Non-direct input versions of The Sidecar have a built-in microphone. Use it to record source material around you – instruments, sound coming from speakers, anything you can think of!

Direct input versions of The Sidecar have a built-in mic, in addition to a 3.5mm (1/8") input labeled "mic" – located near the headphone output.

For players with a direct input, Use a 3.5mm (1/8") cable to record content from a synth, drum machine, DAW, or any source with an output directly to cassette.

For recording tracks directly from a DAW to The Sidecar, a simple method is to "solo" the tracks you'd like to record in your DAW and use a dedicated headphone output on an audio interface to connect into the "mic" input of the cassette player.

The cassette players are equipped with a 3.5mm (1/8") headphone output, which is used to send audio to other sources – a DAW, sampler, modular setup, or any other source with an input.

Use a 3.5mm (1/8") cable to connect The Sidecar with your desired destination.

These vintage cassette recorders have mono outputs. Connecting a stereo 3.5mm (1/8") cable to a stereo input will play audio in one channel only – typically the left channel.

Summing to mono resolves this, or using a mono 3.5mm (1/8") cable.

Many of these cassette players have a "VAS" setting, or a Voice Active System. This setting essentially acts as a noise gate, where it will play or record as the microphone picks up enough signal. It can be toggled on or off via a physical switch on the player.

To prevent sudden stops in playback or recording, disable the "VAS" setting.

With time and use, magnetic residue from tape can pile onto record and play heads and degrade sound quality. Cleaning the heads using a q-tip and high-grade isopropyl alcohol will keep recordings sounding their best, as well as demagnetizing the heads. There are cleaning kits out there that are great, such as this one.

Belts naturally get worn and stretched over time and can break. They're very simple to replace. An easy way to tell if a new belt is needed is if there's motor noise when pressing play, but no movement of the cassette.

Inexpensive replacement belts can be purchased here.

Belt replacement steps are outlined in this helpful article.

Some cassette players have differences in clearance between the tape and capstan/pinch rollers that move the tape along.

If you're finding that the tape isn't moving around consistently, try clamping down the lid of the cassette player a little more (even if it's already closed) so that there's more contact between the capstan and the tape loop.

Check that you have the right version of Ableton installed. You'll need to be running version 10.1 or later for the devices to work.