After much research and endless searching of various second hand sites I pulled the trigger on a Fostex X-77 (posted a pic in the latest purchases thread). Everything I’ve tested so far is working and it seems in good condition. Been playing around recording over an old blank tape that someone gave me ages ago. Using Dolby C it sounds great, haven’t messed around with any lo-fi techniques yet!
I know I have two shoeboxes of tapes (somewhere) and found these in the one I’ve pulled from the storage boxes so far (I’m hoping I might have some others in the other shoebox).
Read through the manual online and will print it off. Having great fun using it so far!
Anyone else have/had this Fostex before? Seems to be very similar to a Tascam 424. @DimensionsTomorrow how are you getting on with the 414? Any newbie tips?
Congrats! I’m loving it so far! I recommend checking out the YouTube channel Made on Tape. I really enjoy his videos.
Also, check what particular type of tape your machine is biased for. You might want to seek out Type II tapes if that’s what the machine is set up for.
Thanks! I’ll definitely check out that channel.
The manual recommends type II which led me to the (pretty bewildering) Wikipedia entry on the four different types. Seems like type II were relatively short lived and that the quality of later type I’s is fairly comparable. There’s a good photo of different tapes side-by-side with the colour of the actual tape going from brown to very dark brown, generally the darker the better apparently.
It also said Type I are better at recording bass, and Type II better at dynamic mid to high frequencies.
Doubt I’ll ever get around to an A/B test but interesting to read
This is why I love the Made on Tape guy. He does all sorts of these kinds of experiments. Here in Japan I haven’t had issues finding Type II but they are a bit more expensive, particularly for NOS (new old stock) tapes. I bought a bunch of used Type IIs from someone for cheap as well. I haven’t checked how good those are yet though. If they are gnarly, I’ll use them for tape loops or do some more experimental stuff, I guess.
Wow, that video is great and even with my useless ears I could tell which were the 3 different types. There are a bunch of other videos of his I want to watch too.
Not so many NOS tapes in Ireland but I found some I might get. I’m positive I have some more tapes stored somewhere, so want to see if I have any others unopened first…
Great. Glad you liked that! Definitely check out some of his other videos.
This channel is also good. Not as much content, but he has some videos that show the basics of recording, like this (he has some on other multitrack units as well, not just the 414mkii).
Found my other stash of tapes, some unopened video8 handycam tapes, so not much use to me
Question for folks: what do you record out to for your final mix once everything is on tape?
I think I want to keep things sounding like they do when played back on the 4 track. So I don’t want to record into a sampler that would colour the sound (rules out DT or sp404sx). I don’t really use a daw, but could record into Audacity or onto an H5?
Interested to hear any thoughts or what other people do?
I’ve done both (Audacity and a Zoom H1N). Either option seems to work pretty well. It’s fairly standard when recording to tape (be it cassette or other format) to reconfigure and run the tape back into whatever system you have for digitizing. If you want the tape character to be the main thing, then try to minimize the connections and devices that are between the tape player and the converter (interface / zoom).
The point about increasing the bitrate is interesting. I’ve never messed around with that, but I’ll look into that. It depends on what bit rates, etc. the converter supports.
Just running some mellotron tracks thru my tascam with maxed out gain. The distortion is really nice, and the tape just sand away the rough edges. Then add some clean boost from the AH and reverb from the Quadraverb and you’re in lofi heaven.
Tapes are awesome. I also love them as a format for music, every tape is kind of different and change with age. Works best with experimental music but that’s really all I’m interested in. Also pro duplication factories are kind of lame, they don’t usually push the input signal hard enough when duplicating tapes. Thankfully there’s a couple of guys with nice decks near here who you can order DIY tapes from. Their tapes sound much better, more powerful and have that great tape distortion.
Last weekend my amp and deck broke and I remedied the situation after selling my Perfourmer. This combo sounds incredibly good and the 133 matches with my Portastudio 244 nicely. Also the amount of VU-meters in the house went up substantially which is always a good thing.
I couldn’t agree more!! Almost all of my individual tracks go through Portastudio. The EQ´s are gold and the saturation and rounding makes everything sound better and more interesting. It also makes the process very enjoyable and adds an additional layer to the sound sculpting. Pitch bend is also one of the coolest things, especially if some reverb is already on the processed material.
It really is!! I love everything about the 80’s Tascam aesthetics and when I powered it up for the first time today I was blown away by the sound of it! Had a 70’s Pioneer deck previously and the difference is unbelievable. The Pioneer deck begun to stop the playback by itself and ironically there was a text “Full auto-stop” in the face plate.
Just running some mellotron tracks thru my tascam with maxed out gain. The distortion is really nice, and the tape just sand away the rough edges. Then add some clean boost from the AH and reverb from the Quadraverb and you’re in lofi heaven.
I actually got to play John Lennon’s mellotron when it used to reside at Right Track, a studio in NYC that no longer exists. On a session there, I walked over to the mellotron (we were actually recording a piano) and see-sawed through the opening of “Strawberry Fields.” I could hear the tape loops crinkle as I lingered on each chord. They were so ancient and creased that the sound creeped out the engineer completely and he made me stop. That instrument was so evocative.
Obviously, anyone but the engineer I mentioned would want to record something like that, and I did a few weeks later, but my mistake was committing the recordings to discs for an old Casio FZ-10m sampler that I no longer own. I really wish I’d recorded the thing straight to DAT.
I mention that because I just found a 414 Mk II in as-new condition for a good price and it works. You made me imagine what it would be like to record those half-dead loops of flutes and cellos on the 414 and then transfer that to my DAW. People would have thought I was insane bringing a Portastudio to a place like that, but imagine the haunted layers.
That was a sound few people ever got to hear: the warp and whine of that historic instrument. It was probably in that room because Double Fantasy was mixed at Right Track (by Bobby Clearmountain, I think; he had to sue Yoko Ono for royalties, the studio manager told me) and Lennon probably brought it for some reason.
Right Track contained three recording rooms and there was a magical celeste I used to play in the hallway. No one cared because the volume level of that acoustic instrument was so low.
Studio A had perfect acoustics, but was eventually turned into a cafeteria. 99% of those studios from 43rd Street to 60th between 6th and 11th Aves are gone. I think there’s still one left, but I moved out of the city seven years ago and haven’t checked. I used to live in those places for months and it’s sad to think about now.
What a great story! My friend has an original Mellotron, forget the model but from the 60s. He bought it from a grunge producer in Washington state and had it shipped to Europe. It’s one of three in Finland I think. While emulation is perfectly serviceable, it’s definitely not the same thing. The real thing just sounds so alive.
Here’s the Mellotron track I put thru the Tascam. Some might think this is too much distortion, but seriously try putting a track like this in your mix, panned to the sides or whatever. It adds so much depth and lushness, like double tracking guitars. You don’t necessarily hear much detail, but you sure hear when it’s not there. The distortion from the Tascam preamp coupled with tape saturation is just so good. So warm and fuzzy, no rought edges and you can really hear it producing new harmonics. Pedals can’t do this, even the Analog Heat can’t really do this. It just doesn’t distort enough, and at higher levels of distortion it gets a bit sharp. You can tame it with the filter, but it just doesn’t sound the same. Incidentally the Quadraverb comes close, but it’s still not quite as good.
sounds like either audacity or H5 are options
I love everything about the 80’s Tascam aesthetics and when I powered it up for the first time today I was blown away by the sound of it! Had a 70’s Pioneer deck previously and the difference is unbelievable. The Pioneer deck begun to stop the playback by itself and ironically there was a text “Full auto-stop” in the face plate. 