Considering getting back into a cassette 4 track after many years of not having one! I used to own a Tascam 244 and it sounded pretty good. Anybody have a favorite and want to share why?

Thanks!

244 is very nice, but in the Tascam/TEAC world, nothing touches the 246. It's a 6 channel/4 buss cassette portastudio with 4 track heads, 2 aux sends, and 6 VU meters. The 424mk3 is pretty good as well, newer, and has XLR inputs. If i had to rate the three it'd be

246
424mk3/mk2
244

Awesome answer! And I dig your avatar- is that a 244?

It's a 144 - the first tascam portastudio ever made...I have one in great shape and love it, but it has a few things about it that don't really put in the same class as the 244/246!

Are Fostex and Tascam the two best sounding ones? How are the Yamaha cassette 4 tracks?

I used the last Fostex manufactured for a while - it sounded amazing, but broke down after about 10 years. You can get good sounds with Foxtex machines, but they are considered slightly lower-end than Tascam. I don't think they were built with the same quality of components.

Yamaha, i don't really know-I think quality varies from model to model. But that can be said for all the 4-tracks manufacturers out there. I think Yamaha/Foxtex are comparable, and that Tascam/AKAI are a slight step above.

When it's all said and done though - there exists a far larger knowledge base for repairing and maintaining Tascam recorders. Not to mention their facility in Los Angeles still sells parts for most of their recorders dating back to late 70's!

I have a Tascam 464 that has served me well over the years. I remember years ago using a friends Yamaha, sound was good but I think headroom was less than Tascam

Does anyone have experience with the Marantz PMD 740 and can compare/constrast with any of the Tascam models?

Other than the additional channels and nice looking VUs, is the sound quality markedly better or different?

Thanks.

In my opinion they did and do sound horrible compared to most other recording media available. I still have two standard cassette decks and a 234 (and a bunch of other old recording hardware nobody cares about...) because I and my friends still have media we've yet to transfer (and probably never will. But....)

Were I to want a portastudio feel in a more modern setup, the US 428 would be my choice. Plug it into a laptop, works like a portastudio act like it is a portastudio if you need to, but the quality is much, much better. I had a 122 for a while, too. for a solo guy, not a bad choice either, and dead cheap.

I'm not sure of the models, but some of the Tascams run at higher speeds. Which really helps. I had a Ross all in one that ran at the regular 1 7/8 ips and a rack mount Tascam that ran at 3 1/2 or whatever it was. Seriously better sound.

pretty much all tascams except the lowest of the low (porta 01s) do high speed recording.

stay away from those unless you want a REALLY lo-fi sound.

DING DING DING - i was waiting for someone like this to show up

"plug it into a laptop, works like portastudio (false) act like a portastudio (also false) and the quality is much, much better" (define quality)...

I wouldn't agree with this. I much prefer high quality cassette to poor quality digital. Plus the whole point of the cassette 4 track is the ease and simplicity of use. For songwriting/demoing they are wonderful. It's possible to make quality recordings as well.

SOT..I have a friend that has a Tascam 424 mkII that he's wanting to sell in about 2/3 weeks as he's transferring all his older stuff he recorded on it to the 'puter..It's in very good shape..

Let's take this in reverse order:

"It's possible to make quality recordings as well."

You must have a much looser definition of 'quality' than I.

" Plus the whole point of the cassette 4 track is the ease and simplicity of use. For songwriting/demoing they are wonderful. "

Agreed. Tascam thought so too. That is why the US428 looks like a Portastudio. Functionally pretty close, ease of use pretty close, but much better quality recordings. Anyone who has used a Portastudio would be able to make the transition quickly. And then have access to better editing, and be able to introduce third party effects plugins, if desired.

"I much prefer high quality cassette to poor quality digital. "

This analogy is used all the time on forums, and it makes no sense. Who would really prefer crap, ever, for anything? I prefer a working bicycle over a burnt and crushed Porsche...but I'd rather drive than pedal.

