Magnetophon

With a mono cassette head in the panel and a NAB equalised ampli er circuit, Magnetophon is a cassette player without the transport mechanism. Try rubbing old cassette tapes on the panel, or attach a head on a wire to recreate Nam June Paik’s Random Access or Laurie Anderson's Tape Bow Violin.

Schematic

Magnetophon is in this video from SuperBooth16 in Berlin

Magnetophon vs Nagra audio torture test. The Nagra sounds better(!) but it gets fun when the Magnetophon head starts moving

BOM:

• 2 x Thonkiconn Sockets
• 1 x 50k Alpha Potentiometer (from Thonk, with bushing)
• 1 x 10 pin 5x2 Euro power header
• 1 x TL072 op amp
• 1 x CTH1M MONO cassette playback head
• 2 x Poly Fuses (100ma blow or higher)
• 2 x 1N4001 diodes
• 1 x 47uf Electrolytic Capacitor*
• 2 x 10uf Electrolytic Capacitors*
• 2 x 100nf Ceramic Capacitor
• 1 x 15nf Polybox Capacitor
• 1 x 200k resistor
• 1 x 3.6k resistor
• 1 x 2.2k resistor
• 1 x 470R resistor
• 2 x 200R resistor
• Notes:
• C7 is NOT required but a space is left on the board in case you have any oscillation in the first op amp stage.
• *Electo caps should be short - 7mm tall - to fit between the boards. Otherwise, you can mount them on the back if you are careful of polarity.

Status:

• May 2016: Rev 1 (= Proto 2 with silkscreen tweaks) should be good to build.
• Proto 2 works well.
• Proto 2 designed and sent to fab
• Proto 1 used for 4 days straight at SuperBooth
• Proto 1 built, needed extra capactitor to kill huge ultrasonic oscillation
• Not verified
• January 2016 Prototype sent for manufacture
• October 2015 Designed

Named after the AEG Magnetophon, the first commercial tape recorder, revealed at the 1935 Radio Fair in Berlin.

(Image via AES)