
sweetbeats
Reel deep thoughts...
**Disclaimers**
Why do this??
No reason really...cjacek and I were loosely discussing some 4-track cassette units off-list and it just got me thinking. He's doing some really great things with his 244; I have a 234 refurb project awaiting attention at some point and I think they're neat-o; I've used a 424mkII quite a bit; A Reel Person has done more than anybody I can think of to promote the 4-track cassette format...many others have done neat stuff on them...Technoplayer put up a wonderful cover project done with his wife some time back...so I started Googling images and started counting and it was just like "I wonder what people like best and why?"...that sort of thing.
Most of us started out or have had some exposure to a cassette 4-track. Lots of nostalgia involved here, so have some fun with this thread...share your anecdotes both past and present, etc...Tell us about your favorite and why!
So, here they are in all their glory whether in the poll or not; a graphical representation of all the Teac/Tascam cassette 4-track units I could find/know of in alpha-numeric order (pictures are sniped off the web...put up your own better quality pics please...in fact, as long as I'm able, send me a link to a better pic and I'll replace the low-quality pic in this post with the better one!):
Tascam 134 (couldn't find a bigger picture of this rare bird...)
Teac (Tascam Series) 144 (started it all)
Tascam 234
Tascam 244
Tascam 246
Tascam 414
Tascam 414mkII
Tascam 424
Tascam 424mkII
Tascam 424mkIII
Tascam 464
Tascam 644
Tascam MF-P01
Tascam Porta 02mkII
Tascam Porta 03
Tascam Porta 03mkII
Tascam Porta 05
Tascam Porta 07
Tascam Porta One
Tascam Porta Two
Tascam Porta Two HS
- Sorry if I'm duplicating if this been done before...
- I'm not intending to leave out fans of other brands of 4-track cassette multitrackers (i.e. AMR, Akai, Audio Technica, Fostex, Korg, Vestax, Yamaha, etc.) I'm just much more familiar with Tascam units, and the poll would be more general unless I drew the line somewhere. Each company has brought unique features and innovations to the market. If Tascam is not your favorite, then by all means put up a pic and celebrate your favorite cassette 4-track!
- I don't mind if this becomes a celebration of cassette 4-track units in general, but I'd like to keep it focused on 4-track units just because I believe there are some fundamental differences in how you approach 4-track production vs. anything with higher track count (i.e. 6 or 8, which are the only two other cassette multitrack formats of which I'm aware). The 4-track genre is sort of a special institution of its own, and Teac set this corner of the world (i.e. personal music production) on its ear when it introduced the 144.
- I'm limited to 12 poll options. All in all I've found 21 Teac/Tascam cassette 4-track units!
So I've had to do some omitting and grouping of models which I wish I didn't have to do, but I do nonetheless, so the poll is focused solely on mixer/transport combo "Portastudios", and not the standalone transport models (134 and 234). Also, I've excluded the MF-P01 from the poll...that poor thing gets slighted every time.
I had to make some tough decisions and the MF-P01 is simply the most basic of the bunch and less popular so, my apologies all you MF-P01 fans, but don't hesistate to speak out in the thread. I've done my best to label the poll options in such a way as to spell out what is included in each option and hopefully I'm not grouping units that are fundamentally different.
- I don't know if I got them all. PLEASE post up if I missed one in the list below.
Why do this??
No reason really...cjacek and I were loosely discussing some 4-track cassette units off-list and it just got me thinking. He's doing some really great things with his 244; I have a 234 refurb project awaiting attention at some point and I think they're neat-o; I've used a 424mkII quite a bit; A Reel Person has done more than anybody I can think of to promote the 4-track cassette format...many others have done neat stuff on them...Technoplayer put up a wonderful cover project done with his wife some time back...so I started Googling images and started counting and it was just like "I wonder what people like best and why?"...that sort of thing.
Most of us started out or have had some exposure to a cassette 4-track. Lots of nostalgia involved here, so have some fun with this thread...share your anecdotes both past and present, etc...Tell us about your favorite and why!

So, here they are in all their glory whether in the poll or not; a graphical representation of all the Teac/Tascam cassette 4-track units I could find/know of in alpha-numeric order (pictures are sniped off the web...put up your own better quality pics please...in fact, as long as I'm able, send me a link to a better pic and I'll replace the low-quality pic in this post with the better one!):
Tascam 134 (couldn't find a bigger picture of this rare bird...)

Teac (Tascam Series) 144 (started it all)

Tascam 234

Tascam 244

Tascam 246

Tascam 414

Tascam 414mkII

Tascam 424

Tascam 424mkII

Tascam 424mkIII

Tascam 464

Tascam 644

Tascam MF-P01

Tascam Porta 02mkII

Tascam Porta 03

Tascam Porta 03mkII

Tascam Porta 05

Tascam Porta 07

Tascam Porta One

Tascam Porta Two

Tascam Porta Two HS
