Recent content by jpmorris

Yes, SM911 is probably closest to what the machine was designed for. SM900 is a 499 equivalent, but neither formulation existed when the Brenell was designed, so SM911 would be the best bet.

Again, there's Otari - 4 track machines from the 5050 series in 1/4" and 1/2" format. IIRC there was also a 1/2" 4-track version of the Studer A807, and the Revox C274, which was 1/4". To be honest, the 4-track scene isn't something I ever paid much attention to, because I always wanted to do...

Yeah, the ITAMs turn up occasionally, but mostly in Europe. Someone actually bought one on ebay a couple of months ago - I hope they know what they're doing. I'm not sure I'd recommend one, but it's fascinating that they existed at all. Kind of like Dewtron, a little British firm that never...

For half-inch 8 track, the usual suspects are TEAC/TASCAM, Otari with the 5050-8, and Revox also made one in the form of the C278. After that you're down to really weird stuff like the rare ITAM 806, which was a very heavily modded Revox A77 that I would view as a museum piece or curio more than...

Yeah, the B77 has a counter belt, and I would assume the PR99 mk1 is the same.

I have a few of the HD400s and I've not had problems with them so far. However, I've been using them for synthesizers rather than a recording device where you'd measure the frequency response going in and coming out.

Nice! The 106 is supposed to have a big sweet-spot, i.e. it's difficult to make it sound bad because Roland carefully designed the parameter ranges in the firmware to restrict it to nice-sounding combinations. They also have a BBD chorus which really makes them sound special (unless the BBD...

I think they only had the one line at the time of asking. Still, this is interesting to know.

Yeah, first thing to check would be whether the pinch roller is holding the tape against the capstan. If not, it will run at whatever speed the reel motors are doing, and the tape speed will vary over time. If it's possible to squeeze the pinch roller against the capstan manually by pressing...

Oh, awesome! Glad to know it went to a good home!

Okay, this is a thing: https://dougtheeagle.com/stuff/fahdonmuls_lament-take1-1644.mp3 Tracking was done on the Otari MX80, with the vocals being recorded on a TSR-8 first and then copied to the 24-track. Mixing was done on 1/4" in two parts, with a razor edit to join them. I may add bass and...

I don't think there's much to be gained in using a vintage one. I'm quite fond of the Neutrik NYS-SPP patchbays - though obviously you'll need RCA-to-jack cables to make it work.

The unhappy truth is, no. At the end of the day I set it up as best I could and used it anyway, phase weirdness or not. Even in its hobbled state it has been a big improvement over the MSR-24, and in the end, I'm doing this for a hobby rather than as a professional studio. I do have a...

The basic Fostex A8 can indeed only record 4 tracks at a time. There's a bank switch allowing to to choose from 1-4 or 5-8. There was also a later A8LR which can record all 8 tracks at once. However mine felt pretty clunky. The Model 80 with microprocessor-controlled transport would...

They tend to keep calibration pretty well, but yes - that's the main drawback. The 2-head design makes things like setting the bias difficult and to be honest, I've left that side of it alone for the most part. It also means you can't use it to do tape echo or monitoring the recording. The...