Using same tape with 4-track and 8-track?

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julianchang

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I have a TASCAM 424MKIII and a TASCAM 488 MKII
I recorded some tracks on the 8-track and want to overwrite track 1 on the 8-track with the 4-track recorder....

Does anyone know if I would accidentally erase other tracks on the tape when I do that?

Or... does anyone happen to know what track on the 4-tracks is equivalent to what tracks on the 8-track?
 
It's pretty simple math. A 4 track deck is going to erase and record over 2 tracks of the 8 track recording.

You need to get your hands on another 8 track machine if you want to only touch one of its tracks and not any others.

Cheers! :)
 
Thanks!

Cool thanks for the tip!

So would it be safe to assume:
4-track:......8-track:
1=======1 & 2
2=======3 & 4
3=======5 & 6
4=======7 & 8

?

Thanks so much for your help!
 
On the 4 track decks, it's definitely a 1-2-3-4 straight, stacked arrangement. On the 8 track, The tracks are staggered because of the cramped real estate on the head, which means that there will be a slight time delay on half of the tracks because of the space difference if you were to try and play that tape on a differently formatted head. On the original head, there's no time delay issues because the information is printed and read back by the same head, on the same spot.

So, no matter which way you slice it, you'll need an 8 track deck of the same flavor to do the job without issues...sorry!

Cheers! :)
 
julianchang said:
I have a TASCAM 424MKIII and a TASCAM 488 MKII
I recorded some tracks on the 8-track and want to overwrite track 1 on the 8-track with the 4-track recorder....

Does anyone know if I would accidentally erase other tracks on the tape when I do that?

Or... does anyone happen to know what track on the 4-tracks is equivalent to what tracks on the 8-track?
Click to expand...
Do both machines run at the same speed ?
But that aside, why can't you just do a straight transfer ? What you seem to be proposing seems way too risky. Just buy some more tape !:)
 
grimtraveller said:
Do both machines run at the same speed ?
But that aside, why can't you just do a straight transfer ? What you seem to be proposing seems way too risky. Just buy some more tape !:)
Click to expand...

The speed isn't the issue here as both run at the same speed.

The issue is that the 8 track cassette deck in question has a staggered track alignment on the sync head. Four of the eight tracks at any given moment in a project are at a physically different part of the tape that is behind the other four tracks. When you play that back on any other deck with a straight vertical line of tracks, as is the case on the four track unit in question, the time delayed tracks will play out of sync...think of a drummer half a step off to the rest of the band and the mess that sounds like and that's what were dealing with here.

Cheers! :)
 
Here's the diagram from the manual of the 488 that explains visually the track spacing differences...also note how the tracks a staggered on the 488!



headformat.jpg




Cheers! :)
 
In the reviews section there is information about playing 4 track cassettes on an 8 track and having 4 empty tracks, but sadly no way to do it the other way around, 8 tracks on a 4 track; I' tried the first an had some good results as a 424 is alot more portable than a 688.-Carp
 
Many thanks!

Thanks so much for the help folks! You guys rock!

Juls
 
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