@grantbarrett Same. Missing bulky turntables built into the desk with awkwardly-shaped tonearms. Also we didn't have a reel-to-reel. Used to, before my time, but apparently students kept trashing it through misuse so they gave up.
Cart players always give me warm feeling. And by warm I mean: white hot rage. Maybe the ones at my shoestring station were poorly maintained but those things NEVER worked right. I have so many stories, and they all end with dead air, at best.
@1f2frfbf When I saw Negativland in, I think, '89, one of their first east-coast shows, they had maybe four or five cart machines and racks and racks and racks and racks of carts. Two band members pretty much did nothing but swap and cue carts for the show.
@ardgedee I guess if you have enough driven a/v geeks they are pretty reliable. But my experience: this station had the desk set up backwards - A was broadcast, B was audition, not the most well-run joint.
There was one cart (Heard's Auto Dealership! I still remember!) that would cause some harmonic distortion and I'd have to reset the (Tube! Not solid state! It took time to warm back up!) transmitter. Carts in the hands of incompetents, man.
There was one cart (Heard's Auto Dealership! I still remember!) that would cause some harmonic distortion and I'd have to reset the (Tube! Not solid state! It took time to warm back up!) transmitter. Carts in the hands of incompetents, man.