Cassette or Reel?

[Zona Mona]

I want to buy an analog recording device with 8 tracks. The Tascam 488 is the only cassette one that I know of, but there are lots of reel to reel 8 tracks out there. Are cassettes better than reel?

[Track Rat]

Reel to reel will generally outperform cassette everytime.

[Mark7]

You'll also need a mixer (if you don't already have one) to go with the tape deck.

[Zona Mona]

Not with the Tascam units, they have mixers built in

[Mark7]

If you're thinking reel to reel then that's only true for the 388

Of which there is one on eBay right now

Tascam 388

[Mark7]

For a cassette based unit you could do a lot worse than the Tascam 688

[Zona Mona]

What about the 488?

[Mark7]

Get the MkII.

[Zona Mona]

You mean the 488 mkII?

And what's good about the 688, I looked at it on the ebay page (it had sold) and I liked how many inputs it had, but what sets it above others?

[Mark7]

Yes, the 488MKII

As for the 688, well... First there's the awesome number of inputs. Then there's the very fact that the heads and transport were based on the Tascam 238 Syncaset (which is a stand-alone rackmount cassette 8 track), which has the reputation of being a very good machine.

ARP can tell you more.

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by Zona Mona

I want to buy an analog recording device with 8 tracks. The Tascam 488 is the only cassette one that I know of, but there are lots of reel to reel 8 tracks out there. Are cassettes better than reel?

Tho cassettes CAN sound very good, provided you got quality gear, they mostly are a source of convenience. An open reel recorder, even a consumer grade machine, WILL out-perform ANY cassette formulation, tape deck etc ... This is mostly due to the narrow track width and slow speed of the cassette format. The rule is that the narrower the tracks, the thinner the sound and more tape hiss (n/a if you've got dbx).

Is the 488 an 8 track ? If yes then you've got 8 tracks on 1/8" tape --- that's pretty narrow .

~Daniel

[A Reel Person]

The Tascam 488 [std] is fine, but the 488mkII is better. The mkII has 2-XLR inputs with phantom power, better EQ section, and has a highly visible flourescent display.

The Tascam 688 is famed for it's huge number of inputs, "dual" capability which doubles your input-mixing power at mixdown, and built-in midi synchronizer.

There's the Tascam 238, which is a rackmount 8-in/8-out cassette recorder, w/sync capability. It will require an external mixer.

There's the Tascam 388, a favorite of mine, which is a Portastudio format 1/4" reel 8-track, w/built-in mixer. The mixer section of the 388 is awesome, and reel tape is a big boost in sound quality over cassette.

Going up to 1/2" reel 8-track is another huge boost in fidelity. There's the Tascam 38, 48, 58, ATR-60/8, and TSR-8. The 38 and TSR-8 are the most common decks to find on Ebay, although the others list occasionally. Each 1/2" reel 8-track deck will require an external mixer.

Fostex has a whole line of 1/4" reel 8-tracks. There's the A-8, A-8LR, Model 80, R-8 and E-8. Fostex really capitalized on 1/4" reel 8-tracks, way more than Tascam. These Fostex units are decent enough & will require external mixers to go along.

[Zona Mona]

Thanks a lot. I am looking for an internal mixer so I will probably go with a 388 688 or 488. Thanks to everyone for the advice.

However, in the interest of more information, What kind of mixer would go well with one of those stand-alone units and still allow independent track recording?

[A Reel Person]

The 38's product family included the M-30 and M-35. There was an expander for the M-35 called the M-35EX, which is hardly ever seen, but I saw one on Ebay a few weeks ago.

The TSR-8's vintage model was typically paired with the M-308/312/320. The later "B" revision added phantom power.

I guess the 58's product family probably included the M-512 and M-520.

All these boards, above, would be classic, vintage style mixers with VU meters.

There is the Tascam 200 series mixers, like the M-208/216/224. These are highly capable boards, also VU-meter type.

The M-600 is a VU-style 32/16 board, that's h-u-g-e.


There are other LED-meter type Tascam mixers that would be functional with an 8-track reel system. Model numbers that come to mind are the M-1508, M-1516, M-2524, M-2600, M-3500, M-3700.

Implied or obvious, is that the higher the model number goes, the higher in complexity, size and cost.

There are other non-Tascam boards you could mate up with Tascam recorders, I suppose, but a Tascam board is typically the best match to a Tascam recorder. Likewise for any recorder, that a brand similarity helps sometimes when matching components.

A Fostex-recorder/Fostex-mixer solution is good too, if you want to go that way. Fostex analog has it's niche, but Tascam analogs were way more heavy duty construction, & higher quality, all around. [IMO/YMMV].

[A Reel Person]

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[Zona Mona]

Thanks once again, your advice has been greatly appreciated.

[The Ghost of FM]

Originally Posted by A Reel Person

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I'll post one in the meantime!

[MadAudio]

Wow, nice Batman angle on that shot!