2015.21.3

VCS Soundpacer C-4 Audio Cassette Recorder

VSC Corporation

Rectangular plastic chassis, silver and brown top and brown base; speaker grill on left; smoked cassette compartment in middle, above six bright aluminum keys for stop, rewind, record, play, forward, and pause; variable speed and pitch sliders to left of cassette window, above on/off toggle for variable speed control; tape counter, volume dial and other controls to right of window; auxiliary, remote, microphone, and monitor jacks on front; condenser microphone grill on front left; AC-DC jack on back left; black vinyl carrying strap wrapped around inset posts on sides; battery compartment on base; screnned on top, "VSC SOUNDPACER"; label on base, "VSC CORPORATION/SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94107/MODEL NO. VSC C-4/SERIAL NO. 103521/MADE IN JAPAN".

H-2 W-11 D-6 inches

ca. 1982

VSC Corporation

San Francisco, CA; Japan

APH Collection

Purchased by APH Production chief Jack Decker in the mid 1980s to continue studying developments in variable speech control. APH began researching the use of recorded materials for learning as early as 1960. Around 1971, the Cambridge Research and Develpment Group in Westport, CT granted APH a license to use their VSC chip in products for blind users. It first appeared in 1976 on the APH Variable Speech Control Module, a unit that could be connected to a cassette player or phonograph and allowed the user to increase or decrease playback speed without pitch distortion.

APH Collection, 2015.21