Using an old 4-tracker

Maybe you like to smile.

I went to the cave and looked for my first Tascam 4-tracker. Found the device in an excellant condition for recording and playing back old casette tapes.

Then I wondered when I used it the last time? I found the last burned CD-R, dated 2001. I had used a CD-Burner as the mastering tool.

I wondered about the audio quality of these old live recordings. The Tascam 05 could only record 2 tracks at the same time.


Now I compared this old forgotten CD with a fairly new CD. I have burned some downloaded
MP3s on a CD-R because these are fantastic remixes. Well, what do you guess has been my surprise?

If you listen often to MP3s you get your ears drilled to it in only a few minutes...

By the way, playing is fun. This little device has pretty useful faders and analog EQs with easy to move faders, too.
I like to touch faders in real time...

plastic toys ...

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I just found some old 8 track reel to reel recordings I did back around 1988 on some Foster gear. Pulled some salvageable stuff over to the DAW and might just sing and play a duet with myself of 30 years ago!

Yeah, it's real fun to join the great bands jams again with modern DAW's VSTs. Nothing compares to 4 or 8 tracks recorded live...
Or to listen to a 2-tracker with children's voices singing "famous" songs.
Cassettes still work fine. Lost devices for 18inch tapes, super-8-films, vhs-videos and video8-tapes.
A secure backup medium seems to be minidisc. I am not sure if I can trust the terrabytes storage. Don't know if there will an usb-connecter in 20 years... :) :)
The first CDs stopped running and the last ones near the end, too.

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Edited by Neronick on April 25 2017 21:14

You can't find this hint in an old manual: How to get 4 tracks out of the toy recorder without 4 direct outs?
Solution:
Use SYNC-OUT for track 4. Fader 4 is zero.
Use CUE-Out for track 3. Fader 3 is zero. Use Cue3 instead.
Use Bus-R for track 2, panned R.
Use Bus-L for track 1, panned L.
Use Faders for Masterbus and set Masterfader.
Now you got 4 parallel outs to record at once. You can't use a 2-pass recording to transfer old cheap audio.
:)
On other machines (no Tascam 414) you might use the phone jack for the tracks on the cue bus.
Sync-out needs to be without a hidden filter (like Porta 05). On some machines you can transfer only 3 outs, I guess.
:)