Questions around Fostex-28, Cassettes and more stuff.

[psyphon]

QUICK BULLSHIT INTRODUCTION:
Alright, multi question post I am afraid. Hi by the way! I’m Andy, Psyphon was my nick back when the BBS (pre-internett) / Tracker Scene was king in Scandinavia, now turned rock guitarist in a five piece band. And for the time being, I’m currently stuck somewhere in the outskirts of Norway! Me turning guitarist was my revolt against the all the programming I did at that time. So I played acoustic for three years, and then..... blah blah. So yeah, digital domain has been my thing.

QUESTIONS:
The positive side with this place, I’m stuck with a Fostex X-28 Multitracker. God forbids Reason! Well, except for quick strings arrangements. Yar!
Well the Fostex is not mint, mind you. It doesn’t look like it has had a hard life, The Pitch Regulator button is missing, so that means I need to go scavenge some sort of fitting knob from something else.

The tape deck is somewhat “dusty” inside; none of the heads seems to have any corrosion. The shiny PIN that I assume is the where the tape goes around, does have some sort of layering. I smell alcohol / isoprop? – I have cleaned some amps before. I realize it’s a procedure I need to learn if I intend to keep “semi” using this device.

That brings me to the next question, the fancy cassettes. I gotta try to Ebay some cassettes. So what newer types of cassettes are recommended at the time being? Manual recommended specs are: High Bias 70usec EQ tape. CrO2 and Type II designation are common. Maxell UD-XL and TDK-SA. I want clarification on what tapes I should use, I could use, and should NOT use. Pretty please.

I have scavenged a good couple of various brands of nicely used (in stereo systems) cassettes from way back. Is there a no no to blank them out, in that case, what’s the procedure? And does cassettes that have been stored normally in cartridge over several years, degrade? – Inn that case, what will the resulting sound be?

I have the following tapes at my hands that I think works. With more rushing inn, ty facebook!

1 TDK SA-C90 (okay)
1 Maxell UD XL C60 (pristine, tho it does not have two ”recording” notches at other type II’s?)
1 BASF Chromdioxid II (bit shabby)

Then I have a bunch of pristine Maxell UL C90 120useq Normal Bias. And a bunch of Hitachi/Maxell UD C60’s .. but I guess I should disregard them for the Fostex?

When the manual states no metal tapes should be used. Does that include the Ferro tapes? As I assume Ferro is iron.

What I have planned for this baby, is one Semi-noise type EP from my band, then maby lend it to the younger bands to record their practice sessions.

Well, I have one last question. What’s the overall view on recording guitars onto computer, arrange, and then rerecord the computer sequence on to tape. I’m no huge mother on the subsonics and sonics. But I guess the trip via the computer corrupted the signal, or? I have no clue here, so please fill me inn if you know.

I have currently learned more about tapes in one day, than I did during all my walkman youth schoolyard cool act days.

Ty.
Andy

 

[jjones1700]

Welcome to the board.

Just a quick post on tapes. If I am correct (I've never used a Fostex brand machine before), Type II are the only way to go. I'm not sure if TDK still makes the SA-60 tapes anymore. If not, you can still buy 2 pack up to 10 pack lots of Maxell XL-II 60 tapes. Stick with the 60 minute cassettes if at all possible as they are a slightly thicker base and less prone to binding up in the transport.

Hope this helps to point you in the right direction.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

When the manual states no metal tapes should be used. Does that include the Ferro tapes? As I assume Ferro is iron.

Metal tapes were considered Iron Oxide, I believe. Ferrocrome was a type II compatible formulation.

Metal tapes are harder to erase and on a multi-track unit, this could mean trouble when trying to erase one track with out doing damage to the neighboring ones...that's why they recommend against it.

Cheers!

 

[johnmngr]

Types of cassette tape formulations

Good to see someone picking up a cassette multi-track for audio work. Honestly, even with all the bells and whistles that standalone digital units as well as PC's running a DAW can offer, often one of these simple units can do the job just as good without half the setup and hassle. I've used a Yamaha MT1X for over twenty years now.
Most ALL these units, regardless of the brand, (Tascam, Fostex, Yamaha, Vestax, etc.) were set up to use type 2 cassettes with the 70 mircosecond bias. As others have mentioned in this thread, rightly so, because Metal was too hard to erase with the Permalloy heads and the narrow track spacing, and FerriChrome really never took off as a format. Chrome made for the perfect balance between increased dynamic range, and versatility and ease of use and availability. Keep in mind, at the heyday of these units, you could even get Chrome tape in the local department stores!
I have a preference for Maxell's UD-XL series myself, though it's getting harder to find. TDK SA is still available in 5-packs on Amazon.com, and has an excellent sound as well, although it tends in a lot of decks to accentuate the highs a little more than Maxell's formulations, but you can make up for that in the mix-down
There's also some seller on ebay that is offering custom loads in C-90 minute lengths of type 2 chrome formulations in order to facilitate keeping high-bias analog tape going still. I believe Mueller is his last name, probably could find in some searches on that site. I'm thinking of picking of a 25-pack of his private label tapes to see how well they would perform in my multi deck.
The sad thing to see is that both have their places and uses, but digital is edging out analog. If I want to record say, a lecture of about an hour, I'll just track it to stereo on a laptop with a good 2-capsule electret condenser mic to mp3, then use that to burn audio cd copies for training purposes. I used to do that all the time recording training lectures as an a/v tech at a local hospital. That made the most sense, because I could get a quality track, and quick turnaround on the copies to burned to audio CD, that could then be played on almost any CD player, boombox, computer drive, etc.
However, when I track a local band, I at least initially use the analog multi-track. The dedicated mixer, punch in controls, transport controls make recording super easy without having to dither with a mouse, screen and optical graphical user interface. Just punch the appropriate button(s), set levels, and you're golden. I'd check out some of the sources I've mentioned for tape, and don't forget to keep your capstan and pinch roller and heads cleaned, and demag the heads according to the manual specs. Have fun!
-John