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Is 8 track tape same as reel to reel tape

S

srinath

Super Member
I have a couple of 8 track tapes that have come loose from 1 end.
Is it possible to wind it onto a 7" reel and play it in a reel to reel player ?
What speed ?
Thanks.
Srinath.
 
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I tried that last year. I had a lot of 8 teams and took them out of their cases and spliced them all together on a 7 inch reel. I deguased them and made some recordingsm they sounded ok but I think they have some lubricant on them so they will work in the tape housing. It was interesting but I think I'll stick with regular reel to reel tape. It was cool just to try it though.
 
No! Not compatible unless you installed 8 track on 1/4" tape heads and aligned them correctly. Cartridge tape also has special lubrication. 3 3/4 IPS speed used. NAB Equalization used. Standard home format open reel uses 4 tracks on 1/4" tape. There are 8 tracks on 1/4" tape but they run at 15 or even 30 IPS and use noise reduction and use CCIR/IEC equalization.
 
That's so true Kent. I was just speaking of just messing around with that tape and seeing how it would work on a reel to reel. I didn't know that 8 track speed was that fast. :thmbsp:
 
KentTeffeteller said:
No! Not compatible unless you installed 8 track on 1/4" tape heads and aligned them correctly. Cartridge tape also has special lubrication. 3 3/4 IPS speed used. NAB Equalization used. Standard home format open reel uses 4 tracks on 1/4" tape. There are 8 tracks on 1/4" tape but they run at 15 or even 30 IPS and use noise reduction and use CCIR/IEC equalization.
Click to expand...


Yikes, they run that fast ?
And D-oh ... yes 8 track means ... well it has 8 tracks.
Cool.
Srinath.
 
Uh, Kent?

I think the OP was referring to 8 track cartridges, not open reel. That would be 3-3/4 ips, not 15 or 30.

And yes, the tape itself will work fine on a reel-to-reel - I've done it. The back lubrication on endless loop tape won't affect its use in an open reel configuration.
 
I believe Kent was referring to the existance of reel to reel machines that squeezed 8 tracks onto 1/4 in tape. I think Fostek did that, for instance. To achieve reasonable quality, they used 15ips or 30ips. At those speeds, IEC equalization was used, whereas, 8 tracks, used NAB equalization, associated with their 3.75ips speed.
 
Oh, OK

1tumbleweed said:
Uh, Kent?

I think the OP was referring to 8 track cartridges, not open reel. That would be 3-3/4 ips, not 15 or 30.

And yes, the tape itself will work fine on a reel-to-reel - I've done it. The back lubrication on endless loop tape won't affect its use in an open reel configuration.
Click to expand...

Yes the crappy 8 crack cartridges ... this one is a waylon jennings one, but yes cartridge.
So I can say hand turn that tape onto the 7" reel, and just play it @ 3 3/4.

I will try it tomorow. And I better watch that video link too.
Thanks.
Srinath.
 
I watched that video.
I have a split tape that has one end loose ... I am thinking it came loose from one end - I'd rather not open the cartridge ... but I will try to make sure 1 end is what is loose and not the middle.
Then I'd be playing it on my pioneer rt 707. Would it work on it, cos he seems to have heads that engage and disengage ... like my tandberg 6 which is currently awaiting repair ...
Thanks.
Srinath.
 
I'm a tad confused about the original poster's reason for the question, but I will presume it is similar to one I have. That is, can you break open an 8-track tape and reload it onto a reel to playback the tape to make a transfer? I realize it won't work on a 4-track 2-channel machine, but how about on a 4-track machine like the Sony TC-366-4 or TC-388-4? Can the audio be retrieved well enough to dub onto a CD-R? I have an Akai X-1810D, given to me 2 years ago by the original owner who bought it in 1972(he thinks). This is a combo unit reel-to-reel that also plays 8-tracks on the side-I mean that literally! The unit works fine, but when playing a box of old 8-tracks some of them broke at the foil splice-just too dried out I guess. And so if there is a way to play the 8-track tapes on some kind of reel machine, that would certainly solve the problem of the failed splices. I have numerous vintage stereo/mono Sony, Akai, Voice of Music, Wollensak reel-to-reels here, none of them high end(except mid-end X-1810D, TC-377?). And I have exactly ZERO 8-track players here. Always hated the format, but it would be a fun project to do.
 
That question I answered. You need 8 track 1/4" compatible heads to play one on a reel for transfer. And the machine used must run at 3 3/4 IPS and have NAB equalization. 99.9 percent of open reel machines used at home do not have 8 track playback heads installed, they have 1/4 track heads installed.
 
KentTeffeteller said:
99.9 percent of open reel machines used at home do not have 8 track playback heads installed, they have 1/4 track heads installed.
Click to expand...

Hmmm. Then the question would be if one had a "project" 8-track player one could cannibalize the head from, could it be successfully installed into a "project" reel-to-reel machine to play the 8-track as wound onto a reel? Purely mind wanderings on my part, thinking of this as a project. Of course the quick fix would probably be to get a splicing kit for any damaged 8-tracks, repair it, and play it AS an 8-track in a suitable machine. I am wondering what would be required as far as bias of the head, alignment azimuth, etc. And most consumer machines play at 3-1/4, 7-1/2 IPS so that wouldn't be a problem.
 
Dennman6 said:
Hmmm. Then the question would be if one had a "project" 8-track player one could cannibalize the head from, could it be successfully installed into a "project" reel-to-reel machine to play the 8-track as wound onto a reel? Purely mind wanderings on my part, thinking of this as a project. Of course the quick fix would probably be to get a splicing kit for any damaged 8-tracks, repair it, and play it AS an 8-track in a suitable machine. I am wondering what would be required as far as bias of the head, alignment azimuth, etc. And most consumer machines play at 3-1/4, 7-1/2 IPS so that wouldn't be a problem.
Click to expand...

Bias only applies to recording, not playback. In theory, you could take the head off of an 8 track player, install it on a reel-to-reel, and it might work. But then how would you move the head to pick up the different programs? An 8 track head only has two gaps (two channels), and the head physically moves up and down for programs one through four. As Kent said, you might as well fix the cart and play it in the proper player.
 
Well is you had a head that covered all 8 tracks at once you could make an 8-channel digital recording and then edit on the computer, but I guess that's a purely theoretical possibility as there are no suitable heads.
 
solution: use a fostex r8, or an 8 track that will play at 7.5 ips.
dub your two tracks out to a reel to reel or cassette traveling at double speed

listen to the dub at correct speed, or half of what speed you recorded it at.

problem solved, should work with good quality i would think.
 
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