IT'S 2013...AND STILL NO NEW TAPE MACHINES

[quantum]

I always wondered why no one has ever invented a 7.8/15/30 ips 2" tape deck, or at least a 1". How many rack spaces would it take up? How much would it cost? How hard would it be to maintain?

[ShogunSpy]

I think it's because of this new fandangled digital stuff . There are some convincing plugins that can almost nail the sound and in my opinion it would be a step backwards and financially not viable for both party's... Can you still even buy new Tape Reels?

[quantum]

Yea I think there are more plugins than people on this planet.

[ShogunSpy]

Yes for sure bad and good. I bought an old reel to reel a couple of weeks ago its 1/4 inch tape I like the dirty sound but it dose not magically make my sound any warmer then using some of the available plugins like ferricTDS need to try some of the Scope plugins next

[Fluxpod]

Simply because it would cost around 6 figures.Making one that survives Studio hours day in and out is very expensive to begin with.
And who ever would make one wouldnt sell enough to get into profit.
If you want a 2 track there are Studers and telefunken or otari machines that work great and are available for around 2k for a good one.For 16 track up also studer or otari.
Only buy Machines 16 track up with a head report fromhttp://www.jrfmagnetics.com/ Or send them the head for a report.

[kensuguro]

Ya, my feeling after getting some of my stuff on tape (don't even know which model) was that the difference was very subtle. And as with most things, the vst counterpart creates a more exaggerated effect. But I wasn't there when the transfer happened so there may have been necessary tweaks to create more of a discernible effect, or maybe it wasn't the right model of tape deck, or tape, not enough drive, etc..

[garyb]

it'd help if the tape manufacturers hadn't stopped making tape.
yes, it's all tape backstock being sold. it will be gone sooner or later...

[dante]

I still have one 1/2 inch 8 track tape reel, waiting for someone to invent a 1/2" head->transport->USB mechanism so I can remix it in Scope !

They have made these for cassette, but you can simply buy a cassette player for next to nix anyway, its hardly needed since any soundcard accepting minijack will do the job with a normal player.

But dont see any for reel-to-reel - where its really needed.

[Fluxpod]

it'd help if the tape manufacturers hadn't stopped making tape.
yes, it's all tape backstock being sold. it will be gone sooner or later...

Still being made.http://www.rmgi.eu/rmgi.asp http://www.atrtape.com/products.php

[dawman]

I would just set up an old Otari as long as the lights work, then use FAT II-S and the DAS Bias plug and charge these guys for authentic Tape Mastering, just tell them to keep the Tape is an extra 400 USD. They'll never find a Machine to play the Tape anyways, and they can all sit around and talk about how great Tape sounds turned into 1s and 0s......

[garyb]

is that really NEW tape?

what happened was that banks took over Ampex, Agfa, 3M and other tape manufacturing. there was NOS tape available for years in warehouses at that time. these banks established a couple of companies to sell off this warehoused stock. i am very suspicious of any company claiming to manufacture tape in the USA. old stock tape is good for many, many years after manufacturing. the problem with tape manufacturing is that the quantities that need to be produced for the price to be reasonable are far beyond the demand. it's possible that the factory runs for a yeart and then sells for five, but that's not really a sustainable business. certainly, there's still a specialty market and will be for some time. there's nothing that really sounds better than tape, if the tape is good quality and the machine is set up properly. it's still a dead art in the long run, at least with the present economics.

ATR is a well-known company that services and sells tape machines. i wonder where they are really getting the tape from. they may have purchased some of the old equipment, but i can't see them running it very often. ATR is a very reputable company, i'm sure the tape is good quality whatever the story. ATR does claim that they are making NEW tape. that's cool.

[Fluxpod]

Ofc both sell New tape.Both make and sell new, not nos tape.They never stopped.Rmgi is based in france.
There is still lots of tape being used.Everyday.

[garyb]

sure there is, among a certain crowd....

i wanted to find any documentation of the process and could only find this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3GkUq4E ... e=youtu.be

in it, Mike Spitz explains what i was saying. he says in the '70s Ampeg made 2000 reels of 2" tape per day. today, that is one whole year's supply. that is not a lot of demand.

at this point, tape is dead.

is tape better? sure! it's also less convienient and much more expensive and for most users, makes zero extra dollars compared to a harddrive.

[Fluxpod]

Depends.I doubt they would keep anything running for 2000 reels a year.Maybe atr but rmgi sells a "lot".Also with systems like clasp around, tape is kinda having a second comming.http://www.endlessanalog.com/ A 2 reel for around 320$ isnt cheap but when a client demands it you cant say no.

[quantum]

There are many people who would pay thousands for a 2" 2 track tape deck. If you look at the best converters, The Pacific Microsonics HDCD used to be $19000, and that was when the company was not profiting from them. Lavry Golds are $7500 each, and Prisms are $9000 each. So paying $6000 for a 2" tape deck of 4U side is not too expensive.

Basically what I'm saying is that in 70 years, it's pretty sad that no company wanted to reduce a 2" 2 track to a 3U - 6U rack unit and made tape to go along with it. Yet they've managed to build rockets and satellites and CERN.

[hubird]

I saw on tv there's a rebuilt of one of the classic multitaperecorders, hardware that is. Or was it a master recorder?
but I fell into it, can't give any information.
Studor it was I think.

[garyb]

sure they're used!

it a little itty- bitty market served by specialists(which is perfectly fine, great!).


the question was "why no new tape decks?".
the reason is that there are new decks, but they're copied after older decks because tape technology is nearly perfected already.
the reason is that there is so little demand for tape that ALL the important manufacturers have gone out of business. as ATR stated, they do about 2000 reels a year and that's with some of the biggest recording studios in the world being in the USA where the tape is made.
the reason is that tape is harder to use/edit than digital, and most end users of the material wouldn't know the difference if it hit them on the head.
the reason is that most studios that use tape, recycle it instead of buying new tape at $350-600 a reel for every project.
the reason is that tape decks must be constantly maintained and aligned almost every session and many of the techs that would work the circuit of studios in an urban area that can support enough work to keep a tech alive are actually dead now from age and lack of work. it's a very limited group of young people that know anything about such gear. most good techs of 2inch tape machines in the LA/Hollywood area are 60+ years old.

and more.....

it's undeniable that tape is GREAT, however.

[dante]

Reconditioned and custom built reel to reel decks (w/ design improvements over original), and new tapes :

http://www.j-corder.com/

And here's their new forum !

http://www.tapeheads.net/

And resources link (for anyone wanting decks, servicing, tape etc) :

http://www.tapeheads.net/index.php?pageid=Resources

[Bud Weiser]

I still have one 1/2 inch 8 track tape reel, waiting for someone to invent a 1/2" head->transport->USB mechanism so I can remix it in Scope !

They have made these for cassette, but you can simply buy a cassette player for next to nix anyway, its hardly needed since any soundcard accepting minijack will do the job with a normal player.

But dont see any for reel-to-reel - where its really needed.

That as a starter ...
http://www.mymodernmixtape.com/shop/my-modern-mixtape/



Bud

[dante]

Don't larf, open reel cassette even can sound good !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hhx6JUBnU0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDZOcCvoelc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjGTgI0y ... =endscreen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v61yPIfbVJw