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

[garyb]

yeah, tape's pretty exotic these days.
i never wanted anything else when i started doing this. but then there weren't any such thing as pcs or cellphones back then either...

[Bud Weiser]

Don't larf, open reel cassette even can sound good !

Couldn´t watch the 2nd vid because of GEMA protection.

But,- I remember 1990 when I had the SONY Walkman Professional w/ VariSpeed and being on par w/ the Nakamishi.
Most demos I did w/ my Fostex R8 reel-to-reel were mastered w/ the SONY.
Then I buyed the Sony portable DAT replacing the Walkman Pro.
I have tons of these compact cassettes and DAT tapes stored in a box as also the 8-track tapes.

It seems, there´s really some kind of renaissance of tape.
Yesterday, a studio service shop called me asking for help for diagnostics in regards of a EMU SP-1200 machine they got for repair which was the occasion asking for a small plastic part for my Fostex R8 to make it work again.
In fact, I had no hope but they are able to provide the part.
They told me they are very busy repairing and servicing old tape machines and have actually 9 on the bench.
I was really surprised, expecting tape and DAT machines being a dead horse.

Bud

[dante]

Funnily enough, my main deck was called Super Scope. It had vari-sped and tweak able head asymith (and dual speed and tone controls). I used it not just for sound on sound mix down, but also computer data tapes. I soon became the 'go to' person for dudes that couldn't load their mates data tapes as the SuperScope was the only deck that could be tweaked to read anyone else's data cassettes.

Superscope

image.jpg (80.83 KiB) Viewed 1845 times

I quickly got that reputation as I could asymith tweak by ear and everyone was soon saying :

GOD GAVE US SUPERSCOPE

[hubird]

great thing, great name
collectors item with that name, keep it new!

[dawman]

I have a friend who is making a DIY 1U that has Reels, and will actually be a Post 2 Track mixdown effect unit, or even a nice back end before FOH at gigs.
I don't think it will do anything and in all honesty I like Digital sound, it sounds so much better than my ancient Tapco, Moog Lab Series, or Crest XRs did.
So to have such high end gliss from my XBox just to dull it makes little sense to me.
But Tape Flange and Delay are awesome and that's what I am gunning for.
My latest Moog 12 Stage is a step up from Scopes SSBs and very noticable as an Insert Effect, now if I could get a really thick and sticky Tape Flange and Tape Delay, I could gig for a few more years and avoid Chugging Jager to tolerate myself.
I mean that's the gig really, everybody in Vegas always says they're not going to buy this and that because nobody cares ( as they chug Jack Daniels and inhale weed), and I always say if I don't constantly improve my sound, I will start chugging Alchohol and snorting lines the size of a rats tail.
I have to hear myself 6 nights a week, and I am in the Rut right now.
I know my cycles though, and will buy more gear, as then I will like myself again until the next cycle of the tortured performer occurs.

On another note it's kind of boring these days being so straight and sending a kid to school, etc.
I am so straight, I have to lay down just to take a shit.

[hubird]

life is boring

[quantum]

I mean that's the gig really, everybody in Vegas always says they're not going to buy this and that because nobody cares ( as they chug Jack Daniels and inhale weed), and I always say if I don't constantly improve my sound, I will start chugging Alchohol and snorting lines the size of a rats tail.

Hahahah. It's actually been proven that people drink more when they listen to loud music. And most of loud, and even live, music today is played through weak or bad sounding systems, turned up to to infinity, resulting in digital fatigue and distortion. So maybe the problem is not the lack of tape, maybe it's the lack of good audio engineering skills in the recording and mixing stage and volume control and room equalizing during playback. There was also a study last year in the USA saying that most people suffer from damaged hearing.

[garyb]

good sound is good sound regardless of the format.

[dante]

True. But it's also the cultural significance that will always be with us. For example, when deciding what to watch on our Foxtel IQ cable PVR's, the mrs and I discuss which shows will be 'taped' on which unit.

[dawman]

Well 1 more night of torture, then time off.
What's really strange is how I try to stay straight and buy a Soda, but it's illegal.
So I guess I'll have a bottle of Jack Daniels instead, since it's legal and the Feds can make 5 bucks while I destroy myself...

I'm confused....

[dante]

Why is buying a Soda illegal ? I know at some concerts, audience are banned from taking glass bottles into venue for obvious reasons.

[garyb]

magnetic tape is fantastic. 50 year old tapes and players still work....

[dante]

Has anyone tried this ?

http://www.slatedigital.com/products/vtm

It's cheaper than the UAD A800 and the reel animations and VU ballistics are synced to your DAW's transport controls and levels

Might just be enough to divert the outcome of sonic boredom from chugging JD back to sober tweakings for a few nights

[quantum]

The only modern thing I found really close to tape are clever implementations of FETs, transformers, and opamps. They still might not have the crunchy distortion and hiss, but I like the warmth and low end they have much more than tape. Tape wins for ambience, presence, saturation, excitement, musicality, and the ability to hear like music has been recorded on something.

[Nestor]

How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?

Here you have, to go really far:

https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~dtyeh/paper ... esided.pdf

[quantum]

How far down the rabbit hole do you want to go?

Here you have, to go really far:

https://ccrma.stanford.edu/~dtyeh/paper ... esided.pdf

Thanks. I took the red pill

[Nestor]

Cool I didn't read it all, but it is really interesting