Remotes for Otari MX-5050 MKIII 8 track

O

ofajen

Daddy-O Daddy-O Baby
I just bought one of these machines. The manual I downloaded lists two remotes: CB-110 and CB-114. I also see CB-116s around and they are claimed to work with this machine, also. Can anyone verify that? Was that a later remote put out after the MKIII manual was published?

Thanks!

Otto
 
FALKEN said:
can't help you there but i CAN tell you that a remote is not necessary.
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Yeah, all I really need is a footswitch that lets me pop in an out of record mode. If I can find one of those connectors, I might be able to rig that up.

Cheers,

Otto
 
you can punch without it......ive done it.....you can do it yourself for vocals or get a friend to hit it for guitars or something. just don't try to punch out.
 
FALKEN said:
you can punch without it......ive done it.....you can do it yourself for vocals or get a friend to hit it for guitars or something. just don't try to punch out.
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Yeah, sure. It's just not so easy sitting in front of the drum kit, and most of the time, there is no one else around when I try to record... and with five kids, that is a good thing, but not always easy to accomplish!

Cheers,

Otto
 
I have a spare remote that I might be willing to part with.
I won't just 'give it away',though-the sucker wasn't cheap.
And you'd have to build a cable for it.The issue with that is the Honda connectors that it uses aren't so easy to find-but I did find some,and have some extras.
 
ofajen said:
Yeah, sure. It's just not so easy sitting in front of the drum kit, and most of the time, there is no one else around when I try to record... and with five kids, that is a good thing, but not always easy to accomplish!

Cheers,

Otto
Click to expand...


whoa! u be punching drums ? like when you mess up the last hit or what ? Ive never really tried to punch drums
 
FALKEN said:
whoa! u be punching drums ? like when you mess up the last hit or what ? Ive never really tried to punch drums
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Oh, heavens no! I just want to be able to switch into record mode when I'm already seated and ready to play, so I don't have to push record first and then have all the sound of me wandering over, bumping into mikes and cymbals and cursing all show up on the tape. :)

I almost never bother with real punch ins. The only thing I do is drop multiple things on different sections of one track, like vocals and instruments.

Cheers,

Otto
 
I think I have almost answered my question...

It seems that earlier MX-5050 MKIII 8 tracks have only a "remote" jack, while later ones also have a smaller "locator" jack. The CB-110 is the full function remote that does transport, track arming and mode switching. To use it, you have to turn on "external control" mode. The CB-114 is basic transport only. I'm not sure if you have to use "external control" mode. Anyone happen to know if if you have to switch modes?

The CB-116 is the 6 position auto-locator, which can be used in conjunction with the CB-110. It plugs into the "locator" jack, assuming the unit has one! The CB-116 also has basic transport controls. The one thing I don't know yet is whether one could use ONLY the CB-116 auto-locator without the CB-110. One would hope so, but you can never assume such things unless you try it. Anyone happen to know if the auto-locator works without the other remote?

Cheers,

Otto
 
Don't know for sure on the last question, but I am fairly certain that you can use the 114 without putting the transport in external mode since that is only for autolocate functions and the 114 wouldn't have an oscillator circuit for controlling the capstan. In the same turn I would expect that you could use the 116 without the 110. Take with a grain of salt. I know what the 110, 114 and 116 units look like and I've perused the 5050 manuals but outside of that I am using what logic I can muster. ;)
 
sweetbeats said:
Don't know for sure on the last question, but I am fairly certain that you can use the 114 without putting the transport in external mode since that is only for autolocate functions and the 114 wouldn't have an oscillator circuit for controlling the capstan. In the same turn I would expect that you could use the 116 without the 110. Take with a grain of salt. I know what the 110, 114 and 116 units look like and I've perused the 5050 manuals but outside of that I am using what logic I can muster. ;)
Click to expand...

I suspect you are right about the 116. I wonder if there is a later version of the manual than the one I got from AnalogRules.com.

The machine just got here. It turns out that it DOES have the locator jack, so I can use the 116.

The seller turned it over to UPS to pack and ship and they seem to have done a good job: double boxed and plenty of thick bubble wrap around the unit. The one obvious thing is the need for a new pinch roller, which was why the seller didn't want to fool with it and basically gave it away. Hopefully, the new one will arrive tomorrow.

The one thing I don't know is whether this machine is IEC or NAB. I didn't think to ask, because I figured they were IEC, and JRF tells me that he has only seen one NAB machine in his shop, but it would be good to know one way or the other, before I check the calibration!

More soon, I imagine...

Cheers,

Otto
 
Otto, what p/n is on your 5050 manual? Mine says "OS3-033". Probably the same as yours...

Pull one of the amp cards...p/n PB-15B is the NAB card, and PB-15J is the IEC card.
 
sweetbeats said:
Otto, what p/n is on your 5050 manual? Mine says "OS3-033". Probably the same as yours...

