pverrando Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 Here's a couple of pics of this "Ipod Nagra". It's a work in progress. Was hoping to sell it for holidays this year, but I keep adding things. It actually sounds pretty good, those are Tivoli Audio speakers in the deck, sealed speaker enclosures and a class T amplifier inside. The mic input works, tone generator, tape transport, playback head, and has bass, treble controls, RCA stereo ins and outs. Runs on D cells or external power supply. All the selector positions have a specific function. Pilot flag indicates that ipod is charging. Last hurdle is to create some record capability with the tape loop, to create a short message or slapback echo gag. I've got to find or create a small enough record amplifier with bias generator. It plays the loop now. But if it can't record, its not a Nagra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whit Norris Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 Outstanding! What a great idea! Whit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
studiomprd Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 tres kewl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Almalvez Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 dude, thats awesome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stacysound Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 very cool Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fieldmixer Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 Tres cool indeed! What other functions do the selector positions activate? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pverrando Posted December 6, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 Selector: Automatic Record -selects external RCA stereo line inputs (may activate record feature in future) Hi-Fi Record- ipod mixed with mic input or tape head (selectable) Test- tone generator (original circuit) (when front button pushed) Stop - Power Off - Ipod charging Playback/Batt. Meter- Ipod Playback only, no mic or tapehead, battery reserve shows on meter Hi-Fi Playback - Ipod Playback, meter displays audio level (independent of speaker volume) Meter displays audio level at all positions except in Batt Meter position Other controls Line input/playback control - Speaker volume Mic input - microphone input/tape head preamplifier level Fast Forward button - activates motor for tape loop (for now) B/A button - may activate record in future Tone button - sounds reference tone Bass and treble controls/ RCA ins/outs on right side Tape/mic select and motor speed control on left side Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmassey Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 While I kinda hate it seems a waste of a pristine NAGRA III, it is really very cool. I have wanted to find another, and build a small circuit that makes the meter jump as if recording. Sitting there on the shelf, it would be cool with the lamps lit. But you are combining the classics of two generations. VERY NICE!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmahaAudio Posted December 6, 2012 Report Share Posted December 6, 2012 Wouldn't an iPad port of a Nagra recorder be amazing? Korg (a big synthesizer company) has ported a couple of their machines (Electribe and MS20) to the iPad and they rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bob Marts Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Made my day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfisk Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 words cannot describe the awesome. I wish Manfred was still around. He used to work for Nagra, and he would love seeing this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old school Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Made my day! Stunning. An amazing repurposing of an iconic recorder. I hope you figure out the rest of your engineering wish's. Thanks. CrewC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Very creative, but also feels (to me) like a '55 Chevy turned into a BBQ or a Stratocaster body repurposed as an ashtray. philp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pverrando Posted December 7, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 I did make an ashtray out of my hhb portadat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Wexler Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 Very creative, but also feels (to me) like a '55 Chevy turned into a BBQ or a Stratocaster body repurposed as an ashtray. philp I actually expected this to turn out to be a hoax --- simple iPod cradle set on top of a Nagra III with an elaborate, but fictitious, description of all the re-purposing of controls and electronics. I guess I was wrong. In that case, I sort of have the same reaction Philip has expressed. The topic did lead me to remember something I thought about 15 years ago after I had been using the original Deva for about a month. I thought about an extremely ambitious project: re-package the Deva into the case of one of my Nagra 4.2 recorders. I would gut the Nagra, utilize as many of the hardware control as possible, knobs, switches, meter, etc., and do a completely new faceplate overlay for the front and sides, adding connectors and so forth. I even thought about having dummy reels that would turn when I went into record on the Deva. It became quite obvious that this would be an almost impossible task, very costly to say the least, and what would ultimately be the result? Needless to say, I did not pursue this beyond the confines of my twisted mind. The impulse lingers on, however, to have a machine in front of me, as elegant as ANY of the wonderful recorders from Nagra. Sadly, even the current Nagra file-based recorders come up short, as does the Aaton Cantar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmassey Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 I've always wanted to build a small box, attach it to the side of a video camera, and when the camera rolls a faint but obviously present little flutter, you know, film passing thru the gate, would be heard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmgoodin Posted December 7, 2012 Report Share Posted December 7, 2012 I've always wanted to build a small box, attach it to the side of a video camera, and when the camera rolls a faint but obviously present little flutter, you know, film passing thru the gate, would be heard! They already have those on the RED they are called FANS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OmahaAudio Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 I thought about an extremely ambitious project: re-package the Deva into the case of one of my Nagra 4.2 recorders. I would gut the Nagra, utilize as many of the hardware control as possible, knobs, switches, meter, etc., and do a completely new faceplate overlay for the front and sides, adding connectors and so forth. You can turn a Mac 512K into a aquarium so why not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philip Perkins Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 I've always wanted to build a small box, attach it to the side of a video camera, and when the camera rolls a faint but obviously present little flutter, you know, film passing thru the gate, would be heard! You just described the Sony F65! It has a mechanical shutter that sounds like a film camera, except it runs all the time--rolling or not. It has an electronic shutter too--when we did a closeup the DIT turned the mechanical shutter off--but until then it was doing a credible imitation of a (rather noisy) film camera. Think Eclair NPR, especially one with a lot of miles on it.... philp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyatt Tuzo Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 Bonus points for listening to ELO's Greatest Hits during the photo session! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Wielage Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 Hey! No criticism of ELO is allowed when I'm in the thread! (Jeff Lynne is a near-god.) I think the Nagra iPod dock (which should be called the "iNagra") is funny and sad. No question, the original Nagra had a look and feel that can't be duplicated today: what I remember was a feel of soliditity I haven't felt from operating other machines. And the faders had a real weight to them, and a very precise feel. The only time I can recall a similar feel was when I first examined the recent Macbook Pros that were cut out of solid bricks of aluminum -- they had a real "fit & finish" to them that kind of reminded me of Stefan Kudelski's work. BTW, Nagra has a very high-end consumer audio division that has sort of "Nagra-like" preamps and amplifiers for the Rolls-Royce set. I don't think they have any iPod docks yet, but maybe they will at the January CES... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pverrando Posted December 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 demo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soundslikejustin Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyatt Tuzo Posted December 8, 2012 Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 Hey! No criticism of ELO is allowed when I'm in the thread! (Jeff Lynne is a near-god.) You'll get none of that here. I'm with ya, Marc! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pverrando Posted December 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2012 I have restored a few cast-off Nagras. My goal with these machines is to bring them to as close to original condition as possible, both technically and cosmetically. A few years ago, I acquired three retired Nagra III's in various states of repair, for $240 all-in. That purchase is what really got me started. Out of the three, plus one other, I created two near-perfect examples of the Kudelski Nagra III. One was sold to a audiophile in Japan for $900. The other is mine and always will be. Its fun to have. Lace a tape, plug in a microphone, and record some stuff. Play it back. Work the controls. Rack the tape. Listen to the robust, boomy sound of full-track, monophonic recording from an analog Nagra. My restorations efforts left me with a lot of parts and two Nagra III's that were shells of their former selves. Ipod popularity had gotten me and a lot of other re-purposers thinking about the Ipod Dock, that plastic affair on the shelf of Best Buy. There's so much discarded technical equipment from the days of old that can be re-upped into a Gestalt of past and present. I like to play with my old tape recorders, but I rarely have the time. With this thing, I can keep it useful, every day. It now plays music, podcasts, internet streams, with room-filling volume, and a happily bouncing modulometer. Pretty pictures here: http://dfwsoundman.b...pics-video.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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