Otari MTR-12 MIDI-controlled Autolocator

In my quest for digital control of our analogue mastering facility, I have been looking at the reel to reel machines. I would like to be able to fully control the 1/4″ machine (Otari MTR-12) from the computer.  I could make a simple remote for it, but how boring would that be? An auto-locator would be much better, but they are rare nowadays, and wouldn’t do exactly what I have in my head anyway. So, the big question is:

Could one make an Arduino microcontroller act as a midi-controlled auto-locator for an Otari MTR-12?

After some careful analysis of the schematic for the old auto-locator offered by Otari, I can’t see any reason why one couldn’t.

The brains for this functionality are actually in the tape machine, and the auto-locator is really just some switches and digital display elements. The timing for the digital circuit may be the only challenging aspect of the project, as I would like the tape and locate times to be reported properly and instantly, of course.

So, I will dive into it and report my progress. Should be fun and interesting. Feel free to make fun of me.

One thought to “Otari MTR-12 MIDI-controlled Autolocator”

  1. You actually make it seem really easy with your presentation but I find
    this matter to be actually something which I feel I might by
    no means understand. It kind of feels too complicated and extremely large for me.

    I am looking forward to your next post, I will try to
    get the dangle of it!

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