The Tape project is it worth it

Larry you explain it better than the TP web site. This is a music based project for sure. From what I have read here and else where Quality is not a problem TP has from customers. Which titles they can even get and then which to do must be a hard to decide . A small customer base means limited cash flow thou a subscriber base is a good way to go. A deck should be easy to find, one in great condition a whole new problem. Redone they seem to be 10,000 . You make a good point about finding other tape providers . Old tapes seems a bit less likely to get a good quality product.
It sure seems like a well meant project a lot slower than some would like. More money than most will pay. Limited catalog but very good quality. I hope it carries on. Best of luck to the TP project.
 
TP did release one tape that we know of that didn't come from the original master tape which is the premise they were founded on. TP didn't release this information to the subscribers until after the fact.
 
astrotoy said:
They are currently on their third series of 10 tapes. They have released 25 tapes and have three more titles that have been announced and two additional titles they are working on. Since they don't record their own material, the licensing and then the work on the master tapes is a complex and time consuming process, especially since the three principals (Dan Schmalle, Paul Stubblebine, and Michael Romanowski) all have full time and more jobs in the audio business. TP is definitely a labor of love, where I think they don't make a lot of money. They started about 5 years ago, so I would guesstimate that they have released about 1 tape every 2-3 months, but not on regular schedule.
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Thanks Larry- good to hear they are starting to run again. People prepaid for Series III back in 2011, so releases haven't exactly been at a 2-3 month pace in recent years. I hope they can ramp up production to meet demand and treat the TP more than a hobby. Otherwise, I think the format isn't going anywhere. They are the only place for semi-mainstream music.
 
It's really too bad that it's far too late for the big recording labels to jump in and set up their own production facilities to produce 2 track/15 ips tapes from their own master tapes. That's what we really need if tape is ever going to be something more than a fringe niche within a fringe niche. Making these tapes in real time is a slow process and when you only have a few machines in your duplication chain, time drags on as people wait for what was promised in years past. That makes the TP more of a hobby than a business.

Since there are no current studio quality reel to reel decks in production, even a company as large as Sony would have go on a scavenger hunt to find enough decks to build a duplication chain. All of the decks would have to be refurbished and brought up to spec which could be an issue due to parts availability. If this would have happened back in the 1960s/1970s, an order could have simply been placed with either Ampex or Studer for as many brand new decks as you wanted with all of the spare parts you wanted to last 10 lifetimes. So now that we are in 2015, we struggle with waiting for people to release tapes made from a small duplication chain they have cobbled together and hopefully are maintaining to a high standard.
 
Hi---FYI,the last I heard is that Otari is still producing/selling their MX-5050BII More information at www otari com / product /recorder / mx5050 / (apologies for spaces in url...couldn't post without them...)

I'd like to add that you can also get pre-recorded 1/4" 4-tracks off of Ebay. Granted some of these are definitely not the best recordings but their sound beats vinyl IMHO, especially in regard to channel separation and intermodulation distortion. I'd recommend that anyone serious about tape should probably insure s/he can play them back in addition to 1/4" 2-track tapes.

Also, in terms of how long tapes last, my understanding is that playback tends to improve with multiple playbacks and you should probably shuttle old tapes a few times before playing to take care of any "print-thru" from long-term storage. Someone else with a greater technological understanding can probably explain this phenomenon much better then I.

PS - For what its' worth, I have an Otari MTR-15 and a Studer 810 for 2-track and Technics 1500 that Doc Bottlehead updated for me to play those 4-track pre-recorded tapes which I listen to via Klipsch Cornwall III's and RF-7s.
 
heideana said:
Hi---FYI,the last I heard is that Otari is still producing/selling their MX-5050BII More information at www otari com / product /recorder / mx5050 / (apologies for spaces in url...couldn't post without them...)

PS - For what its' worth, I have an Otari MTR-15 and a Studer 810 for 2-track and Technics 1500 that Doc Bottlehead updated for me to play those 4-track pre-recorded tapes which I listen to via Klipsch Cornwall III's and RF-7s.
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The Otari you can still buy new is the MX5050 BIII, which retails for about $10,000. That is the model I have, bought used about 4 years ago, for $500. I think it is about 20 years old. The fellow who sold it to me had bought the contents of a defunct radio station and they had several tape recorders, including a really beat up MX5050 BII and the BIII which was and is in very good condition. I drove down to check it out and brought a sample tape to make sure it was working. If you buy a used machine on ebay or Audiogon, the issue of condition is crucial, since the ads I have seen often describe the machine as perfect, but they don't have a tape to actually play it.

Over the years I have bought about 800 used 7.5ips 4 track tapes, almost all classical. Most have been in a couple large lots of close to 300 tapes each that I got for $2 to $5 a piece. Besides ebay, Irvington Music (irvmusic.com) sells used R2R tapes at $10 to$30 a tape, and they sometimes have masterdubs which are 15ips 2 track tapes usually copied from safety copies or second or third generation copies of master tapes or production tapes. They are more expensive, $150 to $250. Don't think I have ever bought tapes from ebay. I don't know of any other internet dealers who regularly sell used tapes.

