Tascam 244 - Conversion of Old Tapes

[DaveyRoberts]

I pulled out some 30-year-old recordings the other day for nostalgia, intending to transfer them to Cakewalk files, knowing the only playback method I had was 30-year-old equipment.

And sure enough my TASCAM 244 has shat its pants. The rubber on one of the wheels has perished, there's a huge hum and the cassette seems to be stuck in play. So, I have three questions for this wonderful group.

1. Does anyone know any repairers in NSW, Australia?
2. Do all 4-track recordings (cassette) work on all other 4 tracks of different models?
3. Is there anyone willing to convert about 12 x 4-track recordings to individual digital files? I could pay if it was reasonable.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

I'm set up to do it, but I'm in Colorado.

I would think most 4-track recorders could do it. The main issues are playback speed, noise reduction and head alignment. I believe there are plugins that can do the NR after digitizing, with a bit of fiddling to get it right.

 

[bouldersoundguy]

By the way, I have a Tascam 424. I bet @sweetbeats could confirm whether my machine is compatible with yours. My biggest concern would be head alignment. If it doesn't match perfectly there can be a loss of HF response which can't properly be recovered after the transfer.

 

[jamesperrett]

Different 4 track machines can run at different speeds. The more up-market ones run at 3.75ips (double normal cassette speed) while the cheaper ones run at 1.875ips which is normal cassette speed. Tascam units tend to use dBx noise reduction while others use Dolby B or Dolby C.

As Boulder Sound Guy says, head alignment is important although not quite so critical at 3.75ips as it is at 1.875ips where it is vital to match the head alignment for almost every tape. When I'm transferring tapes I always transfer them flat with no noise reduction decoding and then do the decoding afterwards. Suitable decoders for 4 track cassette machines can be found at

Anaxwaves

I've used their dBx decoder and it seems to work as expected although I prefer the adjustability of my own version which uses a Reaper effects chain.

 

[sweetbeats]

By the way, I have a Tascam 424. I bet @sweetbeats could confirm whether my machine is compatible with yours. My biggest concern would be head alignment. If it doesn't match perfectly there can be a loss of HF response which can't properly be recovered after the transfer.

100% compatible…same track specs, same tape speed, and Type II dbx noise reduction. And sure, head alignment should always be considered as a factor, but generally-speaking the headblock assemblies on these cassette machines are pretty stable, and 4-track is less of a problem than the 8-track format. I’d have no hesitation using a properly running 424 series machine to transfer/archive tapes recorded on a 244.