Tapes not loading

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janec31
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Tapes not loading

Post by janec31 »

I have just got my Oric 1 out the loft and cannot get any games to load. I have tried various cassette players and various tapes/games.

I had to purchase a new lead which is a 7 pin with 3 jack plug connections: REM, EAR & MIC. https://coolnovelties.co.uk/coolnovelti ... cable.html

I am wondering if the lead is damaged. Should i be hearing the sound of the game loading from the Oric 1 internal speaker using this lead?

Thanks for any advice
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Symoon
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Re: Tapes not loading

Post by Symoon »

The Oric is not designed to output the loading tape signal from its speaker. But if you're in a silent environment (ie your tape player speaker is muted when the cable is plugged), if you put your ear very close to the Oric, you can hear the signal.
Best way to try your cable though, would be to find another output source, using your tape player + lead as input.

Oh, and have you tried the usual various little adjusments:
- volume: set it very high, or rather low. This is of course not a global statistic, but I noticed 20% of my Orics require a rather low input volume, while others require a very high one. That's of course if the volume setting of your tape player affects the volume on the cable output
- azimuth: with a thin screwdriver, on most tape players you can change a little the reading head settiing, so the sound is brighter, or less bright. Try both settings.
- on early tapes for Oric-1, programs were often recorded at slow speed. Don't forget to CLOAD"",S if that's the case.

No miracle guaranteed - and sorry if you were already aware of all this ;)
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kenneth
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Re: Tapes not loading

Post by kenneth »

You can try some mp3 files from TAP files with a digital player to diagnose your audio wire.
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Dbug
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Re: Tapes not loading

Post by Dbug »

Personally I would start by using a blank tape and try to save a small BASIC program ("10 PRINT"HI!" is enough) to the tape, it's easy to hear if it was actually saved at all, then just rewind and try to CLOAD"" it again.
janec31
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Re: Tapes not loading

Post by janec31 »

Thanks all. It is useful to know that I should not expect to hear the tape sound from the internal oric speaker. I wonder why I always heard it in the 80s maybe it was from the cassette player?
I have tried Dbug's idea and got a very very quiet recording onto a tape but no chance of it loading back in...... Maybe I need to find another cassette recorder?

Not sure I've got an alternative output source to test the lead but will have a think.
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Symoon
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Re: Tapes not loading

Post by Symoon »

BTW, if you ever have extensions plugged to the Oric (especially disk drive), you should try removing them.
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Steve M
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Re: Tapes not loading

Post by Steve M »

Clean the tape head and roller. Make sure your leads are the right way round. Swap the ear and mic pover just to check.

If you have a mulitmeter you can set it to 'continuity' so if you touch the probe together it will make a noise. That is the easy way to check your cable - touch both ends and see if there is a noise. Usually the jack plugs will unscrew and you can look inside and see if any wires have come off. DIN plugs can also be opened for a look inside. Sometimes the wires there can pull apart.

I usually set the volume to about 7 and adjust the head alignment usuing small screwdriver to get a good bright sound.

You can hear a very faint noise from the speaker when a tape loads. You should get a 'Loading....' message on screen if the tape is recognised. Most often it is jack plugs in the wrong way round. You can still buy cassette leads on Ebay if you need a new one.

You should check the tape player bands as they go soft with time. If it is slack the tape may be running at the wrong speed. Try playing an audio tape, if you have one as you might be able to tell if it is up to speed.
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