Will Analog Multitracks ever be made again?

Will Analog Multitracks ever be made again?

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I hate to say it...but as much as I wish they would, I doubt serious analog multitrack will ever come back again. I mean...if there was that much demand by people willing to PAY THE PRICE of a high-end multitrack deck, then yeah, Studer and Otari and Sony would all still be in the game.
Otari is the only one making pro 2-track machines (mostly for the radio/broadcast industry use) and they don't seem to have any inclination to start churning out multitrack decks again.
AFA…TASCAM and Fostex and any other the less expensive (but good quality) manufacturers...they too have stopped a loooooooooong time ago.
To go tool back up for production is a VERY expensive proposition, and then I'm not sure who wants to drop $10k-$20k-$30k or more on a newly built pro multitrack decks these days. When they WERE being made, studios stopped buying them as digital became the rage…so why would they now go back to wanting them if they gave them up already when they had them???

The Otari 2-Track I just recently purchased (5050 BIII) sells new for $6000!!!
Luckily, I scored a like-new spare from an out-of-biz radio station for just a fraction of that (eBay has its moments :) )...so imagine what a brand new MTR 90 would go for in this economy?
Not to mention that tape production is clinging on by a thread, mostly thanks to the existing users of tape...and they are slowly but steadily changing over to digital, and just using analog outboard gear if they still want some "analog" in their productions.
Every week I see more and more studios selling off their Studer and Otari machines....I just wish I had the clams for a 24-track Studer, as they are still fetching prices of $7k-$10k for a used deck!
If I'm lucky, maybe I will find a well-maintained (and less expensive) Otari near me so I can go check it out and be able to pick it up instead of having it shipped...but so far, everything decent ends up being in California or some far away location. :mad:
I still have my 16-track, and am looking for a spare parts machine for it...though if a good 24-track turns up for the right price, I may grab one and then just use it until it dies or they stop making tape one of these days :( ...but I don't expect to ever see new manufacturing of high-end multitrack tape decks.
The cost to get that going is prohibitive and the lack of demand (because of the high $$$ they would sell for) would make it a losing business decision for any company.
 
kcearl said:
Im digital...never was anything else as Im so new at this..probably never will be either...makes not one bit of difference...analogue may still exist for a while...but when the parts run out and digital improves (which lets face it, it will) then bye bye it will become irrelevant...regardless of how everyone feels about it

Im not saying its a good or bad thing...it means no more to me than any other medium we replace or improve on..but I do get the attachment

I only used to ride early eighties style Japanese muscle bikes...I loved the feel of them and the input required by the rider to get the best out of them...but I know they will eventually become irrelevant relics of the past and that new bikes outperformed them years ago..I think this subject, and the others discussed here, are similar...digital just hasnt "outperformed" analogues sound yet..once it does...
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I tend to agree with kcearl on this one. The sound *potential* of digital has continued to improve, while the commercial *reality* has continued to be dumbed down. We are sitting in the studio with the capability to record at 48bits/196kHz, and the average teenager is listening to music that's been raped down to kbs/sec! The big difference is that digital will continue to improve until it sounds *better* than any analog equipment ever did. Analog is frozen in time. They might build a multitrack reel to reel, but the technology of a physical stylus and a vinyl record will never get any better than it is right now. What I think is more important, given how the price of digital data storage and processing has dropped, is to bring pressure on the industry to develop and market a downloadable digital format that doesn't remove 40%+ of the sound. To do this, the average listener has to become aware of how much MP3 sucks. That is the best use I know for a turntable.-Richie
 
I think that thats the most obvious spike in vinyl sales recently that a newer generation are realising how bad the digital formats do sound....Id say the drop from 470 million to 350 million CD sales has hardly been a transference to vinyl..but rather piracy, but I do hope that a transference to an older format in any size will get companies thinking about how we package and sell music

Its funny but even a complete newb at recording like myself can hear how awful sites like My Space etc sound yet where do folks continue to host their music? what other choices are there out there
 
There are pros that swear that the "creme" of analog tape recording (which came about the same time digital kicked in)...
...*the highest-end multitracks with Dolby SR*...
...is STILL not being touched by digital AFA sonic quality, though I haven't had the pleasure of using those machines to comment directly (maybe someone here can).

I'm just not sure about digital continuing to improve?
I mean, when you get down to the basic math, the algorithms...digital has already hit its peak, its limit, and if anything, it's the analog filtering and whatnot in front of the digital converters that's improving, mostly on the less-expensive digital gear.
I mean...how far can they "improve" 0000 & 1111...???? ;)
 
miroslav said:
There are pros that swear that the "creme" of analog tape recording (which came about the same time digital kicked in)...
...*the highest-end multitracks with Dolby SR*...
...is STILL not being touched by digital AFA sonic quality, though I haven't had the pleasure of using those machines to comment directly (maybe someone here can).

I'm just not sure about digital continuing to improve?
I mean, when you get down to the basic math, the algorithms...digital has already hit its peak, its limit, and if anything, it's the analog filtering and whatnot in front of the digital converters that's improving, mostly on the less-expensive digital gear.
I mean...how far can they "improve" 0000 & 1111...???? ;)
Click to expand...

