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what do you all think of tapes?

i'm looking for a decent tape deck to see if it'll be worthwhile to use as digital to analog conversion

anyone else do this?

what are your experience using cheap or expensive gear?

is there any point in even trying to use standard cassettes?

lets see some discussion...

Earthling wrote:what do you all think of tapes?

i'm looking for a decent tape deck to see if it'll be worthwhile to use as digital to analog conversion

anyone else do this?

what are your experience using cheap or expensive gear?

is there any point in even trying to use standard cassettes?

lets see some discussion...

Absolutely love tapes but as creative tool, I wouldn't use it as analog converter (too high loss of quality) much better a DAT (check out any cash converter).
Decks are pratically costless (you can get a good deck for 20 quids) and the results you can get for your sound is massive (obiouvsly means that you LOVE warm dirty analogue sound.. )!
Try, for example, to record a track from your sequencer (possibly bass fq instruments) into tape to "dirty" it properly -for the first time you will experience how useful is the horrible Dolby..- and then record it back in digital! I'm still experimenting the process (not yet used on a finalized project) but I'm absolutely happy so far..

been crushing drums on casette tape on and off. it's definitely a sound that can be useful.

hmm right on

was thinking about DAT and R2R as well

basically I want to learn everything I can about tapes. I want to even possibly build my own equipment.

any websites or even books recommendable?

dat won't ever make anything sound better; they're fine for a2d but from what i remember, the 20bit machines were the best-sounding ones.

i have a 1/4 reel-to-reel that i'd use more if it weren't such a finicky bitch. it definitely smooths transients and puts some low-end 'warmth' on things but the reels need to be aligned, the motor needs to be kept up to service, the heads clean.... so it's essentially a really cool looking 40lb paperweight.

it does look cool, though, i'll give it that.

hah I see

well, i'm not daunted

bump

anyone got some links for me to dig deep into the world of tape?

HI. Check this link for an interesting technique to combine tape with a DAW
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... c&&start=0

I've become a bit of a tape fiend as well. Still experimenting with it all but i like the way it mangles sound. I use 1/4" reeel, a cassette deck and a VHS as well all for different purposes. I mainly use them for soft-synths rather than drums.

i have never tried it myself, but ive been told that VCR's are great for digital to analog conversion, maybe someone knows more about that than me.

when i was making dnb a lot i used to record breaks onto my tascam porta one (old ass 4 track recorder), then gain em up and resample them all dirty... it made my breaks soooooo awesome

you have inspired me to record low volume pads and vocals to resample with some tape distortion and hiss for background presence in tracks. thanks!

i say get an old four track dude, pretty cheap on ebay.

quality loss can be quality gain if done creatively. try it out.

I'm not sure why you are talking about DAT. That is a digital format. I have my tape deck hooked up right now. I have been practicing some mastering techniques on some of my old band 4-track recordings from the early 90's. Might steal some samples off of them while I am at it. There is tons of cool stuff you can do with tapes. Use a type II cassette and hit the levels way into the red for some nice tape compression. Like someone else said I wouldn't use it to master a whole track but for certain sounds especially drums it's cool. You could even use a dodgy old cassette and get some natural wow and flutter effects. Been wanting to get a r2r forever. You would think they would be cheap these days but I guess if you are looking for a working deck it's going to cost you.

nice

2track R2R is not too much, it's the 20-30 whatever track ones that cost grip

didn't know much about DAT (now i know not to worry about it), but I used to record on a tascam 4 track, good times

Earthling wrote:nice

2track R2R is not too much, it's the 20-30 whatever track ones that cost grip

didn't know much about DAT (now i know not to worry about it), but I used to record on a tascam 4 track, good times

Depends on how much you think is not that much. I haven't looked all that deep but it looks like it will cost you around 200 usd for a working 2-track. That isn't going to break anyones bank but it is enough to make you think twice about it.

What I'd like is a tape deck that can record and play back from the recording in (near) realtime. Anyone know a cheap deck that can do that?

I've wanted to use tape as an effect for a bit, but what a pain to bounce from tape deck.. i hate bouncing because once you do it and you want to tweak, you have to start all over and that's just frustrating

Robert Axios wrote:i hate bouncing because once you do it and you want to tweak, you have to start all over and that's just frustrating

Or learn to live with it

Johnny Beat wrote:

Robert Axios wrote:i hate bouncing because once you do it and you want to tweak, you have to start all over and that's just frustrating

Or learn to live with it

Boo! I'm too motivated to settle

heres my baby...AKAI 4000D Solid State...oooh its warm!



also i've got a whole bunch of Basf, EMI Racal Zonal reels

sweet!

those akais seem to be pretty common