Otari: to buy or not to buy

T

Totalage

New member
Hi, I know next to nothing about home recording, but I want to start. I found an Otari MX5050 MKIII-8 reel to reel tape recorder at a pawn shop for $675. I can probably talk them down to $600.
The problem is, my friend told me that these machines require a "calibration tape"....and....uh....something else as well.....I don't remmeber exactly what.....whatever the case, this machine doesn't come with the tape or with.....er.....whatever else it was that I supposedly need. Oh, and there's no instruction manual.

I'm fairly sure that this is the sort of machine I want; but is it worth it, or am I better off finding a machine with a calibration tape elsewhere (ebay perhaps)?
 
You might want to read up on if you want to start recording with analogue or digital? Have a search on the articles on here and find out what suits your needs, theres nothing worse than throwing alot of money at something and finding out its now what you need..
 
I'm pretty sure this is the sort of thing I'm looking for (I have a friend who's made some great recordings with the same machine), the question is more about whether it'd be a fair buy or not since I would have to find a calibration tape somewhere (are these difficult to find?), plus the fact that I'd have no instruction manual (would this really be necessary for such a simple machine?).
 
so....anyone?

So are calibration tapes for these machines easy to find/fairly cheap? Am I better off finding a reel-to-reel that comes with a calibration tape and instruction booklet???
 
Those old Otari's are practically worthless compared to today's recording technology. You can get the same unit on eBay for about 200 bucks.

You WILL be disappointed.

This doesn't sound like a 2" Otari machine. This is not the holy grail "analog tape wowie zowie" sound people talk about.

Do yourself a favor and go digital. It is way more forgiving for newcomers to recording.
 
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