488 users- Tell me the truth Please!

  • Thread starter Thread starter zman
  • Start date Start date
Z

zman

New member
I want an 8-track deck and the 488 mk2 looks good to me. I had an old 4-track cassette deck and loved the sound. But now I'm being told by a lot of musicians "in the know" that digital is the way to go, 8-tracks on cassette is to thin, high speeds cause the tape to stretch and skip, tracks 1 and 8 are weak, etc. I love the old analog sound, but there isn't much of a difference in price anymore, and the lure of virtual tracks is strong...Please- Is there a full warm sound to the 488? Are you satisfied with it?
 
Hey Zman,

I hear ya. I wanted to stay anolog as long as possible, too. But i really think it was stubbornness and penny pinching. I just ordered a Fostex FD-4 digital fourtrack to save some money and hold me over until I can afford to buy a nice digital eight track. these machines are getting better everyday and cheaper. Be honest with yourself--how can a cassette do eight tracks justice in comparison to storing that sound in the digital domain? I just don't think it can. Give up and give in. Get a digital eight track or computer recording system. Worried about warmth--add it in the final mix with some tube compressors or something.

Peace, Jim
 
Thanks Jim, now hopefully I can hear from the other camp. Like I said, I loved the sound of my old 4-track, so if someone can tell me from experience that the fidelity of 8-track cassette sucks when compared to 4-track cassette I'll drop it like a hot maggot filled potatoe. Does it? Another thing that keeps me thinking about the 488 mkII: It got a great review right here on this site, it's hella cheap used, AND I've been investigating the digital decks to find that they all have different pluses and minuses (see Electronic Musician's site for a review of the different choices). I get the feeling that the right digital deck has not yet been made for me. And by the time it is made, it might only cost a couple hundred bucks. You know the way technology is going. My computer is usb ported, so it stinks for music. The vs-840 forces you to compress and it's medium is expensive and unreliable (I read this from avid 840 lovers) . The vs-880 is only a 6-track if you don't compress, and it's interface is difficult (I'm not a technogeek), the Korg D8 has no virtual tracks, the fostex fd-8 has difficult interface, flimsy fostex knobs and pots, and the same storage problems. ARRRG! I'm going NUTS! This is all just stuff I've read or heard from others. I just don't know! Jim...anybody...Help!
 
You say that if someone told you that the 488's fidelity sucked next to a cassette four-track, that you'd drop it.
Consider this, rather than 1/32 of an inch per track (4 tracks divided by 1/8), you now have 8 tracks that are 1/64 of an inch.
Do you think a 1/4 inch tape would even compare to a 2"?

Admittadly, I have yet to use a cassette 8-track, but my 414's sound isn't that great to begin with. No dbx=to noisy. And if I use the dbx, it sucks the "Yea!!" right out.
For 8 bills you can get 8 analog tracks on a cheap cassette. For the same price, on up to 7 bills more, you can get a way better sound, and way more flexability (with digital...)

Even if you want to stay analog, I'd wait another couple of months. The digital recorders HAVE to be taking a huge bite out of the 488's revenues. They will have to keep droping the price just to get rid of them.


[This message has been edited by PannyDeters (edited 01-25-2000).]
 
Thanks for the input! If no-one steps up to the plate for the 488 it'll be history in my book. Of course, they could all be to busy happily, cheaply and easily recording music on their tascam deck to respond, but I guess I'll never know. Now the question is- What's the best (and easiest) one piece digital deck on the market?

zman
 
one that doesnt clip, on that has tape saturation.. oh wait that isnt any digital decks... One that doesnt have compression algorithms... wait those cost an arm and a leg! =Þ im just messing around with you digital people.
 
I hear more about the Roland VS880 than anything else. But here is the skinny as I understand it.

Roland VS840- $1000 4 track record, 8 track playback. Can't hook up a cd burner. Built in Zip or Jaz drive.

Roland VS880- $1500. 8 track record and playback. Can use a cd burner.

Roland VS1680- $2300. 8 track record, 16 playback. Can use a cd burner.

Fostex 4 and 8 tracks, you have to buy an external storage like a zip drive or jaz drive. People say they are cheesy and toylike but do a good job. Not as much features as the Rolands but only $350 and $700 each. Maybe less.

Korg makes an 8 and 16 track. The 8 only records 2 tracks at once and the 16 only records 8 tracks at once. These are $750 and $2000.

If any of this is wrong, tell me and I'll edit it.
 
