have to generate wave files that use Turbo Tape loading, which means first you need to load the turbo program and then switch to the tape with the games. It speeds up loading a lot.

[BassGuitari]

what's one of the best c 64 arcade style games that is on tape only lol (if I'm going to wait 10 mins for a game to load it better be good lol )

That, I unfortunately(?) don't have an answer for. My experience with the C64 has been essentially entirely disk-based. I imagine most of the best tape games were also available on disk. Cassette usage on Commodore 64s was a much more European thing, generally speaking (disk systems were really expensive there); they had largely gone away in North America by the time the C64 hit its stride, although relatively extensive use was still made for some of the "alternative" systems like the VIC-20, Timex 1000, and various TRS-80 models.

[carlsson]

On the other hand, a lot of C64 games you'll find online are in T64 format which is an emulated format consisting of a header followed by a single file which is rather suitable for various tools to convert into tapes. Finding original games in TAP format are not so common.

[discgolfer72]

tried my first attempt

upon playing on the c64 I get a blue svreen and it flashes on of for a second showing the standard boot screen then I'm bumped back to ready

when using wav-prg should I be using fast or slow to convert

Edited January 8, 2018 by discgolfer72

[carlsson]

Not sure about that option. The screenshots on the software homepage indicate that you can choose loader + Turbo Tape or standard regular Kernel loader. If it flashes a few times, it sounds like a load error. It could be a matter of sound volume, alignment of the tape head or something else. The C2N usually has a hole where you can adjust the azimuth angle of the tape head. If your has been changed from factory default, you would need to align it first. Also the Panasonic cassette player you're using will have its own azimuth angle, which more likely will be the same as factory default.

[discgolfer72]

I am getting some static on playback (dirty tape head on the Panasonic maybe)

 

looks like the fast option is for turbo tape

and low option is kernel

 

lots of tinkering lol ill get it lol

hopefully someone that has done this before chimes in

 

worse case lol this 10 pack of cassette tapes maybe ill rock it guardian style and make a mix tape or 2 to play at the store lol

[carlsson]

You could turn your store into the Ghettoblaster game. Collect all 10 tapes, and make 20 people dance to each tape to win the game. Or something like that.

[+x=usr(1536)]

have a mono stereo cable

I giggled a little at the idea of a mono stereo cable

 

One thing regarding that, though: the Atari 8-bit machines were always stereo-capable when it came to cassettes. Only one track (I forget if it was the left or right) was used for data; the other could hold normal audio which was able to be played back through the TV speaker at the same time data was loading from the other track. Atari released some language learning cassettes that took advantage of this, as did some third-party developers.

 

There's nothing wrong with recording the tapes in mono; it won't affect loading. But I figured it might be worth mentioning.

[discgolfer72]

I giggled a little at the idea of a mono stereo cable

 

One thing regarding that, though: the Atari 8-bit machines were always stereo-capable when it came to cassettes. Only one track (I forget if it was the left or right) was used for data; the other could hold normal audio which was able to be played back through the TV speaker at the same time data was loading from the other track. Atari released some language learning cassettes that took advantage of this, as did some third-party developers.

 

There's nothing wrong with recording the tapes in mono; it won't affect loading. But I figured it might be worth mentioning.

when I was doing research I had read that I needed a mono cable

[+x=usr(1536)]

when I was doing research I had read that I needed a mono cable

 

You might, though that's probably going to be system-dependent. The only systems I ever had any extensive cassette experience with were in the Atari 8-bit range, so they're the ones I'm most familiar with - and since you mentioned that Atari was one of your target systems, it seemed worth mentioning that they can read data from only one stereo track.

 

The giggling part was the idea of a mono 'stereo' cable. The two terms are mutually-exclusive