Good analog 8 track recorders ?

general questions, comments and ideas about recording, audio, music, etc.
Double Tones
alignin' 24-trk
Posts: 65
Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2003 10:30 pm

Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by Double Tones » Sun Oct 05, 2003 11:47 pm

Hi, could anyone reccomend a good analog tape multi-track recorder?
Something with 8 or maybe 16 tracks? I've looked on ebay, but am not sure whats quality or not.

Anyone like the tascam portastudio 488, the one with eight tracks, thats featured in this months tapeop as used by the band Nerve Generator ?

Thanks!

black mariah
buyin' gear
Posts: 505
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 1:36 pm
Contact:

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by black mariah » Sun Oct 05, 2003 11:50 pm

The Portastudios are pretty much the standard for demo style recordings, and sometimes more than that. If you're looking for something that you can quickly throw ideas down on, that's probably the way to go.
Heurh!

percussion boy
carpal tunnel
Posts: 1512
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 5:51 pm
Location: Bay Area

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by percussion boy » Mon Oct 06, 2003 1:22 am

If I were looking for 16 channels cheap, I'd go digital -- like maybe a computer setup with either 8 or 16 ins & outs.

Re 8 channel, you might consider 1/2" reel to reel as well as cassette, although the reel stuff is higher maintenance than cassette.

I've always had bad experiences with 8 track cassette, but 4 track is great. YMMV.


Michael.

Mark
tinnitus
Posts: 1231
Joined: Fri May 30, 2003 12:50 pm
Location: Leicester, Uk
Contact:

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by Mark » Mon Oct 06, 2003 3:59 am

In the prosumer used analogue open reel multi-track market the three names you're most likely to come up against time and time again are: Fostex, Tascam and Otari. Note the order I've put those names in. Fostex specialise in the cheap and cheerful stuff (1/4" 8 Tracks, 1/2" 16 Tracks), Tascam's stuff tends to be higher quality and more robust, with wider track widths (1/4" 4 and 8 Tracks (the 388 Studio 8.), 1/2" 8 Tracks. 1" 16 Tracks) and the Otari stuff is about as pro as you can get without going Swiss (1/2" 4 Track, 1" 8 Track, 2" 16/24 Track).

Since 1/2" tape is cheaper than 1" and eight tracks on 1/2" will be higher fidelity than the same number of tracks on 1/4" I think Tascam would be your best bet :wink:

bigtoe
deaf.
Posts: 1776
Joined: Tue May 13, 2003 5:13 am

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by bigtoe » Mon Oct 06, 2003 5:24 am

there's an ATR60 16 going for a 1500 clams in the FS section. that's an insanely good deal.

Mike

Mark
tinnitus
Posts: 1231
Joined: Fri May 30, 2003 12:50 pm
Location: Leicester, Uk
Contact:

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by Mark » Mon Oct 06, 2003 5:28 am

I forgot, Otari also had a half inch 8 track: the MX5050.

Whoops :oops:

kayagum
ghost haunting audio students
Posts: 3490
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 11:11 pm
Location: Saint Paul, MN

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by kayagum » Mon Oct 06, 2003 11:39 am

I have a Tascam 238S which I love. It's not a 1/2" open reel, but I like the sound of my deck just fine.

The 488 has a Portastudio mixing board on it; the 238 has just the recording inputs and outputs- no board.

You can find the 238 for cheap ($150-$200) all over Ebay. A 238S (the model with Dolby S vs. dbx) is rarer, but I think worth getting.

Some of my friends have made very good recordings with both versions of the 488 (the original 488, and the mkII version). Another consideration in the cassette portastudio realm is the 688, which has a board and has MIDI sync capabilities built in. The band White Town is the most famous for the 688. Another band that used a 488 to great effect is cLOUDDEAD- they may have had a TapeOp article on them recently as well.

djimbe
tinnitus
Posts: 1179
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 4:55 am
Location: chicago
Contact:

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by djimbe » Mon Oct 06, 2003 7:15 pm

didn't get my issue yet so I don't know if it was mentioned that the 488 is 8 tracks, but only 4 can be recorded at any one time. They're cool though. The guy I make music with got one and that's what we started recording with. If I use it now it's for an effect on a drum mix or something, and I never was as good with it as my buddy, but they're sure easy to use. The format is cool 'cause it really does force you to plan a busy song right...and likely make it better through simplification...manuals for a 488 are hard to find free, except places like here. There was a TASCAM Portastudio message board, but I haven't been in a while...might be done now...
I thought this club was for musicians. Who let the drummer in here??

