Recordings on vintage Porta 05 playable on Porta 07?

TheTJW

New member
Hi, basically I did some recording back in the 80's with a Porta 05, which I've since got rid of (stupidly!). Porta 05's aren't very common now, but I've seen some ads on ebay for Porta 07's, does anyone know if a recording on a Porta 05 will play back successfully on a Porta 07?

Thanks.
 
You can pretty much play any 4 track cassette tape in Any 4 track player. The only compatibility issues are with "locked in" tape speeds. (alot of companies will claim that machines are "attinuated" specifically for High Bias type II tapes only-- but normal ones will "work" on them--- don't know if this presents problems from long term usage though....)
The Porta 05 records and playsback at normal standard "phillips" speed. This is 1 & 7/8 inches per second. I would try finding the manual online to confirm the speed for the Porta 07. I would Assume that the tape speeds in the same product line would be "locked" in at the same speed. Any model with additional bells and whistles would prolly just throw in the hi speed as an option.
Looking later on at the Portastudio models...(the porta 05 and 07 you talk of are PortaMINIstudio models).... a similar model may be the Portastudio 414.... and That machine is locked in at Hi Speed. Yr tape you recorded on your Porta 5 would sound like the Chipmunks doing Beatles covers record you see alot in dollar bins at all the record stores. Grrrr.
Go up a notch to the 424 and you got yrself the options of playback and record at hi speed and normal speed.

Anyhow, I just came across this thread cos I just repaired my porta ministudio 05--- I tried looking for the manual for the porta 07 for you to confirm tape speeds but you may need to dig deeper than I wanted to! :)
Regardless, today, there more Porta 5's on ebay .....
 
Look out for Speed (some run double speed), Noise Reduction Type (which one: Dolby B, Dolby C or DBX), Most portastudios are full tape width 4 tracks.

However the 05 is not compatible with the 07: 05 has a tape speed of 1-7/8" second, the 07 has a tape speed of 3-3/4" per second. Both have DBX type 11 noise reduction.

Alan.
 
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