Oh if there's profit in it they'll find a way :)
 
True; analog multi-track recorders will never be made again but thankfully there are millions of them that have already been made and many of them are available still for sale to anyone who wants to buy them. There are also some gifted folks out there like sweetbeats who have the know-how to refurbish them and bring them back to life to record another day! So, there's really no need to make new ones, just a need for the people who can continue to make them run. Once those folks are gone, then analog will truly be dead.

Cheers! :)
 
ez...'awesome button'...heheheh... :D

Yeah this whole thing about the money...THAT'S the driver. Even the evolution of the multitrack machine was driven by the fact that a company could SELL their deck if they could market and justify that it 'sounded better' or functioned better. The drive to improve was (and still is) driven by the motivation to sell and profit, and that is what is missing today for analog media and IMO will forever more be missing in order to make a new deck, and let's not forget that many times even the consumer and pro-sumer decks borrowed and benefitted from the development and manufacture of the pro market. That whole interdependent machine is gone and as Miroslav stated that makes for a VERY expensive development cost for a company. The beans don't add up and they know it so there is absolutely no impetus to look at it, and I doubt there ever will be because we are a more-'better'-faster-easier culture (the 'western' world which drives such a major part of the global economy...spend-spend-spend).

As to kcearl's premonition that analog recording and reproduction (sorry if that is putting words in your mouth) is going to die, he doesn't know for sure either but that is what he thinks which is what the OP called for.

I still believe it could continue on indefinitely in a greater or lesser niche market even if that is a very small community of eclectic enthusiasts. For the time being my sense is that the demand has and continues to grow, but certainly not enough for a company to take notice and put out new product. But it IS enough for several companies to continue manufacturing state-of-the-art replacement and custom heads for machines. Its a boutique market.

Another comment to kcearl though: for me it is not just the sound of analog, and that has been stated...so no matter how good digital gets at emulating the supersonic response of analog (for instance) its still not going to replicate the experience of loading tape on a deck and watching the reels turn (for instance). Its a multi-faceted experience that is fun and satisfying.

And BTW, Ghost, I know how to mess them up pretty good too (reference to the Tascam 58 I fried...thankfully there are people like ETHAN to rectify that...it, apparantly, takes a village). Thanks for the vote of encouraging confidence, and back atcha for what you do with graphical representation of the beasts. ;)
 
sweetbeats said:
As to kcearl's premonition that analog recording and reproduction (sorry if that is putting words in your mouth) is going to die, he doesn't know for sure either but that is what he thinks which is what the OP called for.
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I think the problem was that I think it will die eventually..of course it will, 2300, 2500 lol...most of what we do will die eventually...but I was having fun at someone's absolute, not that I think it will completely disappear any time soon..

people still ride horses, people still restore steam engines, people cook in wood burning stoves etc etc

its not an instrument, its just a way to record an instrument, so for me if digital or whatever method we have in the future supersedes it then I wont care too much


Another comment to kcearl though: for me it is not just the sound of analog, and that has been stated...so no matter how good digital gets at emulating the supersonic response of analog (for instance) its still not going to replicate the experience of loading tape on a deck and watching the reels turn (for instance). Its a multi-faceted experience that is fun and satisfying.
Click to expand...


Its the same reason I enjoyed the older Japanese bikes...you can see the engine, you have to tune in the suspension, it takes a bit of manhandling to get it around the corners...an unquantifiable satisfaction

they'll go when the parts and the enthusiasts do..inevitable Im afraid

Im not pro-digital or anything...its just if you take away nostalgia as a factor and if they are (eventually) outperformed then, again, I dont care as much Im afraid

you will all just end up smellng of pipe tobacco and cardigans :)

I like modern life
 
I agree with most of what you are saying and I think I understood what you meant when you talked about analog dying. I recognize completely you are stating an opinion which I respect and also why I was highlighting that that is what the OP wanted.

I totally get what you are saying; your analogy with the bikes...you get it, and I appreciate your opinions. I don't, however, like pipe tobacco smoke or cardigans, though I do have a horrible Christmas sweater-vest...
 

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I think the attachment to analog is the fact that it is becoming a lost art. It's like hand processing film in photography. There is an order of events that have to be followed and a certain way of doing things in order to get the desired result.

With digital, one can take pure static and manipulate it into some twisted song with all of the plug-ins and the like. In photography, you don't even have to be in focus, properly exposed, have your eyes open, or anything. Snap a shot and Photoshop it. EVERYTHING can be "fixed" in Pro-Tools and Photoshop. Where is the fun in that? How do you learn from your mistakes when all you have to do is Ctrl-Z to undo?

I think sound quality has a marginal part in the analog vs. digital religious war. Both can sound great. Both have their strong points. One format is better at recording certain things than the other. Use them both and problem solved.

Eh, I've got better things to do than debate this and get involved in EZ's entertainment by stirring the ant pile.:p

As much as I wish decks would be manufactured again, I agree with most of you and say that they would be price prohibitive.

Having said all that, I'm going to have a Shiner Bock and chill out for the rest of the night.;)
 
And I'm going to lay awake trying to calm my pulse rate after the reference to that sweater smelling like urine...
 
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