Proposal for better descriptions for the tape recorder emulation feature. And other things.

[radius75]

Ultimate2+ FW3.10a

I posted this thread on FB once. Here is the right place to paste it. https://www.facebook.com/groups/ultimate64/permalink/10159825346577753/

What is now is a bit misleading, you have to wonder if the options are talking about a real or emulated tape recorder. And how these functions work, you have to guess for yourself. The manual doesn't explain it in detail either.

My observations on tape emulation. 1541Ultimate2+

There is no option in the menu showing which .TAP file is currently mounted.
There is no option showing the current state of the counter (in units useful for .IDX)

The description of the options is ambiguous but confusing, and the manual does not explain how these options work.
It is worth proposing a more explicit description.
I tried to understand how they work.

Select and RETURN key on .TAP file:
Enter (index) -> Enter to TAP index
Run Tape -> Load/RUN TAP (normal mode)
Write to Tape -> Write TAP to tape
Start Tape -> Playback TAP

After entering Index:
Start From Here -> Playback TAP from here
Run From Here -> Load/RUN TAP from here (normal mode)
Write From Here -> Write TAP to tape from here
If tape emulation is going to be developed, a TAP modification function, "Capture save to TAP from here", 
would be useful. It seems to me that overwriting anywhere is possible on VICE.

Tape F5 key options:
Sample tape to TAP -> Sample tape to new TAP
Capture save to TAP -> Capture save to new TAP
Finish Rec. to TAP - ,here is ok
Pause Tape Playback -> Pause TAP Playback
We don't know if we are doing Pause or Unpause.
There is no option to show if .TAP is currently playing or paused with PAUSE.
There is also no option showing whether the signal from the C64 for the tape recorder motor is currently ON or OFF
If we don't have a real tape recorder connected, we don't hear it.

Someone can install some LED indicator module on the Tape Adapter, but this is a hardware modification, an ability not available to everyone.
It would be nice to make some improvements to this emulation mechanism.

Kind regards.

[GideonZ]

There is no option in the menu showing which .TAP file is currently mounted.

This is indeed correct. It shouldn't be too hard to add in the F4 menu.

There is no option showing the current state of the counter (in units useful for .IDX)

This is also correct. This is a little bit harder to implement, because the Ultimate buffers some data. Could show some lower limit, though.

The description of the options is ambiguous but confusing, and the manual does not explain how these options work. [...]

I propose to elaborate this in the documentation. Why? Because we are dealing with a 40 col screen, which is not really suitable for longer descriptions. This makes the menu look unbalanced.

There is no option to show if .TAP is currently playing or paused with PAUSE.

Doesn't the menu show "pause" and "unpause", depending on the current state?

There is also no option showing whether the signal from the C64 for the tape recorder motor is currently ON or OFF

True, there is no motor sound emulation for the tape. However, you can listen to the tape pulses. When you configure the audio mixer at a low volume, this could actually be very helpful.

[radius75]

The C64 sometimes starts the tape recorder motor when its keys are not pressed. Then listening to audio from tape is not enough.

I only encountered the PAUSE option when using this emulation, I'll check again to confirm.

[radius75]

Indeed, my oversight. But strange... There are two options [Pause Tape Playback] and [Resume Tape Playback]. But they only appear when I start playback with the [Enter (index)] option. There is no Pause option for [Run tape] or [Start tape]. Only after pressing Enter (index), the Pause option appears in the menu and is already available for Run.. and Start.. options, until the C64 is turned off.

Maybe that's why I overlooked the Resume Pause option... because it didn't appear. I am guessing.

[radius75]

Looking at it more closely.. after pausing and starting the same or different TAP playback from the beginning, the Resume option is still displayed.. even though the playback is in progress.

[radius75]

After starting Pause, Resume.. and Stop... options appear. Using the Stop... option stops the TAP playback permanently. But after that, the Resume.. and Stop.. options are still visible and available, which are now useless.

[GideonZ]

Okay, that is just plain wrong. Thank you for reporting.

So how it was meant to be:

• start in inactive state (no options to stop, pause or resume)

• select "play tap(e)" in the file browser.

• from that moment the file is opened and linked to the tape playback.

• options pause and stop should appear.

• when stop is selected, the file is closed and you go back to inactive state.

• when pause is selected, it just stays at the same position in the file but keeps it open. Options change to resume and stop.

• resume goes to the active state.

[radius75]

As I thought :) And the pause option during [Capture save to TAP] doesn't appear at all, I guess it's redundant, but I don't know what the assumptions were.

-- Apparently the "Capture save to TAP" option is not related to the signal that controls the tape recorder motor (Datasette Port; C-3 Motor Control). After executing the SAVE command (complete recording), the real motor of the tape recorder stops. In Ultumate, writing to TAP continues until "Finish Rec. to TAP" is stopped Stopping and resuming writing to TAP with the C-3 signal would be a good solution, e.g. for people who want to write several files one after the other to one TAP. The C-3 would control a kind of pause during recording.

[radius75]

Is the C-3 (Motor Control) signal from the tape recorder connector passed through the Tape Adapter cable and the state of this C-3 can be read by Ultimate2+?