best 1/2" 8 track (Otari? Tascam?)

[Kasey]

so.. i'm now in the market for a 1/2" 8 track. my price range is about $300 to $500. I don't know much about reel to reel's, so i dont know which ones have the features i'd like. I can live without 30 ips, as long as i can record at 15 ips (and the option of 7.5ips would be nice). I think i could get by with a machine that only uses 7" reels, but once again options are nice (thats an option thing right? dont some machines have to use certain sizes, and others can use both?) I like having one tape for each song, so a short one would be fine. I don't think i'd want one that can only handle 10.5".

Out of the Otari 1/2" 8 track version of the MX5050 and the Tascam TSR8, 38, 48 and 58, which wouldd be the best option for me?

sorry if i asked any dumb questions or made any ignorant statements, i admit i dont really know what im talking about.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Kasey,

I don't want to sound like a belligerent old fart or anything but this question has been asked to death already on this forum and probably every other forum on every board out there.

Please perform a search for past threads on this topic.

Cheers!

PS;

Now a barrage of comments are sure to follow making me look like an ass for not posting an expected response.

 

[cjacek]

Jeff (Ghost) is absolutely correct and we certainly do not mean to be less than welcoming to the original poster (Kasey) but it takes an enormous amount of time and effort to answer, again and again, what has already been discussed here before, many times, at great length. It took me a couple of minutes to find a multitude of recent and not so recent threads on this very topic and I would invite future questions to be preceeded by at least a search.

~Daniel

 

[Kasey]

i apolagize, i found a bunch of threads but i think i'd have to go through dozens of different ones to find the info i needed. if someone knows of a thread that would give me a direct answer please post it. i'm sorry, i looked through a bunch but couldnt completely find what i was looking for. i'll go search again.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Now a barrage of comments are sure to follow making me look like an ass for not posting an expected response.

I might as well be the first one to pile on!

Kasey,

I've re-read your question and I believe there are some unique questions you are asking that should be directly addressed. My apologies.

1 - All the 1/2" - 8 track reel to reel decks you mentioned were designed specifically to handle 10.5" reels only and this is mainly due to the fact that all of these machines run with NAB, 3" sized reel clamper's that clamp the reels to the recorder.

Most tape manufacturers only offer 10.5" reels of blank tape in the 1/2" width sizes so if you really have a strong personal need for 7" reels, you will need to order specialty empty reels and transfer the tape on the bigger rolls onto them...Not many tape supply houses will carry them so be prepared to pay top dollar if and when you find them.

2 - I'm not sure about the Otari deck mentioned but, all of the TASCAM decks you inquired about only run at 15 ips speed. They do offer pitch controls but these will only be in the 12~15% speed range up or down from the normal 15 ips running speed.

Smaller 4 track decks that run on 1/4" tape will offer much of the functionality you seemed to deem desirable in your original post so perhaps if you can live with less tracks, the TASCAM 22-4 deck would fill all of your speed and reel size requirements.

There are also a few decks from Fostex out there which offered the 1/4" - 8 track format that would run only on smaller 7" reels but these are narrow format decks that will cut your track width real estate in half.

As for which is the best 8 track out there, please continue to search old posts for which there are a multitude of threads on that specific topic.

Cheers!

 

[Kasey]

I might as well be the first one to pile on!

Kasey,

I've re-read your question and I believe there are some unique questions you are asking that should be directly addressed. My apologies.

1 - All the 1/2" - 8 track reel to reel decks you mentioned were designed specifically to handle 10.5" reels only and this is mainly due to the fact that all of these machines run with NAB, 3" sized reel clamper's that clamp the reels to the recorder.

Most tape manufacturers only offer 10.5" reels of blank tape in the 1/2" width sizes so if you really have a strong personal need for 7" reels, you will need to order specialty empty reels and transfer the tape on the bigger rolls onto them...Not many tape supply houses will carry them so be prepared to pay top dollar if and when you find them.

2 - I'm not sure about the Otari deck mentioned but, all of the TASCAM decks you inquired about only run at 15 ips speed. They do offer pitch controls but these will only be in the 12~15% speed range up or down from the normal 15 ips running speed.

Smaller 4 track decks that run on 1/4" tape will offer much of the functionality you seemed to deem desirable in your original post so perhaps if you can live with less tracks, the TASCAM 22-4 deck would fill all of your speed and reel size requirements.

There are also a few decks from Fostex out there which offered the 1/4" - 8 track format that would run only on smaller 7" reels but these are narrow format decks that will cut your track width real estate in half.

As for which is the best 8 track out there, please continue to search old posts for which there are a multitude of threads on that specific topic.

Cheers!

thank you very much. well, i suppose i can live with just the 10.5" tapes. i just like having a seperate tape for each song, so i thought i could save money if they were shorter but aparently its the opposite so its all ok. I definetly need 8 tracks though. Do you know which recorders i mentioned have noise reduction with them? I don't really want to have to go out and buy a noise reduction unit.

 

[Beck]

That narrows it down. The TSR-8 is the only one with built in Noise reduction – DBX.