Portastudio buyers guide - 5 key factors
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- čas přidán 6. 07. 2024
- It can be a confusing business, choosing a multitrack cassette recorder. In this video, I draw on my experiences repairing and recording with over 200 MCRs to hone in on 5 key factors you should consider if you are in the market for a a portastudio or other mukltitrack cassette recorder.
Here is the interview i did with Travis Raab about how to fix an MCR once you bought it;-
• How to Fix Your Broken...
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TETRAKAN - Fix & Use Tape Recorders
Overviews; tear-downs; repair vlogs; techniques; tutorials; demo recordings...
...covering every cassette multitrack recorder ever made!*
*(eventually)
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DONATIONS are gratefully accepted via my BLOG, which also features written articles and FREE DOWNLOADS OF SERVICE MANUALS;-
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I prefer to answer questions in the youtube comments where my answers can help more than one person, but if you need to share photos etc, you can message me via facebook.
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Nice presentation ... I still love the older tech, well, because of the 50 or more songs I wrote on a Yamaha MT120. It died, I bought a used one from eBay that lasted a year and it died... ( I see you did a tear down on a MT120 , so I’ll watch that video next )
I now have a Yamaha MT100 II also from Ebay, and it produces identical sound quality and for the most part has the same features of the MT120. I like the Porta-studio for the simplicity of use while recording guitar and vocals and then drums and bass... as a typical song... 'Lest We Forget" found on my aviation blog... Done with the MT120.
Most the older songs were recorded on the MT120, and the more recent songs post 2005 done on a Yamaha MD8 .... I tried the Roland 880 EX but found it way to hard to adjust 0n the fly so I donated it to a music school... I do have Boss 600BR and it is much easier to use than the 880 …. so I use it while on the road.... And its very portable. Great sketch machine with built in mics.
However when writing new songs, they will be done with a machine that has a board, the Yamaha MD8 or MT100 II …
Thanks for the videos, always interesting to see what others think about the developing tech in recording.
Great video Callum, loving the new content here
Great video. I've been using my Yamaha MT4X since I bought it back in 1995. From memory, I paid £550 for it, and it's still going strong. The only thing I've ever needed to replace was the motor about ten years ago. This was because it was left on for weeks at a time back in the day, in my studio, with a cassette loaded, and the drive motor continuously spins when a cassette is loaded. It's still even using the original belts.!! It ticks all the boxes. dbx that can be switched off, duel speed, separate track outputs, effects sends... Etc, etc. Highly recommend...👌
How do you like the tone of that unit? I read online about some people complaining about the dbx
@JasonFarnham I've never noticed a difference in tone when using dbx. It is, however, very hissy when dbx is switched off.
@@theaylesburycyclist8756 thanks
Surprise surprise the king is back
A very useful guide, I missed this when it was released but CZcams just recommended it! 🙌
Two appearances in one day!? Truly you're spoiling us 🤣 Welcome back Calum :D
good stuff mate - like the new video format. i still need to shift all my 4 track inventory lol and also get back to repairing my stack of brokens
Concise and excellent summary
Master Repairman ! Thank you !
the king returns
Thanks. Always interesting.
Thanks, glad it held your attention, thanks for watching.
I like the features of 424mkiii but the group assign approach and aux return of yamaha mt4x is something I'd wish to see on tascams
Great video
Thanks so much for making this video! I'm new to analog recording and am currently looking to buy my first multitrack recorder. I'd be very interested to see you compare/contrast a variety of 8 track cassette recorders. I'm especially curious about how they stack up in terms of fidelity.
Great, that'll be the subject of the planned tier list. I suspect the fidelity will be interchangeable, just better eq and mixer facilities on the mk 11 and 688?
I wanted a: 1. Tascam :), 2. as little of bouncing needed as possible 3. "full option" mixer. I picked 488 mkII, of course it has no tape outs but you can't have it all, and actually i also assumed that time stretch in a daw is somehow an option. But thanks to You first thing i did after checking tape transport and mixer was tear down and refresh gears lubricating. Yeah, although transport was ok, the gear C worked reeeealy hard:).
Hey tetrakan, you are a deep well of knowledge on this stuff. Is there a patreon or something where one could donate and maybe get chance to pick your brain on tascam issues? 😅
Thanks. Yeah I've got a PayPal donate button on my blog and I provide extra content to patrons on Patreon, links are in the video description. I do just help anyone though, you can message me over Facebook if you need to share photos or videos of your issue.
Tascam 414mk2 here. Really enjoy using it. Dropping in to fill gaps with extra material is a bit fraught though.
Great to see you again, Calum. Production values going up! Is that a Tascam 388 in the background?!
It is! Scared to fix it...a video for the future?
@@Tetrakan a fine furniture piece to match with a leather chesterfield?
@@TheAdvancedMusic you know that would be ideal! #dreamcouch
Great
Thanks 😊
Hello, could you dive into the SYNC functions of the 488 and others?
Hey, yeah I will do eventually.
what tascam porta studio would you recommend for someone that wants to make music sketch ideas and then take it to DAW as well as more creative sound design abilities such pitching and tape loops. thanks again mate
For pitching your best choice is the original gangster cream coloured 424, because its got a half speed tape setting - three settings in total where most units only have 2! It's also got defeatable NR, tape outs, and is quite small. Really only thing it's missing is midrange eq. Thanks for watching!
