I bought it from UltimateMeister.com for €24,90 (excl. VAT and shipping), but they can be found on eBay and many online stores, either assembled or as a kit. It’s possible that I could have also used Arduino parts that I already had available, but as you’ll see, I already have a whole pile of soldering stored up!
These gadgets have been around for years in various shapes and forms, but they all do the same thing, which is load and interpret digital files and transmit audio exactly the way the old computers we love can read the data as if it was coming out of a cassette deck perfectly.
Supported Systems:
There are a few different firmware for these devices, apparently you can use…
- TK82-C, TK83, TK85, TK90X, TK95
- ZX Spectrum 16k, 48k and 128k
- Amstrad CPC
- tandy coco color computer
- ZX80/ZX81
- Oric-1 / Oric Atmos
- dragon 32/64
- msx
- acorn electron
- bbc micro
- jupiter ace
- ,
Given that it has WAV file support, I assume it will indirectly support many other files.
Why emulate tape?
You may be wondering, with the huge range of virtual disk drive options and multi-cart solutions, why would I buy a tape emulator, especially this year?
Well, for starters, I have one Very Retro machines, and while the disc and cart solutions are wonderful, they are not cheap and I have already spent a lot of money on them. This one gadget can serve a whole group of machines, saving the cost of specific solutions. In fact, I have plenty of them for my physical C64 whereas with my Ultimate C64 I don’t need any!
Secondly, there are some machines in my collection where tape loading is more naturally appropriate, such as the ZX81 with the staggered RAM pack.
last one is too much Me Problem, my Amstrad CPC464 M4 board (wifi and mass storage cart) has failed for me, but given that the machine itself is dying, it’s probably not the extension’s fault.
How is it in practice?
The device is really easy to use. Simply drop your files onto the SD card and then insert it into the MAXDuino. You navigate using the buttons at the bottom of the screen.
I don’t have many tape files to test this on because so far I’ve mainly used disk files, but I’m sure there will be plenty on Archive.org and other places once I start looking.
My testing ended abruptly due to both my ZX81 and my Amstrad CPC deciding to go on strike!
However, as far as I understand, other people’s main problem is not tape file compatibility, but things like volume control and/or ensuring mono audio out. If I encounter any problems I will edit the article and report back.
Of course, my main goal with this piece of kit is to transfer my code and run it on native hardware, so I’ll be testing that too.
to be continued …
<a href