Non-pro cassette deck recommendations for A/D transfer.

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morangie18

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I'm trying to help my father, a music lover/collector and not a musician or audiophile...please bear that in mind, figure out the best way to transfer his collection of 4500 to 5000 hours of cassette based music with no significant compromise to playback quality (with respect to the source) to digital format. Some of the recordings are old enough they are just starting to fade but not so bad that he cares about quality correciton yet.

The best I've come up with so far for this one time (albeit significant) recording task is to invest in one of the Behringer UCA202 USB Interface
devices. (Already tried the line-in on his PC audio card with RCA adapters from his existing deck before finding this forum...needless to say everyones observations were experimentally confirmed...the quality sucks.)

He's also interested in getting a dedicated playback deck for the job and then later as a back-up when/if his existing deck tied into his stereo system dies. I think he's had a few parts go bad in the past on the existing one and doesn't want to worry about future repairs since he's not collecting analog media anymore.

Any suggestions on a solid playback deck, preferrably with a relatively simple user interface, that will very likely handle the job with no qualms? I'd guess a budget <= $300 would be acceptable.

Any other suggestions for a general method are appreciated too. I've suggested a send out service to do it all for him but he doesn't like the idea. He's a collector...likes to catalog, organize, list, etc...he put this original colleciton together and wants the challange and satisfaction of doing the work on it. Understandable.

Thanks for your inputs.
 
:DYo Morangie of 18 levels:]

Wellllll, there are a gaggle of "tape decks" of good quality out there that fit in or under your budget.

I suggest you call Brendan @ Sweetwater Sound. [NO, I don't work there.]

Tell him what you are doing and need and let him give you a few suggestions.

BTW--He just had a baby girl so he is in a dealing mood. And, you can call any of the 800 numbers/via the net/ and check out prices.

I'm currently doing a friend a favor and translating "OLD" tapes to CD. YUK! Some of the tapes he gave me have Alamo Dust on them.

Enjoy the great weather.

Green Hornet:cool:
 
Wow that is a lot of transferring, eh? Holy cow. I have a setup that would be pretty good for this, but good luck getting an efficient setup for $300. I have 4 old Revox B215 decks + 1 Tascam 122 deck that I can feed into a Delta 1010LT all at one time (I run one of the decks into a Sony Dat recorder, used as A/D convertor so I can utilize the SPDIF on the Delta). Record all of them into some kind of multitrack software (Cubase SE will work fine), making sure to name each track significantly so you can find the audio files later, and they aren't all named Track_001, Track_002, or whatever.
So I would recommend starting with a Delta 1010LT, and just getting as many used decks off of Ebay as you can. Doing these one at a time on a single deck would take an eternity.
 
If it were me doing that many transfers, I'd probably pick up the Tascam 102mkII. Or something similar. Still relatively inexpensive, but a bit more rugged than the usual plastic junk you'll find in the usual consumer electronics stores. With that much use planned for it transferring favorite recordings, I think you want something a few cuts above the norm.

http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--TAS102MKII

Also, "pro" cassette decks can cost considerably more than the Tascam 102mkII, or at least they did back in the day.
 
I have one of these laying around...
http://www.sweetwater.com/store/closeup/CDA500--Main

Then, he can play back his C.D.s after he converts them.:p I could part with it for $150 plus shipping. Its going to be heavy so it will probably be around $50 shipping, just a guess though. Let me know if you are interested.

notbradsohner AT yahoo DOT com
 
That Tascam CD-A500 is a great suggestion. Seems perfect for what he needs to do.
 
Yeah that would be a decent deal. But don't be confused, it won't actually record direct from tape to CD; you will still have to play the tape into the computer or something.
 
Reggie said:
Yeah that would be a decent deal. But don't be confused, it won't actually record direct from tape to CD; you will still have to play the tape into the computer or something.
Click to expand...

