Analog multitrack recording is dead...
- Beware the Quoth
- 35477 posts since 4 Sep, 2001 from R'lyeh Oceanic Amusement Park and Funfair
No seriously. It appears the last-ever manufacturer of tape for analogue multitrack recorders (ie 2" machines) just shut down....
link
link
An idiot on Set Theory:
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
-
- KVRAF
- 6323 posts since 30 Dec, 2004 from London uk
Tape will never die, digital recording is too prone to typical computer issues - people love that good ole tape saturation and its too easy to delete a whole album in one click on digital.
-
Mental Audio Deviations Mental Audio Deviations https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=43630
- KVRist
- 180 posts since 7 Oct, 2004 from NL
Jaap
-
- KVRAF
- 6519 posts since 13 Mar, 2002 from UK
How do you square that with rabbyts post?UltraJv wrote:Tape will never die,
-
- KVRAF
- 3508 posts since 27 Dec, 2002 from North East England
UltraJv wrote:...its too easy to delete a whole album in one click on digital.
- Beware the Quoth
- Topic Starter
- 35477 posts since 4 Sep, 2001 from R'lyeh Oceanic Amusement Park and Funfair
UltraJv quoth Tape will never die
Right. As long as stocks last...
digital recording is too prone to typical computer issues
Please dont confuse digital recording systems with 'typical computers'.
people love that good ole tape saturation
Oh, thats okay then. They can just saturate the same set of tapes over and over again.
Because there are no more new tapes in production. Doesnt matter what people 'love', it doesnt matter what they prefer, it doesnt matter what they want.
The last factory making tapes for analogue multitrack recorders just closed.
and its too easy to delete a whole album in one click on digital.
Only if you're an idiot who doesnt know what backups are. In which case you shouldnt be allowed near people's albums in the first place.
And whole albums on tape have been destroyed by fuckups as well. Its not a computer problem its a human one.
Right. As long as stocks last...
digital recording is too prone to typical computer issues
Please dont confuse digital recording systems with 'typical computers'.
people love that good ole tape saturation
Oh, thats okay then. They can just saturate the same set of tapes over and over again.
Because there are no more new tapes in production. Doesnt matter what people 'love', it doesnt matter what they prefer, it doesnt matter what they want.
The last factory making tapes for analogue multitrack recorders just closed.
and its too easy to delete a whole album in one click on digital.
Only if you're an idiot who doesnt know what backups are. In which case you shouldnt be allowed near people's albums in the first place.
And whole albums on tape have been destroyed by fuckups as well. Its not a computer problem its a human one.
An idiot on Set Theory:
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
-
- KVRAF
- 13444 posts since 14 Nov, 2000 from Hannover / Germany
What he said...whyterabbyt wrote: Only if you're an idiot who doesnt know what backups are. In which case you shouldnt be allowed near people's albums in the first place.
There are 3 kinds of people:
Those who can do maths and those who can't.
Those who can do maths and those who can't.
-
- KVRAF
- 6323 posts since 30 Dec, 2004 from London uk
Well, as so much is at stake - there will be a solution. Someone else will step into the arena to provide tape and they will clean up 
-
- KVRAF
- 12977 posts since 29 Sep, 2003 from Ottawa, Canada
I wouldn't count on it.
No matter how much love there is, there has to be a market. I imagine the process requires fairly elaborate equipment, and there's no need to imagine that tape would have to be produced in fairly large quantities to make it worthwhile to even get the machines going.
With so many studios doing digital, I don't think there will be enough demand. Purists will use it until they can use it no more and then they'll throw in the towel, too. All the proof we really need is in WR's first post-- that the last factory has closed. That's the evidence that there wasn't enough demand to keep even one company afloat.
Greg
With so many studios doing digital, I don't think there will be enough demand. Purists will use it until they can use it no more and then they'll throw in the towel, too. All the proof we really need is in WR's first post-- that the last factory has closed. That's the evidence that there wasn't enough demand to keep even one company afloat.
Greg
- Beware the Quoth
- Topic Starter
- 35477 posts since 4 Sep, 2001 from R'lyeh Oceanic Amusement Park and Funfair
Maybe. Maybe not. But it'd be a helluva large investment required to get into a dwindling market.
An idiot on Set Theory:
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
"In some cases there is an object called red that contains everything that is red. In much the same way a pot is a plate."
-
- KVRAF
- 5782 posts since 10 Mar, 2003 from Music Shed #8
I still use 1" tape (but then I'm not 'serious'...) - suppose I'd better order some, pronto!Mental Audio Deviations wrote:Anybody serious still use that stuff? Guess not, thats why they're closing down. I do feel sorry for the workers though, hell of a way to start the new year.
loads of studios still use tape don't they?
hang on, I'll ask my studio wizard chap...
-
- KVRAF
- 6323 posts since 30 Dec, 2004 from London uk
Tapes are used in DLT drives for servers/VCR machines/cassete recorders/DAT drives there is still a market. Dwindling maybe but its there. Of course it wont last forever but neither will digital
No one can archive onto digital reliably, its still a major issue...
-
- Banned
- 6127 posts since 1 Apr, 2004 from Et in Arcadia Ego
If the company f**ked over all of it's workers, some with more than 30 years employment over the holidays with ZERO notice, I'd say this is not gonna be an issue that is going to be rectified very easily at all..
-
- KVRAF
- 2844 posts since 1 Jan, 2003
"its too easy to delete a whole album in one click on digital"
The entire reason I got into digital recording was because of one sleepy morning, many years ago, when I awoke, and after my usual half hour tape machine maintenance routine, threaded the tape, hit rewind, then walked away for a cup of tea. Slowly I became aware of a sickening whirring noise, ran back into the studio only to witness the entire reel of tape unspooling- flying through the air and ending in a pile on the carpet.
I had, in my thick headed morning stupor, mis-threaded the tape. Not only did it unspool, but on it's way off the reel, had caught on the head cover and shredded the entire length of tape. Hundreds of dollars and three weeks of work unrecoverably gone in seconds.
I literally lay down on the floor and cried. The next morning I started my search for the perfect digital recording solution. It didn't exist then, it was still the days of ADAT (the unholy marriage between tape and digital), but there are many many options now. God we're lucky!
I will never pine for the good old days of analog. RIP.
The entire reason I got into digital recording was because of one sleepy morning, many years ago, when I awoke, and after my usual half hour tape machine maintenance routine, threaded the tape, hit rewind, then walked away for a cup of tea. Slowly I became aware of a sickening whirring noise, ran back into the studio only to witness the entire reel of tape unspooling- flying through the air and ending in a pile on the carpet.
I had, in my thick headed morning stupor, mis-threaded the tape. Not only did it unspool, but on it's way off the reel, had caught on the head cover and shredded the entire length of tape. Hundreds of dollars and three weeks of work unrecoverably gone in seconds.
I literally lay down on the floor and cried. The next morning I started my search for the perfect digital recording solution. It didn't exist then, it was still the days of ADAT (the unholy marriage between tape and digital), but there are many many options now. God we're lucky!
I will never pine for the good old days of analog. RIP.
-
- KVRAF
- 8389 posts since 11 Apr, 2003 from back on the hillside again - but now with a garden!

