Some 1" used BASF/EMTEC 900...

Although I don't normally recommend used tape because as I've always said, once a tape is open and used you can't be sure the what kind of tape is on the reel. But this looks like a pretty good deal. 1) the seller has 14 day money back terms. 2) with all the reels he has of this type it's more likely this tape is exactly what the box and reel says it is. 3) BASF/EMTEC SM900 doesn't have sticky shed. 4) you can't beat the price. 5) The blank reels alone are worth that price. Makes me wish I had a 1-inch machine.
 
I've just done something incredibly stupid and purchased an MX80. Looks like he's also offering 2" as well, though!
 
The Ghost of FM said:
Congrats!

And it would only be stupid if you weren't going to use it or if you spent your rent money to buy it. :D

Cheers! :)
Click to expand...

Well, the stupid parts of it are:
*Having to add support for +4 balanced XLR because all the other multitracks I've used/am using are -10 RCA
*Buying it sight unseen, albeit from a gear broker who had had the machine serviced and checked out by Chris Notton
*I now have to get some removals people in because the studio is upstairs and the deck is not.

It does seem to be in a rather low-use condition, which is good. It also has the autolocator module, though I'm not sure I actually need it.

The used tape I bought on a whim a couple of years ago is making the meters dance, but I haven't yet been able to verify that it's passing audio.

I've backed up the EPROMs, which appear to date from 1989 and are now likely to be outside their design life.

mx80-medium.jpg

http://dougtheeagle.com/lab/mx80-medium.jpg
 
Nice!

Hauling it a flight of stairs would definitely be a pain. How much does it weigh? Straight staircase? If so and if carpeted, you might be able to lay it on its side and push it up the stairs with a buddy? Or maybe remove the transport assembly and move it in pieces?

On the balanced +4 deal, is that switchable at all on the deck? Then it might just be a question of getting a bunch of Neutrik adaptors?

Cheers! :)
 
jpmorris said:
*Having to add support for +4 balanced XLR because all the other multitracks I've used/am using are -10 RCA
Click to expand...

Well.....yes....and no.

I use my MX-80 with XLR +4 on the input...and going to my console's unbalanced RCA -10 Tape In from the deck's output.
There are Hi/Lo switches for changing the I/O level...and the whole balanced/unbalanced thing is not that big a deal, especially on the output side.
On the input....I always go from my standalone preamps right to the deck's input...and all my pres are XLR balanced +4.

Of course...I have all my gear wired to patchbays...inclduing the MX-80...so while that itself is a PITA initially, it makes for real easy hookups afterwords. :)

I see you got the autolocator....nice, but not a heck of a lot of use unless you're doing tons of punch-ins and audio for video stuff. I have a small external Otari SMPTE reader/re-generator, so that's enough for me for precise location, otherwise, I just use the Otari MX-80 counter and if I need to mark a spot, the three cue memory points are more than enough in my workflow....but like I said, alway nice to have the autolocator too.

Is that the 124 remote?
I have a 124 and 1 fully refurbished 140.

If you need the name of a certified Otari tech (though he's here in the the US) that can reprogram the EPROMs with fresh code...let me know.

The MX-80 heavy enough...but not too bad. Two of us loaded in and out and a bit of work with steps, especially going up....but luckily for the load in my studio is down the steps, so it was easy to just lay it on the side and slide it down the steps with some carpet and cardboard.

If you have any questions...I'll try to answer.
Anyway...I absolutely love my MX-80 and I use it for all my tracking before dumping to DAW.
Good luck, and you will enjoy it once you get over the initial installation/configurtaion/calibration setup curve.
 
jpmorris said:
Looks like he's also offering 2" as well, though!
Click to expand...

Yeah...I was looking at that too when I first posted about the 1"...but I don't know if I want to go off on a tangent with the 900.
I mean...I'm mostly using Ampex/Quantegy 499 and prefer that for the MX-80, which I think is a nice fit for the MX-80 transport...but I also have a bunch of 3M 996, though mostly as back-up tape if I ever run out of the 499 (highly unlikely for my own use)...
...so do I really want/need to add some EMTEC 900 to the pile...? :D

Anyway...he already sold 4 lots (8 reels) and has another 6 lots (12 reels) left....though I don't know if he ships internationally and how much it would be (that's a lot of weight).
 
