Tape Recorders

[tremolo3]

Dang, that R16 looks nice, and cheap!

>You can record up to 8 tracks at the same time, which most of simple DAWs can't do.

I have no experience with other DAWs but in Reaper this is limited by the amount of pres you have available... 255 is the limit though.

[rfurtkamp]

When you've got the track count, you find a use.

I eat 24 sometimes.

It lets me focus on playing and know that I can adjust the mix later - I run taps off of each of the stages in the rack, plus each amp, plus room, etc.

If I had 36, I'd use 36!

[Invisible Man]

I'll be the contrarian here..... I love 4/8 track cassette recorders! The album I just finished was recorded on my Tascam 488 MkI (wish it was a MkII with the XLR inputs, but with these, it's always what you can find for cheap and condition is king). I'm like you, I really need faders and knobs. I also love having a tangible object with my music. My collections consists of the 488, and a Yamaha MT100 and MT3X (which now belongs to my fiance) I adore the little MT100, I found it in Ypsi MINT for $60. Something to consider though is the increasing High Bias tape prices. I was fortunate enough to work at a great Goodwill for a few months, they didn't sell tapes, so I got them for free. A couple great hauls came in, so I'm sitting on about 50 sealed and 200 used various High Bias tapes. Bulk erasers make the cheap used guys as good as new.

Something else to consider, if you can use these guys as instruments. Record chords onto them and swell/fade them in and out- instant ambiance. tune/detune/run out to effects. That's the main purpose of the MT100 since getting the 488.

I find I like the sound of the Yamaha's more than the Tascams I've used. I also think fewer people used the Yamaha's and they have less of a name behind them so they are cheaper to come by. I'd really like an MT8X

All that said, I still use Logic a lot. I always send the tracks into the DAW rather or not I finish them there or not. I mean, they are gonna have to be put up online anyway... Hitting a cassette hard will add a nice compression IMO- the same sounding compression as wider tape? of course not, but I like the saturation I am able to get that I just can't get with digital, for better or worse. I also really like creative use of track bleed. Hitting drums really hard into the cassette and then nulling out the track leaving random transients.

Damn, P. Thanks for this. Hadn't read it when I made my last post...this is exactly what I wanted to find out. Might have to start another PM chain with you to sort this out...and...links to the album?

Also, sold my house today, so it looks like my family is headed back to Ypsi by Halloween. Hope you made it out with no trouble.

[spacelordmother]

I just got a Korg D16 digital recorder (cheap) that is amazing, but this thread also reminds me that I need to fix the tape mechanism on my (also amazing, also cheap) Tascam 644.

[Psyre]

Hit me up anytime! I'll help with any questions to the best of my ability. My fiance and I are really missing the area, wish things hadn't gone down the way they did with my band and living arrangements. We'll be back in a year or so, but probably up in the cheap north. Should have my album in the Music section by next week. Gotta live with the mix and see how it sounds on multiple playback devices for a couple days. I'm definitely excited to get it out and move on to more creations on the 'ol 488!

[rustywire]

Yeah I meant to add the 488 in with my (better) porta-list. I briefly used a borrowed Zoom Z16 in 2011 (whoa that was 5 years ago ) only using 3 tracks and I was blown away by its ability to simultaneously record independent pcm wav files per track, not just a summed stereo mix, which was new to me at the time. It's a legit option, the 48khz mode sounds damn good.