/cassette general/

thank you guys, Ill most definitely be going to those places soon

any good tape labels? the weirder the better

I have a Tascam 488 Mk II that I purchased about 5 years ago for $80. It needs a little work.
Are these worth some money nowadays?

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What’s wrong with it?

You don't want just a cassette tape. If you want to do dumb shit like make tape loops and so make sounds with, sure any tape will work. If you actually want anything to sound good you will need Type II cassettes which are slightly more expensive but can still be had on ebay all day long. I just bought a five pack for 30 bucks.

You would easily get $500 on eBay for that machine if it works and has power supply.

The speed of recording and playback fluctuates. Maybe belts or motors?

I've been recording with tape for years. I have a porta 02 and a 414 and I got both at thrift stores a long ass time ago. Not sure if they still pop up but check em. Also got a Nakamichi Dragon for 5 bucks at a thrift store.

The power supply is hard-wired, it does work fine.

I heard type ii tapes kinda mess with the tape heads in a 4 track, like the audio bleeds onto the heads and if you don’t clean them it’ll bleed onto the next recording you make. Is that true?

That sounds like BS to me. Not to mention technically impossible.

No. Most machines are designed around Type II tapes. Check any Tascam or Fostex manual. As for tape bleed, it does happen but it's just the nature of the beast when recording with such lofi equipment. With the tracks being so close together bleed is somewhat inevitable. This happens even on expensive 16 track machines.

Audio doesn't bleed onto the heads though, it bleeds between tracks when recording music. It's because the tape in cassettes is incredibly thin and recording multiple tracks on a thin tape causes bleed through. The more tracks you have the worse it is, which is why 8 track cassette portastudios never took off and are now a collectors item

The tapes your thinking of are most likely metal tapes, which are Type IV, which can damage the equipment. Type I or Type IIs work just fine. You'll get the highest fidelity playback with a Type IV, but the most machines are setup to record on them. They are designed around Chro2. Sorry for the autism, but I had to learn all this by trial and error so hopefully this will save you some time.

Recording is what I was referencing. There is always marginal tape bleed of some kind. It's just the nature of magnetic tape.

Sorry I meant to say machines aren't setup to record on Type IVs. Error in previous post. Just stick to IIs and you'll be fine. I use TDK SA60s and they sound great.

Ah right I was thinking of type ivs. So type ivs won’t mess up my tape player either?

Ah I gotcha. Thanks user, that answers why recording over a cassette and recording onto a blank cassette makes a night and day difference as well

Players are different than recorders. A Type IV will play in most high end cassette decks. Usually it will have switches for Type I, II, and IV(three was never a common format)

Most four tracks aren't designed to write to Type IVs. Just I and II's. Using a Type IV could damage the recorder, or so says my manual for both my tape machines.

Post what you’ve been working on anons! I’m curious to hear what my other 4 track brothers are stirring up

just bought goreshit - "i can't help you", don't own a player though
might be getting some old walkman from my school but would like recs anyway
ideally something less than £50 and relatively portable

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keep in mind that at goodwill and other thrift stores you will have to wade through hundreds of gospel, country, and classical tapes. Going to a record store will be more expensive but you will find stuff easier.

I personally buy classical tapes, chop them up, and use them in loops.

please dont. a lot of old classical recordings were only released on cassette and vinyl and are getting rarer to find