Davide BucciIf everything goes as planned, I hope I'll get something REALLY NICE to #repair within a few days. I'm really looking forward for this project. #AnalogAudio
There are some issues that need to be addressed immediately on the #RevoxB77. The last time it was used, the tape badly mangled around the capstan and there are three pyrotechnic capacitors ready to explode. #AnalogAudio. Overall it is very crusty.
The #RevoxB77 more or less works, but definitely needs a lot of care. I need some spares for the switches’ levers, the VU meter lamps and the ball bearings. I think I will change the electrolytic caps but in s second moment.
I put an X on all bad or very bad capacitors, tested in-circuit. In the audio circuits I only found two bad tantalums, but on this board (main logic) almost all electrolytic capacitors are abysmal. #AnalogAudio #Repair #RevoxB77
I ordered some new levers for the broken switches, so this means that I have to remove the PCB near the main panel. It was dirty (as everything inside this deck), so I could clean it. The main speed selector was very oxidised, so I cleaned it, too. #AnalogAudio #RevoxB77 #Repair
I cleaned and greased with high viscosity silicone oil (500 000 cst) the shaft of the tape tensioner. Now its movement is slightly dampened, as it should be. #repair #AnalogAudio #RevoxB77
I #3Dprinted a NAB adapter and did a test fit with a 10.5 in Agfa reel. It already looks amazing 🤩 I can’t wait to receive the spares I need to put everything together again.
I received some spare pieces for the #RevoxB77, motor capacitors and ball bearings. Someone tried to lubricate the reel ball bearings, but they were completely shot. #repaired #AnalogAudio
Since I had to remove the brake, I installed the new belts for the counter and I put it back on place. The old belts basically disintegrated, one was clearly a hack. Now everything is very smooth and works perfectly. #RevoxB77 #AnalogAudio #repair
The #RevoxB77 now works again 😍 I still have to calibrate it (I’m waiting for a calibration tape and VU meter lamps), but the sound quality is amazing 🤩 #repair #AnalogAudio, my little assistants validated it.
The trident fixture was missing on my reels and they were slightly deformed. My father in law took good care of them and I #3Dprinted a new retaining clip that works as the original one. #repair #RevoxB77 #AnalogAudio
I received some spare lamps for the VU-meters. Now they look much better! #RevoxB77 #repair #AnalogAudio
I received a test tape and performed a full calibration of the recorder. I tried to record the full Silk Dust original soundtrack. It works beautifully 😍#RevoxB77 #Repair #AnalogAudio https://on.soundcloud.com/bU3QZngX3zWSE4mdA
Silk Dust original soundtrack
This is the original music I wrote for the Silk Dust text adventure game. Follow the adventures of Emilia Vittorini in a steampunk world in 1907. "Today is April 19, 1907. You, Emilia Vittorini, arri
This must be the longest object I’ve ever bought in my life 🤣 And I bought two NAB pancakes of it! I have now 2.2 km of LPR90 magnetic tape to record my music 😍 I’ll calibrate the bias for it and I’ll start by recording again the Silk Dust soundtrack 😉 #AnalogAudio #Repair #RevoxB77 #IndieMusic
I wrote a post on my home page (blog) to summarize briefly all that I have done on the Revox B77 mk II: http://davbucci.chez-alice.fr/index.php?argument=varie/revoxb77/revoxb77.inc&language=English #repair #AnalogAudio #RevoxB77 #webpage
Yo may have followed this thread dedicated to the renovation of a #RevoxB77 reel to reel recorded. However it is not the first R2R recorder I repair. My father bought this Magnetofoni Castelli 2005 probably around 1968. We used it since the mid 1980’s (we did not have a compact cassette recorder). I’m now converting all the reels containing family memories (such as my voice at a three year old kid). I repaired it about 10 years ago (bad capacitors).
