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I know cassettes are heavily outdated, but...

LChen	Date: January 22, 2007 @ 3:48 PM I'm eyeing the Tascam Portastudio, since it's cheap and cassettes are easy to change and carry. Also, the idea of cassettes in itself seems like fun. Of course, this would be just something to record ideas and songs, but not to create a demo with or anything like that. Latency is really bothering me, so that's another reason. What I'd like to know is, is there something horribly wrong with purchasing a cassette recorder in this day and age? I mean, is there something I should know about before I go ahead and buy it? Is there a reason not to? I mean, it's cheap but not that cheap, so I don't want to waste money on a product that could break down at any time or has something totally wrong with it. Oh, and what's the deal with having multiple inputs? Thanks!
Distilled1	Date: January 22, 2007 @ 4:57 PM I had one and loved it I can tell you this. there is no latency, and truely you can get a decent demo out of them. what exactly are you looking at? whats the cost? Have you a scorce for tape? (shoot I have tons of those I need to listen to and get a good Laugh) multiple input 1 guitar a bass a vocal and .. so on and so on live room recording. they are really great for that
imemine	Date: January 22, 2007 @ 5:45 PM Cassettes are out dated? CRAP! .....and I just replaced all my 8-tracks!
BOWILLIE	Date: January 22, 2007 @ 5:56 PM even a little four track tascam works fine..just dump bass and rythme into one and gain extra track..ect..
LiQuidMetamo...	Date: January 22, 2007 @ 10:49 PM bouncing tracks was a cool art on the old 4 track tape machines. Watch the hiss factor though, that's something I don't miss with digital recording in 24 bit. The dolby and dbx switches help but kill all the tone over 8 Khz. Record a nice loud clear signal, not having to worry about going a couple of dbs into the red (in fact preferable in some instances), yes, life was good. But now I've gotten used to doing 30-40 tracks in my projects, midi, plug-ins for all the effects within the digital box, I wouldn't go back, except for a little fun.
mattbanx	Date: January 23, 2007 @ 1:18 AM I was thinking of getting the Tascam Portastudio. I noticed the bass sound seemed to hit harder on a taped recording. Like more of a thwack. I have some old cassette tapes that I recorded on my computer with wav. There was all kinds of hiss. I could'nt clear it up without ripping out the sound. I did a couple taped recordings using Dolby. Helped clear up the sound quite a bit. But the bass sure hummed. I would also try recording with any type of tape device I could. That was a lot more simple a time and I did'nt care as much. A rough demo then sounded just like that, a rough demo. Now a rough demo can sound almost like a major production done with computer. I almost miss that scuffed up sound.
GeneHilbert	Date: January 23, 2007 @ 1:55 AM I still have 2 Porta Ones I bought in '85..... Still work fine, even with the head ware.
zedsalt	Date: January 23, 2007 @ 10:53 AM I've said it dozens of times in these forums, and I'll say it again: one good thing about the sort of the recorder you mentioned is that no matter how good digital recording gets, you'll always have a more durable and infinitely more complete version to use as a master. There IS something horribly wrong about NOT "going analog".
PrincessTast...	Date: January 23, 2007 @ 2:04 PM Tapes can make the coolest sounds. Flying Apparatus's sound collages use a lot of tape stuff that can't be done digitally. Ex: using the pause button to speed-up and slow down the tape at random intervals.
Rodrica	Date: January 23, 2007 @ 4:38 PM I've still got a Yamaha 8 track tape machine that I got back in about 1997 and I'm seriously thinking about getting the heads replaced so that I can use it again (to get rid of the hiss) - although I still often record ideas on it. Had a great sound for many years and low wear as far as moving parts...nowhere near as hysterical as a digital recorder/computer and built like a brick out-house. Fantastic piece of kit There are still plenty of places that sell tapes too.
wailingmiserere	Date: January 23, 2007 @ 7:28 PM I don't have a PC at home and do all of my demo stuff and ideas on my faithful Yamaha four-track. For the sheer immediacy of just being able to sit down, press record and go, I still prefer it to anything digital. I've had it for the past six or seven years and it's getting seriously hissy and clicky now, but I have used it very, very heavily over the years, and when it was new the sound was great. Certainly if you're not that bothered about sound quality, and if all you want is something for ideas, I would say go for tape. Do bear in mind that if you ever want to make mp3s of your stuff to put online, it will be a bit tricky (but possible, of course).
ray104	Date: January 3, 2008 @ 5:47 PM I like the way cassettes sound. You can hear the how natural it sounds. I love Analouge sound!
ChillinBuzz	Date: January 3, 2008 @ 10:06 PM I can't say the sound quality is bad at all on a good type II cassette at high speed in the second-hand Fostex I bought. I'm using it more to play old cassettes rather than to record new ideas although it does work rather well as a 6 channel mixing desk into the pc.
Tattoomom	Date: January 4, 2008 @ 9:47 AM Interesting story....took my kid into (insert mass market chain name here) to look at mp3 players...he picks up a cassette player and says "hey! What's this...it only costs $5!" I tell him it's a cassette player to which he responds.... "What's a cassette?"
