Got an M8!! Which tape machine.....

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morte sicura

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Hi everyone,

I just snagged a slightly used Soundcraft M8 for the project studio I'm building this fall. A bang-up deal! Next step is a tape machine.... I would like to spend around $500.

I am primarily considering a Tascam DA-38 because of its reliability, quality, and status as something of a "standard" in the industry. I can be up and running with a minimum of fuss, I can easily take the unit into another studio if need be, and from what I've read, the sound-quality bang for the buck is really high. There was a DA-38 thread on Harvey Gerst's new forum over at prosoundweb.com/recpit, and the positive responses were encouraging!

However, there are some attractive prices on Otari MX5050 series 1/2" 8-tracks, and on various 1/2" Tascam 8-tracks as well. Any work done outside my studio will be at a facility that has several tape machines including a Tascam TSR-8. (Of course, I could also take a DA-38 there if need be.) Soooooo, if I can find a good machine and get it to my home without damaging it, the notion of going analog is appealing to me as well. It's just that selecting and transporting an analog deck is much more challenging. I must say that although I haven't worked on a tape machine before, I am a successful tinkerer - just about everything I own outside of my laptop is around 30 years old, and I generally do my own work, so I am willing to learn.

Last choice would be a hard disk system such as a Roland VSR-880. Not a lot of info in my head on these yet, much research to do.

Any comments and input welcome! I want to be into a tape machine in six weeks or so, and I am an hour outside of Atlanta, so I know there will be some resources nearby once I make my decision. And - it may be less of a decision about a particular machine and more of a decision about a particularly good deal.

Alright, out to the clubs to enjoy some live music!


Thanks,
Andrew >>|
 
The Otari and TASCAM units are great. The TSR-8 and 38-8 are both good machines. Some of the 38-8's experience sticking relays or relays that go out all together. Mine were sticking a bit when I first got it, but it cleared up after regular use.

The TSR-8 is only a two-head deck and the 38-8 has all three heads. I think the difference is in the alignment and calibration proceedures. Plus you're playing back everything off of the sync head instead of the repro head.

If you are going to be transfering the tapes from your soon-to-be-aquired deck, to another one at a different studio, the very first thing you should do is have it professionally aligned and calibrated to standard specs.

If you don't it may be a nightmare when you playback the tape or try and record tracks on another machine. This is assuming of course that the other machine is calibrated and aligned correctly too.

If you are still considering the digital TASCAM why not go with the DA-88? That was a top of the line machine when it was introduced. They are running right around the same price as the 38-8.

If it were me, I'd stick with the 1/2" tape and use a DAT to mix down to.
 
The DA-38 is a great machine. So is the DA-88. That being said I have 5 DA-38's and 3 DA-88's and I dont use any of em :) We've gone tapeless for the most part.

Its a tough choice. The 38 has better sounding converters and true dithering, actually 18 bit ADC's that record 16 bit to tape

however

The DA-88 is BRUTALLY reliable( not that I've had much trouble with the 38) and if you get one with an SY-88 sync card, you will have no trouble chasing or sending smpte or midi time code

there may be options for sync for the DA-38, but I just know how painless it is with an 88

if you go analog, make sure you LEARN alignment procedures, as this opens you up to a whole new world of creative possibilities. I've got an Otari MTR-90, NOTHING is actually recorded to it, it is just for effects, and works GREAT in that capacity
 
My curiosity is piqued Aaron, how do you use the 24 track Otari for effects.

I would suggest the TASCAM ATR series I picked a pristine 16 track ATR-60 for $1000 bucks which may be below average but still a steal compared to the sticker price of a new 16 track 1" machine, plus I love the sound of tape. That said there is nothing wrong with the TASCAM DA series recorders, they kick the greasy balls off the Alesis crap.

Stay the hell away from any all-in-one boxes like the roland modules, they include mixer, effects, eq and compression all at a huge compromise. If you have a good analog mixer this is extremely redundant.

Why not use an 8-16 track computer recorder for your setup? Edits are a breeze and with enough outputs you can mix in hardware land with the best tape machines. And I'm sure Aaron can attest to the audio quality of 24bit recording on a computer DAW.
 
my stupid bad....its an otari mtr12 mk2 1/4" / 1/2" 2 track

shows how much I use it huh ?( and how many mtr-90's Ive algined/fixed over the years)

I will use it as a compressor, or EQ or flanger or even crazy delay

most of the time I put on an old reel of 499 aligned at +9 running at 15 IPS. I send in stuff from the PC burying the needles and rerecord it back into the PC rightoff the repro head. Usually I do this with guitars but sometimes drums, sometimes guitar and drums at the same time for a sidechain ( sort of ) effect
 
A follow-up... The DA-38 is getting consideration over the 88 (though only slightly) because many people have said it sounds slightly better. Also, David Barbe over at Chase Park Transduction said it just kills any of the 1/2" 8-track analog tape options out there, especially for someone just starting out.

I should mention that if I go with a DA series machine, I will definitely be picking up an analog machine of some typa after six months or so. I'll just need to spend some time learning the ins and outs of setup, so it would be nice to have the DA up and running so I can still be recording if I have to tinker with the analog deck. Might even settls for a 1/2" 4-track at that point, who knows?

I am still kicking myself for missing a $500 Otari MX5050 8-track in January. It was super-sweet and well-maintained, only three hours from my house, and came recommended by a studio-owner friend of mine :-( oh well. I needed a new computer and bought an iBook instead.

On the subject of computers, I am fooling around a bit with ProTools Free, and I will probably need to use the laptop for some of my music. Firewire options are still limited at this time - MoTU, PreSonus and Metric Halo. A/D converter quality is an issue as well. But if I really need something bumped around inside the computer, there are several ProTools rigs aroun. I can probably just sweet-talk my way into an afternoon booking and drive the DA-38 over and dump everything and burn it to CD.

And I know I'll need to choose a mixdown deck as well, but I can put that off for a couple of months since I'll basically be writing with the gear (I can't play every instrument at once, ya know) and probably will not have anything ready for mixing until December.

Thanks for the replies so far, looking forward to reading more!

Andrew >>|
 
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