Tascam to offer blank type II cobalt cassettes
- Thread starter JRhoBurton
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they don't mention price
and why 60 minute? should have used either 45 or 90 minute blanks.
JRhoBurton
All roads lead to music
What's not good about it?
"The TASCAM Studio 424 Master cassette type is a limited release genuine high bias cobalt oxide cassette specifically engineered for outstanding output (4db louder than standard Type II cassettes), low distortion, and unmatched musical clarity when used with TASCAM Portastudio cassette recorders. Industry leading specs like high coercivity for superior storage capacity and almost double the retentivity of standard cassette tapes for enhanced imaging of your recordings ensure your recordings will be higher-fidelity and stronger than ever. The tape formulation was engineered and tested specifically in recalibrated and restored vintage TASCAM Portastudio workstations."
Thanks for the heads up on the poor quality. Where did you get them, as they are not for sale yet. Also can you post your test results?
WernerO
Active Member
http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=93687
The Tascams contain the new NAC 756 ferro-cobalt tape. Some people have tried that one, see above.
My sample is still in custody at the customs. I hope to receive it in the coming two weeks, so I can test it like all cassettes I can find.
https://audiochrome.blogspot.com/2019/02/cassette-tape-comparative-measurements_16.html
Given that both ATR and Tascam now have connected their names to that tape there is still a fragment of hope that it is half-decent. But I am not holding my breath ...
Bone Yard
Super Member
Nice! Like most Tascam Products I'm sure it's just a fraction of it's old self but I like the effort. Honestly for a garage band just cranking out home-made tapes this is probably fine, the younger end user is buying crappy little tape players anyways and sonics isn't the selling bullet point. I love that Portastudios are on the radar again, I'll have to rebelt my mint in box unit and move it to a good home, for a long time I thought it was a boat anchor.
JRhoBurton
All roads lead to music
Nice that you are planning a test. I will await the results. It would be great if they have decent performance and price.
Bone Yard
Super Member
It sure isn't like the old days, 20+ tapes tested in any audio magazine, new formulations and crazy 2-fer tape pricing. Honestly though it's cool there's a ton of interest in these products and someone was paying attention for the love and value of the old TEAC RTR Model Cassette Shells. Sadly we all know it will never be the same as the golden years.
NAC's type II tape is absolutely for sale. I got a sample from NAC. If people want to buy the Tascam tape hoping for a miracle I'm not here to stop them.
Bone Yard
Super Member
I remember the original TEAC RTR Cassettes popping up on the radar in the mid-2000's, I had never seen them before and for us boombox/Walkman guys they looked amazing for photos. My old company used to make copy-cat versions for cleaning tape heads, I wish I had grabbed a box of those, they were worth a small fortune.
If you look around Ebay there are now guys making fake versions, but they look really nice, with all kinds of different spool patterns. I think most are just metal plates glued to the side of the spool. There's definately interest and if your the company that put them on the radar it makes sense to milk it.
If you look around Ebay there are now guys making fake versions, but they look really nice, with all kinds of different spool patterns. I think most are just metal plates glued to the side of the spool. There's definately interest and if your the company that put them on the radar it makes sense to milk it.
I recall that portastudio deck manuals specified a 60 minute tape, likely implying a thicker mylar tape stock, to minimize print through.
That might be their reasoning but I've not heard this as an issue on tapes shorter than 180 minutes, and stretching on anything under 120.
Still not seeing a reason not to make 45 minute tapes, much more convenient for recording LP's.
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A 60 minute tape on a Portastudio will give you 30 minutes record time at 3 3/4ips. Tape speeds are 3 3/4, 1 7/8 and 15/16, and all 4 tracks are used.
The manual does not exclude the use of longer tapes, only warning not to exceed 90 minute tape length, but points out that used as intended, a Portastudio user may wind up recording and dubbing multiple passes, so thicker tape is encouraged.
A Portastudio is not intended to do needle drops. Used as intended, it was a budget portable recording\mixing deck for musicians, and to get anything of saleable quality, the highest tape speed, and use of the included DBX encoding\decoding was needed.
The manual does not exclude the use of longer tapes, only warning not to exceed 90 minute tape length, but points out that used as intended, a Portastudio user may wind up recording and dubbing multiple passes, so thicker tape is encouraged.
A Portastudio is not intended to do needle drops. Used as intended, it was a budget portable recording\mixing deck for musicians, and to get anything of saleable quality, the highest tape speed, and use of the included DBX encoding\decoding was needed.
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and that makes sense
yes, but offering them for home use it's not as practical, but fine for mix tapes and what I use these lengths for.
I see the Portsdtudios offered on eBay quite regularly, I have several searches set for Tascam and Teac, great tape machines.
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Bone Yard
Super Member
These are a money maker because this is the company that made these popular in the 80's. There's hundreds of copies of new versions for sale showing they people are buying this style of cassette for whatever reason. I don't think it's big money but it's pretty easy to modify an existing product to get this result, win for whomever owns TEAC and win for NAC and fun for us to check out. It was all of these special or small runs that made audio so much fun back in the 70's-80's, it was really easy to have something nobody else could find.
Here's another article, I wish they had more information on expected sales figures, who is using the machines, the tape length, etc. There were a lot of different Portastudios, some are much nicer than others, is this for the nicer models?
https://www.engadget.com/tascam-new-cassettes-old-four-track-recorders-202319184.html
DAT is a different story, I don't think production was anywhere near cassette, outside of commercial use it was pretty rare around here. An argument could be made that there's as many DAT Recorders as Portastudios but that cassette could be used in other machines.
Personally I'd love to see some Stereo Microcassettes reissued, the Metal Tapes are like gold going for big money if you can find them.
Found another article, this explains the popularity of the TASCAM Recorder.
https://reverb.com/news/the-enduring-popularity-of-4-track-cassette-recording
Here's another article, I wish they had more information on expected sales figures, who is using the machines, the tape length, etc. There were a lot of different Portastudios, some are much nicer than others, is this for the nicer models?
https://www.engadget.com/tascam-new-cassettes-old-four-track-recorders-202319184.html
DAT is a different story, I don't think production was anywhere near cassette, outside of commercial use it was pretty rare around here. An argument could be made that there's as many DAT Recorders as Portastudios but that cassette could be used in other machines.
Personally I'd love to see some Stereo Microcassettes reissued, the Metal Tapes are like gold going for big money if you can find them.
Found another article, this explains the popularity of the TASCAM Recorder.
https://reverb.com/news/the-enduring-popularity-of-4-track-cassette-recording
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