The reality is that the dynamic range and signal to noise of cassettes is just awful. Circa 1980, the convenience, ease of use, and the value over buying a 4 track reel to reel and console made the portastudio a popular item. Musicians could make multitrack recordings easier and cheaper than ever before. But the sound (as I said before) compared to any other recording media choice, was not very good.

I'm not claiming that the 428 sounds fantastic either, but it is head and shoulders above any cassette. For the owner of any simple computer, something like this should be a consideration.

As far as how I will use it, lots of backwards, lots of overdriven drums, and using the pitch control madly. I have nice stuff when I want it to sound nice. It would be good to have an analog recording medium in my place.

Ahh yes the good stuff, this makes me wanna bust out my 464 and do some recording

Pfff, are you high?

Have you ever listened, side by side, to an ipod with MP3 of a 16/44.1 recording, next to an 1980s sony walkman with a high bias tape?

Because if you had, you would realize it not even CLOSE in terms of dynamics and depth.

I have a Marantz PMD740 and it sounds incredible with TDKSM60 tapes. Does it sound like a 2" studer? Not exactly, but its pretty damn good. At high speed, using dbx, its holds up very well vs 16/44.1, and for what I paid for it (peanuts), I get 4mic pres, 6inputs/tracks, 6 EQs (4 with sweepable mids), insert points, an FX loop, VU meters... its an awesome unit.

Yamaha also made a great unit, the MT4X, that can be also had for next to nothing.

Glad to see a surge of Portastudio threads lately....just dug mine out after 5 years.....forgot how fun this is!

I believe a surge of Portastudio threads was prophesied in the book of Revelation as one of the signs of the End Times.

The Tascam 688 Midistudio is an absolute beast of a portastudio..I recommend it if you can find one..good sound..powerful EQ..electronic routing with recallable scenes..20 inputs, 10 being XLR inputs, inserts on every channel, seperate outputs on all 8 tracks..etc etc..

Yeh ok its an 8 track..but it's a pretty comprehensive cassette portastudio.

Tascam 424 mk II

Yamaha MT1X

Both are awesome w great features.


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I have a ROSS that runs @ 3 1/2 ips. It has line ins and direct outs, so you are not stuck using the mixer if you don't want to. Or the mic ins.

I also have a Tascam, and I like the Ross much better, and I like both with the pitch control up and no NR.

I have to say too, that one of the best cassette decks I have heard was the 238 S Tascam deck.

You could sync them with an external syncronizer, and get 16 or 24.

Pretty quiet, and clean.

I used to track on this then take it to the studio and dump to 1 or 2" 16 or 24.

Honestly, by the time you overdubbed onto the reel to reel decks, the tracks done on the cassettes fit right in. There was little to no discernable quality difference IMHO.


This was all before moving to reel to reel for good, and then adat and da-88's, mx-24/24 ....ahhh the progression.

I sadly sold this 238, but still have the 4 tracks.

I am kicking myself for it now though. Wish I still had this.

John

I've had and used the Yamaha MT4X and the Tascam Portastudio and like the Portastudio much much better.

The Yami always sounded muddy to me and I couldn't stand the "sound" of the noise reduction. The features were fantastic...wonderful...beautiful. But the sound...meh!

The Portastudio, considerably lacking by comparison in features, just simply sounded "better" and the auto-limiter had a much "better" sound as well, YMMV. Funny how that works because the Portastudio is just this cheapie little 4-track that only allows recording 2 tracks at a time. As you move up in models with the Tascam cassette trackers it only gets better.

good sound and cassette multitrack are mutually exclusive imho.

you can get good sound but you will get subtle crosstalk issues, unless it uses dbx you will get inferior dynamic range (quiet parts will be eated by noise for example), and if you bounce tracks a lot (which goes sort of hand-in-hand with 4 track machines) then you'll get really annoying sound after bouncing your stereo mix a couple of times.

for me the best were the yamaha ones iwth dbx.

I worked with them plenty back in the day. a band I was in recorded an album live to 8 track without any overdubbing onto an 8 track cassette machine (with a real engineer doing the work). sounded fine... but not editing or bouncing was done, just mixing.

so yea. not a valid choice today except for fun. Best thing about them is you can flip the cassette over to record backwards guitars.... I did that plenty since I was hugely influenced by hendrix when I was a teenager in the 80s.

