MTR-90/Analog Tape

Question 1

Helicoptering

Answer 1

When the tape machine is going at full speed at the end, the reel will fly off

Question 2

Tape Unload

Answer 2

Releases the tension from the swing arms, allowing you to pull the tape away from the heads without having to rewind/fast forward all the way

Question 3

Spot Erase

Answer 3

Used for manually erasing a very short piece of tape - removing short unwanted sounds

Question 4

Jog Wheel

Answer 4

Used for moving the tape forwards or backwards at your own speed

Question 5

Cue button

Answer 5

Engages the jog wheel

Question 6

Supply Swing Arm

Answer 6

On both sides of the machine, these are used for tension on the tape

Question 7

Tacho Roller

Answer 7

Counts tach pulses as the tape is spinning to determine how much time has passed on the tape

Question 8

Guide Roller

Answer 8

On both sides keep the tape from moving vertically, ensuring tracks on tape line up with tracks on the heads

Question 9

Supply Reel

Answer 9

When fully rewound, the tape will be on this side; it’s the side supplying us the recording from start to end

Question 10

Take Up Reel

Answer 10

This is the side you load the tape onto, then rewind it to begin recording/playback

Question 11

Tape Speed

Answer 11

Switch that changes the speed of the tape machine - options are HI(30IPS) or LOW(15IPS)

Question 12

Reset

Answer 12

Button that resets the counter to zero - do this when you mark a zero point on the tape

Question 13

Splicing block

Answer 13

Used for editing tape; tape is laid flat on the block, then sliced with a razor using one of the two slicing guide

Question 14

Capstan

Answer 14

Controls the exact speed of the tape machine

Question 15

Take Up Swing Arm

Answer 15

Same function as the Supply Swing Arm

Question 16

Shield

Answer 16

This button raises and lowers the shield in front of the heads and tape; ALWAYS thread the tape before raising the shield

Question 17

Record

Answer 17

This button will engage recording onto any tracks that are record-armed

Question 18

Transport Controls

Answer 18

Play, Stop, Rewind, Fast Forward

Question 19

All Safe

Answer 19

Disables the record function on all tracks; this should be engaged when not recording

Question 20

Track Arm

Answer 20

These switches arm tracks, enabling them to record; red lights will blink when armed, and will be solid red when recording

Question 21

All Input

Answer 21

Puts all tracks intro input mode, allowing you to hear and set all levels

Question 22

All Repro

Answer 22

When the machine is in all repro, you are hearing the the repro head; this has better playback quality than the sync head

Question 23

Individual/Selector Switches

Answer 23

Used for Rehearsal Mode; this allows some tracks to be in input, while others are playing back

Question 24

Speed Display button

Answer 24

Turns off the Speed Display lol

Question 25

Pitch Control switch has 3 settings which are:

Answer 25

1. Vari 2. Fix 3. Ext

Question 26

Vari setting

Answer 26

The pitch control wheel controls the speed and pitch of the machine

Question 27

Fix setting

Answer 27

The machine will be running at exactly 30IPS or 15IPS, and the pitch control wheel has no effect

Question 28

Ext setting

Answer 28

Used when synchronising the MTR-90 to another machine

Question 29

Pitch Control knob

Answer 29

Controls the exact speed, and therefore pitch, of the tape.

Question 30

What is the MTR-90's pitch control range?

Answer 30

+/- 25%

Question 31

Tape Time

Answer 31

Displays the time the tape is currently at; does not auto reset when you reset the machine

Question 32

Tape Time Reset

Answer 32

Resets the tape time window on the remote; does not reset the time on the machine

Question 33

Store Locations

Answer 33

Pressing one of these buttons will store the current time on tape into one of the 10 available locate points

Question 34

Search Locations

Answer 34

Pressing one of these buttons will automatically search to the assigned locate point

Question 35

Locate Time

Answer 35

You can type a time into this window using the 10-key pad; pressing the Search button will always take the tape to the time in this window

Question 36

Locate Time Reset

Answer 36

Resets the Locate Time window

Question 37

Zero Set

Answer 37

Searches tape for a 1kHz tone and resets tape time to zero

Question 38

Search Zero

Answer 38

Rewinds or Fast Forwards the tape to zero

Question 39

Search

Answer 39

This button will take the tape to the time in the locate time window

Question 40

Shuttle

Answer 40

Tape will automatically play and rewind between the times in the tape time and locate time windows

Question 41

Auto Rewind

Answer 41

Tape will play until it reaches the time in the locate time window, automatically rewind to where it began playing and stop

Question 42

All Clear

Answer 42

Tap Twice quickly to clear locate points

Question 43

Stopwatch

Answer 43

A timer; has no relation to the tape time or transport

Question 44

Number Pad

Answer 44

Typing into the numeric keypad enters numbers into the locate time window

Question 45

+/- Key

Answer 45

Turns the locate time into a negative number

Question 46

Store

Answer 46

This stores the time from the locate time window into a locate point

Question 47

Recall

Answer 47

Recalls locate points into the locate time window

Question 48

Load

Answer 48

Loads the time from the tape machine counter to the tape time on the remote

Question 49

Back arrow <=

Answer 49

Moves the time from the locate time window to the tape time window

Question 50

30 IPS

Answer 50

30 inches per second: higher fidelity, less noise | 16 minutes 40 seconds reel

Question 51

15 IPS

Answer 51

15 inches per second: lower fidelity, more noise, sounds different than 30 IPS

Question 52

Size of the tape determines _______

Answer 52

How many channels/tracks it can hold