yeah, I used to use my old 4-track as a tape delay as that had variable speed but also a ‘monitor’ switch that allowed you to select between direct monitoring the input at mixer level or the recorded signal at the play head. So, by feeding the play head signal back into the mixer and being careful on the levels you could get the delay between the record head and play head with repeats. Changing the ‘pitch’ or speed of the tape obviously changed the delay time
crude and shortish delays but useable
the phasing on my akai twin cassette deck was incredible though. Just take any tape, dub it to the 2nd tape, rewind both tapes to the beginning and press play simultaneously on both decks. The difference in tape speed between the two decks was tiny so you’d get this long, beautiful phasing swoop as the timing crossed over and deck A overtook deck B and then you’d just do a little tap on the pause button on deck A to nudge it back again for another swoop
try it
