Out here in Japan you can get them cheap (sometimes) but as for tape I have no idea where I would get some.
oooo thanks. I am currently listening to your KM-60 examples over on G/S lol
What’s wrong with a portastudio from the nineties? Nedavine.
Also an option. I guess there are lots of options.
I used to have an old tascam 4 track. That thing was my life. In my basement with a guitar and that. I lived on it. Still got some of the tapes somewhere. Emo 15 year old musings.
Here are some thoughts I wrote down about the topic. I have started doing all my stuff ITB because I finally gave up on computers, they kill me creatively.
"Whats up everyone, I just wanted to do a quick write up of some tips that I’ve acquired over time.
The purpose of this is really to get a great ITB sound with OT and a Multitimbral synth. Many people, myself included are running this set up. I use a Waldorf Blofeld, but obviously a TI Virus or anything else like this is going to be extremely similar.
Generally, this is for the community but it also helps me collect my thoughts and maybe help others who are struggling. Originally I had given up on doing full in the box arrangements and mixes but I’ve had several breakthroughs in the past two weeks I’d like to share. Sorry if this information is redundant somehow with other peoples information.
Here Goes:
-Rethinking track structure:
It helps to think of the Octatrack as a computer DAW for a second, especially if you are coming from that background. There are 8 audio tracks, and just like on your DAW, each is monophonic. However there is one big difference between this and your DAW, there are no busses.
Working with short samples and manipulating them is a big part of creating loops and further mangling, yet it is often the nature to think of some tracks as the “drum track(s)”, the “lead track(s)”. This methodology is perfect for a computer DAW since you have both unlimited monophonic tracks and unlimited busses and effects.
However with the OT this is not the case. Therefore it might be useful to rethink the tracks as hybrid tracks/busses. The P-lock system essentially allows you to place any sample on any track. Therefore we must take advantage of this. Make one track your “compression track” put any sound you want compressed and edit the settings per sound to get exactly what you want. You might want to have multiple of some of the more useful effect combinations. For example you might have multiple filter and delay tracks because they are quite useful.
In terms of arrangement this might not be ideal, but overall this has improved the sound of my songs coming straight from OT.
-START THE TRACK LEVELS AT HALF OR LOWER
This is simple enough, dont put max level as the starting point of the track. Give yourself head room.
-DONT USE THE MASTER TRACK- use a master PROJECT
This is going against the knowledge that many people who are more experienced than me have said. So why am I this retarded?
Again this goes back to the DAW analogy. Personally when I work in my DAW I don’t like anything on the master except maybe a limiter. This is really unnecessary on the OT.
In reality the best possible course of action is to record your entire song into a recording on the OT, use that file that youve bounced in another project. Now do a plays free track on T1 and make your next 3 tracks neighbor tracks. The chain that I use personally is 3 Parametric EQ, 1 Filter, 1 Dark Reverb, 1 Delay, 1 Plate Reverb and 1 Spatializer. Make the trig a one shot and let it play free.
That is my OT mastering chain. I set them by ear mostly, so on your own track play with the settings and chain, this is really just an example.
Now rebounce to audio in the same way as the first time. You can take this out of the CF card as a .wav straight into your computer.
I’ll add more as a I think of it. Thanks for reading my advice and I hope it helps you in some way."
Hope this helps someone
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I like your suggestions and think they’re valid but there is one fundamental flaw in comparing the OT to a DAW and that’s audio recording time. Dataline has pointed out under Flex conditions audio recording time is maxed at 6 minutes. This is barely enough time to pass the mid point of an intro. With this in mind the OT cannot be used for a mixdown solution. It is it’s Achilles’ heel.
That’s great Nedavine, I started with digital and are heading to portastudio for a choice of lofi production. Thinking a 414 or a 424. What did you have?
I need to add that, after months of research on the topic, the “easiest” way to record is to spend thousands on top of the line recording equipment that produces mixed and mastered stems- which are then treated in other hardware or software- which are then thrown into a DAW.
The disconnect between hardware and software led me to stop putting in the necessary time learning how to properly record, mix and master audio in a DAW- and spend a lot of time looking for solutions that wouldn’t require me to do so.
