Uh-oh, now what have I done? (Tensai Rhythm Machine)

[AE_Stereo]

Yes, in two track mode, it uses a stereo record/playback head to write to the left and right channels independently, so it can in effect create stereo recordings that, when switched to single track mode, can be fed out to another device as either stereo or mono. In two track mode it's possible to record one track followed by another, two simultaneously or one record while the other plays so that instruments can be timed together. It's also possible to record a rhythm track from the selection on the buttons at the top across both tracks after they've been recorded. I tell you, the thing is as mad as a whole box of cheese.

Just to confirm my curiosity and possibly as a reference note for the future!

On the deck there is a Two track switch. Two track means stereo? Or, is it using both sides of the tape?
Or in other words, is the deck provided with a stereo head and complete stereo circuitry, at least upto the pre-amp level (and Line-in/Line-out too!)? And, can it record in two track on both sides of a tape?

It turns out to be an even more astonishing machine. I don't think there is any other regular mono boombox with so much features built in.

 

[Beosystem10]

The two tracks are recorded in the same way as a stereo source would be, so each track contains one input and then, by recording on without using the erase circuitry, the rhythm can be added to either or both tracks, or the same to both in single track mode. Either way it's compatible with playback in any ordinary machine and yes, in both directions of the tape, just as any conventional stereo cassette tape does.

The record/playback head is indeed a stereo one but even more weirdly, so is the erase head and this is how it's possible to add the built in drum to either track without removing the existing material.
The Line in/line out socket has four cores connected to its I/O pin clinchers and a braid to the screen so it appears to have stereo to the preamp. I haven't yet checked this with another source as datum but that'll be on the to do list.

It has the makings of a great karaoke machine, especially as I made stereo recordings of many of my monaural 45s and 78s some years ago by putting the vocal on one track and everything else on the other!

 

[AE_Stereo]

......

The record/playback head is indeed a stereo one but even more weirdly, so is the erase head and this is how it's possible to add the built in drum to either track without removing the existing material.
......

Why they didn't make the box a stereo? To save a speaker?

Stereo Erase head on a mono boombox. Brilliant...
That must have been the default for the professional RTRs like Revox when they ruled the studios.

 

[retrohead]

i absolutely love it-ive known about these for a while john,seeked one out but have never been lucky yet.it looks fabulous from your very detailed photos and im sure your a very proud man-well scored,now sit back and enjoy it

 

[retrohead]

2 very super sexy monos,the tensai and the sony rythymn capsule,both very desirable units that one day ill own-they will look great with my huge sony cf495 thanks for posting pics john

 

[Beosystem10]

I'd forgotten that I own this box! Thanks for the reminder. So anyway, I just found it again, shoved some D cells into it, switched it on and it had a dead channel. I wouldn't have realised this were it not for the fact that the tape I was playing was an old Beatles compilation of the "electronically synthesised" stereo sort where the vocal is on the right channel and everything else is on the mono/left channel. So there I was, wondering where this karaoke tape had come from and then I spotted the unresponsive metre, its needle laying dormant at the cold end of the scale.
Two seconds with a soldering iron that yet again backfired when I lit it after a refill (that's another pair of eyebrows gone then ..) and some reflowing of the edge mounted strip of contacts where the record/playback head is connected to the a/f preamp section, and she's all good once more, though I might have grown a bit bored with the device.

 

[JT Techno]

Cool score that Tensai Rhythm Machine - saw one on UK eBay a few months ago but alas was going for too much money than I could afford, else I would have one now too

 

[Beosystem10]

Cool score that Tensai Rhythm Machine - saw one on UK eBay a few months ago but alas was going for too much money than I could afford, else I would have one now too

Cheers. Yeah, I saw another one the same week that I bought mine but that one was put up by a seller in Europe, Spain I think, and it would have run to about £40 to get it here. The guy I got mine from wanted about twice as much as I ended up paying, but he must have been boracic as he accepted my ridiculous offer without hesitation.

 

[geoffhartwell]

does any one have a pic of the cassette deck, ive just aquired one of these all working but the play , f/f and r/w dont stay down, im not sure if there is a part missing or broken, its a very cool box

 

[hardmen]

This will be interesting to you.
Another reference for the machine.

http://www.matrixsynth.com/2011/03/tensai-rhythm-machine-80s-boombox-with.html

Lehnert Studio-5000[/size]

Added:
On further research, there is a very similar Sony machine
Sony CF-900S[/size]
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-CF-900S-Rhythm-Capsule-boombox-ghetto-blaster-vintage-retro-/190979072420

1W3A8732_zps8ae60667.jpg

Jools Holland, Sting and Sony CF-900 (The Police).

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ci-yIVsDIdk

Cheers.