Regarding The Tascam 244 And Some Other General Questions

[Bill Furnett]

Hey Reel,

In keeping with the tape talk, is there anything to be said for using shorter lenght tapes such as the TDK SM 30's or 15's ? (If they are even still made!)

I've always (at least) felt the shorter tapes were putting less weight and less FF and RW time on the motors.

Is loading shells with like 15 minutes worth of tape even a worthwhile consideration?

-Billy-

 

[huck.finn]

Hey Reel,

In keeping with the tape talk, is there anything to be said for using shorter lenght tapes such as the TDK SM 30's or 15's ? (If they are even still made!)

I've always (at least) felt the shorter tapes were putting less weight and less FF and RW time on the motors.

Is loading shells with like 15 minutes worth of tape even a worthwhile consideration?

-Billy-

Bill,

my bet is that you would have to get a lot more no? But the price should be considerably cheaper as well i think. I've decided on 60, that's what these fellas are using and they seem to do ok.

 

[A Reel Person]

Yeah, I've heard the shorter, the better,...

in cassette tapes, anyway!............. However, I've never gone below C-60's, 'cause the short runtime just seems too restrictive.

I beg your pardon, but my big tape shipment was not from tapeonline,... it was from www.totalmedia.com , but I'll agree that tapes are heavy and the shipping cost adds up quickly. Still, I'd check them for a quote. Shipping to Europe from the US would be high from any of these suppliers.

The stereo-Aux-Send on the 244 has one gain knob and a pan pot on each channel, which gives you a little control over the signal to each side.

 

[A Reel Person]

Actually,...

I think I bought some C-46's and C-30's, but haven't used them yet. The runtime on them is frighteninly low, though, (11.5 and 7.5 minutes, respectively).

Anyway, at this time I'm well stocked on cassette and reel media, and I'll continue to pick up more as the budget allows over time.

When you have a dozen & a half reel recorders and several dozen cassette recorders, the long term supply of media does become a concern, hence my stockpiling new media as future-proofing my investment.

The good news is that if you know where to look, media is still plentiful,... & limited not by supply but probably by the user's budget. It just irks me a bit that I can't find 10-packs of suitable media at the Tower Records, Best Buy, etc,... although a search on the i'net showed up Memorex Type II C-90's are still available OTC at Circuit City. I'll be going there some day soon to check it out.

In my position, I don't think you can have "too much" blank media.

That points up another contradiction for me personally, and I'll admit that I have no excuses for not recording ~something~ every day!!

Good luck!.........

 

[Beck]

is there anything to be said for using shorter lenght tapes such as the TDK SM 30's or 15's ? (If they are even still made!)

Going back to the original Portastudio 144, TASCAM recommended 60-minute tape because it’s thicker and therefore less vulnerable to stretching, and has less print-through. 60-minute is the cutoff. Everything below that is the same thickness. 90-minute is a bit thinner and 120-minute is just plain too thin and not recommended.

Stretching disrupts the consistency of the oxide layer, which results in more frequent and longer dropouts over time.

That’s the main reason for shorter tapes. Another reason is if you just want one song on each tape.

At the typical double speed of a cassette multitrack 60 minutes gives you about 15 minutes of record time. If someone is troubled by leftover tape they can use 30-minute tapes for about 7.5 minutes of record time. There seems to be little to no cost advantage to buying tapes under 60-minute. Shorter tapes are less common and may be harder to find. Hopefully 60 or even 46 minute will be around for a while.

90 or 100-minute tapes are fine for listening, but the process of multitrack recording demands the shorter (thicker) tape for best results.

Looking back, I think careful tape brand selection, using C60s and a regular degaussing and cleaning schedule are a few of the reasons my cassette compositions didn’t sound like they were done on a portastudio. It is a delicate format, so every little tweak makes a difference.

 

[cjacek]

.........Yup

 

[A Reel Person]

Nice info!

Thanx!..............

PS: Another side effect of tape stretching would be to induce a subtle wow into the program material.