do they make an 8 track simultaneous cassette tape recorder?

[matt_dup4]

i need simplicity, i love my 4 tracker and i love my computer based studio but ones not enough and the others to hard to get to the gig to record. i need to record for at least a couple hours at a time of 8 tracks simultaneously. budget of less than 8 hundred preferably for used gear. the roland vs 1680 is nice but just seems like overkill for what i need. any help will be greatly appreciated. thanks, matt.

[zele]

Tascam 238 8 track cassette cjogo http://fp2k.redshift.com/cjogo/crystalrecording.htm

[Valkyrie Sound]

Find yourself a nice, clean used DA-38 for 8 tracks... about $500. Then get a Tascam PCI-822 ($300) audio card for your computer which has a TDIF port so you can transfer your DA-38 tapes into your computer back home with no loss in quality. Hope that helps... Valky

[fantasticsound]

Do NOT buy an 8 track cassette recorder. In their day, they offered a simple way to access 8 tracks, but sound quality was NEVER very good. (C'mon! tracks 1/2 the width of normal cassette tracks? Can you say noise floor? No need to. Just listen to an erased 8 track cassette. You'll hear the noise floor quite audibly) The only way I'd retract the first statement is if someone gave it to you for free and you never intend on releasing any projects from it. They were interesting toys that, for the most part, taught home recordists why they'd at least have to move up to a consumer Reel-to-reel such as the Fostex R8, etc. Look on the market for a decent, perhaps used, digital 8-track such as the Roland VS or Fostex or Korg recorders. The Korg D12 would be fantastic for you. Wonderful sound quality, effects onboard, preset drum patterns for songwriting and amp simulation for the direct guitar input. That and, for those off-the-cuff moments of inspiration, a built in mic to act as a cable free, musical memo pad. Pretty neat, and the price should be well in your budget. Good luck.

[MattC]

If money is the sake of this arguement, get one of those new 4-track simult. digital recorders and bounce tracks as needed?

[strat0124]

[quote]Originally posted by matt C: [b]If money is the sake of this arguement, get one of those new 4-track simult. digital recorders and bounce tracks as needed?[/b][/quote]Therin lies the problem, none of those inexpensive units record all tracks at once. Most only record two at a time.

[Rog]

I remember using a Fostex 8 tracker over ten years ago ... avoid like the plague unless you just want a bunch of very rough tracks for demos, etc. - even then, rough mixes to a decent 2 track can sound way better.