Call For Opinions: Otari MX-70 16trk vs. Tascam MS16

  • Thread starter Thread starter lo.fi.love
  • Start date Start date
lo.fi.love

lo.fi.love

Functionally obsessed.
There's no criteria here... I'm just curious to know how the readers here would compare the two machines. Have experiences with both? Please tell!!

I haven't been making much music lately... taking care of other things in life. Just thought I'd throw in this little question and say Hi to my HomeRecording friends :)

J
 
Talldog has considerable experience with both I believe. One nice thing about the MX-70 is that there was a 1" 8-track version so arguably it is feasible to convert to 1" 8-track if you get the 16-track version. Though I suppose you could do this with the MS-16 as well but you'd have to have heads custom made.
 
Hey! Yeah, I'm aware of the 8-track version. I've seen one in person and I'm sure they're impressive machines. In fact the tech who calibrated my MX5050 mixdown recorder said he'd recommend the 8-track MX70 over other 1" 8 track machines - I'm guessing because they'd be newer than a lot of the other machines in that format.

Between the MS16 and MX70, though, I've been curious to know how the two might compare sonically, because they're the only two machines which use the 1" 16 track format that I know of. Unless one has a substantially better S/N ratio than the other, I can't think of any reasons why the two would be different. Hopefully Talldog will pitch in :)
 
hey
I use both the 8-track version of the MX70 and an MS16 as my two main machines.
I find that the MX70 has a much better transport.
On the other hand, my MX70 presented with a couple pricey-to-resolve but very common issues: bad relays and noisy custom FET pack ICs.
I don't like using dbx so it's no issue for me, but I don't believe MX70s usually comes with noise reduction (they include a connector and each card has a NR switching relay tho).
A big plus for the MX70 for me is the speed switching options and the ability to choose between CCIR and NAB.
If you like tape-y special effects, another bonus is the ability to switch between input/sync and repro on each individual track with the MX70 (handy for ADT and flanging).
I can't comment on the sound differences because I'm dealing with two different track widths... talldog will be the man to answer that.
 
Do that...also do a search for his threads because I think there have been a couple that highlighted his experience with the two machines.
 
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