Will Analog Multitracks ever be made again?

Will Analog Multitracks ever be made again?


  • Total voters
    123
I voted yes mainly because things just seem to go full circle. I mean, look at vinyl. It seems to be makin somewhat of a comeback and in time, I think the old stuff will be "cool" again and dominate the world market like never before.
;)

ok...maybe not but I CAN see it makin a comeback. :)
 
no way... the cost vs digital is exhorbedent...
the ease of editing in dig... maintenace issues... to keep one running properly for a pro studio requires a separate maintenance man... cost of tape... and availability of same...
 
Will analogue multitracks ever be made again ?

Who can tell ?
It's partly a matter of economics. There are loads of people worldwide that prefer and would use analogue machines......but truth be told there are infinitely more, I think, that prefer digital. I love analogue as I was brought up in that era and that's what existed when I first began recording. But let's be honest - digital is easier. Quicker. Smoother. Less risky. No way would I risk cutting tape to cut in with a piece of music on an analogue machine. With digital, one doesn't have to ! 'Undo' is a good idea ! Among many others.
If analogue multitrackers ever came back, I don't think they would in huge droves. Not for a while, anyway. What can be done in analogue that can't be done digitally? Thus far in the evolution of recording technology, we've never really gone backwards. Sideways, yes......
 
MX-5050BIII 2ch Analog Audio Tape Recorder new is $5,830.00 plus shipping.
I had to call and find out for myself. I was surprised to know they still sell a lot of parts for the Otari decks. I thought Tascam was about the last one in the analog game.

That is $400 more than I paid for one of the last available Tascam MSR-24's in 1995. If I could afford one I would buy one.
VP
 
I think it could make a comeback if enough artists started preferring it or if there was a big breakthrough of an artist or group of artists that only recorded in analog. They'd have to make a pretty big wave though.
 
Maybe it's just wishful thinking. But point taken about vinyl, (and ancillary question, will cutting lathes be made again? although from what I gather you can have one that was made in teh 50s working just fine)

However, Otari still makes 2 tracks, and I think they may make a special order 4 track. Also, ATR, remanufactures Ampex machines with AFAIK a mix of old and new parts. So technically you can still get a *new* multitrack. You can get brand spanking new Mellotrons too and for roughly what they cost 35 years ago.

Kinda like tubes maybe, some are still made in Russia, China, etc, plenty of NOS of some and you can pay like $1000.00 for a new 300B..

Perhaps a more important question is what market would be targeted? Oddly enough, digital has expanded teh "home recording" thing probably even more than Fostex and Tascam narrow gauge tape decks/portastudios.

A 2" 24 track is way outta my league. Do we see the 'home recording/project studio' targeted or the pro studios or both? Other side of the coin is that these decks *were* from an amateur like me standpoint expensive back then, what kind of price point would you expect in the future?

E.g. a Sonic Core 16 channel A/D D/A ADAT interface runs about US$1,200.00 or so add in another $500-600 for a suitable sound card, and maybe another $500-1,500 for a suitable computer and software, so you're at what, realistically about $3,500 or so? What would the price point be of say a "TSR-16" or "Fostex H16", and you have to have a board with that too. The digital guy above can mix in software. Maybe somebody will come up with a combination tape/digital machine that does it all.

As for tape, really back in the day you had three major players even then, Ampex, 3M, and BASF. (I don't know if Maxell/TDK/Sony/Fuju etc made anything other than 1/4" so I'm just including the mfgs of wider tape.)

Now you have what RMGI, and ATR, and Quantegy keeps promising to make a comeback so that hasn't changed really that much, and BASF went through several corporate changes, what AFGA-BASF-EMTEC-RMGI?
 
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It’s hard to say. It’s complicated by the fact that vintage decks are so easy and cost-effective to restore and maintain compared to the price of a new deck. The Otari half-track is attractive, but not necessary for most of us.

The pre-owned analog market and restoration business… definitely booming. The major analog manufacturers were competing against their own vintage decks for many years before they stopped producing the machines, so it’s harder to measure what’s going on than it is in the digital market.

~Tim
:)
 
I can't see a market for "more of the same" when the existing stock is far cheaper to restore than it is to build new.

If it were going to happen, I'd want it to be something new.

