tapDancer Virtual Datasette
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* Features **
*
Convert .TAP / T64 / PRG / P00 / TZX / CDT / UEF / CAS to audio-out
* Pause, stop and re-start playback
* Remembers previously-set volume level
* High-precision render
* Auto-pause functionality
* TurboTape compression (Commodore 64/128).
tapDancer converts archives of vintage games and other software into audio waveforms that your classic 1980's-era computer(s) can understand and plays them back, allowing you to once again use these programs on your cherished system(s) using your mobile Android device, and a tape-interface cable or CD-to-cassette adaptor (depending on the computer.)
Currently, tapDancer supports Commodore (TAP / T64 / PRG formats), Sinclair ZX Spectrum (TZX / TAP), Amstrad CPC (CDT), Acorn Electron / BBC (UEF), MSX (CAS) and Atari (CAS).
tapDancer sports a fully-featured playback interface to assist you in reliving those beloved memories of the past. Other features include the ability to auto-pause on tape silences for ease of loading programs, and TurboTape compression of Commodore T64 / PRG / P00 to let you reminisce sooner!
Simply copy your archived software files (of programs you own!) to the SDCard storage of your Android device, then run tapDancer. Press the 'Eject' button, and then navigate to your files. (If your device has multiple SDCard directories, you can switch between them in the Settings menu -
- see the documentation for more details.) Select your desired archive and tapDancer will then render the audio. tapDancer even supports extracting files from inside .ZIP and .T64 on-the-fly!
After the audio renders (anywhere up to two minutes, or longer on slower devices), press the 'Play' button after commanding your classic computer to LOAD. Adjust your volume to around 10 (for starters). With luck, in a few moments your computer will recognise the file, press SPACE on your Commodore 64 (for example) as soon as it says 'FOUND *GAME*'. (This step will vary depending on your computer system. See documentation for further details.) If it doesn't, try adjusting the volume up or down, press 'Stop' in tapDancer to reset the audio playback, reset your computer, and try again.
Placing your device into 'Airplane' mode is a good idea, as mobile 'chatter' can disrupt the playback. Also, be wary of magnetism -
- keep your datasette / mobile device away from any CRT monitors!
For more detailed usage information and a user forum, tap the Help (?!) icon on the main tapDancer interface screen, or visit the tapDancer website at http://tapDancer.info or by tapping the WWW icon on the main tapDancer interface screen.
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* Highlights ***
* TAP / T64 / PRG / P00 / TZX / CDT / UEF / CAS support (Commodore 64 / 128 / VIC20 / etc., Sinclair ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, MSX-compatibles, Acorn Electron / BBC Micro, Atari 400/800/XL/XE)
* Configurable TurboTape compression of T64 / PRG / P00 (Commodore)!
* Intuitive user-interface.
* Auto-pausing functionality (for ease of loading.)
* Ability to extract files from .ZIP and .T64 on-the-fly.
tapDancer is a product of kica.co, copyright 2014 by April and Melody Ayres-Griffiths.
Category : Entertainment
Reviews (28)
Needs a volume booster. Games with turbo load are otherwise impossible to load using most recent devices.
Fantastic app. Thank you! Any way to donate?
awesome. I can't believe this is the only app for this.
Had to fiddle with settings and volume, once I figured that out was successfully loading C64 tape images with ease. Very handy to be able to do it from your phone as opposed to laptop/PC. Can't seem to get the auto pause feature to work well for me, it seems to pause when I don't want it to. Also the manual pause button doesn't resume playback correctly, it starts playing from the beginning once unpaused instead of resuming where you paused from. Best to sit there and hit space immediately.
It worked great for me. You may need to spend some time adjusting volume settings on your Android device to make this work properly.But that is no fault of tapDancer itself. Also, make sure to read the instructions about pausing playback and about pressing space on the C64 when the tape program is first found. Thanks for creating this great program. :)
Great app. Worked great on C64, Speccy etc. Sadly can't get any .uef files for Acorn Electron to work though. TapDancer freezes after selecting the .uef and the convert progress bar stays stuck on 0%. If fixed TapDancer would get full marks
Works pretty well once you figured out how to properly use it. For C64, it sometimes stops after the game has loaded, and you have to press PLAY once more for the game to begin.. Like it's waiting for some last bit of data. Apart from that, the scrolling display is kinda annoying. There's no reason it should be scrolling, and not just static. As it takes a second or two for the scrolling text to appear, you're left wondering if it's actually playing or not. That's a bit silly. The overall functionality is great though!
It does the trick, but for me at least it keeps pausing randomly (i have auto pause off), and often it won't resume after a manual or automatic pause.
Lovely to find an app that works so well. I'm using it on a cheap Android 4.4 tablet with my Acorn Electron and it has loaded almost all the .UEF files I've thrown at it. However it is not without its faults, for example if a program generates a sound file that is too large (more than 1000 on the counter) it does not work at least not for me. Also it creates a tapdancer folder in the root directory of my android device (for converted files) that has to be deleted when full (if not tapdancer stalls on converting a file to audio). Another problem I've seen is that when I tried to use it with my phone, an Android 5 device it hangs on the converting to audio screen and goes no further. Its faults can be forgiven however and as far as free apps go I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in old computers and running old software on them.
Works perfectly with my spectrum +2 and amstrad cpc464. Expected it to be a pain to get working, was pleasantly surprised.
Obviously some thought has been put into this. I can't believe how well it works :-)
Just tried it again but it will not play .uef files, it loads the file and says to press play then it comes up with a message saying stopped😯 and will not play if I press on play, that was on a Samsung note 3 on my new tablet it works very well only problem I had it won't see the files on a sd card I had to move them to the internal storage.
App works great on my s7 edge, but having force closing issues on my S4 any time audio is playing and I try to pause/stop/open settings. Hope to see a fix soon!
Crashes on converting .tap files, help button is too close to the edge, tries to play zip archives as data files. Used to like it, but no more...
Awesome app, I have been using it on an Amstrad Cpc 464 and it's brilliant. I look forward to testing it on my C64 and Zx Spectrum. Will it work with C16/plus 4 I ask myself!
Used to work great with .uefs on my other phone . Does not work on my me a kne. Will stay stuck on 0%
Biggest heap of carp on android won't load one single game
Sometimes works when it wants to, most of the time not. Playing wav files is far more successful.
I couldn't thank you enough ,
Doesn't work for .Uef files, so can't use it with my electron.
Please support the Oric-1
Works perfectly!!!! Thanks so much for creating this app!
Really? If your into pc88 and msx games it will never work because they are 2 japanese computers
Uef still not working for bbc micro tape images
It would be great if I could use ext sd for files? Already a brilliant app
Does nt work what tha
Thank you,
Terrible and keeps pausing on it's own. It is impossible to load a game into my c64. I spent well over 3 hours with no success.