tdk xp-pro s-vhs tapes

dr.colossus

dr.colossus

New member
o.k i've donje a little study and it seems not many of you guys like using non-adat specified tapes....

i have an xt and where i am adat tapes are hard to come by... in a pinch i used a very old s-vhs tape and had some drop out spots and i think the counter was a little out of whack with the tape (some sort of time code problem?)

anyhow i'm just wondreing if tdk xp-pro (apparantley a higher quality than the regular consumer line) tapes would be suitable for the adat? do you need a specific length tape? any comments at all would be useful... i just don't want to have to travel 200km to my nearest quantegy stockist or pay exhorbarant (sp) freight costs... but if you guys insist i'll do what i have to do :)
 
I own a blackface one, and have been using Maxwell s-vhs black tapes for a while... No problem that I've seen.
Of course, I'm no ADAT expert, so, ppl can tell you better than me.
Tapes are hard to find overhere, and quantegy ones cost 3 times more than Maxwells...
 
The problem with stock S-VHS tapes is that the coating is not designed for the use the ADAT machine will put on it and it sheds easily (high-dropouts and therefore, loss of data)... as well, the tape formulation itself is not designed to the same tolerance as for digital recording use and as such, you risk the symptoms of an unstable digital media (again, loss of data, loss of timecode)...

IMO, it's not worth the saving of a couple of bucks to not be sure that your media won't fail you during a session...........
 
BB is right...
I forgot to say, I'm no professional studio owner. Just do my home recordings. So, you might stick with quantegy if working with a paying client. I had the luck of buying a good maxwell batch, but its not always what happens.
regards
 
TDK S-VHS

I'm no ADAT expert either, but I've only used Quantegy ADAT tapes twice, and both times the tape jammed/self-destructed in my blackface ADAT. I use TDK Super Pro S-VHS and I haven't ever had a problem. BASF pre-formatted ADAT tapes work well too, but they are much more expensive.
 
eh91311,
maybe something is up with your machine? Ive pretty much used quantegy tapes exclusively for the past year and a half in my Adat Xt and Lx-20 and never had a problem that was tape related.
 
Quantegy ADAT tapes

Wireneck, you could be right, it might be my machines, not the Quantegy tapes. TDK Super Pro's work for me and cost less than Quantegy or BASF. I haven't experienced any problems related to tape shedding with the TDK's. Stick with what works for you.
 
Quantegy and Ampex is the worst

I have used many Ampex and Quantegy in my ADAT's with some problems, for one tape jams, terrible magnetic coating imperfections on tape surface and sometimes clogging up the rotary heads. Some not all have these problems, but I would reccomend to stay away from this brand of ADAT tape if you can.

RMGI Emtec ADAT tape is still around, is still very expensive, is excellent quality, and is formated already for either the 16 bit or 20 bit ADAT machines. You can choose which format.

Anyways I thought I would share my experience with you on this old thread.......

I never had problems with hundreds of other SVHS Professional and Broadcast Quality tapes. On brands such as Emtec, Fuji, JVC, TDK, Sony, Panasonic and Maxell.

All these brands are excellent without drop outs. Emtec and Fuji being the smoothest and most perfect tape coatings on the market, Panasonic SVHS tape is a close second, but with all these tapes I have not had any problems even with extensive use in recording many tracks. No signs of head wear or clogging up the heads whatsoever.

Like I said before I had many tape errors on Ampex/Quantegy brand of ADAT tapes either on their video SVHS tapes and on their ADAT approved tapes. Some do not even load into my ADAT machine and sometimes get stuck, it is not my machine because this has happened on other ADAT machines, and only on this brand of tape. Alesis ADAT approved tapes are not always what they are cracked up to be sometimes.......

I do however unfortunately have many old ADAT tapes from Ampex/QUantegy that I have to download/backup to my computer right away soon, through the ADAT digital optical link. So I hope that it goes well enough to recover these many recordings? Who knows what will happen.......

I believe video SVHS grade tapes are good for ADAT recordings and I have not had any problems with them even after many many years of storage going back to 1995. You should excersize the tape always by fast forwarding and rewinding first before playback archiving.

Cheers and Best Regards........
 
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