Recent content by pdmillar

IIRC this occurs when the function/mode belt (the one from the function motor to the cam that puts the transport into the various rec/PB, FF, REW modes) has aged/stretched enough that it slips before rec/PB mode is completely engaged. The controller doesn't see the microswitch closure and shuts...

The EQs are to my taste. The bandwidth, though fixed, isn't super narrow like a lot of more modern mixers, so it actually sounds good when you boost midrange by extreme amounts. The preamps make small AC signals into larger ones. (I'm either stone deaf or preamps, when operated in the linear...

I just got one this summer in real rough shape (looked like it had been toured hard and put away wet) and totally went through and fixed everything. I absolutely love it. You won't be disappointed with any aspect of this board if it's in good operating condition, but due to the age of these I...

I have a huge soft spot for these machines though I have moved on to (somewhat) higher-fidelity stuff. As far as sound quality goes they blow the 388 out of the water. Wish the transport was as nice. I'd highly recommend sending the head block to John French before you attempt tweaking any of...

I have an MS-16 [15ips IEC w/dbx] and a Fostex M80 that was just relapped and calibrated. Can do the job no questions asked

I've had numerous 4-tracks and a 488 (the tape format ought to have generally similar performance with the possible exception of wow & flutter... 238 has a DD capstan) and you might wish to know that the signal-to-noise ratio on cassette 8-track is absolutely unusable without some form of noise...

As the tape speed is doubled, there is a drastic reduction in hiss (part of it is down to the rec/repro EQ that must be used to maintain a decent freq response, and part of it is just the nature of the medium itself), and the amount of available high-frequency headroom is increased. This is very...

You need to wire the low side of the output to common ground in order to go into an unbalanced input. The unit has output transformers and that's exactly what happens if you leave one side of a transformer floating.

I've never thought that any of the expensive boutique preamps they try to sell you on Gearslutz had any appreciable euphonic coloration at all compared to what you get recording on a good tape deck. Consider that they didn't even exist before the 90s, and the engineers just used whatever was in...

https://tuckeramperryfoundation.bandcamp.com/ A mad genius composer friend and I just self-released this children's prog / RIO / simulated Italian soundtrack album. (Actually recorded several years ago mostly on the same Fostex 8 track that I did my album "Truck Month" on.) Recommended if you...

Interesting. The source is "a high Curie point master tape containing a mirror-image recording of the desired program," meaning that the duplicate tape stock is thermally "scrambled" at a lower temperature than the master tape stock, which presumably is unaffected for many passes. So you...

Tascam has apparently discontinued this part (bummer, it only cost like 8 bucks, and was very easy to install) - I just had Terry rebuild the rollers for two clients' machines for the usual rate of $40ish each, and can confirm that they came out very well. It's not necessary to remove the roller...

MTR-10 is in fine operating condition (the scrape idler was fixed.) I moved it to my friend/coworker's studio to cut lacquer masters for another project, and it was still tied up (waiting for test pressings) by the time I had to do some more mixes, so I obtained that MX5050. The W&F on that...

Finished another chunk of absurdist synth zonk stuff, at long last. This was all mixed and edited in January but it took this long to get it pressed. It's the first material of my own that has been done on 16-track: Slugbug "Stupid Rock" EP

Static discharge is heard through the repro amplifiers as pops/clicks. Seems to happen more often with poor quality cassettes. The backcoating on studio tapes has a finite amount of electrical resistance by design to prevent static from building up.