The ATR has landed.

[ausrock]

We picked up our ATR-60 and MX-5050 decks about an hour ago.

For the ATR there is 10 spools of tape, 2 MRL Calibration tapes, manuals, remote and looms. For the Otari we have an additional machine purely for spare parts if needed.

Now starts a learning process so guys be ready for some dumb questions in the future

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Now starts a learning process so guys be ready for some dumb questions in the future

I got a dumb one for you!

What's a "Loom"?

Is that an empty reel?

Congrats again on the nice score!

Cheers!

 

[ausrock]

Sorry 'bout that............Loom..........cable loom.........the multicore cables from the remote. Although there are also 3 empty spools.

OK, first dumb question........I need to transfer recordings from my 16 trk h/disk recorder to tape. Would it be OK to just record over existing recordings on the tapes or would it be better to run tapes through without any incoming signal to erase all previous recordings before starting.

2nd dumb question........I have noticed that when the tape goes through at "play" speed it packs nice and flat on the take up spool, however at F/Fwd or Rew speeds it doesn't pack flat, there are the odd tape edges sticking up here and there.........is this normal or may there be some adjustment needed somewhere.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

question one

Considering that the tapes you are recording over were recorded on that same deck, there should be no alignment issues and thus, you can erase one track at a time as needed or all of them during the first pass and thus clear any previous material.

You could also bulk erase the reels with a separate bulk eraser if you are really paranoid about any old stuff bleeding through but that's not 100% necessary.

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Question 2

The deck has a spooling mode when you double tap the rewind or fast wind keys and that should produce a nice, even library wind that is decently flat and lump-less.

It's normal to have the odd lift in the tape pack on a fast wind as certain parts of the reel may be slightly sticky and thus will make for the occasional bump on the tensioner arms which in-turn will cause the odd layer of tape to pop up or down in the pack.

Uneven tension within the pack itself can also cause this as parts of the reel where a song has been tracked on, hundreds of times will be tighter or looser then the rest of the tape pack and that too will cause a jump of the tensioner arms and a change in spooling appearance.

If you're really concerned about it, play the reel through from head to tail and that should even it out tension wise.

Cheers!

 

[ausrock]

Ghost,

Thanks for that, I ran all the spools through on FFwd and then "Spool" and they packed as flat as it would be possible to get them........great.

There is head wear but whether it is going to be an issue I won't know until I get everything connected up, which brings me to dumb questions 3 and 4...................

3: During either FFwd and Rew, the tape is lifted away from the heads, apart from a brief mention of this function in the manual there is no detail on how it operates or any adjustments, etc. I have found the "tape lift" on the ATR is not lifting the tape right off the heads but if I give the "lift posts" a helping hand they then stay in the full lift position....................any thoughts on what may be causing this before I open it up for a look.

4: I recalled recently seeing someone mention Tascam's swapping pins 2 and 3 in the XLR connectors, this was backed up when I read through the manual...............this may be really dumb but I have to ask..........can you imagine any reason why I shouldn't swap the wires over at the XLR connectors in the back of the deck rather than further along the chain to my console. My first thought was to modify the patchbay where I'm going to terminate the ATR cables, but it seems a better option to just do the mod at the XLRs themselves.

Cheers,

ChrisO

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Question 3

Where your track arming row of buttons are, there should be a "lifter defeat mute" switch.

The purpose of this dual functionality of the lifters is when the deck is under smpte external control and needing constant head to tape contact in all wind modes so that the time code is not lost to the external synchronizer.

When the deck is used by it self, you can use the lifter defeat switch in the off position so that time code is not needed or tracked and thus the lifters should fully engage.

If the deck has been used in the lifter defeat position for a good length of time, this will cause a shortening of the life of the heads as they are under constant contact with the tape and especially at high wind speeds, the wear is accelerated.

For pro studios with pro maintenance budgets, this is the cost of doing business, changing heads more often. For the home user, this is an expensive reality to deal with.

Cheers!

 

[The Ghost of FM]

Question 4

The ATR-60-16 should have pin 3 hot so as long as your mixer is the same, you shouldn't need to rewire anything.

If you do have to rewire, do so on the patch cords themselves as access is easier to an XLR connector on a cable then having to open up the electronics cabinets to start mucking about in there.