Larry

PS. Your Otari and Studers should be great, as well as the Technics. Nice.
 
The Otari is not a studio quality deck, but it's fine for consumers.
 
mep said:
The Otari is not a studio quality deck, but it's fine for consumers.
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FYI, I've heard rumors that Otari will build an MTR-15 for a price although I'm not sure how accurate the rumor is and realized I was remiss not mentioning in case anyone has incredibly deep pockets and really wants a brand new "Studio Mastering" quality deck. From what I recall, the transport mechanism is really good and part of the rumor was about Otari's plans to use it for building DAT machines...
 
heideana said:
FYI, I've heard rumors that Otari will build an MTR-15 for a price although I'm not sure how accurate the rumor is and realized I was remiss not mentioning in case anyone has incredibly deep pockets and really wants a brand new "Studio Mastering" quality deck. From what I recall, the transport mechanism is really good and part of the rumor was about Otari's plans to use it for building DAT machines...
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DAT is dead and was farting dust before it died and was buried. When I was talking about studio quality recorders, I was referring to someone starting up a business to sell 2 track/15 ips tapes commercially and setting up a studio quality duplication chain to make the tapes with. I was and am specifically not referring to Joe consumer looking for a playback deck.
 
mep said:
DAT is dead and was farting dust before it died and was buried. When I was talking about studio quality recorders, I was referring to someone starting up a business to sell 2 track/15 ips tapes commercially and setting up a studio quality duplication chain to make the tapes with. I was and am specifically not referring to Joe consumer looking for a playback deck.
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Tks for clarification. I take it your in the camp that doesn't consider the MTR-15 a "studio quality" machine?
 
I think you meant DASH not DAT. If possible DASH is even deader than DAT. Time and computers simply overtook it. Studer modified the A820 for DASH .It is quite possible Otari planned the same for the MTR 15.
 
heideana said:
Tks for clarification. I take it your in the camp that doesn't consider the MTR-15 a "studio quality" machine?
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I never mentioned the MTR-15. The MTR-15 is not in production. I was addressing the only Otari reel to reel deck that is currently in production.
 
I'm afraid that to make it "commercially" viable as a business, that the tape to us, the consumer, would have to be $600 instead of the $300-400 as it is now for a standard CD. For the non-tape users - this is usually 2 tapes and sometimes 3.

I'm just glad there are people out there that have the master tapes and love tape enough to sell copies of them to us. The tapes are really that good compared to any other source available to consumers.
 
I have ordered 6 TP tapes in the past...they sound great. There are other sources for great tapes too. Do a search at WBF and check United Home Audio's site....There is a listing of outfits making great tapes for legal purchase. My issue with TP is that they are very slow to fill your order...6 months for my first 3 titles and another 6 months until I got the last three if I recall correctly a couple years ago.That is toooo long for my tastes...heck...you could die waiting for them in the meantime.
 
Welcome to the forum JonDoh, thank you for joining.

JonDoh said:
I think you meant DASH not DAT. If possible DASH is even deader than DAT. Time and computers simply overtook it. Studer modified the A820 for DASH .It is quite possible Otari planned the same for the MTR 15.
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I have little doubt that tape can be offer the best SQ of all the formats. I also know there is no way I am getting back into tapes. It is too costly, too limited of a catalog, and in many ways even more of a hassle than vinyl.
 
still-one said:
I have little doubt that tape can be offer the best SQ of all the formats. I also know there is no way I am getting back into tapes. It is too costly, too limited of a catalog, and in many ways even more of a hassle than vinyl.
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I completely agree with your comments Jim. I even find the vinyl routine is counter to my enjoyment of music. I mean who has time to molly coddle, dust, de-mag, de-stat, flatten, clean, re-virginize & constantly flip a piece of media just to make it play as it should? Not to mention tt setup and the storage space required. If R2R tapes are anything like vinyl & only exist within a tiny niche, I'll leave that to retirement. To me, digital is the future & where I'll be investing my time and funds for the foreseeable future.
 
I agree

and 90% of the time I listen to digital. But, I do really enjoy listening to tape. I have just bought a turntable setup, but haven't been able to get it hooked up at home yet. :( Next week hopefully.

Tape is a hard to recommend because of the reasons you state. But it does sound soooooo good :)



Bodhi said:
I completely agree with your comments Jim. I even find the vinyl routine is counter to my enjoyment of music. I mean who has time to molly coddle, dust, de-mag, de-stat, flatten, clean, re-virginize & constantly flip a piece of media just to make it play as it should? Not to mention tt setup and the storage space required. If R2R tapes are anything like vinyl & only exist within a tiny niche, I'll leave that to retirement. To me, digital is the future & where I'll be investing my time and funds for the foreseeable future.
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15ips 2 track Tape is a PITA. Much like owning a Ferrari (one that you can only buy used). Few places to drive it where a Ford Fusion wouldn't do as well. And it needs TLC, pretty constant maintenance, and not from your local gas station mechanic, and everything about it is expensive. But when you can open it up, there's nothing like it.

Larry
 
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