User avatar
loudmusic
steve albini likes it
Posts: 391
Joined: Wed May 14, 2003 4:46 am
Location: athens, ga usa
Contact:

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by loudmusic » Mon Oct 06, 2003 7:46 pm

The 488 is really great as far as I'm concerned. When I owned mine, i was doing mainly my own recordings and the "4 tracks at a time only" issue wasn't a big deal.

It was really awesome writing songs with that thing. So easy to use, sounded really nice with decent mics, and now so dang cheap. I am probably gonna buy one for the practice space.

It's definately cheap. Did I mention that?
Marty

ceeelow
ass engineer
Posts: 44
Joined: Fri Oct 10, 2003 5:18 pm
Location: Washington DC

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by ceeelow » Tue Feb 10, 2004 8:57 am

Tascam 38 8 track 1/2" reel to reel. Great machine and you can find them cheap. Also, look into a MSR16. its the same as a 38 but 16 tracks.

Long live ananlog.

User avatar
greatmagnet
buyin' a studio
Posts: 913
Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2003 2:10 pm
Location: Santa Rosa, CA
Contact:

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by greatmagnet » Tue Feb 10, 2004 2:59 pm

For my 2 cents I own an Otari MX5050 1/2" 8-track and it is badass. Had it for a few months now and it's got surprisingly high fidelity sound, plus that tape warmth and saturation of course. Got mine from a kind TapeOpper in NYC who sold it to me dirt-cheap ($375 plus $100 shipping) with the caveat that the speed control had formerly been modded to allegedly run at 30ips and he didn't know how pro the mod was.

Took it into my local repair guru and ended up spending another $525 getting the mod ripped out and just an overall going over of all alignment points and calibration stuff. Heads were in great shape which would be the big spendy. SO, overall it cost me like $1,000, which is I think what it would go for if it were cherry anyhow, which it pretty much is now.

Hope that enlightens you on the Otari end of things.
"All energy flows in accordance with the whims of the great Magnet"
?Raoul Duke
www.greatmagnetrecording.com

doctari
gimme a little kick & snare
Posts: 94
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2003 8:47 am
Location: Mobile,Al.

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by doctari » Tue Feb 10, 2004 4:10 pm

Been using a MX5050 mk3 8-track and have only cleaned the heads,tape guides. replaced the pinch roller and to my ears it sounds pretty good. I even dumped a tune into a friends digi001 and it sounded great and with his plug ins got really cool sounds on the bass and drums. Indicating to me that the Otari was a good analog choice with quality to interact favorably with the inevitable protools.

mritt
audio school
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2004 3:15 pm
Location: Chicago

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by mritt » Tue Feb 10, 2004 7:13 pm

I put in a lot of time with a Fostex R8 (1/4" 8-track), which was totally fine for my purposes. Quite compact for a r-t-r, if that's a factor...

User avatar
Al
moves faders with mind
Posts: 2690
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2003 7:26 am

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by Al » Wed Feb 11, 2004 1:22 am

mritt wrote:I put in a lot of time with a Fostex R8 (1/4" 8-track), which was totally fine for my purposes. Quite compact for a r-t-r, if that's a factor...
Wise man, the R8's are fuk'n great wee machines!...dont be put of with the 1/4 tape width, it means nothing.

Al

User avatar
bobbydj
on a wing and a prayer
Posts: 5357
Joined: Wed May 07, 2003 2:58 am
Location: astride the vortex console
Contact:

Re: Good analog 8 track recorders ?

Post by bobbydj » Wed Feb 11, 2004 5:26 am

ceeelow wrote:Tascam 38 8 track 1/2" reel to reel. Great machine and you can find them cheap. Also, look into a MSR16. its the same as a 38 but 16 tracks.

Long live ananlog.
Not in the UK!! Haha - they're going for mad money. Good nick ones are hitting ?700 believe it or not. I.e. $1200. Honestly - I've seen them go for that kind of money in the passed month or so, I swear.
Bobby D. Jones
Producer/Engineer
(Wives with Knives, Tyrone P. Spink, Potemkin Villagers et al)

Locked

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 27 guests