8111	Date: January 4, 2008 @ 9:49 AM I had two of those things, great little music notepads. I would master my ideas onto hifi vhs and got a LOT of use out of them. Follow the instructions carefully when it comes to cleaning the heads. I made the mistake of using a standard head cleaner and screwed mine up.
zedsalt	Date: January 4, 2008 @ 11:10 AM I remember the first time I failed to find a strictly analog copy of an album I wanted. I bought the cassette, but it had obviously been digitally encoded somewhere along the way. I contacted the record company, but they said that only digitally-duplicated copies would be offered for sale. Something horrible had happened to the world. Now, we get together every once in a while for Analog Only nights and listen to actual music.
pog	Date: January 5, 2008 @ 11:13 AM Cassette's are like purple trousers with flares... they're back in! Oh wait they are so yesterday, but next week they will be in again.
Opossum	Date: January 5, 2008 @ 11:20 AM Well, I've always been somewhat of a nonconformist, so whether or not something is "in" or "out" could go either this way or that way for me, as being a nonconformist can have its ups and downs.
GTOriginal	Date: January 6, 2008 @ 7:54 PM I sing to a prehistoric bird who uses his beak to carve the sound into a spinning disc shaped piece of stone. When he's done, he shrugs his shoulders and makes a witty remark like, "eh, it's a living". Afterwards, I shower the stone platter dust off under a mammoth's trunk.
zedsalt	Date: January 7, 2008 @ 10:25 AM I know what a bother it can be cleaning up after livestock, but at least GT's way is less "lossy" than a CD.
clickplay	Date: January 8, 2008 @ 5:26 AM I know for sure that Ron @ engine11 does all of his stuff on a 4-track cassette ,then puts it onto his computer to finalize to MP3 format. I mix his stuff sometimes,and I LOVE the sound of the wave files that he e-mails to me. I also have a 4-track ,that i think sounds great...but doesn't get as much use since starting to use the computer.Ampex and 3m announced in 2007' that they were stoping manufacture of the tape itself.
independentm...	Date: January 9, 2008 @ 11:16 PM "is there something horribly wrong with purchasing a cassette recorder in this day and age?" Absolutely not IMHO. You can even use cassette masters for the source of the audio you want to release on the Internet. (Most 128k - 192k .mp3 files don't sound any better, and often times WORSE than cassette.) Just learn to record with good hot signal levels but try not to overdrive the tape too much. AVOID noise reduction on the tape itself and only use NR once you transfer it to the digital realm (if you think it needs NR at all.) The same goes with any other processing/effects in post. It's not quite as good as studio grade reel to real, but many people would be surprised how good cassette can sound when done right.
independentm...	Date: January 9, 2008 @ 11:20 PM Tip: use high bias Chrome tape instead of normal or metal bias for best results with music.
Rodrica	Date: January 10, 2008 @ 5:37 AM I think it all depends on whether you like that tape sound or not. Personally I love it I've had many plug-ins and stand alone units that are supposed to simulate tape demonstrated to me...but none of them are quite like tape. Having spoken to a number of medium sized studios in the UK I have found that, although they primarily work in the digital domain, they still use reel to reel to warm up certain parts of the mix, or in some cases the final mix! So I guess it's a well-kept secret that ppl are still using it! The only unit that seems to be getting good reports from engineers seems to be the Empirical Labs Fatso tape simulator. An analogue unit that simulates not only tape warmth but the other sounds you get from using tape such as the harmonics etc. Very tempting...but just one drawback - it's around $2250 to $2500. But then hardware units usually are expensive, although very often well worth the outlay.
zedsalt	Date: January 10, 2008 @ 11:05 AM To elaborate on a couple good points independentmusician made... I can definitely hear the difference between encoded straight to digital vs. the infinitely preferable recorded analog to encoded digital (that is, when the former doesn't make use of any of the "warming" devices previously mentioned). If you're accustomed to encoding straight to digital, you're accustomed to avoiding 0db and up like the plague. When recording analog, a db or three above zero gives you that sweet, warm "tape saturation" sound. Wider tape does sound better than narrower, but it's not a huge dif'. Type II (higher) tape not only sounds better, it keeps that sound a lot longer because the particles adhere to the tape so much better (that also adds years to the life of your equipment).
zedsalt	Date: January 10, 2008 @ 11:14 AM Y'know, that's a point that often gets overlooked in these analog vs. digital discussions: magnetic tape is WAY more durable than the CD (and the more layers to the mylar/lexican sandwich...like in CDRWs and DVDs...the worse it is). With good tape, you don't lose an audible amount of sound for a couple decades. By the time a CD is in danger of peeling apart and completely losing everything on it, an analog cassette manufactured at the same time is just starting to lose a little high end. If you don't take care of your tape machine, it might eat a tape (usually not beyond recovery). CDs are fragile little things that were never designed for long term storage.

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