Hey sp fam,

I'm looking on a tascam 424 portastudio for 70€. What do u think about it ? How do you use yours ?

Thanks for help.

I use my tapes to record my sweet ass beatz.
I also use my tapes to archive drum samples (and other misc. stuff).
Adds the hissy texture that is like candy bars to compressors.

You can also use it as a sort of "mixdown" for your SP. Sample/resample some drum patterns... record to tape... add next layer... next layer... you can infinitely bounce between your SP & tape deck. This can help you get around resample polyphony I guess.

Or you can use it to make an ex lover some dope mix tapes about how you're over her

Thanks ! It sounds great...I think I gonna buy this.

that`s a 424 mk2 if i`m not mistaken, wu`s 36 chambers was made on one of these

i have a yamaha, you can hook up 2 fx to it, layer drums - bass - some guitar - some vocal samples and 2 delay pedals and do some dubs

I buy this tascam 424 mkII. What do u think about it ?

I have the MKIII and it rocks. Just a simple, legit recorder.

put some stickers or markers on it

Medearis,

What kind of tape do u use for ? Normal tape or type II ?

Do u obtain that proper tape sound with it ? ´cause I read somewhere that this tape recorder sounds "too clean".

I have an MKII, in the manual it says to use type II. You can find them on eBay for pretty cheap, I like Maxell XLII type II cassettes. As long as you're recording everything in the red you're gonna obtain tape saturation. This is my first and only tape recorder so I don't know what you mean by "proper tape sound," but I love the sound of mine. If your sampling from vinyl, record your sample to tape than to your sampler for some extra dirt, especially do this for drum breaks.

Thanks

Last question : Do u often clean and demagnitized it ?

You clean the heads once in a while. 90% rubbing alcohol and swabs. You don't need special shit for this. Also, cleaning the capstans(those metal pins) is a good thing and what i'll do once a year is open the thing and clean the belts. Also, be careful about demagnetizing. I spent a lot of time reading about it. Should I or not? The thing is, if you don't know how to use a demagnetizing wand, you can actually make the heads worse. I never demagnetize my tape deck heads anyways. It's not that important. What I do though is use a pencil eraser and pass it on the heads(erasing and playing) a couple times. Little d.i.y. tip that I read about somewhere.

Thanks a lot mate. I really appreciate.

The "proper" tape sound... depends on if you mean the sound like Led Zep or Black Sabbath or if you mean slightly rolled off highs + tape hiss.

If the latter, you're right on the money with your recorder.