Modifying a Tascam Porta07 to output 4 discrete tracks?

[0degreesk]

Hey, my name's Robbie and I'm brand new to this forum. I bought my first Tascam Porta07 back in the summer of 1994 (and a second from eBay in the summer of 2005). I probably have 50-75 cassettes full of recordings.

I just bought a new Tascam DP-24 and it got me to thinking about archiving those old tapes once and for all.

I looked into getting something like a Tascam 424mkiii from eBay, a machine with 4 discrete outs... but after spending $500 on this new DP-24, I'm reluctant to spend $200 on one of these, when I'm not even sure of the condition.

So.... I'm thinking that I've got two of these Porta07 units. Maybe I could somehow re-wire one of them? Somehow wire the 3rd and 4th tracks to go directly out of the monitor outputs. But I'd have to disconnect the 1st and 2nd tracks from going out of the monitor outputs as well.

The manual has the schematics, which I can kind of follow. I'm sure when I open this up, it's going to be a circuit board, so I don't even know how feasible this idea is.

Anyone have any thoughts? Is there maybe another forum on this site that discusses this kind of project?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jidis]

Hi (and welcome) Robbie,

I've never heard of anyone doing that, but I guess it could be possible as the analog signals are obviously being passed around and merged in there somewhere. I can't see it being an easy endeavour though.

A good start might be tracking down the schematics or service manual for one of the ones which does include individual outs and see how it was implemented as compared to yours. There's probably some sort of buffer/amp circuitry involved in addition to cutting traces and tapping into what's there.

I see where you're coming from on not buying another old one though. Unless someone spent 100+ dollars on a recent "restoration" of theirs, there is most likely at least one thing in it which has seen better days and may be on it's way out.

Take Care