I don't know if I would say not a valid choice today....

For what?

All those things you mention ---the noise crosstalk etc.

Sure. It's true.

You can minimize these though, by using the typical engineering practices you use with any other tape machine. If careful, these won't be too much of a problem unless your machine is broken, oryou are trying to record classical with the thing.

You can also "hide" these faults with arrangement if you want to. Put some distorted guitars, and some breathy synths, the tape hiss becomes less of an issue.

Track to the machine with a top boost, and dial it back flat on mix etc.
The typical stuff done back then to any tape.

Besides, even with all the issues you speak of, these are easier to live with when you hear the tone quality of tape over digital.

See, I say "tone" quality instead of "sound" quality, because I think tape actually imparts a tone. Even the best machines have a little.

This would be the only reason I would dig mine out and take it on vacation with me. The tone.

Digital has no "tone quality".

john

Awesome! Almost spit coffee all over the keyboard! It's true enough though, isn't it?

Personally I love tracking on a DAW but it's analog for me all the way up to the interface. Lately, for me, using the USB connect on my ZED14 has been fantastic and even though it's only 16 bit I'm impressed more with the ZED than I was with a SD USBPre2 I recently had for a few days. Straight, analog signal converted onboard and shooting right to my DAW from there. No BS sterile digi pre's to screw up the tone, no cheapo chinese analog components in the analog stage to (yet again) screw up the tone.

These days we're lucky to have the best of both worlds at our fingertips.

And when you want the sound of cassette tape then it's there for you to grab on the cheap. Your decision, right?

Right. I am not knocking digital either BTW.

Just saying that the statement that using a budget tape recorder today isn't viable, is kinda like a tape only guy saying digital isn't viable.

It takes a long time to get a bead on tracking to digital when switching from tape, and maybe vise versa.

You have to mind your business closer with tape I think, and "work the system" so to speak. If you do, it obviously can sound great.

They both have their strong points and weak points.

Remember things like the first Beck record etc, were partly transfers from a 4 track cassette machine.

The guitar from "Street Fighting Man" was from cassette.

So, how this is unusable, I am not clear.

It is just going to sound different than digital is all. And different than a 2".

Doesn't mean it's bad though?

j

PS...yeah the Allen and Heath stuff was always pretty good. Glad to hear it's getting you good results. Those damn Brits can make some cool consoles :0)

some of the clowns on this thread are so out of touch it's amazing.

in this day and age NOBODY would use a cassette 4-track as the centerpiece of a professional, for-hire studio.

And pretty much NOBODY would use a cassette 4-track as the centerpiece of their home studio UNLESS...

IT'S THE SOUND THEY ARE LOOKING FOR

so all you "quality" mongerers...there are about 100,000 other threads on this site where you can argue about digital vs analog summing, BTD vs. Live mixdown, converters with 120db dynamic range vs those with 121db, monster cables vs. copper plumbing wire, wheat vs white.

but if we start a damn portastudio thread, it's because we want to talk about portastudios, and we know portastudios, we repair them, we modify them, we LIKE THEM

and we want to record with them.

It's truly an insult to our intelligence when these fools sweep in here waxing poetic about the "sound quality" of some chinese built interface. Suck an egg dudes and leave us to our own outdated devices.

PS- this was post 246 for me....so in honor of that:

I picked up a Yamaha MT400 4-track cassette with dbx noise reduction this month and am really getting into how the tape deck makes me approach my music. I have many digital recording rigs for both in-studio and location recording, so I guess you could say this is my personal multitrack. For a recordist that started with a Fostex 8-track reel-to-reel, and then fully embraced the digital recording realm, this 4-track cassette rig is a source of muse and inspiration. I don't really understand why some of you are snubbing the medium...it's about the muse- not the technology- that makes music come alive. After running a successful recording company since 1998, it's fun to record without a computer screen scrolling the waveform!