Just a rookie

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Gilly

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I am trying to get a recorder for practice and playing with. I have put a post on the nebbie section and am getting alot of the go digital thing. I am not very tech savvy and my computer was made back when moses was in high school so i dont think it will work to well. anyway I was just wondering what is a good entry level 4 track tape machine. I dont need anything fancy and i do need it to be fairly cheap. thanks for any help that you can give.
 
Try the Tascam 424 mkIII

Not only is it easy to operate, but I understand you can make some pretty darn good sounding tapes on it as well. I think they run about $329.00. It's the best NEW 4-track cassette out there.

Bruce in Korea
 
Check around the recording studios in your area and see if they might have an old 4 track reel to reel unit they may be willing to unload. It may even come with manuals, spare parts, etc. It will also most likely have been well cared for. At this point with the digital stuff being so cheap a lot of these types of machines are going for practically nothing. It's a shame because by going this route you will have a whole new appreciation for the digital recording process if/when you get to that point. I am so glad I grew up doing the analog recording thing and so sorry I waited so long to get interested into digital recording.
Also, you may want to reconsider the digital recording thing. I mean, if you are going to spend $500-$600 for an analog machine, that could put a very usable PC that you built your self on your desk and you could get started that way and build from there.
 
Just an FYI that when I made my first guitar and vocal tracks on a little-old Tascam Porta02 I was not pleased with the thin, sort of dead sound I got. I'm coming to realize (after reading all the good information in the discussion at this site and others) that it was mainly my setup and techniques, not the recorder. I'm working on going digital now, but the other day, out of curiosity, I went back to the Portastudio with a couple of decent mics and a mic preamp and was amazed! The preamp alone was a factor, and made the good mics better. If you're curious I have a couple of raw, unpolished sound bites at my site. A bit is lost in the translation to digital (I only have a cheap 16 bit card, and these are MP3's) but even so the preamped version definitely sounds much more 'alive'.

http://www.frozenblues.com/4-track_tips.html

Have fun!

Frozen
 
Take it from someone who tried to go digital with a "not so hot" computer setup. IT'S A TOTAL PAIN IN THE ARSE!

I got into recording about 5 years ago with my computer. And even then my system was about 2 generations old at the time. The money I spent upgrading motherboards, processors, RAM, operating systems and sound cards could have gone toward a nice new 424, at least a pair of SM57s, a decent preamp, and enough tape to choke a bull moose.

A few weeks ago, I borrowed a friend's TASCAM 424 MKII, and I was really surprised and impressed with the results. The nightmares have begun to fade.

But in all fairness, the prices for computer components have dropped like a rock in the last year or so. So, it's probably not quite the same ball game these days.
 
It is a pain in the arse to get up and running! But if you have the computer already, you can do a lot with very little $. Speaking from a Macintosh perspective: Protools Free - free! TC Works Spark ME - free! My 2-channel input device (Griffin Imic) was $35. I may buy Bias-Inc Deck LE for $80 because it runs on Apple's new OS X operating system which I prefer. But that's about it for now! I'm in business for less than $100. Still plan on playing around with my Portastudio, though - a lot has been said about the warmth of tape compression and I want to see if I hear it or not. I may even go to a hybrid setup where I record two channels via tape at the same time as two more channels via computer - then import the audio off the tape and re-combine.
 
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