Oops, you're right. It records from CD to cassette internally, but not the other way around. So it looks like that Tascam cassette machine mentioned earlier, into the computer would be the way to go.
 
morangie18 said:
I'm trying to help my father, a music lover/collector and not a musician or audiophile...please bear that in mind, figure out the best way to transfer his collection of 4500 to 5000 hours of cassette based music with no significant compromise to playback quality (with respect to the source) to digital format. Some of the recordings are old enough they are just starting to fade but not so bad that he cares about quality correciton yet.

The best I've come up with so far for this one time (albeit significant) recording task is to invest in one of the Behringer UCA202 USB Interface
devices. (Already tried the line-in on his PC audio card with RCA adapters from his existing deck before finding this forum...needless to say everyones observations were experimentally confirmed...the quality sucks.)

He's also interested in getting a dedicated playback deck for the job and then later as a back-up when/if his existing deck tied into his stereo system dies. I think he's had a few parts go bad in the past on the existing one and doesn't want to worry about future repairs since he's not collecting analog media anymore.

Any suggestions on a solid playback deck, preferrably with a relatively simple user interface, that will very likely handle the job with no qualms? I'd guess a budget <= $300 would be acceptable.

Any other suggestions for a general method are appreciated too. I've suggested a send out service to do it all for him but he doesn't like the idea. He's a collector...likes to catalog, organize, list, etc...he put this original colleciton together and wants the challange and satisfaction of doing the work on it. Understandable.

Thanks for your inputs.
Click to expand...

Check this out:
http://www.happymedium.com/nkdr10.htm

These are fine decks.
 
Much to digest...excellent!

Guy's, a big thanks for all the inputs.

The general consensus seems to be that this is a lot of work...and no doubt. It's exactly the thing he'll like doing though for hours on end. He'll probably make it a point to actually sit and listen to each recording as it get's transferred...just for the satisfaction of saying he has again. :D just the way he's built.

Anyway the TASCAM or Nakamichi seems to be the way to go. He'll probably be willing to poney up a little more of an investement after he reads a little about them. I'll pass the specs on your suggestions along.

The Delta 1010LT seems great but total overkill on the I/O's and a little pricey when comparing it to that Behringer UCA202 USB Interface...is there something similar out there for less that does the same job with just one or two I/O's that has the better 96kHz converter? Could be PCI or USB based.
 
Nakamichi is good, I own one of their MR-1 cassette decks. I haven't used the DR10, so I can't comment on it specifically.
 
What about the Audophile 2496?

From a newbie point of view the Audiophile 2496 seems to have all the right stuff for about half the price of the Delta1010LT...?
 
Where oh where...

MCI2424 said:
Check this out:

"happymedium.com/nkdr10.htm"

These are fine decks.
Click to expand...


There's officially some interest on this end in the Nakamichis and Tascams. Tascams are easy to find...Nakamichis are a different story if you're looking for a new one. I tried calling Happy Medium (~4:20 pm CDT) but got no answer. Will try again tomorrow I guess. Having a really tough time finding another retailer. Googling is turning up zilch so far. Any suggestions?
 
Hmm we're in the same boat, I have a suggestion!

Have u tried going on ionaudio.com???? Look up the Mixmeister U RECORD
USB Audio Interface....Should cost u about $49 bucks...and I believe it even comes with recording software....U might want to look for it on Ebay as well..Just a suggestion...Iam trying to do the same thing, but I might just go with the Ion usb interface....I see u mentioned the Behringer, I didnt even know about it...Nice....Dunno which one to go for....Did u get the behringer? I think if u have a tape deck already, theres no point in getting another one, especially if it doesnt have a usb output/input...Anyway, let me know personally if u do go with the Behringer or the Ion URecord interface...I want to know if they work, or if they are worth it...Cheap price, cheaper than paying $300 for a tape deck...Oh yeah theres also a deck called the Ion Cassette To USB or 2 in 1....that i saw on the Ion website...Anyway if u do find anything out please give me recommendations or feedback! Ive been trying to go digital with my cassettes as well...Heres my email if anything ever comes up...drakemsc@msn.com....Thanks, and good luck! I hope this lil bit info helped!
 
Not trying to be a jerk, thabeatnut, but the most recent post here, before yours, was about 21 months ago...
 
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