They are really cool machines. The one I had needed some other repairs but it works great now and it sounds way better than I expected. I'm sure you'll enjoy it!
Thank you! The Model 80 is a cool machine too. The narrow gauge Fostex machines sound better than I remember. Maybe it's the newer tape formulation but the R8 sounds great with low noise and no Dolby.
I mixed down to an Ortari MX5050 1/4 inch 2 track for years from a Fostex & Tascam 24 Track One Inch Machines. I swear it seems all of these quote "budget" machines are so much quieter than I remember them being. I did just do a record on my MCI JH24 with a band on tape and it was SUPER Quiet also I used no Noise reduction at all. I have plugins with built in noise that is louder than most of the budget tape machines from the late 90s and early 2000s. 😄 I'm looking at you Plugin alliance with your V-Gain
I completely agree with you. I'm not sure if it's the more modern tape formulations with these machines or the fact I have a far better front end for them than I would have back then. This little R8 has led me to question a lot of things like this including the bad press the narrow gauge multitracks get on forums like GS. I used to have a JH-16 24 track and although it sounded great, I'm not sure it was that much better as a capture device than the E-16 I had before it. I guess I believed the bad press somewhat and only bought this R8 as kind of a toy only to find out it's completely capable of professional sounding work. I'm working on an MSR-16 next so that going to be another good example of what these narrow gauge analog machines sound like against digital. I have an MX5050 8 and used to have a 2 track MX5050 that I never got working and sold. That was years ago now though.
I have my R8 still in it's box for past 7-8 years, but think I should pull it out and see how it is behaving. It did have a lovely sound. Once I started with Tascam DP24, I just never looked back.
@@dubcatalyst I'm not planning on selling the R8 or any of my tape machines. They are getting too hard to find and I already did all the work to restore this one. I'll let you know if I see one for sale. There are usually a few on eBay and Reverb. Be prepared to replace the capstan belt and the reel pulleys but ones that's done, it's a great little machine.
@@dubcatalyst Hi there. I pulled the R8 out of the box today for my podcast. I will keep it for longer, but will need to re-watch the video on pully upgrade.