Yo, zman;
I'll stand up for the 488 if no one else will! I have the 488 Mk II and I love it! I bought a Roland VS-840 digital 8-track, but sent it back because the 100 MB Zip disks don't give you any time to speak of & they are expensive! I love the fact that what you start, you can finish with the 488 and I prefer it for that reason. Perhaps, in the near future, a recording medium will be available to hold a full album's worth of tracks for the digitals but, until then, make mine analog!

chipper
 
also the word simplicity and 488mkII are almost synonymous. i dont if that can be said of its digital counterparts.
 
Thanks for the input everybody! Of course, I'm still unsure of what to buy, but I'm getting a better understanding of what people like and why. Hopefully I'll soon be visiting this site as someone who actually does home recording!
 
yo, z(my)man,
I totally agree with kristian and, just for the record, I am currently engaged in home recording (I'm helping my sister & her husband record gospel songs). Just wanted to expand on my previous comment and to let you know that I'm currently recording. Hope this has been of help to you.

chipper
 
Don't over look tascams 238, a killer cassette based deck, can record 8 tracks at once, and because many people got rid of theirs to go digital, you can find a mint one like i did,mew in fact, for around 350.00 to 400.00.if you like the 488, you'll love the 238
 
zman..I dig my 488..it does everything it's supposed to...I'm justlearning about recording on my computer, and so far I like the "feel" of the 488 better, but I think that's my analog prejudice kicking in (because analog is all I've every known, so better to call it digital ignorance...)It's cool to sorta mix the two, tho, you can really clean up analog mixes using your comp with Cool Edit, etc..(noise reduction is excellent)...but I'm gonna do something start to finish on this computer some day....
 
I like the 488, I have one and use it now and then. The thing I hate about it most is that it only has 2 XLR inputs. But if you are looking at Digital, I would recomend a Roland VS-880, I think. They were at Mars in Indy for about 900. I thought that was a pretty good deal.
As for analog, I stick to it for tracking and dump to computer for post and editing.
Just my 2 cents.

MIKE
 
Hope I'm not too late for a reply. One thing to consider is that even though the 488 is an 8 track, it record only 4 tracks at a time just like the Roland series. Worse yet, it's staggered tracks, like 1, 3, 5, and 7, as I recall.

I know some people have used exterior mixers and ran them into the 4 tracks - but otherwise, I traded mine straight up for a Les Paul Studio about 3 years ago and just bought a 424. I did write a really good song with it, so it might have paid for itself.

RB
 
Woohoo. The good ol' analogue vs. digital argument.

I've used or heard lots of different equipment. This includes some of the Fostex digital stuff, Roland digital, and Tascam analogue (cassette and 1/4"). (I've also used Otari 2" analogue 24-track and Sony 24-track DASH recorders)

My opinion is basically this: GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT. You can have the best equipment on earth, in the best studio, and nothing will make a crappy band sound good. you can also have the worst, hacked, jury-rigged equipment in existence, and a great band, and sell albums from it. Forget about the digital vs. analogue arguments.

Here are the real questions:
How much do you want to spend?
Does it have to be new?
How many tracks do you want/need to record at once?
How portable does it have to be?
What are you going to be mastering to?
and also
Where are you going to be using it?

The last one I added because the consideration comes up, with heavily mechanical units, of things like vibration, mechanical noise, and environmental concerns like rain and dust messing things up.

The first question is obvious what to think about.
The second.. would you settle for a used unit? You can save a lot of money by buying something that's a few years or even months old.
How many tracks.. Some people do all their recording by themselves, so 2 or 4 tracks at once is not just sufficient, it's overkill.
Others want to record an entire stage or band at once, so the more the better. In myt experience, this is one of the most important questions to ask, because if you're stuck with a 4-bus unit and you need an 8-bus, you'll just keep kicking yourself for it.

How portable? Why bother asking this now? It depends on how good a recording you want et al. There's a lot of really GOOD 1/4" equipment floating around the used markets, and if you don't mind its size, it sure sounds fantastic compared to either cassette or most portable digital stuff (okay, there's my real addition to the a/d argument).

Last question (these aren't in any particular order) is what are you mastering to.. if you're going to master to a cassette tape, forget about having any worries about the quality of your 'tracker. Likewise if you're mastering to a <$40 sound card on your computer.
If you've got a good sound card, or a 1/4" RTR, or a DAT, or anything reasonably good, then go ahead and worry.
Just remember that a well cared-for cassette with DBX will give results that sound pretty damned good for something recorded in a basement.

If you take care of what you're doing, and if you mix well enough, you can get great results from an analogue machine as easily as from a digital.

Oh yes, final concern. Make sure the mixer can do what you want it to. And if you don't know what you want it to do, then see if you can play with someone else's, so you can learn what all those knobs do.
 
Back
Top