Finding Cassettes

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thunderbread

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Hi, I'm new to analog and recording in general. I just got a Tascam Porta 02, and I'm excited to start. The issue of cassettes is absolutely baffling me right now, though. The manual says the Porta 02 should use 'Type II' chrome tape. When I look up blank cassettes on Amazon, though, I don't see any sort of spefications like that.

Also, I think I'd rather go with the approach of recording one song per tape, so I'd like to find tapes that are <20 minutes. This just makes it more difficult though, adding one more specification. I don't think Amazon will have what I'm looking for, and I'm usually pretty wary about ordering off the internet, so... do you guys know of any reputable sites that have a wide selection of tape? Or even better, any stores that would have it? Apparently Best Buy does, but I didn't see any when I looked today, and I doubt it would be what I'm looking for.

And another thing, that stuff seems to be expensive! Damn, I'm already considering going digital and I haven't even recorded one track yet... with this whole tape situation I don't know if I'll ever be able to!
 
Tascam's owner's manuals usually specify Maxell XL II or TDK SA 90 by name. You can find both on Amazon. I got a whole stash there.
 
Heh, thanks. I actually found the Maxell XL II through a review on Amazon, but I was hoping there'd be a better way. I mean holy shit, that's like 5 bucks every time I want to record a song!
 
They have become a lot more expensive since I stocked up. I remember when you could go to a record store and buy bricks of them for practically nothing. I'd try Best Buy and other electronics places again.
 
Hey, thanks. I also found a pretty good deal on ebay.
 
No problem. The situation isn't dire just yet, fortunately. I just snagged a few more sealed 90 minute tapes at an average cost of about $3.60 each, including shipping.
 
Also,check out some Thrift stores.Sometimes you can find unused cassettes or used ones.If you can find a bulk eraser,you could erase a bunch of used ones.
 
Yep, I agree eBay has gotten crazy... unless you know just what to look for or get lucky with a buy-it-Now. It's because we're bidding against collectors who mostly want old stock of Japanese origin. I know the OP wants shorter tapes, but since other members will no doubt be looking here I wanted to share a happy accident I came across with Maxell XL-II 60 and 90 minute tapes made from around 2002-2005.

I'll try to make a long story short, but these tapes simply say "Assembled in Mexico" on the individual tapes. However, that's not the whole story. Over a few short years Maxell USA made a lot of operational changes and laws changed concerning what a manufacturer had to include on a product as far as its origin. If you're lucky enough to get these tapes in a box this is what it says on the bottom. "Assembled in Mexico with Japan and US components." The XLII made in the years right before this said, "Tape made in Japan and assembled in USA." A call to Maxell revealed the rest of the story about the "Assembled in Mexico" tape. The tape is made in Japan as before and the US components are the cassette shells. All Tascam USA did was outsource Assembly to Mexico to reduce costs. Otherwise these tapes are the same in every way. Same tape from Japan and same cassette shell from USA. Most importantly they sound great! I stocked up on a modest amount compared to some of the hoarding folks out there and can vouch for them. I was always a TDK man back in the day, but this is the era I started liking Maxell just as well. Here's what they look like. You'll see them much cheaper on eBay than older vintage, but we're not trying to collect, but record so we have the last laugh here as collectors pass on these because they don't say, "Made in Japan." :)

*One more note. I understand the reasoning by the OP to try to find short tapes and put one song per tape... but in practice over the years I've found the longer tapes work for me because I may want different takes and versions on one tape. It often seems the third time is the charm when getting a song right on cassette multitrack. Also there is no thicker tape below 60-minute. It's all the same thickness as 60-minute and below. However, 90-minute is slightly thinner and the maximum length tape recommend for portastudios. I'm using the XLII 90's now with excellent results. I also use the 60-minute, but don't have as many of those around. Hope that helps.
 

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Thanks for the info, Beck. I honestly don't look at the country of origin on tape packaging. I assume the same tape with the same packaging is the same formulation and quality. Thanks for confirming that.

This thread has helped me get over my phobia of "wasting a scarce and precious commodity". I have enough tape now that I will probably never run out. Time to bust out the ol' 424 and start wasting some tape! :D
 
diggy_dude said:
Tascam's owner's manuals usually specify Maxell XL II or TDK SA 90 by name. You can find both on Amazon. I got a whole stash there.
Click to expand...

I believe you'd really want to use 60 minute tapes,...
Almost every portastudio manual states 60 minutes or less. Preferably between 30 & 60 minutes.
Although, you can get away with 90's,..it is not recommended.
 
I've used both 60's and 90's, preferring 60's by a bit over the years for the little extra tensile strength and slightly better print-though. However from the first portastudio C-90 has been one of those recommended. They expressly recommend against 100 or 120 -minute and longer, but 90’s have always been officially cool. As far as sonic performance they’re the same… they have the same oxide thickness. And if you’re using dbx, which so many do, the print-through is even less of a consideration. There are a lot more 90’s left over these days, so we’re sort of in a get what we can get within reason.
 
VESSEL2020 said:
I believe you'd really want to use 60 minute tapes,...
Almost every portastudio manual states 60 minutes or less. Preferably between 30 & 60 minutes.
Although, you can get away with 90's,..it is not recommended.
Click to expand...

My 424 and MT4X manuals say 90 minutes or less, as Beck said.
 
Hey Lance ! If you don't mind me asking exactly which NAC tape stock are you tracking.
 
Anyone know the story on data backup cassettes? Useful for audio? normal or high bias? (The seller refers to it as audio, but there is no info as to what type of tape is in there, thickness of tape compared to a 60, 90, 120 etc..anybody tried these out? )

http://cgi.ebay.com/TEAC-CT-600H-SE...2201914?pt=BI_Blank_Media&hash=item20bb5a2a3a
_________________________________________
National Data Conversion

Teac Cassette Cartridges CT500, CT600H, CT600N
 Based on the audio cassette tape, originally developed by TEAC and OEM'd by a few companies (Wang used an early 10/20mb version on their 22000 series) they can hold 60MB, 150MB, and 600MB depending on cartridge and drive type. We support all cassette tape formats.
 
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