History of Tascam

Hi Cactus Music,
Back in the '70's, my group was awarded a publishing deal with Warner Brother's Music based on home demos we had done using a Teac 4 Track.  Loved bouncing tracks!

Rimshot

I used this back in the early 90's, For MIDI you had to use track 8 which I believe you could shut off the DBX? noise reduction. I had a time code generator, I kinda worked, I think people don;t really understand how easy we have it with a DAW. Spoiled brats I say. Hey?? I can't post pictures?? I hope Sonar updates their software for this form someday------ ANy how it was a syncast238 8 track cassette rack unit. Amazing sound for the tiny space it used. If you liked distortion that is...

I had a Tascam 8 track 1/2 reel deck in the early 80s and it was a pos. It worked but it broke down a lot. tape splicing. rewind and fast forward. yuck. Had a Dokorder back in the mid 70's. Also a pos. I have no love lost for those days although I understand the love for analog tape even to this day.

I still have a tascam 38 - analog.  I don't use it, but it is there. 

bapu

krizrox


I had a Tascam 8 track 1/2 reel deck in the early 80s and it was a pos. 

Had mine for nearly 4 years. Worked like a champ up to the day I sold them.


I also had the Tascam M-312B:




I had that the 12 channel preamps upgraded and they rivaled the Focusrite stanalone preamps at the time.

ahh memories.


Had the 80-8 and Tascam model 5 board (sort of like Bapus). Bought em in like 1975. Sold the board in like 98 and Finally sold the 80-8 about a year ago.


sure have a lot of toys to play with now but, I haven't gotten a decent sounding mix since.

Well there might be a corilation between those who used Tascam  instead of Studder or Otari to record and those who now use Sonar instead of Pro Tools or Logic.... just kiddn :)
 
Edit; no ,,on second thought, no

The Tascam DA-88s were great alternatives to the ADAT in my experience. A studio I used to hang out at used them for years before going to a disk based recorder. They seemed to be much less fickle than ADAT units. Plus the tapes were smaller :D.

Tascam, then Teac, was one of the major driving forces behind home recording, some would argue the driving force.

Back in the early to mid 1980s I did maintenance work in a number of Teac/Tascam based studios. The really early gear was reliable, and maintainable, and a little annoying since working with their single-ended audio interface was at best challenging.

As the market grew they started to cut corners. The Model 38, and Model 58 certainly had more/better features, and I suppose looked cooler, than the 80-8, but I have an 80-8 that still works, and a lot of the 38s don't (undersized motors were a problem, and the custom chip that controlled transport functions is nearly impossible to find). The 58s fared a little better because their motors were up to full time use. I wouldn't turn down a 38 today because it would not get heavy use, but it was a problem back then.

Their boards followed the same arc. The Model 15 was amazing. Dead quiet, flexible routing (for the day) and very easy to work on. The Model 700 was an excellent console, but by then I think they had damaged their reputation, and they did not sell as well as they might have. I worked on quite a few 500 and 600 series mixers, and they were not a lot of fun to keep working.

Teacs real gift to the recording community, however, was their early manuals. If you can find copies of the manuals for the M15 or 80-8 read them. There is a wealth of good information in there.