Apologies for derailing the thread, I didn't think it would be quite that interesting to people.

miroslav said:
Well.....yes....and no.
I use my MX-80 with XLR +4 on the input...and going to my console's unbalanced RCA -10 Tape In from the deck's output.
There are Hi/Lo switches for changing the I/O level...and the whole balanced/unbalanced thing is not that big a deal, especially on the output side.
On the input....I always go from my standalone preamps right to the deck's input...and all my pres are XLR balanced +4.
Click to expand...

Yes. The desk should handle the outputs at +4 no problem. The input side is more complicated. Among other things I'm going to want to import tracks from the album I'm working on at the moment - things which I won't really be able to reproduce easily like the tape manipulation. The sequencer-controlled stuff can mostly just be rerecorded, and things like the vocals/bass tend to be recorded on the TSR-8 first and then transferred to the 24-track. Ideally I'd like to archive some of the 1" 24-track stuff to 2" as well - which is one of the reasons a set of bargain used tapes would be handy.

What I will probably do is set the input to -8, which unless I'm much mistaken will be -10 with 2dB headroom (originally I thought it would be -2dB of headroom, i.e. distortion).

I see you got the autolocator....nice, but not a heck of a lot of use unless you're doing tons of punch-ins and audio for video stuff. I have a small external Otari SMPTE reader/re-generator, so that's enough for me for precise location, otherwise, I just use the Otari MX-80 counter and if I need to mark a spot, the three cue memory points are more than enough in my workflow....but like I said, alway nice to have the autolocator too.
Click to expand...

As mentioned, a lot of my stuff is programmed. Things which aren't tend to get recorded on the TSR-8 because the auto-punchin system gives me a lot of flexibility to fix bad takes, and then transferred across to the 24-track. By the looks the autolocator would give me a similar capability.
If nothing else it would be dead handy to have on the Otari just to clean up stray sounds, e.g. walking away from the mic after a verse.

The remote is a 140.

If you need the name of a certified Otari tech (though he's here in the the US) that can reprogram the EPROMs with fresh code...let me know.
Click to expand...

I think I'm good. Chris Notton is supposed to be the man in the UK for anything and everything Otari. When it comes to EPROMs I can program them myself, actually - assuming I have the code, which I do now unless I've missed any. (Got the main controller, the one on the control card, two from the autolocator and one from the remote).

What I did with the A807 and the MSR-24 was program new ROM chips just to make sure the image works. I haven't yet done that, but I probably will soon.

And yeah, my two main contenders were the MX80 or a Mk3 Soundcraft 760. The 760 is smaller, lighter and easier to break down into parts. However it is less reliable, less modern and it has horribly weird EDAC connectors as its I/O instead of XLR, RCA or jacks.

The MX-80 heavy enough...but not too bad. Two of us loaded in and out and a bit of work with steps, especially going up....but luckily for the load in my studio is down the steps, so it was easy to just lay it on the side and slide it down the steps with some carpet and cardboard.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the two guys from the gear brokerage firm managed to get it here by themselves and between the three of us we got it into the house, but we didn't dare take it up the stairs. Which are straight.

Once I get the machine set up properly I'll probably create a proper thread for it. I did this morning verify that at least some of the channels are working - I have an old Behringer mixer which has 4 XLRs, and a 2" SM900 tape which I bought off ebay a few years ago on a whim. Picked a few channels at random, got some cello stuff.

The deck has been modded to run pin-2 hot, by the way - the manual actually has the pin-3 hot wiring diagram crossed out and the words "Not anymore!".
 
I started the thread....so don't worry about derialing it. :D

Not quite getting what you still plan to do with the TSR8, the 1" and the MX-80....but in my case, as soon as got the MX-80 set up....my Fostex G16 started gathering dust.

Yeah, I had some stuff that I had started on the Fostex...and I just let that go and worked from there...but from that point on, everything new is tracked to the MX-80. I don't have a need to tie in the G16 with the MX-80...and because I dump to DAW, if I need more than 24 (well, 23) tracks....I just record more after I dump the first set of tracks.
I don't get all mushy about need to save every track and every little bit...on tape. My archive is done in the digital domain when the tracks are transfered.

AFA punch-ins....I only do that occasionally, like if I have a really perfect track with just that one or two quirks that need to be replaced....but my approach is to simply re-track the take in most cases, so that's why I don't worry about needing the autolocator.

Yeah...I see now that it is the 140....I get the visuals reversed in my head.

You really should just tie the deck(s) to a patchbay...that way you don't have to worry about matching I/O connections with the other gear.
Yeah, I have the output set to the -8 output on the deck...which works perfect with the -10 Tape Returns on my TASCAM 3500.

