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Replacing Cassete 4-Track


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A friend of mine would like to replace his dead Tascam 4-track.

 

He'd like to spend under a grand. His requirements are: ease of use, optical digital out (so he can master to his Harmon Kardon CD Recorder), and really that's about it.

 

He was looking at the Boss BR8 or something, but would he be better off springing for the Roland 840 or something. He wants it for personal use, I don't think he'd be looking to do an album on it or anything.

 

Any suggestions would be great, I'm not even too sure on what's out in this category anymore.

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The only downside I've considered in either of those is they work

off of ZIP Drives the Boss BR8 a 100mg and the Roland 840 a 250mg.

 

I personally would find that a restriction but your friend might

not.

 

For a few hundred more he might consider the AKAI DPS12i

or the KorgD16 which are HD based of which I have read very

little or heard very little about.

 

 

 

------------------

William F. Turner

Guitarist, Composer, Songwriter

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Trickfall, I can also vouch for the overall quaity of Roland the VS series. I had one of the earliest VS880's and it worked flawlessly. However the Jazz cartridge they sent with the unit crapped out on me.

===

 

Curve, it seemed to me that you had to have Rolands burner to burn discs with the VS. Do you know if he will be able to use his burner straight from the VS. It's been a while, I may be mistaken...

So Many Drummers. So Little Time...
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tascam and fostex have both recently released digital hard disk 8 track machines in which your friend might be interested. i don't know what they cost or what kinds of effects and capabilities they have since i'm long removed from the market for something like that, but they may well fill your friend's need and maintain a familiar interface. i'm assuming their prices, like everything else digital, has fallen considerably lately.
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Let's bear in mind:

>>He'd like to spend under a grand...He wants it for personal use, I don't think he'd be looking to do an album on it or anything.<<

 

That having been established, the 840 as far as I know does not burn CDs, only the 880, 890, 1680, 1880, and 2480 do that. If he wants to burn CDs he'll have to invest more than Tricky seems to indicate. In the meantime, this cat can make decent recordings on the 840, mix to tape and get a buddy or a local studio to burn a CD if he wants one. Backing up to Zip is fine for this type of down-scale project recording, but avoid Jaz. My information may be out of date concerning backup for the 840, so I would suggest calling Roland tech support for updated info on the best backup options for that unit. The # is 323.890.3700, ext. 2482. That will take you directly to VS support.

 

Now on to Khan's question: we had a thread about this on Roger's forum. The Roland CDRW is required to backup or burn audio CDs from the Roland VS880 and up. There's a catch: you have to mix down to two tracks on the VS, and then burn to audio. That might be fine for the 1880, but going from 8 tracks playback to 6 on the 880 is something I would not even consider. What I plan to do is get a Orb 2.2 gig for backup, and a MasterLink 9600 to burn audio CDs.

Eric Vincent (ASCAP)

www.curvedominant.com

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He may be able to pick up a good deal on the 4 or 8 track-based Minidisc multitracks. The TASCAM had an optical out. I think something hard-disk based is better long-term, the Korg D12 looks very promising...their recording gear is usually underrated. Not sure if it has a digital out, though.

 

The MD things never really took off but work well and avoid the ZIP/Jaz issues. If you can get a bargain, check it out as yet another option in the world of option overload!

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