Tascam 464

[Tascam Kid]

Hi, I recently bought a Tascam 464, Japanese version. Everything works fine with it as far as I can see. I used to own a 414 mkii which I bought new in about 2001 or so. But I sold it in pretty much mint condition a couple of years ago. I regret selling it. But oh well, I've got the very nice 464 now.

One question that I've been wondering about is tape drift. My plan is to record the odd song on the 464 and import the individual tracks into my DAW for mixing there. The 464 has 4 tape outs which is great because you can simultaneously send 4 tracks to your DAW and any fluctuations in tape playback will be reflected evenly. But what if I was to then record another 4 tracks and send them into the DAW...how variable in your experience are these cassette machines in playback? Was it a thing even on brand new machines?

I know there's plugins and so forth that can address time stretch issues but anyway, I just thought I'd ask since I just signed up here.

Thanks

 

[Tascam Kid]

I've come across an issue where on track 1 the recording oscillates in volume...it fluctuates from normal volume then it will go lower for a bit then back to normal...then lower. I'm using a new cassette tape. I've cleaned the heads and demagnetized. The other tracks record the source and reproduce the source in playback truly. But track 1...wobbly volume.

Does anyone know what this is a symptom of? Thank you

 

[Tascam Kid]

Well it's a one man conversation but no worries. This machine works just fine. Everything was user error. One of the main issues was (and I found this out from an old 1991 review article on this machine) that I was hitting the machine with way too much volume. This causes the DBX noise reduction feature to pump and go crazy giving you weird oscillating issues. Anyway, it's all good.