Cheers!

 

[ausrock]

Thanks mate,

The lifter problem seems to be a mechanical issue so I will open up the top and check for the cause.

ATR.......pin 3 hot. Soundcraft.......pin 3 cold.

For my setup, modding the ATR's XLR sockets is the easier option.................a couple of screws to remove and the connector panel hinges down for access. I asked because it just seemed too bloody easy to be true .

I'm just trying to figure out what additional gear is necessary to have on hand if we are going to keep this deck in good running order..............

 

[The Ghost of FM]

If the lifters are not lifting all the way, there should be a mechanical adjustment for the solenoid placement that can be loosened and then moved up or down to make the lifters move further outward, away from the heads during fast winds and spooling modes if it has somehow slipped out?

As for additional equipment to keep it running well, I guess a scope, meter and some small hand tools should be the king's share of what you'll need considering you've all ready got the most expensive piece which is the calibration tapes.

The service manual would be key as well.

Cheers!

 

[ausrock]

Well I probably have things almost covered for maintenance............got the manuals and calibration tape, I have a Trio scope on a permanent loan from a friend (actually, it's been with me for a few years but I've never really used it), I REALLY need to get a new multimeter, as for general tools............I had a good range of my own and I inherited a full workshop about 10 months ago when my Father passed away.........he was a retired aircraft engineer, so I now have more general and hand power tools than you would believe plus drill press, lathe, etc, etc...............I'm still trying to find enough space in our garage to set it all up.......lol.

Actually, at this stage finding a degausser here seems to be harder than I expected.

Anyways, time to heat up the soldering iron................

Many thanks

 

[The Ghost of FM]

My condolences on the passing of your father.

I lost my mother a number of years back and my father is getting to that advanced stage in life when the end is long for him either, I fear.

Anyway, glad to read that you're well equipped there and that you seem to have the situation under control.

Cheers!

 

[Son of Mixerman]

3: During either FFwd and Rew, the tape is lifted away from the heads, apart from a brief mention of this function in the manual there is no detail on how it operates or any adjustments, etc. I have found the "tape lift" on the ATR is not lifting the tape right off the heads but if I give the "lift posts" a helping hand they then stay in the full lift position....................any thoughts on what may be causing this before I open it up for a look.

I have not seen the tape lifter not work, better pop it open to see if something is broke. It would suck to have the tape decide to lift while tracking the perfect take.

I love the spool function, Now I wish I could find the autolocator for a reasonable price.

4: I recalled recently seeing someone mention Tascam's swapping pins 2 and 3 in the XLR connectors, this was backed up when I read through the manual...............this may be really dumb but I have to ask..........can you imagine any reason why I shouldn't swap the wires over at the XLR connectors in the back of the deck rather than further along the chain to my console. My first thought was to modify the patchbay where I'm going to terminate the ATR cables, but it seems a better option to just do the mod at the XLRs themselves.

Cheers,

ChrisO

My mixer has a different pin config than the ATR. Since the mixer has switchable +4/-10 I/O on the bus' and channels I thought I would have to resolder. So I started to resolder that cables since is easier to put on a bench than the back panel of the ATR. After I resolded a few of them I wanted to check those connections by recording and playing back some music. Out of curiosity I listened to the other connections that had not been resoldered and there was no audible difference. My advice is to connect it up and see how is reacts before resoldering a bunch of cables. One possibility is that it could have been resoldered already and you might undo the correct configuration.


SoMm

 

[ausrock]

TOO LATE ........I swapped the leads to the XLR 2 and 3 pins around a couple of hours ago, but I haven't connected to the console yet to see if it is working OK..........been busy opening it up and doing some housekeeping.

I cleaned out under the top panel, repaired one of the front VU panel locks that wasn't working and have had a look at the tape lift mechanism. Running it without tape, the lift posts have their full travel so I'm just about to load a spool and see what happens when the tape is there. One possibility is that there is too much tension on the tape but I'll play around and see what happens. The other thing I found is that the tape lift sliding switch over near the pitch control has been damaged at one time (not the actual switch, but the plastic sliding knob thingy and because of the rough repair job it may not be correctly positioned.