I just had another Tascam 424 Portastudio four-track cassette recorder crap out on me. This is my second one to go in just over a year. These damned things are absolutely VITAL to how I record my Super Eight Loop analog synth cassettes, as well as being a big part of certain aspects of recording The Fortieth Day and even some BLOODYMINDED pre-production material.
It appears that the play/record heads are no longer engaging with the cassette. This also seems to be what happened to my last one.
They are getting increasingly difficult to find on eBay… people are mostly selling later generation decks - MKII and MKIII - but I have to have the earlier model, as it is the only one to feature three (3) tape speeds:
HIGH (9.5 cm/sec.—3-3/4 ips)
NORM (4.8 cm/sec—1-7/8 ips)
SLOW (2.4 cm/sec—15/16 ips)
I would be willing to move up to a different model or to a different brand of four-track, but again, only if it featured all three tape speeds…
If any of you USA folks see one pop up, or you know of someone who has one, and who might be willing to let go of it, please let me know.
Thanks!
Mark