Watch How a 4-Track Cassette Recorder Can Become a Musical Instrument

This isn’t for the faint of heart. In this video Chris Randall shows how to get a Cm7 chord progression from a 4-track cassette machine. It’s a technique that Alessandro Cortini explained how he used in a live setup. Think of it as each track on the 4-track being a different note or chord, and to trigger it you simply increase the level fader.

Chris uses a Tascam Portastudio 414, Audio Damage Phosphor, Ableton Live and an Eventide H9.

After about 10 minutes of setting up Chris fires up his modular synthesiser and then uses the 4-track to play along to great effect.

Just goes to show how useful it is to have a cassette 4-track lying around in your studio.