My personal preference would be to start from the most compact, efficient historical machine, the last generation of Stephens machine, and then incorporate new technologies to make it even lighter, more compact, more reliable, with automation of settings and calibration.

I'd want it to come with a high-quality compact companion console and have the whole set up run all day on appropriate batteries. Probably it would need to be a wide-track machine to compete with current expectations in terms of S/N ratio. I'd think no more than 16 tracks on 2" tape, maybe 12. But then, that's just me, and I want a rig that is easy to move around and record with as a complete kit.

Cheers,

Otto
 
Oh, yeah, and I'd wanna see built in capability to generate or slave to time code, beat clock or word clock.

Cheers,

Otto
 
Nope. The economics are just not there. And as others have said above, it is relatively easy to restore a good pro machine*.

And instructive. And fun.

Regards


David


* Always start with two of them...
 
I really don't like saying this, but as many major studios are going more and more into the DAW world.. I believe that less and less engineers, techs, producers, etc will learn the art of even using analog gear..

In 50 years anyone that knows anything about analog recording could be either dead, dying, or fully retired with no intent on teaching anyone.... Analog could be the next lost art...

but then again, I could be wrong.. (and probably am on this point)...

I voted no, but who can really know...

--Paul
 
MX-5050BIII 2ch Analog Audio Tape Recorder new is $5,830.00 plus shipping.

Believe it or not...I scored a "new" (unused) one for about $600 w/remote on eBay last spring.
It came from the storeroom of a closed radio station in PA...it was their spare.
Got it in the original box with manual. :cool:

That is now going to be my main mixdown deck/format....and then I will bounce back into the DAW for mastering touch-ups.

:)
 
i voted "no" - i don't think we'll see a QUALITY multi-track deck at anything resembling an affordable price in our lifetimes. the original decks were built so well that they will probably outlast us. and it doesn't take too much money to refurbish them. a new multi-track deck built to the standards of the '60s and '70s would cost tens of thousands of dollars; they only people that would be buying it would be serious pro studios with a big budget -- and those days are gone for the most part (at least for now).

i wouldn't rule out Tascam reissuing something like the 388 (only made cheaply in china) at a price point of maybe something like $2000-$3000, but the originals would probably be better and cheaper still to refurb.
 
There is plenty of support for vintage cars, radios, hi-fi's,

You may find expanded niche markets for repair/restoration parts. As Beck points out, there is already a fairly large secondary market, and it still might be modestly profitable for a smaller company to produce belts and heads, rather than complete machines, or a smallish company producing a limited range of machines with a mix of new, old & outsourced to somewhere else parts.

Here is the 300B $900 for a matched pair,

http://www.tubedepot.com/we-300b.html brought back after 20 years.

I suppose it also depends on how trendy it gets too. I remember when it was basically ARP, Korg & Moog. Then the DX7 and digital samplers came along and analog synths went completely out of fashion, you could get an old ARP for a few hundred $. (And ARP self destructed...)

That same ARP is now the same price or mor e than when it was new, and you can get new MiniMoogs and Prophets with some nice DAC refinements. So that has come full circle from the late 80s to the present, and doesn't look like it is going to change, you have analog and digital coexisting peacefully in the synth world.
 
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I can't see a market for "more of the same" when the existing stock is far cheaper to restore than it is to build new.

If it were going to happen, I'd want it to be something new.

My personal preference would be to start from the most compact, efficient historical machine, the last generation of Stephens machine, and then incorporate new technologies to make it even lighter, more compact, more reliable, with automation of settings and calibration.

I'd want it to come with a high-quality compact companion console and have the whole set up run all day on appropriate batteries. Probably it would need to be a wide-track machine to compete with current expectations in terms of S/N ratio. I'd think no more than 16 tracks on 2" tape, maybe 12. But then, that's just me, and I want a rig that is easy to move around and record with as a complete kit.

Cheers,

Otto
as stephens recorders were somewhat rare, here's a brochure from back in the day.
http://www.dvq.com/hifi/images/stephens.pdf

founder john stephens bio-
http://mixonline.com/news/john-stephens-obituary-081807/

edit-i voted no. just don't see new multitracks coming back. imo, too much $, wouldn't be enough ROI.
 
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