I scored a second Tascam 34b

lo.fi.love

lo.fi.love

Functionally obsessed.
Hey folks,

I picked up another 34b in San Francisco last night for $120, WITH a really-effing-sturdy road case! I bought the tape deck as a parts machine. The heads are in FANTASTIC shape. I'll post pictures of the machine later. Right now, it's sitting in my friend's car.

Now, here's something I've been thinking about: If I can fully clean-up this machine and get it in perfect working order, then what can I do with two 34b's? I already have a mixdown deck, so that's taken care of.

One thought is to use the second machine for on-site live recording. That's all I can think of.

Is there anything really clever or interesting that I could do with two 34b's???
 
$120 is a steal and local too!!

Other than a parts machine, how about a deck dedicated to tape echo? What about making a 4 track master copy onto your 2nd 34B? That could come in handy when you're sending a tape out to someone to overdub an instrument ('cause you don't have one near by). That way, should the tape get lost or damaged, you have a 4 track master safely stored. Those are the few things you could do with a 2nd 34B, off the top of my head.:)
 
Yeah, what VT said. If one goes down you still have it for parts. Or seeing as you have the road case, what you said, take it with ya.
 
cjacek said:
Other than a parts machine, how about a deck dedicated to tape echo?
Click to expand...

Hmm, good point. I already have a deck dedicated to tape echo, but this is much better. Between my Akai deck and this second 34b, I could do tape echo at 3 3/4ips, 7.5ips, AND 15ips :)

I haven't tried doing tape echo on a 34b, though. Pardon me for being ignorant about my own equipment, but would echo be done while the deck is in "Input" mode? For some reason I thought that the signal coming back from the deck in Input mode is the source monitor, not a tape monitor, making it impossible to create an echo.

Can some please enlighten me on this? Thanks!
 
I used to use two 4 track RTR's to ping pong record with less generation loss.

Fill up the first one with 4 track, mix that in stereo to the second one and then add two more track on the second deck, send that back mixed to the first deck and add a couple more tracks. You end up with an 8 track recording with two bounces and everything remains in stereo.

Most 4 buss mixers has doubled output jacks for the busses so the hook up is easy and the results are good! Much better then cassette anyway! Plus, if you don't like the sub mix, you can go back and redo it because you have the safety backup on the other reel of tape.

Cheers! :)
 
You would do it in "repro".:)

BTW, in addition to the 3 speeds, don't forget the pitch control knob, which can dial in even more precisely. ;)
 
The Ghost of FM said:
I used to use two 4 track RTR's to ping pong record with less generation loss.

Fill up the first one with 4 track, mix that in stereo to the second one and then add two more track on the second deck, send that back mixed to the first deck and add a couple more tracks. You end up with an 8 track recording with two bounces and everything remains in stereo.
Click to expand...

Thanks!! I was trying to figure out how I could use the second deck to do better bouncing/ping-ponging. Your method makes so much sense, and I'm really excited about reducing the generation loss.

Incredible! :D
 
cjacek said:
You would do it in "repro".:)

BTW, in addition to the 3 speeds, don't forget the pitch control knob, which can dial in even more precisely. ;)
Click to expand...

I don't think I follow. The way I understand tape echo is that you combine the original signal with the signal coming back from the tape deck, and this is done on the mixer. How would this be done in Repro, since no signal is being recorded to tape?
 
Let me just take this opportunity to say...

...you suck.:p:D

Equipment is few and far between here in Texas. Every now and then something might pop up in Austin or Dallas areas, but Houston is a baron wasteland.
 
Well, if you were to add the tape echo after you've recorded your main vocal / guitar or whatever dry, say on channel / track 2, you'd then send that track out, play it back and record it onto your 2nd recorder, monitoring via repro (playback head) and take the out from that and into another channel of your mixer, have the capability to use EQ separately on the echo and blend it with the original dry signal. Using the repro, a separate playback head, the time between record and playback creates the echo. That's how I do it.
 
cjacek said:
Well, if you were to add the tape echo after you've recorded your main vocal / guitar or whatever dry, say on channel / track 2, you'd then send that track out, play it back and record it onto your 2nd recorder, monitoring via repro (playback head) and take the out from that and into another channel of your mixer, have the capability to use EQ separately on the echo and blend it with the original dry signal. Using the repro, a separate playback head, the time between record and playback creates the echo. That's how I do it.
Click to expand...

I mean, I understand how to execute echo, but can a 34b record a signal while in "Repro" mode? That's what I'm trying to figure out.

Color me Stupid, but I've never tried it before :)
 
Sorry, didn't mean to infer that you didn't know.

If you arm the track(s) on the 34B and press record, it'll start recording and you can listen in real time, either from the source (input), off tape (sync head) or off tape (playback head). It's the separate playback head which will give you the delay.

It doesn't matter which mode the 34B is in.
 
cjacek said:
Sorry, didn't mean to infer that you didn't know.

If you arm the track(s) on the 34B and press record, it'll start recording and you can listen in real time, either from the source (input), off tape (sync head) or off tape (playback head). It's the separate playback head which will give you the delay.

It doesn't matter which mode the 34B is in.
Click to expand...

Oh, I think I get it, then. You can record in all three modes, not just Input and Sync... correct?

So, when the machine is recording, the "mode selector" (my term) selects which head it is that provides the outgoing signal's source. Set it to "Input", and you're monitoring the input source. Set it to "Sync", and you're monitoring the tape, plus the input source of whichever channel you're recording to at the moment. Set it to "Repro", and you're monitoring the tape with the playback head.

Do I have it right?

Sorry, I would just do this myself, but I'm at work right now and I don't want to wait until I get home to find this out :)
 
lo.fi.love said:
Oh, I think I get it, then. You can record in all three modes, not just Input and Sync... correct?
Click to expand...
Having read that statement a few times to get the exact meaning,... yes. You can record in any Output Select mode including Input, Sync and Repro,... (not that you'd want to. See below). Not only in Sync and Input modes.

lo.fi.love said:
the "mode selector" selects which head it is that provides the outgoing signal's source.
Click to expand...
Yeh, & that's why it's called the "Output Select" section. Output either off-tape or line-in signal to the Monitor and Line Out sections thru any combination of Output-Select switches and Rec-Function (Record-Enable) switches.

lo.fi.love said:
Set it to "Input", and you're monitoring the input source.
Click to expand...
Yes.

lo.fi.love said:
Set it to "Sync", and you're monitoring the tape, plus the input source of whichever channel you're recording to at the moment.
Click to expand...
Yes, monitoring off-tape signal in "Normal" mode and input signal in "Rec-Ready/Rec-Enable & Record" modes.

lo.fi.love said:
Set it to "Repro", and you're monitoring the tape with the playback head.
Click to expand...
Yes. The caveat is that if you select any Track to record overdubs onto (Rec-Enable) while monitoring the Repro head, the Sync head still takes over the function of the new track dub. It will sound normal during the overdub, but the result is that the tracks monitored using the Repro head will be dreadfully out of sync with the tracks recorded using the Sync head, when monitored again afterward thru either the Repro or Sync head. It would generally be a sonic mess, but could occasionally be used as an "effect". To record 4-track-simul using the Repro head to monitor is feasible, but the off-tape monitoring will lag the input signal a little bit, 1/15th or 1/7.5 seconds, depending on tape speed, given that the Sync and Repro heads are about 1" apart.

lo.fi.love said:
Do I have it right?

:)
Click to expand...
With the above consideration,... yes.

Sorry if that's stating the obvious , is too technical, trivial or lengthy an explanation.:eek:;)
 
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