Really appreciate these videos. I was able to fix up a broken $50 488 and a couple smaller Tascam 4 tracks for my home studio using your tutorials. Having the extra context outside of repairs like you provide in this video is helpful as well.
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Thanks Dan, fifty bucks for a 488 is a great deal!
@PlainlyDifficult
Жыл бұрын
Awesome video as always!
@rOhmz
Жыл бұрын
Exceptional tips mate! Thanks for all the info you are providing to the Cassette community, it really is a HUGE asset especially with the ages of some of these machines. It's a great feeling fixing something, using it and saving it from the landfill!
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Thanks fro your words of encouragement!
@francismcfadden3305
Жыл бұрын
So glad I found your channel man. This information is almost impossible to find on the net.
@tommymess
Жыл бұрын
So many aspects to consider with these machines! Absolute truth!
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Thanks Marco
@kcrymble
Жыл бұрын
I know feck all about these, but good to listen to you again dude!
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Ha! Thanks for watching, bless.
@wehappyfewmusic
Жыл бұрын
Great advice here! I’ve certainly found my Tascam 688 and 488’s sound pretty similar, and I doubt I could hear the difference with my Yamaha MT8X 11 in a blind test. It’s a shame there aren’t more people like you around with the skills to fix them. I’ve had 3 units sat waiting to be looked at in a service centre for the last 6 months.
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Thanks, I hope you get those units back soon
@WotanSkyFather
Жыл бұрын
I'm shocked you even found a place willing to service them!
@wehappyfewmusic
Жыл бұрын
@@WotanSkyFather it took some searching (although they’re still there).
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
I service these in Scotland, I know a few techs here and in the US of you want me to put you in touch.
@jordaneslick6816
11 ай бұрын
Do you know any techs in LA?@@Tetrakan
@negentropyrecords
Жыл бұрын
You made me bring my tascam portastudio 488 out of the wardrobe. How many hundreds of hours of music were recorded on that machine in the past ? Many, many... I'm afraid it's a bit rusty, the buttons are cracking. I haven't tested everything but at a glance, my portastudio needs a good technical check up! What a pleasure to play with it again... Thanks for the inspiration!
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
That’s great, have fun!
@ManCalledMif
Жыл бұрын
Got a 424mkII on eBay. Very glad I found your channel. Hope it’s ‘working’ as listed.
@jean-fabricevernet8947
7 ай бұрын
Nice and helpful. I see that 388 in the background but wonder what you think of 8-track recorders on standard cassette size as opposed to 4-track. In particular if they sound similar and if they tend to be more prone to breaking down for whatever reason. I had a four track back in the days. I miss the workflow and limitations basically and have been thinking about getting one again but not sure if I should try to find an 8-track or a 4-track
@soyginna
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and skill!
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Glad it was helpful!
@Sean-uo5ef
Жыл бұрын
Really great content. Thank you for posting!
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching!
@concretewave8
Жыл бұрын
Amazing throat tattoo!!! i have one similar on my arm... The content was super useful!! Big Up!
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Thanks! The central bit needs shaded, three hours in I was shaking so much my guy wasn't sure he could colour inside the lines lol
@eduugr
Жыл бұрын
It's great to have you here on youtube Tetrakan, I'm really enjoying your videos and been learning and fixing two portastudios now, so thank you very much!! I was wondering about the Tascam Porta 02/05/07 series. Those are much cheaper than other series that are sold as "more professional". Can you tell if there's a big difference in recording quality? Maybe the porta 0X series don't record in high speed? Thanks for your content!!!
@TheSoulSynthesis
Жыл бұрын
I'm really happy that my 688 works at all even if it's noisier than I'd like it to be and the input levels don't really match the recorded levels on the meter bridge. But there will be the time where I have to open it up and plan a recap and look into the meters. But I knew that when I bought it and I'll be forever glad that your channel exists because you helped me out a lot with your knowledge. Good tips on buying and some PSA about what one might get into Cheers!
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Thanks! I’m pretty sure you could go a long way to addressing those level mismatching levels and meters issues without actually recapping the unit….a couple of dozen trimpots need adjusting, whereas there must be hundreds and hundreds of electrolytic capacitors in a 688- that’s a long stint in cap replacement purgatory!
@TheSoulSynthesis
Жыл бұрын
@@Tetrakan yes you're absolutely right. That would be the sanest option. I would need to find a test tape for that to have a baseline for adjusting, right?
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Ideally yes you'd use a full width calibration tape to set playback amp fain but there are workarounds the reel to reel police would chastise me for mentioning...like, you could use any prerecorded tape to get a rough level for the playback amps on tracks 1 2 7 & 8 then use a signal generator with a pull down resistor if necessary plugged into the head sockets to match the AC voltage from tape outs 3 4 5& 6 to what youre seeing from tracks 1 2 7 & 8 using a meter. Then proceed to set record amp gain as normal. The resulting gain structure would likely be a little suboptimal but at least the performance of all the tracks would be even.
@TheSoulSynthesis
Жыл бұрын
@@Tetrakan haha the reel to reel police can stay in their gentlemen's club. I appreciate workarounds that do the trick and it's ok to not have the perfect outcome. I would not deal with these things if I'm after as high fidelity as I can get. I'll look into your suggestion and will dig into the service manual a bit to understand the whole thing a bit better. My smooth brain had the idea to record some white noise at unity on every channel and see if I can then just match them and the meters / playback Thanks for the insight!
