Need help on MSR-16 from you tape guru's please.

[Gylfi]

Hey guys, havent been to this "new venue" for the Tascam forum since it moved. Hope you're all still here and well !
Here's a dilemma I just started encountering.
My MSR-16 is all of a sudden playing back slightly "detuned" and audio has a hint of high rate "vibrato" to it.
When unit is first turned on it plays fine but in 5 minutes it starts behaving this way.
I'm slaving a sequencer to the tape via smtp and have no issues reading the stripe.
Any ideas as to would be much appreciated ?

 

[The Ghost of FM]

The basic things to look at first is the health of your tapes and the cleanliness of the transport's tape path.

An older, sticky tape with the beginning signs of shedding, will squeak from the friction of the the tape sticking to guides and heads.

Are you noticing any abnormal tape squeaking or faster build up of oxide on the heads and guides? Higher humidity, summer time temperatures are not ideal for recorders and tape.

If the health of the tape is good and the path is clean, the next issue might be a belt, though, I don't know if the MSR-16 is belt driven on the capstan? If it is, it might need replacement.

If not belt driven, also look at the health and condition of the pinch roller. Is it clean and smooth looking? Is it giving proper pressure against the capstan to pull the tape?

If the pinch roller is good, next is internal servo circuits that regulate voltages to the motors. This falls into the realm of qualified service technicians to trouble shoot and diagnose.

Let us know what you find.

Cheers!

 

[Gylfi]

Hey Ghost !

Thanks for your post man.
None of the things you mention are at fault I believe.
The deck itself is well aligned and always cleaned, demagnetized etc...
I'm using a recently purchased batch of tapes, no traces of shedding or such.
I'm leaning towards a bad transformer in one of my outboard pieces, sending shit out to the DC supply.
I'll be disconnecting them one by one as I go along to eliminate that theory.
This is a puzzle fer sure.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Mysteries suck!

Good luck on your quest for the culprit on this!

I used to be "thefontmeister" at the old TASCAM BBS, by the way.

There is also a new TASCAM forum! Of which I am the Mod in the Analog section there.

You might also try your question there as many of the old regulars are there too.

http://www.vaporpark.com/invboard/index.php?s=

Cheers!

 

[timmerman]

Storage Tapes, Keeping Tapes in Machines etc.

11th July, Leeds,UK 2004

Dear Ghost,

I know it may start to sound a little silly all this talk about tapes and type of tapes etc, however here is something I came across and I am not too sure about: Is it fine to keep your tapes in your machine, e.g let us say you have been recording and, after you have finished, you just keep your tape in the machine [because in that way you always know where to find them] or is it better to store them in their appropriate boxes?.

Apart from this I came across something in Craig Anderton's book "Homerecording for musicians" and he mentioned something about taking your tape out of the machine before your power down the recorder.

Thinking about all these questions, they are very small details, aren't we a bunch of nitpickers, trying to get the best of whatever we can? It seems that a lot of audio-recording and other related discussions focus on such small details, even in reviews about gear. It is all about detail. Worst of all [ or at least this is my experience] reading all this info makes you focus on even more of these small details. The big picture is just to create inspiring music, which can be enjoyed by anyone of us. Oh yes, but you need these details about gear to create this inspiring music, isn't it?

Another thing, if you don't mind me asking, you seem to spend a lot of time on this site and on your computer. As I am typing this, you are here as well. Hey it is fun to read about anything we all love so much.

Sorry for my long letter, or do you not mind, anyway, let us know.

See ya,

Eddie

 

[The Ghost of FM]

The little details?

Most hobbies are filled with little details!

If there are no details, it ain't much of a hobby, is it?

About tapes;

Store them away from your machine. If you can't remember where you put them, perhaps you have larger issues to deal with?

Turn the power off after you remove your tapes from them and always turn the power on before you put them back on the deck. This will avoid electromagnetic episodes!

Cheers!

 

[timmerman]

Sundat,11th July, Leeds,UK,2004

Thank you dear Ghost for your quick reply, and yes I agree we needs some of those details to keep the spark flowing.

Are there any "larger issues going on"? Well you know life is complex, and tech. details are not always the most enjoyalbe ones. I was not aware of the electro magnectic issue, however it makes sense. Does it work like static eclectricity?, so surfaces rubbing each other and therefore building about a eclectro-magnectic field.

The Hobby-thing.....well it may have started as a hobby, but as it is it becomes more professional, but this may also be something of people who love their hobby, and then trying to turn it into a profession.

See ya later

 

[The Ghost of FM]

I was not aware of the electro magnetic issue, however it makes sense. Does it work like static electricity?, so surfaces rubbing each other and therefore building about a electro-magnetic field.

Not exactly.

In a recorder, you have motors. Big motors in some cases and all of them having both permanent and electro magnetics from the armature windings in the phases of the motor.

When these power up and down, there are buildups and releases of this magnetic field energy which radiate within their field strength, which in many cases, extends to where the tapes are sitting on the reel tables.

The same can also be said of the heads, which also have electromagnetic coil windings in them.

Hence, the reasoning behind the practise.

A tape left on the machine during this powering up or down cycle exposes the tape to these photon torpedo blasts, as it were. Best to have shields up.

Spock out.

Cheers!