Recent content by jpmorris

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...

That seems to be around the going rate for a working machine, actually slightly under that, I think. I adore mine. I am still using it in my workflow even though I have a 24-track, since the auto-punchin works so well for things that need that level of attention. With the right accessory it...

The tape counter basically counts how far the tape as moved. It's not an absolute position and it's not always accurate either. If you zero it at the start of the tape, you could write down the position for the start of each track, but those numbers will only be valid if you reset the counter...

Tape is a thin strip of recording media. The signal is recorded to it only as the heads move over it in record mode, so you'll only use up what you need. It's not like it's recording to the entire tape at once. A typical cassette used in a multitrack should have 30 minutes of recording time...

Oh, I hope someone out there does. I also have the autolocator but have never really been able to figure it out how to make it do anything useful. The Otari came with a nice set of manuals, but only for the multitrack itself, not the accessories.

I use the JoeCo BBR to digitize multitracks for backup. It works well for that purpose, aside from the fact that it's convinced it's the year 2106. However it cannot do punch-ins or overdubbing. It's purely a live recorder.