Soundscriber excecutive

[tape]

hi

I have a somewhat (late) special soundscriber model - it's pictures on the disc pacakge, first pic here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/NIB-RARE-SOUNDSCRIBER-SOUND-SCRIBER-DICTAPHONE-RECORDING-DISCS-30-MINUTE-/111233888197?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item19e60e6fc5

Working fine - however lacks both cutting head and attached microphone / start stop controller.
Does anybody here know where to find a cutting head for this machine?
It seems quite different than the ones used in other models

thanks

[tape]

another pic http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/Joanie-SoundScriber-and-Pepsi.jpg

very nice machine - has inbuilt mirror:-)

[emorritt]

It's a proprietary head with an embossing point for the plastic discs it uses. These machines show up on eBay in various states quite a bit. Shouldn't be hard to get parts from another machine.

And this is more like it: http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/667/27sd.jpg

[tape]

thanks:-)

however, I have only seen the particular model on ebay once - and that was when I bought.
Could very well be one of the last dics dictaphones they produced.
Just have to wait and get lucky I guess....

[emorritt]

There were many disc based dictation machines - the Edison unit that used the red "diamond discs", the Gray Audograph with the blue discs and star shaped center hole, etc. Each had something unique about it so you couldn't swap supplies. I haven't messed with dictation equipment too much, but it might be possible that a head from and Edison or Gray machine could be adapted for use in the Soundscriber. The amp/recorders weren't all that different - just enough to prevent patent infringement.

[recordboy]

Hello Tape

any progress on this machine?


http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/Joanie-SoundScriber-and-Pepsi.jpg



I've NEVER. seen one like that.
do u have pictures ov yours?

I'm VERY interested!!!
Thn

[grooveguy]

I think you're right, about that being the last embossing machine that Soundscriber made. It's a generation newer than mine, which I figure to be mid-1950s. Good luck with a recording head, I think the only answer is to find another machine like it. Adapting other heads would be a hassle.

Back in the 1970s I had interest in the Dictaphone 'belt' machines. By then they had been obsolete for at least 10 years, having given way to cassette-based recorders from the same company. I contacted a local Dictaphone sales rep who GAVE me three belt-type machines and a dozen boxes of belts. He was glad to be rid of them. Sadly, the innards from those were worthless for my experiments, but someone one eBay gave me $100 for the lot some 20 years later.

[recordboy]

0114162219.jpg

turns out i do know this machine XD

i know i have some more info about, yet having some issues findind them.

p.s. if ever u get fef up/"over it" i would GLADLY take it off you hands & give it a good home

pps

its big claim to fame was the way in which it was controlled.

[tape]

unfortuneately no progress on mine.

It was missing the embossing head, but more importantly the attached microphone that also serves as start/stop etc.
By short circuiting two holes at the mic in I was able to start it - but without cutterhead no progress.

Detailed patent with drawings can be found at patents online

[recordboy]

Hi Tape

Yes I've seen the patents & was going to post them, then though you must already know about them, seeing as you know what the head looks like.

yeah its VERY simular to the edison design ov that time (the voice writer). VERY complicated design. All STUFFED inside very strategically.

beest ov luck.
cheers

[tape]

many years later - some pictures of my model. Is that not a beatyful machine???
I will try to bring it back to life somehow. I have NEVER seen the model for sale or any pictures of it online other than the joan crawford commercial.

[grooveguy]

I'll bet that, by the time this model came out, tape was taking over in the office. Pity, it is a beautiful machine!

[Tognabalogna]

many years later - some pictures of my model. Is that not a beatyful machine???
I will try to bring it back to life somehow. I have NEVER seen the model for sale or any pictures of it online other than the joan crawford commercial.

hey tape! I found a Soundscriber Communicator that seems to be of the same era, but haven’t pulled the trigger on purchasing yet because I wasn’t sure if it was a real embossing machine or maybe a magnetic disc recorder… it’s very similar to your machine, so maybe we can help each other out. Can you send me the schematics you’ve found when you have a chance?

[grooveguy]

Good find; I'd get it if I were you. 99% sure that it's an embosser, unless Soundscriber had some 'crossover' models between technologies, but I am not aware that they ever did mag-sheet recorders. Best to build electronics from scratch, rather than work with circuits optimized for voice. Somehow I got the EQ wrong on the one I hotrodded, too hot on the bottom-end. But here's a sample of what can be done, in this instance embossing on a discarded CD-ROM.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/425hx8xo8pzoh09/SoundScriber.mp3?dl=0

[tape]

it's exactly the same as mine ! just pm me for schematics

[tape]

whoops, no not the same, sorry

[Tognabalogna]

it's exactly the same as mine ! just pm me for schematics

pm’d you! Looks pretty much identical sans the mirror (wouldn’t want to dictate an important note with spinach in your teeth), especially close to the ones in the ads posted upthread. Would be curious to source an old catalog with the various models available at the time, if such a thing ever existed.

[Tognabalogna]

Good find; I'd get it if I were you. 99% sure that it's an embosser, unless Soundscriber had some 'crossover' models between technologies, but I am not aware that they ever did mag-sheet recorders. Best to build electronics from scratch, rather than work with circuits optimized for voice. Somehow I got the EQ wrong on the one I hotrodded, too hot on the bottom-end. But here's a sample of what can be done, in this instance embossing on a discarded CD-ROM.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/425hx8xo8pzoh09/SoundScriber.mp3?dl=0

this sounds great! Much better than the “telephone” quality I was expecting. would love to hear how you hot rodded it—did you build your own amp circuit to run a line signal through, or just bypass completely and use an outboard amp?

[grooveguy]

Hey, TognaB; here's a link to a write-up on the project.
https://www.schlockwood.com/_files/ugd/aee96f_180a574b56ae4b6b8b301596b5a26719.pdf

[tape]

interesting!