Pull one of the amp cards...p/n PB-15B is the NAB card, and PB-15J is the IEC card.
Click to expand...

My manual is the same one. The cards are all IEC. That's what I hoped, as my 1/2" MRL is IEC 15 ips, plus, other things being equal, IEC is quieter than NAB where it matters in the high end and has less modulation noise and bass distortion. :)

Cheers,

Otto
 
sweetbeats said:
Don't know for sure on the last question, but I am fairly certain that you can use the 114 without putting the transport in external mode since that is only for autolocate functions and the 114 wouldn't have an oscillator circuit for controlling the capstan. In the same turn I would expect that you could use the 116 without the 110. Take with a grain of salt. I know what the 110, 114 and 116 units look like and I've perused the 5050 manuals but outside of that I am using what logic I can muster. ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm pretty much sure you are right, now that I have the machine in front of me. The "external control" button is just for selecting external control of track record arming (ready/safe) and mode switching (input, sync, repro) which is only done with the CB-110. The CB-114 is basic transport only and the CB-116 is basic transport plus auto-locate, neither of which has anything to do with track arming or mode switching, so they have to just plug in and work... there is nothing to set or change to control the transport via remote.

BTW, this machine is cool. A really smart layout and a reasonable size for an 8-track. I like the built in test oscillator and the built in headphone monitor mixer. Having the channel amp trimmers on the back is a bit inconvenient, but I'm sure I'll manage.

Mine has obviously seen some action. The front cabinet edges have lost some of the veneer in places. The transport has seen a fair amount of use: there is noticeable wear on the guide pins, and the heads have a fair amount of wear, though the wear pattern doesn't look too asymmetrical and the gaps are not showing through on any of the tracks. And, of course, the pinch roller has no rubber, which is the only thing keeping me from testing out the machine.

Cheers,

Otto
 
Hey Otto, I'm in the same boat. ...waiting on my pinch roller and the tape I orderd to test this baby out. I sent my pinch off to Terry's rubber rollers. Your MX5050 sounds about the same as mine cosmetically. I plan to replace the partical board on the side with some other hopefully light weight wood and either stain or paint it. ...I'm weird about that stuff. Somehow in my mind something works better if it looks better:rolleyes:. The wear on your tape heads and pins sounds about like mine as well.

...I'd like to find a remote too although its farther down on the list of things I need. Hell, I need to figure out this stuff works above all. haha

Good luck with yours!
 
I like my gear to look good as well, I think we all do. I have the 8 track and the 4 track version of this machine. They are always beat up. Fortunately I came across a brand new headstack for the 4-track, but have yet to install it. The particle board on that machine has disintegrated to where the bottom doesn't really stay on. Yes, having the tweakers on the back sucks. trying to watch the meters and tweak those things might hurt your back depending on the contortions you use....you will learn to get it flat VERY quickly if you ever do daily sessions on it ! great machine though ! OH and i had to send both rollers to terry. its pretty standard on these things !
 
Just a quick update, and the news is all good. :)

I got the Athan pinch roller today from JRF and dropped it on.

Then, just for grins, I dropped on a new reel of EMTEC SM 468 and recorded tones to see how bad or good things looked.

The transport seems to work without a hitch. I've only tested it 15 ips so far. I'll probably only use 7.5 ips for double speed effects.

Each channel input section works properly, I assume, being down about 1 dB at 20K.

The overall recorder response, without specifically adjusting the bias for SB 468, is within +/-1 dB from about 30-20K on all tracks. I find that impressive in a machine that has sat idle for a year and just been shipped across the country.

The only thing I noticed is that the repro gain appears slightly off on channels 1 and 2, because they are little off relative to the input reading at 0VU (but consistently so across the audio band). Basically, I could start tracking and it would sound just fine. For now, I only plan to calibrate the repro levels and see if that gets all channels matching up from input to output.

Sooo... next step would be to wire up proper cabling to the patchbay. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm suspecting it doesn't matter a tinker's damn whether I wire up to the Otari using one-conductor or two-conductor shielded cable, since I'm just going to tie pin 2 to the shield, anyway. Am I right?

Cheers,

Otto
 
If you decide to use dbx units,what I've experienced from recently acquiring dbx units for mine,is that you have to watch what you do on certain gear.
The dbx150X units require that you have a TRS connector on the output-but the Ring isn't connected when going to an unbalanced Otari.The other wire from a 2-wire w/shield cable should go to Shield.The TRS connector is used in the dbx unit so no signal from Pin 2 touches Ground.If there is no wire hooked up to that terminal,then the signal will just sit safely there on that pin,without harming the dbx unit.
If you just used a TS cable,then Pin 2 signal would be touching Ground,because there's no Ring section on a TS cable.
 
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