Yeah, I think that's it. I guess it wasn't strictly octaves after all. Hey, I was 10 or 11 when I heard it. My guess at the time was that the tones were a tuning reference for anyone who wanted to play along with the tape. I now realize they would have been really bad for that.
How common was it for cassettes released by major labels to have those test tones? I should clarify that at home we mostly listened to religious albums; many were released on small labels, but some were distributed by A&M. So maybe the test tones were more common in mainstream music than I realized.
How common was it for cassettes released by major labels to have those test tones? I should clarify that at home we mostly listened to religious albums; many were released on small labels, but some were distributed by A&M. So maybe the test tones were more common in mainstream music than I realized.