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[althemusicwizard]

I asked this question on another forum, given that all prosumer audio gear has fallen in price (in relative terms).
Is there a market for a new Chinese 2" multitrack, or has the industry just gotten so used to digital and the ease of media, back-ups, reliabilty etc.

Al

[sodderboy]

Just ask Studer.  They still have a few A827 GOLD machines made about 10 years ago.  No hours. NOS.

Even better, how about some cheap chinese 2" TAPE?  Scampex 567.
Mike

[JGreenslade]

There’s always a market for any new machine, providing it’s that good.

The top-flight studios would have no option but to buy such a machine to remain competitive.

The question is, would it be that good?

Do you see much Chinese-made gear in the racks at Abbey Rd or SearSound?


Justin

[Wayne Kirkwood]

No, I don't think there's a market.

The broadcast market won't support it and the portion of the Pro-Audio market that would just isn't big enough.

Gosh I don't even have a working cassette machine any more, one working VHS machine and I haven't loaded a CD into a machine to do anything other than rip it in years. Virtually all of my physical media, other than DVDs are in storage.

I still use pencils though...

[Larrchild]

If you add up all the smart, intuative young people who are considering adding an analog recorder to their DAW arsenal, and the people like me who never stopped using them, and would buy something new, you would still have 1% of the market they used to sell to in analog's heyday.

As we have seen with the ACES rig, it's not a good boutique-industry like bolting transformers to chassis, and using bakelite meter re-issues, as in a mic pre or limiter.

This is serious mechanical tolerance stuff!

[Dan Mc]

i would agree as a young audio guy (i think?)that the market is small...
there are plenty of tape machines out there that people view as obosolete even of they are in mechanically good shape
it would be much cheaper to purchase one of these machine (you might have to look hard depending on your area) but surely if you wanted to "hot rod" it or even refurb it this route would be very much cheaper but maybe more time consuming
who knows it might just be fun

[amorris]

when i was in manufacturing, the 24 track 2" cost the conglomerate $38K to build and sold for $42K. so no, they will never make them in the future.

[David Kulka]

Aces???!!!  

[CHANCE]

There are some manufacturers in China that are/were making 2" multitrack machines and tape. I'll try to get/find these pictures and info if interested. If my memory serves me right, I think China was getting their tape from TDK (Japan)

[Jim Williams]

No.

The younger generation is totally computer oriented.

There are plenty of used ones to fill the demand. Plenty of unsold new ones too.

That demand will drop over time as the tape based generation dies off. It really comes down to this question:

Got tape? That's the biggest obstacle besides demand. From what I've heard lately, that's a recurring problem.

[amorris]

not 1 hour ago I was running a test on the Studer in Studio A and an instructor and a student came in as I auditioned  a stereo acoustic gtr from protools bussed to all tracks of the tape. even using the digital source and just recording it to tape the effect was astounding. the tape had more of a spread and a little magic on the hi end. Now this effect is not good for a lot of things but Ive always liked acoustic gtr on tape.

instructor "the kids these days have no idea..."

[Greg Norman]

Incidentally, anyone know when the last MTR-90 was made/sold?

[Barry Hufker]

I'm convinced there's no market.  And the level of tech support to really maintain a machine is more than the average person can handle or wants to "mess with".  When there were studios (yes, I know they're not *all* gone), then you had a tech staff, the machines were state-of-the-art and it made sense.  Except for a dedicated few, the "tape recorder" is a plug-in.

I've proposed someone take the bias signal and create a way to record that as a "sync" or "sampling" system on a tape deck as a means of reducing wow and flutter.  And while that could do a lot to improve that spec (IMOBWDIK), who would buy it?  Digital is so much more hassle free...

[Larrchild]

I think it is accurate as mentioned that the current used market seems to match the current demand. I earn extra income by turning my stable of analog machines into a recording museum. For five bucks a head, I let my engineer friends of my age group come over and load a reel of tape and push the transport buttons for a half-hour on the A-800.
They leave misty-eyed and happy.
And go back to their "dawws".

[dcollins]

Barry Hufker wrote on Sat, 08 November 2008 16:55

I've proposed someone take the bias signal and create a way to record that as a "sync" or "sampling" system on a tape deck as a means of reducing wow and flutter.

This idea was proposed by Gerzon in the 70's and has been implemented by Jamie Howarth at Plangent Processes.

http://www.plangentprocesses.com/


DC