How to use a Commodore Datasette with a ZX Spectrum

The Datasette is a perfect tape player for the standard ZX Spectrum. It includes a built in amplifier,
and analog to digital converter. While the Commodore used a different encoding scheme with their
computers, this doesn’t effect the output of signals through the datasette, only how they are interpreted
on each system.

The Datasette uses 5V, which makes it a perfect platform for USB power. The standard USB uses the
outside pins for 5V and ground. The two inner pins are used for data. In this example I’m only using
the USB for power to an external source, so I’m only interested in the outside pins.

The pinout for the Datasette is as follows. I am not using mine for saving programs, only loading up
tapes, therefore I’m only interested in 5 lines.

Pin 1 is black and is ground and is connected to the USB ground pin. The 5V feed from the USB is
connected to pins 2 and 3 which are red and green. Pin 2 provides voltage to the read/write head and 3
provides voltage to the tape motor. Lastly wire pin 4 is white and is the read wire and pin 6 is Blue and
is the Sense cable, which acts as a ground cable for the audio. The white wire is connected to the tip
port (T) on the audio connector and the blue wire is connected to the shield port (S) on the connector.
And that’s it. Using this setup, I’ve tested it with modern clones using a mono to stereo cable, and and
a standard Speccy using a mono to mono cable. Both work perfectly.