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Yeah what youre saying with white noise is pretty much the procedure described for record amp calibration in the service manual, only they suggest using 1khz sine wave I think (at least thats what I use). But if you don't take steps to even out the response of the playback amps and meters first, the impression you get from your test recordings can be quite misleading, and it's possible to end up with high noise floor or saturation on adjacent tracks even though the output on the meters looks the same, does that make sense?
@huntergalloway3944
Жыл бұрын
Lol I bought a second 688 just to have a backup motor! I love my 688.
@vikingbeard
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for great advices!
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching!
@osi9567
Жыл бұрын
Awesome work on these videos man
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for watching!
@speedunknown
Жыл бұрын
Brilliant & thank you. I would trust in buying one of these refurbished Mini cassette recorders from You. I’ve followed your videos for a while now. Kindly let me know if you have an eBay store or Reverb.
@robertcrystals
Жыл бұрын
4 track god
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Bless, I merely an obsessed amateur, but thank you
@xisotopex
3 ай бұрын
reverb is bad about letting people list things as "good" but then in the written description, they will comment that they have no idea, and that it is sold "as-is".... dont know why reverb allows this.
@Tetrakan
3 ай бұрын
I dont think there are many human employees moderating these platforms unfortunately
@SPOD_ZONE
11 ай бұрын
I spy the 388 back there, have you done any videos on them?
@ProjetHomeStudio
Жыл бұрын
I feel I heard something in one of your videos but I can't find it anymore : between the various brands & models of portastudio-like cassette recorders, are there some that we should avoid due to poor reparability ? (i.e. custom parts that can't be replaced anymore) Thanks
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Not a fan of the Teac 144 and Fostex 250 because the reel mechanisms in these very early designs are overengineered and if the parts on there wear out you can't get replacements from the manufacturer and theyre bricked until someond starts 3 d printing replacements. Everything from about 1984 forward with the 244 is pretty viable. 644, 688 and 234 are pigs to work on due to access but no less repairable than their contemporaries.
@ProjetHomeStudio
Жыл бұрын
@@Tetrakan ok, thanks a lot for the detailed answer. What about the yamahas, repairable too ?
@ProjetHomeStudio
Жыл бұрын
Great channel :) !
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Why thank you!
@richiedagger733
Жыл бұрын
I found a 488 mkii that I'm seriously considering picking up, what should I be checking for before handing over the cash?
@kainen1279
Жыл бұрын
The 4track recorder to DIY tech pipeline is real
@jayteelee
Жыл бұрын
Hi, I have an idea but don't know if it's worth it but anyway - would it be possible anyhow to rebuild the Porta One ministudio to TWO SPEED model..?
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Not with the original motor, unless it's the HS (high speed) variant. If youve got a motor that'll do 3200 rpm you could probably mount the switch and resistors necessary for the two speed switch in the battery compartment, there's not much space anywhere else.
@jayteelee
Жыл бұрын
@@Tetrakan Oh great man, thanx for advice. And how can I recognize if the motor is HS..? Is it in numeric code on my Sankyo motor?
@KenJiLP08
Жыл бұрын
@@jayteelee look for the HS marking on the unit itself, right below the cassette compartment.
@jayteelee
Жыл бұрын
@@KenJiLP08 thanx for advice. I had no idea that exists a second version of the PortaTwo, now I know :)
@johntammaro
Жыл бұрын
I have just bought new belts for my 414. Is there more calibration I should be looking to do ? I've cleaned up some of the electronics, re-soldered some joints, cleaned pots. Is this everything? Your channel is an amazing resource btw. Thank you
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Thanks! Sounds like you've done a pretty throrough job. Reassemble it and test it, see if there are any niggles, and if there are, whether those niggle actually stop you from making music the way you want to. If you can make music on it, you're golden!
@waterdrinker8554
Жыл бұрын
What are your thoughts about the Yamaha mt4x?
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
It’s been a while since I used one but it made a good impression with me. I seem to remember it was a slightly less feature rich competitor to the a 424 mk II? Like, dual speed , three band eq, backlit screen, 4 channel mixer… the slight advantage of the tascam being parametric mids and better access to the input sockets... though someone who currently owns a MT4x may step in and correct me here? In a perfect world I’d personally rather have a Tascam 246, 424 mk III or 464, but if you can get an MT4X at a good price, go for it.
@waterdrinker8554
Жыл бұрын
Nice I have one and it’s been serviced! It was 450 total. Came in the original box and got the manual for it as well. I was just wondering your thoughts on it. Love your videos. I also got super lucky and found a working 424 mk III for 50 bucks at a swapmeet! I’m sure it needs some service but everything works great on it!
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Thanks! Not a bad price for the serviced Yamaha but an amazing deal on the Tascam, have fun recording on them :)
@oinkooink
7 ай бұрын
I sold a 414. Full regret.
@catojrgensen8912
Жыл бұрын
Can I please buy a portastudio from you. Then I know what Im getting :)
@Tetrakan
Жыл бұрын
Maybe, contact me via Facebook or instagram to discuss
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