Wait, Wut?

New on the list of things we really don't need is a digital cassette tape simulator.

Because I guess some people's lives are so empty that they have to relive the era of using a pencil eraser to rewind tapes. (F%$#, I'm old)

If you have wistful longings for the days when your songs carried the subtle hiss of the cassettes you listened to, we have some reel good news. A new project takes modern music back to the analog era.

The project, available on GitHub, is called "Audio Cassette Simulation" and uses FFmpeg to transcode audio files to get that "wish I'd bought some decent tapes instead of the superstore's own-brand" sound.

The repository includes simulations of BASF LH Extra C90, Maxell UD C90, Sony CHF60 Type I Normal, Sony CHF90, TDK D90, and even Soviet MK-60 tape. Navigate to the appropriate cassette folder using bash, then run the conversion code (or use it to convert a live stream).

The output is dumped into a ./out folder for a bit of retro enjoyment.

According to the README, "This project simulates cassette tape audio profiles using ffmpeg.

"It applies tape noise, wow and flutter pitch modulation, bandwidth limits, and equalizer adjustments."

I know that I am lame, just ask my kids, but I take comfort in the fact that I am not THIS lame. 

Shut Up and Take My Money

PC case-maker SilverStone made an April Fools’ joke touting a fake retro PC case.

They shared some renderings of the product.

Response to this joke was so enthusiastic that they will actually be making and selling the case.

Blah, blah, blah!


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We are talking the whole Maxillah, coming in beige or black, faux 5.25 inch external drive, a real DVD Drive, mounted sideways with reinforcing to support a monitor, etc.

I want this.  It makes no sense, but I want this:

Putting out a joke product on April Fools' Day can sometimes be a clever way to quietly gauge the reaction to a wild idea without having to really commit to it.

Nerdish purveyor ThinkGeek did this a few times with the 8-bit tie and the Tauntaun sleeping bag. Pokemon Go crystallized in some ways from a Google Maps joke. And just recently, PC case-maker SilverStone has decided that so many people were into its beige-tastic FLP01 case idea, tossed onto X (formerly Twitter) late on March 31 Tokyo time, that it will now release it in early 2025 in Japan for the USD equivalent of $130.

As shown off at SilverStone's Expo 2024 show in Akihbara last weekend (and spotted on Tom's Hardware), the FLP-01 is a combination of simulacrum and serious, with heavy NEC PC-9800 homage. It has fake 5.25-inch floppy blanks, but they cover real optical disc drive and button/port modules. At SilverStone's Japan Expo, the firm packed a GeForce RTX 4060 Ti, Intel Core Ultra 7 256K CPU, and full-size ATX motherboard and PSU. There are, of course, power and disk activity LEDs on the front. As displayed, SilverStone's demo unit had three intake fans and plenty of room for whatever else you could pack in here.

The whole thing looks like a modern case flipped on its side, so your modern system-building and wire-routing skills won't go to waste. It's 17.32×14.25 inches and 6.7 inches tall in its (literal) desktop configuration, and the case is reinforced enough that you can use it as a monitor stand.

 Yeah, I want the 8 bit tie and the Tauntaun sleeping bag too.