This week, I re-committed myself to computer work (even going so far as to build a song entirely in Ableton for the first time ever- I bought Ableton and 2 Elektron boxes in the same month: guess which I spent the most time with and kept buying more and more gear to supplement! Why did it take me so long? Because making music on hardware is more immediate- but also more theoretical. I can get a groove going on the OT and A4 and a drum machine, and love it, but then I tend to just leave the OT project sitting on a card and forget where the A4 one even is and just start fresh every time.
This is simply laziness, which I realized as I was considering spending so much money on recording and a digital mixer. I started by looking at handheld recorders, then larger Zooms, then Tascams, and kept going until was basically considering to reproducing a live-band recording setup. It’s a very deep rabbit hole that can get out of control.
Your best bet is to get a small high quality recorder and a small, high quality analog mixer. With some combination of those two AND post work in a DAW, you can make 100% professional recordings. It would be nice to have a hardware recording system that spits out mixed and mastered stems with little effort, but there’s a reason they cost thousands.
That’s great Nedavine, I started with digital and are heading to portastudio for a choice of lofi production. Thinking a 414 or a 424. What did you have? [/quote]
I had a 414, I stole… permanently borrowed it from my school lol.
Not sure about recording everything to cassette, mount kimbie seem to be using a 414 on stage these days though.
I want to try sticking some synth lines on VHS for that warpy BoC feel. But I don’t think I want the whole mix to sound like that. Still I may just grab a 414 if i can find one cheap even if its just for guitar and the odd line.
Obviously mixing and mastering takes a lot of time and effort. I’ve been doing it ITB for years now but recently I am enjoying just playing.
Not having a computer and not spending 50 hours thinking about how to fix a phasing issue, or how to EQ my bass without killing the kick. All these things are just dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s. Yeah, they are really important for the “modern musician” who no longer can just be a talented composer but now has to be a sound designer, engineer and full on producer.
Me, I’m taking a bit of a break from that world. There’s nothing wrong with it but its nice to stop caring so much for a bit and just get on and do music.
The easiest way of recording my jams, was a vcr and a video-camera… but that was a long time ago…
Now I work with a vs2400 harddisk recorder… which is fun and groovy, but…
it makes things a bit technical now and then… sometimes i am just not in the mood for that…
so to go back to older-days-feeling… I just bought myself a zoom q3-hd.
that will connect straight to my ot via a line-in-input… or behind the vs2400… not sure yet.
Just pressing record, and do my jams… blah all the technical stuff.
if i want it “cleaner” or more “pro-sound” i will use a computer runing reaper
or straight in my nle (video-editor)
there are many ways of doing it… just pick one or two that fits your style.
for me its either raw jams, nice and fresh and easy… or extreme tinkering in a daw.
well if you have a ton of ITB hours under your belt, the only question you have to ask yourself is how many tracks do you want to be able to record at a time. I think recording 1 track at a time really over complicates things to the point where you traded the complications and endless tweaking on a DAW for fiddling with a tiny handheld recorder (or the headaches of multi-track tape recording).
I’ve considered biting the bullet and going with the new (balanced input) Allen&Heath ICE 16D, going out from each channel of my mixer into it, and monitoring through the recorder. That way I could hit record on every session with all my hardware always hooked up and ready to create 24bit .wavs.
If you’re going for a multi-track recorder, try finding one with midi sync. Unfortunately the Zoom R16/24 do not have that feature 
Tascam is next up in pricerange (that i know) and they have midi sync.
Got that right Dog, Tascam DP-24, got my eye on one of those. 
I use a reloop tape, see link above. Quality is not supper, but its quick and I can check the sound in my car, or other place.
I also have apoguee duet…so my final mixes will be recorded at good quality
Sorry for possibly being obtuse, but I fail to see the point of recording to a field recorder, and then importing into a DAW. Could someone enlighten me ??
Not having to set up your laptop, your interface and your DAW every time you want to record…I realize the concept might be outside the realm of human comprehension. So I, too will use multiple question marks- One button recording?? Of hours of live play?? will this make you understand better??
Maybe no proper soundcard?
Maybe no proper soundcard?[/quote]
your right there 
I might have a few recording devices, but I do not have a propper soundcard, or even a propper computer… just a 3rd hand laptop… ancient as rome…
I am sure, i am not the only one…