I don't know if I feel more stupid or relieved

[antispatula]

So my otari mx5050 8 track is the center point of my slowly growing setup in my room. I just turned 17, and don't ge much money, and tracks 4 6 7 and 8 didn't work. I knew I was proabibly going to have to spend hundreds for a tech to fix it. Then I thought perhaps its the swith contacts. I cleaned them. When I pushed on the switch hard, the channel worked, so I thought it had to be. Then I decided to take the swith off ch. 4 and play with it. It took HOURS. I had to desolder it (it had 10 diff contacts on the circuit board.....) with copper wick (a pain in the badonk-donk....did I spell that right?) And I messed with it, and soldered it back on, and put the channel card back in the terminal. It worked! WOAH. So then I tried it on ch 6. Nothing seemed to change. CRAP I thought. Then I noticed that the ch board wasn't in ALL the way into the terminal. I pushed it it ENTIRELY, and it WORKED. Then I noticed that 7 and 8 weren't completely in either. I pushed THEM in and now my machine is in GREAT WORKING ORDER! Man I feel stupid, yet SO relieved. THAT's why pushing on the switch made the channel work, it was pushing the entire channel card in more further into the terminal!!!!

Wow. Just thought I share. So if your channels aren't working, remember this story......

[arjoll]

Its often the simple things. Good one!

Originally Posted by antispatula

I had to desolder it (it had 10 diff contacts on the circuit board.....) with copper wick (a pain in the badonk-donk....did I spell that right?)

Invest in a solder sucker with a teflon tip. It will save you a world of hassle, and is far better for delecate parts. This kind of thing would do the job. An electronics company in your country (Dick Smith, Maplin, RadioShack) should have a similar thing.

[peritus]

I suggest Parts Express as a good company to deal with too....

[cjacek]

CONGRATS antispatula!

Now take care of your Otari as if it were a baby and it will care for you back...

[antispatula]

hey thanks! I'm really exited to use it! I'm testing it more fully now, and am recording a little voice on each channel. Man, that machine has a really low gain, I'm going to need lots of preamp power to get a decent sound out of that thing. AND I'm using a sm57 to test wich doesn't help either seeing they have a weak output too. So I don't know how much hiss is normal for a 1/2", since the only expirience I have is with the r8. Is there anything I can do to lower the hiss, besides getting NR? Is NR a good idea? I've heard mixed things about that, and no, I don't want the NR that costs like 1000 bucks for 4 channels Oh, and I think I may be selling my r8, if anyones interested, PM me. Any advice for getting the best sound out of this machine would be of great help, thanks!

[antispatula]

So I've noticed that when I record, then I press stop and play it back, I hear a little teency weency poping noise coming in when I had played stop. Is this normal?

[MadAudio]

Originally Posted by antispatula

So I've noticed that when I record, then I press stop and play it back, I hear a little teency weency poping noise coming in when I had played stop. Is this normal?

Yes.............

[FALKEN]

that's been annoying the crap outta me on my 32. it leaves a pop in there from when you had hit record.

good job on fixing the otari. try hitting the tape harder for lower noise. does the otari have preamps or are you going into a line in?

[Herm]

If you are hitting stop while recording I can see where this could cause a problem. You probably need to use a punch in switch.
also Never turn your machine off and on with the tape is loaded. It can cause pops on the tape at that spot.
I always turn my machine on before loading a tape. Especialy with an R8. I have turned the machine off with the tape loaded before and it put a pop right at that spot of the tape and messed the song up.

[Muckelroy]

I believe that hitting either record or play while recording will punch you out,

[cjacek]

Originally Posted by antispatula

hey thanks! I'm really exited to use it! I'm testing it more fully now, and am recording a little voice on each channel. Man, that machine has a really low gain, I'm going to need lots of preamp power to get a decent sound out of that thing. AND I'm using a sm57 to test wich doesn't help either seeing they have a weak output too. So I don't know how much hiss is normal for a 1/2", since the only expirience I have is with the r8. Is there anything I can do to lower the hiss, besides getting NR? Is NR a good idea? I've heard mixed things about that, and no, I don't want the NR that costs like 1000 bucks for 4 channels Oh, and I think I may be selling my r8, if anyones interested, PM me. Any advice for getting the best sound out of this machine would be of great help, thanks!

