C64 Tape to .D64 problems

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C64 Tape to .D64 problems

Post by OneSwitch »

Wondering if anyone out there would be willing to transfer two programmes from cassette to .D64 format, please. I'm hoping to preserve two 1995 programmes designed to enable disabled people.

I've tried using the AudioTap and WavPrg methods but I'm getting no where with standard format, Turbo Tape nor MegaTape loader formats.

If anyone could help, I'd really appreciate it.

Cheers,

Barrie
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Re: C64 Tape to .D64 problems

Post by OneSwitch »

Not sure if these are suitable quality, but I've saved a couple of WAVs here that someone smarter than me might be able to convert to T64 / D64 format: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1td4mrb56ei2 ... KyhAa?dl=0 - basically something to work on a RetroPie.
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Re: C64 Tape to .D64 problems

Post by eslapion »

@OneSwitch
Is there any form of copy protection on these software ? If so, you're going to have a very hard time converting directly to .t64 or .d64 format.

I assume you've checked these tapes to make they still load properly on an actual computer - you didn't specify if they are for C64 or another Commodore computer.
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Re: C64 Tape to .D64 problems

Post by OneSwitch »

The software is completely unprotected and is for a Commodore 64. The save is a standard tape save. They work perfectly on a stock C64.
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Re: C64 Tape to .D64 problems

Post by eslapion »

OneSwitch wrote:The software is completely unprotected and is for a Commodore 64. The save is a standard tape save. They work perfectly on a stock C64.
Well, then, all I can say is I have used WAV2PRG to transfer VIC-20 programs from tape to PC in the past and it worked perfectly well.

If WAV2PRG can't make sense of the .wav files you give it then there is a problem with your method of acquiring the signal. Possibly a setting with the tape deck you use or your sound card. It might also be a problem purely electrical in nature such as the polarity of the connection on the cable between sound card and tape deck. The speed or head alignment on the datasette which recorded your original tape or the tape deck you use to read it back to PC might be problematic.

My personnal solution for transferring programs from Commodore computer to PC is to use a 1581 disk drive since my PC has a 3.5" floppy disk drive and using Simon Owen's SAMdisk, I can directly read them on the PC.

I have an engineering degree and I can do a couple of things which are not accessible to most people. For example, if I had the tape with your program on it, just the first few seconds of recording will tell me if the tape was moving too slow or too fast when the recording was done just by looking at the signal using an oscilloscope. I could then adjust one of my own datasettes to play back the tape at exactly the same speed as when the program was saved.

If you have more than one datasette you could try saving your program from each one of them and look at the VU meter on your tape deck to see which one gives you the strongest signal. Datasettes which seem to save with a weaker signal are very likely to have a head alignment problem which will cause your music tape deck to read a corrupt signal.
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Re: C64 Tape to .D64 problems

Post by OneSwitch »

Thanks for the pointers. I'm recording from stereo phono out on a HiFi with no extra bass/treble/Dolby applied to my knowledge, into a Griffin iMic (3.5mm stereo to USB) then into Audacity recording a stereo 44kHz track.

I'm not sure if I should be recording mono, and if the waveform should be neatly fitting with gaps around it, or if it should be recorded at a higher volume.

I have two different C2N tape units, but as they are both loading and saving correctly on the C64 I don't want to touch alignment.
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Re: C64 Tape to .D64 problems

Post by OneSwitch »

Oh, also, I don't have a VU meter on my tape deck, unfortunately.
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Re: C64 Tape to .D64 problems

Post by eslapion »

@OneSwitch
You may not have a VU meter on your tape deck but you do have one on the PC to check if the signal intensity is adequate.

On the iMic is a switch that says "LINE/MIC", what did you set it too? It should be set to LINE.

I may be wrong but, I suspect your iMic being a USB device, it possibly compresses audio signals being sent to the PC it is attached to - this would render unusable all datasette audio signal you try to capture.

Why exactly is it you're not connecting the LINE OUT of your tape deck directly to the LINE IN of your PC's sound card ?
I'm recording from stereo phono out on a HiFi
Do you mean the headphone jack? What exactly are you playing the tape on? Doesn't seem like a normal audio cassette deck.
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Re: C64 Tape to .D64 problems

Post by eslapion »

PM sent!
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Re: C64 Tape to .D64 problems

Post by eslapion »

Operation complete...
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