why would you be perterbed? Why are you phasing it out?
I'd be thinking, if I have to get this baby fixed and it was already of an irregular design, finding parts for it may be a very difficult task. I've spent months looking for someone that services 488's. I've had mine since '92 (it's a mk1) and I used to get it serviced yearly at Tascam then they closed down their servicing dept and gave me the number of this guy who they used to subcontract out to. The last time it was serviced, about 6 or 7 years back, the guy told me business was getting bad and he didn't know how long he would still be doing this. Well, last time I went to see about getting a service (some of my transport buttons now act independently !) the guy's workshop was empty as indeed were many in the building. I called him on the number I had for him but that was dead. So began my search for someone that could deal with it. I kept getting told that it was an old model and I'd be lucky if anyone still existed that dealt with 488's. In fact, half the time, when I mentioned the 488, I got blank stares....Anyway, I've managed to find someone that put in new buttons, ironically just a couple of miles away.
As for why I'm phasing it out; let me start by saying that I've loved my 488. It is, as far as I'm concerned, a fabulous machine and I've recorded tons of songs on it, over 150 over the last 18 years and I'm still finishing off a whole load. I don't think I'm good at mixing but I kind of like it and I've had oodles of fun. About 6 or so years ago, I felt like I wanted to get something with a few more tracks and having shunned the digital world, began a little preliminary reading, most of which I did not understand. You know, when I used to do a mix on the 488, though it would end up on 8 tracks, there could be upwards of 30-40 tracks worth of stuff, due to track sharing and bouncing (you know, backing vocals could be 2-6 tracks bounced to one). The mark 1 allowed simultaneous recording on four tracks but there were only two with mic inputs and I always felt that the drums and percussion suffered because of that. Once I discovered stereo pairs, I'd do the drums and percussion as a stereo pair but so often find I was screwed at mixdown because they were fixed. Also, if I was left down to one or two tracks, whatever was being played had to be dead right, without the luxury of doing stuff in sections then bouncing it together as one continuous performance. It's easy for people to sneer at that but on instruments that I wasn't proficient on, it made for more than passable elements. When I read about virtual tracks, that appealed because it meant that if I was down to my last actual playback track, I might still have 100 virtuals that I could use to collate whatever would be going on it then just bounce it as one. And also, I quite liked the idea of being able to do some editing. I would have done it on tape with a razor (in my teens, I used to use my Dad's razor and block to fix cassettes but by my late 20s I'd lost my nerve !
) but I wasn't taking that risk. Now if a song is down and I get an additional idea, I can insert it in. I can also record different parts in whichever order is convenient to who is available and put it all together. For example, a piece I did the other day involved, at the end, an accapella bit which is actually going to be the start. So there is a certain convenience, and also for example, if my drum friends have left out cymbal crashes in places I want them, I can just take a bit from where they have 'cymballed' and paste it where I want.
There were other reasons but they were the main ones. I use now both the 488 and an AKAI DPS12i and I like it. It's not harsh sounding at all. In fact, it sounds as analog as the 488 which surprized me. The AKAI has been discontinued but it's just like using a portastudio. It's just like the 488 except for the editing, more live inputs and other things that I don't yet get ! I'd never knock portastudios, Tascams or analog. Neither do I champion digital over and above. For me those arguments are null and void. They both exist and they're both cool as far as I'm concerned, like gas cookers and microwaves. Great music doesn't care what it's made on....
