1" tape, 10.5" reels and "pancake"...analog help!

[darryl2112]

I am about to buy this Otari Reel to reel , I noticed that the price of 1" tape is very expensive..this guy told me to look for "pancake" and empty 10.5" reels and just spool my own tape...sounds great and I understand the concept....but what the hell is pancake? he kind of explained it to me, but being 22, the words "tones on tail" only make me think of Peter Murphy......could anyone direct me to some pictures or explain it to me a little more?

[brewgoodbeer]

I think what you are being told to do is to buy tape in bulk and then spools in conjunction with your own pancake reels. Pancake is where the front and back section of an empty reel are not attached. You place the back section on, then the spool of tape, and then place the front section on. You then place the spool of tape, after the session, in a box made for that purpose. This way you do not need a bunch of empty reels. You must be careful with the spool. You can dump your whole project on the floor in a hurry if you are not careful. You will only ever do it one time, but most of us who have used tape have done it.

 

Tones on tails is where you have the alignment tones on both ends of the tape. The tail end is the end after the recorded material. The head end is the beginning of the recorded material. You can store your spool either tails out, or heads out. Most of the time, in my experience, tape is store tails out. This means you always have to rewind the tape before you start a session.

 

 

 

Good luck with this. I have not even seen a Otari machine in better than a decade. They were great machines in their day. 50/50Bs were real workhorses.

[Richard King]

An Agfa 1/4" Pancake. This one is about 33 years old. Pancakes could be bought boxed as shown in the picture or stacked. Stacked pancakes were supplied 10 to a box with formed styrofoam between the pancakes. You supply your own reels or, in the case of stacked pancakes, your own reels and boxes.