I could not resist to take a picture of the #RevoxB77 playing the Silk Dust original soundtrack while listening to it: https://soundcloud.com/user-375194295/sets/silk-dust-soundtrack
Silk Dust original soundtrack
This is the original music I wrote for the Silk Dust text adventure game. Follow the adventures of Emilia Vittorini in a steampunk world in 1907. "Today is April 19, 1907. You, Emilia Vittorini, arri
I’m trying to prep and paint the box of the #RevoxB77. It’s a difficult job, after A LOT of wet sanding to remove the original Nextel paint, I’m using car body filler to repair small defects, plastic primer and spray paint RAL 7024.
I sprayed the first layer of the final paint on the #RevoxB77 and the result is OK. I’m not aiming for perfection as I would need a cabin. Tomorrow I’ll wet sand it and spray a second layer.
I finished painting the box of the #RevoxB77 and the result is 😍😍😍 I must find a solution for the broken corner of the plastic front panel though. This evening I have to remove the heads to send them to a relapping service. I hope I will be able to align them again 😰 (I have a calibration tape for 15ips). #repair #AnalogAudio
I sent yesterday the heads to a relapping service. I hope they will be able to recondition them. While I am waiting, I updated the blog post about the restoration and #repair of the #RevoxB77 with some pictures of the painting: http://davbucci.chez-alice.fr/index.php?argument=varie/revoxb77/revoxb77.inc&language=English
I received two days ago the #RevoxB77 heads back from Photovox Technology. They did an amazing work relapping them and are like new 😳😍🤩 I installed them back on the #ReelToReel recorder, aligned them and after a full recalibration the sound is amazing 🤩 #AnalogAudio #Repair
I used quite regularly the #RevoxB77 reel to reel recorder lately. I love it and the sound quality is just amazing. However, using headphones, you can hear a faint tape hiss. I bought a dbx-150x noise reduction system. The combination should be a real bliss. #AnalogAudio
I found a nice #Revox 10.5 in reel for the #B77, but the tape smelled bad. Holy crap, there was life, there! 🤪 It cleaned nice, though.
I received the #dbx150x type I #noise reduction system. I had to import it from USA as I couldn’t find one in Europe at a decent price. I tried recording some tracks with it on the #RevoxB77 and I couldn’t distinguish them from the originals. It is clearly the best analog audio quality I have ever listened to 😍 I didn’t notice any “pumping” artefact some people complain about dealing with #dbx. It’s incredible. #AnalogAudio
If you want to help me, here are two tracks (uncompressed, so 66MB each): http://davbucci.chez-alice.fr/varie/revoxb77/Catacombs_1.wav and http://davbucci.chez-alice.fr/varie/revoxb77/Catacombs_2.wav In your opinion, which one is the original version and which one has been recorded through the #RevoxB77+#dbx noise reduction? If the links do not work, try copy/pasting them in your browser. #ComparativeTest #AnalogAudio #audio
Catacombs_1 original, Catacombs_2 B77+dbx
Catacombs_1 B77+dbx, Catacombs_2 original
No difference at all
Poll ended at .
It would help me if you try to do the A/B listening test proposed in the previous toot in this thread. I've heard many negative things about the #dbx #noise reduction, but I suspect most of them refer to type II and cassettes (here we deal with type I and #reel2reel). I'm very interested to learn if someone is able to listen to some artifacts or not. By the way, I inspected the inside of the #dbx150x unit I got and it is a nice sandwich construction. 😍 #AnalogAudio
Let's try another A/B test, using Varenna Suite, this time:
http://davbucci.chez-alice.fr/varie/revoxb77/varenna_1.flac
http://davbucci.chez-alice.fr/varie/revoxb77/varenna_2.flac
Which one do you think is the original and which one has been recorded through the #RevoxB77 at 15ips + #dbx150x #noise reduction? #AnalogAudio
varenna_1 original and varenna_2 Revox+dbx
varenna_1 Revox+dbx and varenna_2 original
No difference between the two versions
Poll ended at .