There is really no comparison between an R8 and the Otari when it comes to tape hiss ... The Otari DOES NOT NEED external NR units.

Btw, are there MIC Attenuation (ATT) buttons anywhere on the machine ?

[A Reel Person]

I doubt very much that they are mic-level inputs. Most likely they are Line-level inputs with gain knobs, in which case you'll need an external preamp or preamp stage from a mixer.

[reel buzzer]

Originally Posted by antispatula

Man, that machine has a really low gain, I'm going to need lots of preamp power to get a decent sound out of that thing

Use this machine with a mixing board for best results.

So I've noticed that when I record, then I press stop and play it back, I hear a little teency weency poping noise coming in when I had played stop. Is this normal?

Yes.
When recording, hit PLAY when you are ready to punch-out.
Do the next punch-in before that punch-out and continue that sequence till the end of the song.

[cjacek]

I asked around and I stand corrected, from my earlier reply, that although one could get signal direct from mic to the Otari, the source would have be to loud enough 'cause the inputs don't have enough gain to be considered as true mic preamps. The guys are correct to use a preamp/mixer for best results.

antispatula: couldn't you just use your PEAVEY mixer for this, while monitoring through the Otari's headphone output ? Try it.

[antispatula]

yeah, I was going to do that, today I just plugged directly in for convinience.

Yeah, IF I keep my peavey, I'll use that for the pre's, since the otari and sm57 both have really weak gain, even with the otari's "preamps" up all the way. I want to get rid of that piece of junk though, there's no mute buttons, so if I don't remember to put all the faders down while recording, I get a feedback loop. AND the Insert and Outs are the same jack!! So I can't really use the out's if I want to use a processor. In fact, I don't think the outs work! Since I track one ch at a time, I plug in the mic, then pan all the way to the left, and use the left master for the output. Pretty irritating. It makes sence though, it is a live mixer. I was thinking of a mackie cr1604, but I just spent 455 bucks on a rhodes piano (can't WAIT for it to come) and that baby cost me all of my built up supply of minimum wage money (70+ hours of work!!)

Yeah, I was thinking of trying to simpley press play when I was recording to stop the recording while the play function kept going, but it didn't help. I guess this little pop is normal?

What I'll proabibly end up doing is buying a cheap pre for recording directly into the otari, because a. it's easier b. I need phantom power (peavey doesn't have it......) c. I'm going to be recording in my dad's dentist office at night because my house is so noisy!

[antispatula]

Originally Posted by cjacek

There is really no comparison between an R8 and the Otari when it comes to tape hiss ... The Otari DOES NOT NEED external NR units.

Btw, are there MIC Attenuation (ATT) buttons anywhere on the machine ?

uh......I THINK. There are a bunch of little pots on the back of each channel board, I haven't really messed around with them much yet, but thanks, I'll try.

[cjacek]

antispatula: Forget the "mic attenuation" comment I made. It doesn't matter. You definitely need a mixer or a mic pre for proper gain staging.

[A Reel Person]

Originally Posted by antispatula

yeah,... [on the Peavey mixer] if I don't remember to put all the faders down while recording, I get a feedback loop... it is a live mixer.

Gosh,... who would have ever thought that would happen?

[cjacek]

Guys, help antispatula here ... The Otari XLR's seem to be unbalanced so would something like one of those 80's TASCAM mixers, which can be had pretty cheap, be a doable match up to the recorder ?

[goldtopchas]

Just a quick note. Don't mess with the "pots on the channel cards" - they are probably the adjustments for the bias,record level, playback level, EQ, etc....
That would knock evrerything out of balance and it would need to be recalibrated.

[antispatula]

woah, thanks for the advice, I proabibly would have messed it up completely.