🚀 go-pugleaf

"D.M. Procida" <real-not-anti-spam-address@apple-juice.co.uk> wrote...
> Following a very disappointing experience with a digital recording
> workstation a few years ago (an Akai DPS12) that put me off for a very
> long time, I want to go back to tape, which is what I'm used to.
> 
> Are the various 1/2" 16-track machines worth considering, or would I be
> better off with an 8-track machine for 1/2" tape?

I think you should give digital another chance. Your indictment of one piece
of equipment should not indict the technology. I would guess that, at this
time, the majority of users accept digital as superior to any analog medium.
There is a tape sound, and some people consider it desirable for certain
purposes, but I leave it to the group as to whether it can be approximated
by choice of microphones because I know very little about microphones.

The cost of tape is so very high!  I could sell you an 8-track machine, I
saved it from my 66 Volkswagon. In addition to the consumables, you would
be creating a maintenance position, I'd like to apply for that job if/when
it becomes available. Now that tape is no longer mainstream, one has to
search for the parts, consumables, and the expertise. Whatever equipment
does exist has degraded due to age, a lot like me - like an analogue tape
machine I've just sat around doing nothing for years. There is a constant
calibration burden, and anything that sounds like work to me is abhorrent to
me.  99% of the maintenance workload is gone with digital, and good ridance.
Here I speak from personal experience, as I was once the specialist
repairman of a particular Ampex multitrack, I've still got it in my basement
with all my cinematography gear, lights, lenses, and the high power water
pump that I've invented.  You remember I used to have a movie directing and
producing career?

You had a bad experience, but don't let it color your perception of what
digital can do. The other members of this group have much more to say,
although none have the intelligence that I have.

Bob Morein
(310) 237-6511