@jelora on this tests the files are not perfectly aligned.
Jelora@davbucci
It seems the speed is different too.
I tried to align on the beginning and it finished out of alignment at the end.
Hard to say which one is the original or the one recorded on tape ...
@jelora yes, I noticed that, too. Maybe some slight variations. I should check if those are normal or not. In any case, the result is very good, as you said it is difficult to see which one has been recorded, at least to my ears.
Dear all, if you have a few minutes, I would love to have your feedback on the A/B #test on the previous toot (varenna_1 vs varenna_2). I've read about the "pumping" noise artifact of the dbx, and I'd like to know if you are able to listen it in the example. #AnalogAudio #RevoxB77 #dbx #dbx150x #noise
Walter Tross@davbucci It's not easy to download from http URLs, e.g., Firefox simply won't let you do so. Apart from this, a soundtrack with more silence or near silence would have been more useful for the purpose, if I correctly understand what you mean by "pumping"
@waltertross You are right: I could upload the tracks on Soundcloud, but I do not trust the compression that may be applied. For the moment, my website is http only, I should find a solution a day or another. In the next few days, I think I will upload another test with some piano. Apparently is one instrument where dbx artifacts can be heard.
@waltertross It is not entirely clear what "pumping" noise is supposed to hear. I read it from descriptions of people criticizing dbx, but I do not hear it in this recording. Probably, it is more evident with type II dbx and cassettes, where the noise floor is about 20 dB higher than on the R2R setup.
@waltertross I did a test: copying and pasting the link instead of just clicking on it seems to work, is it the same for you?
@davbucci I don't know where your website is hosted, but check Let's Encrypt (https://letsencrypt.org/) or similar.
@waltertross it is a sh*t provider, but it is free and does not add advertisements 😊 I'll look at your suggestion, thank you!!!
I you couldn't download the two .flac files, try copy/pasting them in your browser. The provider of my website does not adopt https but only http. #test #AnalogAudio #RevoxB77 #noise #dbx #dbx150
Another A/B test, with the same piece used for the first one (it progressively fills the spectrum, so it works well for this kind of thigs. Which is the file you do prefer and why? Try copy/pasting the links if they do not work:
http://davbucci.chez-alice.fr/varie/revoxb77/Catacombs_1.flac
http://davbucci.chez-alice.fr/varie/revoxb77/Catacombs_2.flac
I prefer Catacombs_1
I prefer Catacombs_2
The two files are identical
Poll ended at .
@davbucci
I can't hear any difference by listening them.
I put the two files in Audacity to compare them graphicaly and there is just some noise when I amplify at +50dB the difference beetween the two files.
So, yeah, no difference.
@jelora thank you very much! I did the same: I can only see a difference looking in Audacity and searching for tiny details in the spectrum, but certainly not by listening (even with headphones). For the moment, I am totally enthusiast of the combination of R2R recording and dbx type 1.
@jelora I was thinking about it and I think there's something that is not normal. The two tracks should not be perfectly aligned. Have I exported twice the same version???
@jelora I checked again and it does not seem so. I will do other tests, I was not expecting the two files being so similar.
@davbucci You may have done a good calibration of your Revox ;)
@jelora it may be, but this means that I have also aligned very precisely the two files. I will do another test I think, as I am suspicious of this one.
@davbucci One thing that could suspicious :
It seems there is absolutly no dropout.
I know you used a good tape, at high speed, with good heads ...
But I seem too much perfect ...
One other thing :
I don't think the frequency response of your analog tape recorder is absolutly linear on 20Hz-20kHz
There is no difference on high frequency between the two files
I got two metal champagne NAB adapters for the #RevoxB77. With the blue reels they look amazing. They keep the reels more firmly in place than the adapters I #3Dprinted. #AnalogAudio
JohnS_AZ@davbucci Stunning
Francois Dion
zl2tod