Great video, but once you buy one recorder...you basically want to buy all the rest! LOL. I just sold a 688 and I have a 388 sitting on my bench. I also have a Tascam 38, and I have no idea why I need one! LOL. The 688 was like operating a space station, so I'm going to try my luck with another 488. I had one, but it had some issues and I didn't have the patience to fix it. I gotta hand it to you. The patience and skill required to learn all that you have learned is immense. I can replace belts, clean pots, degauss and clean and calibrate the unit, but once it gets into circuits and all that, I kind of want to move along. The Tascam 38 I have is great. I actually repaired the motor to get it working, but actually recording on it is a chore all in itself. I'm so spoiled by using DAW's...want reverb, okay, just create a new track, send your signal to that track and BOOM, you got reverb. Want reverb on a Tascam 424 MKIII? Well...first, find a reverb unit. That'll set you back probably $100. Then, connect your AUX send via 1/4" cable to your input on your reverb unit, then return the stereo signal to the stereo FX returns. Then try to get it all to blend in so it doesn't sound like crap. LOL. I think I have more fun getting the tape decks working than I actually do using them. Plus...being limited to 4 tracks is...well...limiting. My Tascam 38 reel to reel is 8 tracks, and that's far better. Anyway, keep up the videos, it's fun just to watch these things being repaired.
Thanks for your encouragement. Getting my head around the electrics was the last thing I gained any proficiency in, and its still a work in progress. TBH I envy the ability to walk away when things become complicated - for better or worse I have a compulsion to keep on wrestling with the hairiest problems, and I get my arse kicked for a long time before I win. I'm not a fan of the 688 interface either, though I have yet to spend time with a fully working one, if that ever happens maybe the benefits of that whole scenes presets digital workflow will reveal itself to me?
@@Tetrakan I have a 488 on my bench, all tracks except track 8 work! I get audio in, but can't record to track 8. So I guess I'll be banging my head against the wall too, to solve this one!
Is the sync switch turned on? Because that detaches the output of ch8 from the main mixer, that’s tripped me up before.
@@Tetrakan You gotta be kidding me! LOL. That was it alright! Something that simple. Where do I send the service fee! Hahahaha.
What can I say? These things have kicked the shit out of me every way you can imagine. Happy to serve up my pain to shorten someone else’s!
hi word on that 388 tascam hell it was very very heavy is the word you are right about motor speeds in cassette decks can be bad i have alot of recorders like you
love the betacam sp decks 4 tracks audio decks they have alot of gain i have alot all working still i think i am the only one in the uk has alot
as i have had alot from all over london in the past i have 6 tascam 38 that are working still jusy got in to cassette units
love the soundcraft 760 2 inch decks i have 2 space is the thing i have a house so i can used them easy no lady in the way mandy was like you
I’ve got a 38 here, scared to open her up….who is Mandy though?
my ex she was a very heavy rock fan
beware the main pcb can go in the tascam
i know tascam ninja john
he always getting hold of parts
he is having alot of new parts made
for decks
@@bobsbits5357 ah OK. Yeah I've bought odd bits off tascam ninja before, mostly rubber parts. Was it you he introduced to Toby Sibert in Wales? Toby buys a lot of portastudios in the UK, if he struggles to get them up and running I end up filming them for this channel....
just a friendly suggestion - if you can work on your thumbnails to be higher quality and a bit more atttention grabbing you could be the go-to page for cassette gear.
Thanks. By quality do you mean resolution or something else? Would you agree this particular thumbnail is better? I ask because when I occasionally do more general content like this video I have been making an effort, whereas most of my videos catch a long tail of search traffic (I'm thinking particularly of my tear down videos which get very little attention when they are released but continue to accrue views steadily for years afterwards) , so for those videos I figure that so long as the thumbnail includes the machine in question and bold type complementing the video title, there's not much else I can do to sex it up...do you ahve any suggestiosn for my thumbnails for that sort of content to make them more appealing?
While we recorded demos on a 6-track cassette back in '92, I would never go back to it after using DAWs. I've used a few, incl ProTools, but I finally bought Ableton Live (which I thought I wouldn't like, but ProTools got daft-priced) and I'm well happy with it. But then, my body has not been vandalized with tattoos, so that might make me more sensitive to quality.
Thanks for watching and so glad you like my tattoos!
😑
So, basically just get a Yamaha MT4X.... 🙂👍
Good blend of features, definitely
MT3X aint too shabby, either. The thing about the Yamahas is, they don’t have the “color” that the Tascams do. For some thats a good thing, others not so much. I personally like having both 😎
Hahaha the timing of this comment though....just Referred literally three guys to Mike terrible and Ben Lindvall because I don't know the answer to their MT tech queries....lol?
Plus the *I have both* flex! 😎
@@Tetrakan Well, when you have invested heavily in mediocre recording technology from a bygone era, gotta flex 😎. Also that coming from a man with just about all the things ever made in the MTR sphere 🧐. Seriously though, I just did a personal shootout with my working units and the MT3X did really well. So did the 424 (mki).
Great video!!
Which models have Individual tape outs?