I've owned a Tascam 464 since I bought it new in about 1992. Besides recording multi-track tapes I used it as a mixer at solo live gigs for years. The sweepable (semi-parametric) mids control was a fantastic feature considering the reasonable price of the 464 at the time (about 3500 French Francs in 1992 IIRC). It was easy to use, worked well and it was shedloads of fun. The Dolby DBX feature used to do an almost miraculous job of getting rid of tape hiss. I had a tiny circlip fly off the top off a tape capstan many years ago rendering the tape transport unusable but I got hold of a new circlip from TEAC/Tascam and fixed the problem. I've just tried to start my 464 today after not using it for about ten years and I have no tape movement at all (not even rewind and FF). Instead I have a fast clicking sound. I'm sure that the capstan belt has disintegrated and that the fast clicking sound is a remnant of capstan belt stuck to the capstan that is whipping round and round. I've ordered two new belts off Ebay (one for now, one spare that might still be useable at the next replacement in 25 years' time) and soon my sons will be able to play with a piece of cassette tape history. This video will be very helpful when I have to tear it down. Thanks!
Curious...did the belt fix the issue you were having or was there anything else you had to fix? I'm having the same issue with a 464 I recently purchased. Thanks!
@@Cepheid-IDM It took a couple of months for the belts to arrive in Denmark from the USA because the Covid pandemic delayed postal services but they got here in the end. The problem is that I haven't had time to fit a belt yet. I'm 99% sure that we both have the same problem -- a disintegrated 25 to 30 year-old drive belt. I bought my two belts (one spare) from a seller called blue3602000 on ebay, by the way, if you want to buy the same thing. He sells them for 5 bucks plus postage. Search for: TASCAM TEAC 464 488 488 MKII 644 688 V750 V970 CAPSTAN BELT
before NLE came on the scene, the cable outfit I worked at used that exact same model to finish audio for commercials that creative services did. Channel 1 audio on the tascam was used for sound on tape from the online master. 2,3 and 4 were used for voice over, music, SFX, etc. That was then mixed and bounced back to the online master. For being completely un-synchronized with the VTR decks, ours held sync pretty well.
You would be amazed at what a large studio could do with that voice even more amazing you wouldn't believe how bad some famous artists really sound without the studio working the magic on their voice (not all of them of course but a great number) sound like a cat dying or a fog horn LOL
@@jdekong3945 Oh yes I do! and I would NOT be working over a circuit board like this banging everything and especially dropping small screws all over it! Clumsy or what!
"hitting the chips".....no real technician would use this phrasing, so I'm inclined to say "imposter", but I'll suspend my suspicion and ask: What harm would you expect from a falling screw hitting a component, with power off? (this should be interesting.....)
I went with the budget friendly 424 for music recording back in 1992, but it lacks the LCD display, XLR inputs, sweep-able midrange EQ, and only has one effects send and only one stereo return channel. I got past the mixing limitations by pairing it with a Mackie board a few years later. Nice video featuring a fun, vintage unit.
I have a fostex x55 I believe is the model number mint condition but tape stopped I think it could be the little brass sensor that signals the tape to play. I really want to get it going
Thanks for this. I just inherited this from the bass player for "the sparks". His mom was clearing out the garage and for the sake of nostalgia, I happily took it, and it has the same playback issue. I'll open it up and likely find the same problem. Don't know where to pick up a belt. Was it a 4 inch or 5 inch that would work best? Thanks ahead of time.
I Took mine apart the belt had melted on the wheel I cleaned it put a new belt on but still wont play it rewinds fast forwards the mixing desk works ,any other ideas I would to get it working .
Nice work. Ive watched a bunch of your cassette fix videos, and have emulated your approach to fix a number of my machines. I would never have thought you could take those capstan motors apart until I watched you do it on one of the stereo deck videos. Gave me the confidence to try it, and discover I had ruined the motor bushing by using an undersize belt. Couldn't figure why the speed kept changing... re: this PortaStudio- took new in box in trade in the mid 90s, and just put it on the shelf. This video has sparked my interest in the unit, I think I'll dust off the box and check it out. Do you think it will need a belt? I'm sure it will!
Note: you can pick up a CCW 2400rpm China-sourced motor on Ebay for peanuts (at least in the US). Was a direct replacement for my ruined bushing motor, just needed a speed tweak, and good to go.
Hi friend, great video by the way. I have the 8 track version of this. It's the Tascam 488MK1, it's all I use to record with and the sound quality is great because i use good mics and outboard gear. Thanks for sharing. Regards. Paul.
Hey 12 volt I have a philips N2535 cassette player and recorder from the late 70s it plays great but when I record you can barely hear it and it’s distorted and I can hear my previous recordings very quit and distorted. What can it be the heads are clean
Hello, I bought a Tascam Portastudio 464 and wanted to know... When playing a normal cassette tape of music, should it play fast or at normal speed? I put in The Phantom of the Opera, but it was playing it fast. Tape Speed switch was set at normal and Pitch Control was at 0.
Normal speed should be the standard 1 7/8ips cassette speed. Fast should be double, 3 3/4ips. This was for musicians to do multi track recording at home and get the best sound possible from cassette.
