| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 167.1 | | SIVA::FEHSKENS | | Wed Oct 23 1985 14:23 | 22 |
| There is a 12 track cartridge "portastudio" type thing by Akai. It was
"less than $6000" (i.e., $5999.95) the last time I looked. It records
12 tracks on a 1/4" tape cartridge (remember them - I think it's the same
medium that made an appearance for car systems and quad).
There's an interesting letter in the latest Mix, disclosing a patent on
a modular cassette-based digital system that allows you to add two tracks at
at a time. Each pair of tracks has its own transport, and the transports are
sync'ed electronically via a timing track on each cassette. It looks like
a pretty neat idea, if they can make it work. Their guess (I don't remember
who's doing this) is they can make the two track units for about $2K apiece.
Thus, 8 track digital for $8K. Or 4 track for $4K. And expandable over
time. And all "formats" (2 track, 4 track, 8 track, 16 track, 24 track,
etc.) compatible with one another. I mean physically media compatible.
The Akai is real, the digital 2 track modular system is still just a concept.
Note you can get to 8 track reel to reel for less than the Akai 12 track
system, especially if you can get by with a 16 into 2 board rather than
16 into 8.
len.
|
| 167.2 | | MILVAX::BUCKLEY | | Wed Oct 23 1985 15:15 | 17 |
| Yeah Len, you're right...it's cheaper to buy an 8 tk recorder. However,
I think the Akai is a better value. Remember, with the Akai you get the options
of a mixer/recorder/digital locater w/SMPTE options. In addition to the 12 tks
you get two tks for SMPTE and a sync tone. In one package, that's pretty
awesome. You can do pre-production on it (with smpte) and bring it into a
24 track pro studio and dump your tracks right onto their 24 tk/2" tape. The
only feature on it I personally don't gel with is the freaky, VCR like tape you
actually record on. It's not the type of tape you buy right at your fav tape
complex, and you can't do stuff like backwards tape effects. Splicing also
looks like a pain in the as*.
RE .0:I was recently at the A.E.S. show, and I DO remember eight tk
recorders from several co's (one was fostex), but I don't believe they were
mixed on a cassette medium. Logically, it would be a bandwidth nightmare to get
8 tks onto a 1/4" tape. Like BIG crosstalk and no fidelity. Whatever they use,
(I believe it was 1/2" tape) you could always make cassette copies using any
home stereo deck.
-wjb
|
| 167.3 | | KATADN::BOTTOM | | Thu Oct 24 1985 09:49 | 14 |
| You could do what I have been doing. I have a Teac 234 syncassette and I
record four tracks and then mix those down to stereo onto my teac 3340
using dbx to keep the noise down. I then recopy this onto my syncassette
at a different place on the tape, preserving the original tracks in case
I decide to remix. This allows me to get six tracks which is usually
enough for my needs. A second 4 track or just a good stereo deck will
add some extra capability if you can't afford to go to a 8 track reel
deck. I have seen very little degradation of signal using my setup but
I'm sure that if I was not using a good deck and dbx it would probably
be much harder to get a good sound.
good tunes to you
dave
|
| 167.4 | | ERLANG::DICKENS | | Tue Oct 29 1985 11:34 | 10 |
| I believe that the current low-end Fostex 8-track uses 1/4" tape, and they
claim fairly decent specs. (for a demo machine)
8 tracks on a standard phillips cassette is another thing. Now you're talking
8 tracks on 1/8" tape. I think I once heard about a company called Cutec
that had such a beast, but I never saw any product information. I imagine
the specs would be really bad.
Has anyone else heard of Cutec ?
|
| 167.5 | | _SPHINX::SAVAGE | | Wed Nov 13 1985 16:10 | 10 |
| Tha AKAI uses a 1/2 inch non-standard cassete cart.
A much better deal is the Tascam 388. Same idea as the AKAI except 1/4 inch
reel to reel 8 track with dbx at 95 db down and a mixer somewhat akin to
the Tascam 308.
Going for $2795 at Manny's
Dennis Savage
|
| 167.6 | | BANZAI::RAVAN | | Fri Nov 15 1985 12:45 | 4 |
| Manny's? Please excuse my ignorance, but where/what is Manny's?
Good stuff cheap?
-jim
|
| 167.7 | | SPHINX::SAVAGE | | Mon Nov 18 1985 09:10 | 12 |
| Manny's Music
156 West 48th St.
NY, NY
forgot the zip
212-819-0576
Manny's is the largest music dealer in the world and will always have the
best prices in that world. Their only competition is Sam Ash. Ash has an
800 number you can get by calling 800-555-1212 and asking for their number.
/Dennis
|