Old School 4-track Compatibilty

  • Thread starter Thread starter sweetaudio
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sweetaudio

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I used to record, long ago, on a Fostex X28H 4-track......I do not have that unit anymore and was wanting to listen to those old recordings.....does anybody know if that 4-track tape will play back on any other 4-track recorders, such as Tascam and other Fostex units....I wasn't sure....the X28H was labeled as a "high-speed" recorder....that leads me to wonder if I will have preblems playing these tapes on other units...let me know what you all think...thanks....peace
 
Sweetaudio,

Most old school 4 track recorders had two speeds on them, regular and high speed. you are just going to have to flip some switches and see what happens.

Carter
 
I can't speak for Fostex machines - but I once tried to do this with old tapes I had from one of the early TASCAM portastudios - I ended up calling TASCAM to get the answer - turns out that the particular head allignment used on the unit that I had was never used in other models, which meant that I would need the same model machine to get true playback. Now, if I had recorded the original tapes on their follow-up machine (to the one I had) I would have been able to get my tapes to play back in a number of different models. Not totally discouraging, because I do see the original model that I had on ebay quite a bit.

So, if no one in the same situation responds, I would suggest finding a number for Fostex support and give them a call - tell them your situation. If the tech is worth his salt, he will have an answer for you (or will be able to direct you to a resource that can help).


Brad
 
I still have the original Portastudio, The Tascam Model 144! It's not working (something burned out) but man, would I love to hear those horrible old tapes!
 
Like Brad said, head alignment will vary from machine to machine and from brand to brand.

Unfortunately, it also varies within the same family of recorders of the same brand.

You might want to take it down to the local pro audio store and "demo" a few units with your tape.

Better hurry though, there aren't many models or brands left and they are disappearing fast.
 
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