@@12voltvids Okay, so it is normal for it to play Off The Shelf music tapes faster than normal? I understand that recording at higher speeds gives you more audio quality. But I thought that only applies when the switch is set to High. So switch set to Normal is still faster than normal store bought music tapes?
@@12voltvids I bought a new belt, removed the plastic rears, cleaned, reassemble and greased with white lithium grease... cleaned Capstan and roller... demagnetized record/play head... cleaned all potentiometers... And wanted to see how it sounds... first time I have had this type of recording unit.
@@12voltvids So, if it is playing too fast... do you know what maybe the problem? I tried the L and H potentiometers on the control board with no helpful results.
@@Michaelebills it is a cool unit. I believe the first of the affordable home multi track systems offered that half decent sound. With the DBX noise reduction and high speed it could get almost to the sound of consumer reel to reel. The 4 track 3340 i have obviously will kick it's ass in 15ips, but it gave other systems a run for their money and running with a pair of these one could do some pretty sophisticated mixing. Record 4 tracks, mix to stereo and record onto track 1 and 2 of second unit. Then add 2 more sessions mix this into the stereo and just keep going. Obviously the early sessions are going down multiple generations but that would typically be your drums, bass, rhythm section. ADAT and other multi track digital systems made these obsolete pretty quick. Qbass and protools killed all analog recording at home. Now a laptop is all that is needed.
Could someone help me what size is the belt (flat band) of the cassette deck of the portastudio 488 tascam width, length and diameter, thanks for your help
@@12voltvids Thanks brother, the band melted, that's why I'm looking for the width and length measurements, because the band melted, I appreciate your help, greetings brother!
@@joesmile2025 thread dental floss around. Tie tight cut and measure. Subtract 10% and you have your size. The width is 4 or 5mm. Even the manual will not tell you the size. It will have the OEM parts number which these days is onobtainuum.
I just picked up a TASCAM 464. FFWD and REW are working with no problems. However, pressing PLAY doesn't work. The motor / capstan does not turn. Anyone have any ideas as to what the problem may be? Thanks!
Very interesting video! I have made a 5 second tape loop to record continuous sounds. I have run into a problem with my loop tape. I hope you can help me over come this issue. I have a Tascam Portastudio 464 as well as an old standard stereo cassette player. When I pop the loop tape into the standard cassette player it runs at the regular speed. But when I pop it into the Tascam and press play it runs really fast. Like fast forward fast! I've tried re-looping several different ways and I always get the same issue. If I use a regular tape in the PS464 it all functions work as expected. This only happens when I insert the loop tape. I suspect the Tascam is not liking something. Maybe a tension issue? Have you any insights regarding this issue? Is there a work around? Thanks in advance! Keep up the great work!
I like these machines, if you're going to record music to tape this is defo the way to do it, i had the minidisc version of this unit, it was fantastic.
With two of these it was easy to copy a conventional tape with high speed and good quality - *both sides at once!* But only if the length of the master tape matches with the blank one, otherwise there will be a long silence at the beginning of one side. Since originals were random length, this usually means you should have to cut the tape to the correct length. Not a huge deal with the proper tape cutting and gluing accessories, but only worth the effort if multiple copies were needed in a hurry. Never done this, but when I've seen one of these machines in the late '90s, I immediatelly thought it would be great for that purpose. Were decks like this existed for lower price, without the mixing console capabilities? Maybe smaller scale pirate cassette makers used something like this. Or self-publishers, for smaller runs. The latter shouldn't have necessarily cared about cutting the tape, since they could arrange their albums to fit correctly on a standard length tape, or they could order custom length tapes, but I don't know what used to be the minimal ordering quantity for those.
Do you have to drain all capacitors first so don't get electrocuted? Is worth opening to fix on own versus sending to tascam which I hear is expensive 150.00 up to hundred's!?? I think it's definitely worth trying fix yourself before sending tascam
@@12voltvids I must thought tube amp rules apply same. If I've used deoxit spray maybe I gummed up motor?? Needs cleaned? What should be used? Comments other vid by guy works tascam said never use wd-40 leaves sticky residue I think he said lubricate 105?
I bought one of these brand new in 1996 at the age of 21. Having the tape and the inputs was just so accessible, I can’t be assed with software DAW etc.
I got a LG 55 inch ln57 no picture you can see it when first turned on instantly black screen but can see picture with flashlight any help would be appreciated thank you.
So the backlights are not working. Check the voltage. If low then you have a power supply issue if over the rated voltage (which should be printed on the power supply board or on the back of the set) then you know the power supply is working. The voltage is too high because an led has gone open and is not providing a proper load.
@@12voltvids thank you for replying I will check it out thank you. I'm just hoping that it's not the led lights because they look a little rough to change.
Tascam is the professional arm of teac. 3 motors. Capstan, reel drive and mechanism control. Basically to operate a cam to raise and lower the heads and pinch roller.
I have their current portastudio but I found their software hard to use and it's consigned at the moment. This older version looks easier to use. Looks more like the PreSonus AR I upgraded to except we use SD cards now.
