Let's Talk About Reel-To-Reel Decks...
From the original Analog Industries archive. Some links and images from that era no longer resolve.
I know this is a painful subject for the more modern amongst us, but feel free to step aside and let the old fogies go at it for a little while.
It is going to be a year or more before I can begin tilting at windmills in earnest, and in the meantime I’d like to do some experimenting and reminding myself of these techniques. While I know how to edit tape, make drum loops from tape, make “real” tape delay, all that jazz, it has been some years since I have exercised those particular muscles. While I already know what decks I’m getting for the Windmill (Otari MTR-10 with stereo 1/4” headstacks) I don’t have the room in what will be my current space for those beasties, and I just want to have some fun.
So, in shopping about for smaller decks that might have the features that are necessary for What We Do, I landed on the Pioneer RT-701 as a possible candidate. These are readily available (there are several on eBay, and one on PHX Craigslist), reasonably priced, and appear to have the features we need in a very convenient form factor for the ultra-small studio I’ll have for the next year. I have never seen one of these in real life, however, let alone used one.
My concern comes from the fact that these are direct drive. Nominally, in a situation where you’d be making tape loops and such-like, the pinch roller pulls the tape off the supply reel, and the take-up reel just has tension on it to ensure it, well, takes it up. So when you don’t have a take-up reel (like when you’re running tape loops) the device still operates correctly.
So, basically, can any AI readers verify that these will operate in the correct manner? That’s the question. If not, suggestions as to another small form-factor (Gods forbid, even portable, aside from the too-spendy Nagra IV-S and its ilk) R2R that will fill the bill.
EDIT: It appears that deck does not have a cue mode, which makes it essentially useless for our needs. Back to the drawing board.
20 comments
How big of a form factor is the Revox B77? Or A77?
16 1/4" W x 14 1/8" H x 8 1/2" D, so "chunky." I think the B77 (doesn't the "B" stand for "Broadcast?") is the more pro of the two machines. It's slightly bigger, too, and has built-in editing features (scissors and splice block). Obviously far better than that Panny thing. I think I'll just man up and get one of those, or if I want to save a few bucks, an Otari MX5050, which I'm more familiar with.
-CR
I'm sure you've seen this, but it bears reposting: https://vimeo.com/53891959
When i first saw this I was thinking how cool it was and how much easier it might be to make a piece of software to do something similar. Then again, something tells me that would be missing the point.
What sorts of things are you planning to do with this machine...mainly loops?
Decent and cheap
https://www.ebay.com/itm/TEAC-A-2300SX-STEREO-REEL-TO-REEL-TAPE-DECK-/261268738901?pt=Vintage_Electronics_R2&hash=item3cd4d49355
http://www.hifiengine.com/library/teac/a-2300sx.shtml
^^ TEAC A-2300SX
Those Pioneers are great little playback machines, but are all but useless in the studio. I have used several of the old Akai decks with the glass heads. The major issue with them is that they are so heavy. I have a 4 track machine that was a workhorse in my studio for years. The sound on sound function and a small mixer makes a nice delay line that mixes down onto itself. Real handy. Also, the thing has an amazingly warm distortion when you overdrive the inputs. It's better than any boutique fuzz pedal I've ever heard when I run my bass through it. I can't remember the model number off the top of my head. I can check on it in a few days when I get back home.
-William
According to the ebay listing for the A-2300SX:
"This is a great opportunity for you to get your Tape Deck Reel-to-Reel and remember those good times of his youth, with excellent sound quality."
I'm thinking that remembering those good times of his youth are reason enough to buy right there.
My grandfather, when he was in Viet Nam doing his three tours, would send my grandma 1/4" R2R tapes instead of letters; I used to love to listen to these when I was a kid. However, the good times of his youth [sic] they were not.
-CR
Myself, I thought the "PLAY AND RECORD LIKE A CD!" was the best part. Just in case you didn't know this was an audio recording/playback device.
Are hipsters moving on from vinyl to r2r?
Hell yes, bring back pre-recorded reel to reel releases.
I hope hipsters stay far away from this medium. As far as I'm aware, their interest in tape begins and ends at cassettes.
Anyhow, I just won a Nagra III on eBay, for a very reasonable price, so my needs in this regard will be sated for the time being. Theoretically.
-CR
I just sold my mint Revox B77 and A77 for $250 as they were just collecting dust. Small Nagra would be great.
yeah i would have recommended a Nagra too. compact and durable. speaking of old fogies - remember Scott Dorsey from rec.audio.pro newsgroup? i remember his sig:
C'est un Nagra
C'est en suisse
et tres, tres, precis
apparently it was originally from the film 'Diva'
A77. The original. The best. The Rock n Roll Open Reel.
Nagra III showed up today. The knucklehead seller just put it in a box, no peanuts, no bubble wrap, no wadded up newspaper, nothing. Loose in a box. I don't even...
Also, it smells like about 40,000 packs of Pall Mall were exhaled directly on it. I'm a smoker, and this thing actually smells so bad it offends _me_. (Of course, I haven't smoked inside or in a car in years, so I'm much more sensitive to this sort of thing than I used to be.)
In any event, as luck would have it, these things _are_ built like tanks. It works fine; could use a little TLC but on the whole, quite a score for $350. I'm currently in a Death March at Casa Nuevo. As soon as that's done, we have a new Audio Damage product to tidy up and get out the door. Somewhere in there, I may make a couple loops and do a YouTube video. We'll return to our regularly scheduled vitriol in a couple weeks.
So I have a Teac home stereo system reel-to-reel that was given to me. Dual capstan drive, bi-directional record. I am hanging on to it w/ the notion that I can use it for a simple tape delay. Am I trying to squeeze dirt from a stone? i.e. do-able but a lot of fuckin' work for not unique results? Or either by modding or setup is this something should I invest a couple hours will be fun to muck around with?
You got a Nagra III for 350 bucks!!!! Gdamit
Old post I know.
The other problem with consumer R2R decks for even semi seeious concrete (in my experience) is that 99% of them are 1/2 track stereo, which makes if hair-pullingly difficult to do backwards tape on, and makes cut and paste more difficult.
I use a semi cheapo Sony outfitted with full track heads.
Mono power FTW! Nagra III!
-CR
Yay! Talking about reel-to-reel!
I procured a friend's Tascam 34 recently for a silly little bit of money and haven't had a lot of time to get into trouble with it yet. At first I borrowed it, merely as a curiosity. But once I'd slammed it with some direct-input guitar from a cheap preamp and got a lovelier sound than any other means of recording I'd yet discovered, and once I did the same with some percussion from the OP-1 and it just fuzzes and fizzes so nice, I knew I'd have to give him the $200 he wanted. The idea being that I'd track to it, then bounce the results to the DAW. It might be overkill for most of what I want to do. I don't think I need four tracks. I do like having two, so I can record multiple parts.
What I don't know is whether it's going to work for doing some of the esoteric play-time that Chris describes.
What would I need to look for to decide if this deck, or any other deck, is appropriate for looping and s-o-s and so on?
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