Hey, id really appreciate a hand here please

I've been on the look out for a reel to reel recorder. Fostex E-8 is a beautiful machine that i sadly cant find for under 500 bucks. This really appeals to my band because 8 track simultaneous recording really hits the spot for us.

We currently have a Fostex X-24 and looking to upgrade.

We haven't recorded on a reel to reel before so we don't know what it sounds like, ive heard recordings of other bands on it and its really nice sound....

anyone with a reel to reel or know a fair bit because what we would like to know is stuff like... maintenance costs, reliability?, weight and how portable it is. Are the actual reels themself very expensive?

one more thing, just found an AKAI 1721W for about 200bucks. Do you think its worth paying 200 bucks if we are forced to plug everything into a mixer then output the mixer into the reel to reel recorder? hence losing the ability to master and adjust volume levels after recording?

I am pretty old school... and Love the old reel to reel stuff....  but, just wondering with the digital age here.. why you don't just go with a decent digital recorder, or even a laptop with a nice USB interface...  You can get much better quality with them...  I mean reel to reel is nice, if you have the room, and patience for them...  but as for adjusting levels after, it's not as easy as you think with reels... the reels can get expensive, because they aren't available everywhere anymore... although, you can pick them up in a second hand store alot of times pretty cheap if you look around..  THe recorders, for a good one, are pretty inexpensive... WHat exactly are you wanting it for?  I mean, are you wanting to start your own mini-studio? if so, you will want a reel to reel, it's nice..  believe me.. But, if your wanting something to move around with you, and take to gigs, then reel to reel is NOT what you want..  they are HEAVY...  even the small ones...  and if your doin a gig, you want something you can just start and stop easy.. no fuss... no threading tape..

   so, As much as I love analog... I still think you could have fun with a nice older one to use in a home studio application..  I don't think it is what you are looking for, based on the statement: " weight and how portable it is."
 
    Hope that helps....

            JimK

Hmmm interesting.....

I want one just to record our band... don't need it for live gigs at all, stays in the garage with the rest of the stuff and we record there... We record live and so the simultaneous 8-track recording is just what we need.... the digital stuff... well first off its way too expensive and second off, considering how cheap i found this recorder for... i mean it's something different nowadays, not many people still record on it and we have serious curiosity as to how good this thing will sound.

My question about weight and portability, was in search of an answer that you have just given me, now i know its too heavy and inconvenient to move around.

Well this recorder comes with a whole bunch of blank reels so i don't think finding reels is a problem.

thanks for your input, to answer your question what we are using it for... well now we just got a 4 track cassette recorder and want to go the next level up, which is reel to reel recording, nothing fancy just using it for our band. We never digitally edit or touch our recordings after we recorded it (apart from mastering the volumes) so we don't need any digital effects, drum machines and all that jazz.

well, go for it... except buy this one it's cheaper..... http://cgi.ebay.com/AKAI-REEL-TO-REEL-1721W-WITH-SPEAKERS-NO-RESERVE_W0QQitemZ250061562923QQihZ015QQcategoryZ67810QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting  THose are nice recorders...  

       Will take some getting used to...  but you should be able to get some nice recordings...

                      JimK

Yeah it's the same one as i found, but my one is at a local recycle/second hand store thats about 10min away and its 200 dollars with reels and stuff. Buying it on ebay is a little less secure, pay tonnes for postage (considering i have to ship it to melbourne, australia) and i don't get any reels... thanks for the link though, this brings me to another question... why is this recorder so cheap while other ones are thousands of dollars yet they use the same technology? Even some 4 track recorders similar to this one are 500 or 600 dollars.... is this one a cheap version? would those other ones have better quality ? or should i just be quiet and just buy this one?

For example this one here... http://cgi.ebay.com.au/AKAI-GX-210D-REEL-TO-REEL-TAPE-RECORDER-3-Head-Glass_W0QQitemZ190060323200QQihZ009QQcategoryZ15000QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Akai GX-210D, same brand and it's also a 4 track yet it's hundreds of dollars more

Man I love the sound of old analog tape. There is a lot of things to think about though.
 1. tape head wear out... if the tape deck is old and has been used a lot the heads may need to be replaced(not cheap)

  2. For awhile you could not get tape anywhere hardly ,this may happen again as digital keeps getting better,and more pro bands make the full switch to digital( a lot of pro band still record 2" reels and move it to digital but that's going away).

 3. For the money you have to spend I don't see you getting any better quality tape rig than a digital recorder/ computer set up.

OK after all that I would say buy the tape deck use it to learn on and save your money for some better gear like good computer recording interface type stuff there are a bunch out there. I happen to use the MOTU Mark of the Unicorn 2408 interfaces these give me 16 analog inputs. 8 each plus 24 digital tracks I/O all simultaneous plus spidf, tdif, optical and word. With a 424 sound card that has a return so you don't have computer latency problems. I can use this with any PC recording or I can use it on a mac and use there great recording/midi software ( full movie soundtracks have been done on this stuff) DIGITAL PERFORMER
http://www.motu.com/products/pciaudio/2408
http://www.motu.com/products/software/dp
http://www.motu.com/products/software/dp/testimonials

 Anyway good luck .

I mean to get simultaneous multi-track recording is easy as pie with Digital... especially if you go with a http://cgi.ebay.com/New-E-MU-0404-Sound-Card_W0QQitemZ160008368970QQcmdZViewItem

or something like that, with Cool Edit pro, or similar software...  I mean, then you can record multi channel, get really good quality recordings, and tweakability...

    But I do sooo love the analog sound...

Yeah... You see we have something very similar to the soundcard Jimk just linked, can't give you the exact name but it has two guitar inputs a L/R line in input and and microphone input...

I got it with my computer asking for a "proffessional recording soundcard" and i haven't used it once...

Hopefully this reel to reel is in half decent state and produces half decent sound otherwise i'll probably just end up scrapping it after i buy it...

We don't have laptops and we have no computers where we play so it's really hard to record using the computer. We looked into buying a digital multitrack recorder a while back but soon found out it's way too expensive and none have like 8 simultaneous track recording for under a thousand dollars. And we really don't want to spend too much money on recording gear, we tend to spend it all on live gear because im really the only one in our band who cares one bit about recording.. lol

Oh well thanks for your help ill definitely ask this guy a couple of questions about the recorder see what state it's in and so forth

Thanks again,

Yea, I have lots of digital recording stuff in my studio, but I have long craved for a nice stereo reel to reel recorder.    If nothing else just as a novelty.  In addition, I have lots of old recordings on reel to reel that I would love to listen to.  Good luck in finding what you want.  I think I will get on the search also.