Anyway...good luck, and like I said, I've had my hands in pretty deep with my MX-80, so maybe I can help if you have any questions....but it sounds like you have a good tech that will know all there is, plus with the manual, it's pretty thorough and covers the deck very well.

Did you get it for a good price?
 
miroslav said:
I started the thread....so don't worry about derialing it. :D
Not quite getting what you still plan to do with the TSR8, the 1" and the MX-80....but in my case, as soon as got the MX-80 set up....my Fostex G16 started gathering dust.
Click to expand...

I'm keeping the TSR-8, and at least to begin with it's likely to act as the session recorder for things I'm not good at, e.g. vocals and bass. That way, when I need to do tons of punch-ins, I can wear out the cheaper machine instead of the expensive one, and that also means less passes on the final master tape.
Everything computer-controlled will go direct to the 24-track, and the keeper tracks from the 8-track get copied across as well.

This was of working also allows me to do other things like copy-and-paste choruses by offsetting the timecode. On the new album - must post a link to that - I did this thing where I held the same note on three tracks and then used the varispeed control to slide it into a chord. Having several multitracks made that a lot easier than it would have been with just one.

The MSR-24, however, I'm going to sell on as soon as I'm happy that the current tapes are archived correctly. There are digital safety copies, but I'd prefer to keep analogue ones as well and the guy selling them on this thread has just provided a cost-effective way to do that, by the looks.

Anyway...good luck, and like I said, I've had my hands in pretty deep with my MX-80, so maybe I can help if you have any questions....but it sounds like you have a good tech that will know all there is, plus with the manual, it's pretty thorough and covers the deck very well.
Click to expand...

Any idea if the heads are the same as on the MTR-90?

Did you get it for a good price?
Click to expand...
Hard to say. It was about a third more than I was hoping for, but these machines don't come up very often in this country and I'd already just missed one. It does seem to be in rather nice condition, mind.
 
jpmorris said:
I'm keeping the TSR-8...
... I can wear out the cheaper machine instead of the expensive one, and that also means less passes on the final master tape.
Click to expand...

Yeah...you save the 2" tape...but the multiple passes on the TSR-8 would still be "worn out", so transferring them to the 2" won't save that. IOW...you still end up with "worn" takes on the master tape.
I do lots and lots of passes of the tape with my MX-80, as I tend not to punch in, and so I retrack all the time....and there's not much wear that I've noticed. I think most of that happens with fresh virgin tape, in the first bunch of FW/RW/REC/PLAY passes.....after that the tape tends to "settle in" and from what I've seen, holds very well to lots of work. Also, the MX-80 transport is pretty smooth-n-easy, at least if it's running right.
I use mainly 499...and it just holds up.

The way I look at it is...I want all my tracks recorded on the best machine that I have....especially the main tracks, like vocals. If anything, I would use the TSR8 for any additional, less important tracks that I need to add, or for doing the "tape tricks" stuff before dumping to the 2"....or the DAW (not sure if you transfer all your stuff to a DAW at some point).

For me....it's mostly about KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). :D
So while I could lock my Fostex G16 and the MX-80 all together, and lock both simultaneously to the DAW and all kinds of additional MIDI gear...etc...and have it all synchronized and playing the main tracks, the add-on tracks, the virtual tracks, etc...(which I've done in the past just to see how it all rocks together, and after awhile it gave me a headache doing all that :p)...
...it's just so much more simpler and easier for my sessions to do all my tracking on the MX-80...and then whatever edits I need to do, I save for the DAW, where it's a simple cut/paste mouse click.
The tape deck...the MX-80...is just my main recorder that captures the audio for me. I don't use it or the tapes for anything else once I transfer to DAW....but I do keep the final reels with whatever filled up the tape, which are usually most of my main tracks. Any second passes/transfers to the DAW would only erase multiple takies...like I may do two takes of bass, then when I transfer the initial tracks to make room for a couple more beyond the 24...I'll erase one of the bass tracks....or two of the three vocal takes...etc....etc.

It's just my way of working...YMMV..... :)


jpmorris said:
Any idea if the heads are the same as on the MTR-90?
Click to expand...

No...
I've thought of that too as there's been a couple of times that someone was selling an MTR-90 head stack (once just the other day for like $500).
I have a spare used head stack, but it came from a machine that was in some kind of fire/smoke situation. The machine didn't burn, but the soot from the fire was all over it. I bought a few audio cards and the head stack...dirty, but the audio cards work, so I assume the heads work too, they just need to be sent out for a polish and possible re-lap and block alignment.
 
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