5 лет назад+2
The first time I used a 4 Track Tascam - I was confounded.. I couldn't unmix the Sade commercial album I had on tape. I literally thought I could use this machine to isolate the drums , vocals ect. LOL
Thanks so much for posting this! I have this machine and its having this problem but I do not think mine is the belt I think mine is actually the motor. Are you on instagram ? I would like to send you a video of what mine is doing to see if you think its the motor
Instagram? Nope not on it or Facebook or for that matter any social media except RUclips. I also don't use what's up, telegram, messenger or the likes. I had BBM to keep in touch with my friends because it is the only one that doesn't link to my phone number.
I have a Tascam 246 version which I bought for a very good price a few years ago. The tape mechanism was not working properly and I think someone had tried to replace the belts but did not fit the mode swich control back in properly. It works very well but the transformer hums a bit.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Really liked that singer's voice ..
I've owned a Tascam 464 since I bought it new in about 1992. Besides recording multi-track tapes I used it as a mixer at solo live gigs for years. The sweepable (semi-parametric) mids control was a fantastic feature considering the reasonable price of the 464 at the time (about 3500 French Francs in 1992 IIRC). It was easy to use, worked well and it was shedloads of fun. The Dolby DBX feature used to do an almost miraculous job of getting rid of tape hiss.
I had a tiny circlip fly off the top off a tape capstan many years ago rendering the tape transport unusable but I got hold of a new circlip from TEAC/Tascam and fixed the problem.
I've just tried to start my 464 today after not using it for about ten years and I have no tape movement at all (not even rewind and FF). Instead I have a fast clicking sound. I'm sure that the capstan belt has disintegrated and that the fast clicking sound is a remnant of capstan belt stuck to the capstan that is whipping round and round. I've ordered two new belts off Ebay (one for now, one spare that might still be useable at the next replacement in 25 years' time) and soon my sons will be able to play with a piece of cassette tape history. This video will be very helpful when I have to tear it down. Thanks!
Curious...did the belt fix the issue you were having or was there anything else you had to fix? I'm having the same issue with a 464 I recently purchased. Thanks!
@@Cepheid-IDM It took a couple of months for the belts to arrive in Denmark from the USA because the Covid pandemic delayed postal services but they got here in the end. The problem is that I haven't had time to fit a belt yet.
I'm 99% sure that we both have the same problem -- a disintegrated 25 to 30 year-old drive belt. I bought my two belts (one spare) from a seller called blue3602000 on ebay, by the way, if you want to buy the same thing. He sells them for 5 bucks plus postage. Search for: TASCAM TEAC 464 488 488 MKII 644 688 V750 V970 CAPSTAN BELT
Had the pleasure of playing with one of those back in the day, was a clever little box of tricks.
before NLE came on the scene, the cable outfit I worked at used that exact same model to finish audio for commercials that creative services did. Channel 1 audio on the tascam was used for sound on tape from the online master. 2,3 and 4 were used for voice over, music, SFX, etc. That was then mixed and bounced back to the online master. For being completely un-synchronized with the VTR decks, ours held sync pretty well.
Teac / Tascam where great companies and I used to sell a lot of their equipment. Nice job.
Nice demo.
I was relieved when I realized the voice on the tape wasn't your cat caught in the mechanism. Hope she had a day job.
Typical conman crap singers , stop the tape & walk out , thats what I would do .
You would be amazed at what a large studio could do with that voice even more amazing you wouldn't believe how bad some famous artists really sound without the studio working the magic on their voice (not all of them of course but a great number) sound like a cat dying or a fog horn LOL
Great idea! working over the innards of the machine, dropping screws, and hitting the chips etc!
you obviously don`t work in electronics...
@@jdekong3945 Oh yes I do! and I would NOT be working over a circuit board like this banging everything and especially dropping small screws all over it! Clumsy or what!
"hitting the chips".....no real technician would use this phrasing, so I'm inclined to say "imposter", but I'll suspend my suspicion and ask: What harm would you expect from a falling screw hitting a component, with power off? (this should be interesting.....)
Very nice job Dave! Well done!
I went with the budget friendly 424 for music recording back in 1992, but it lacks the LCD display, XLR inputs, sweep-able midrange EQ, and only has one effects send and only one stereo return channel. I got past the mixing limitations by pairing it with a Mackie board a few years later. Nice video featuring a fun, vintage unit.
That also looks like something you might find in a school or something as well. Perhaps in like a school music studio or meeting room or something.
Wow I remember wanting one of those back in the day but as a high schooler there was no way of affording that.
I have a fostex x55 I believe is the model number mint condition but tape stopped I think it could be the little brass sensor that signals the tape to play. I really want to get it going
Nice mechanism..it looks like it anyways. Three motors and big beefy flywheel on nice bearings.
Very cool. Always wanted to see one of these. I Never knew what it did. I thaught it was a reciorder, but seems more for playback.
It's a pro recorder meant to record multiple tracks, which could then all be played together as a mix when complete.
When you mentioned your confidence to replace the screws I was thinking "ya it always bites me in the ass" then I have to remove the screws.
Thanks for this. I just inherited this from the bass player for "the sparks". His mom was clearing out the garage and for the sake of nostalgia, I happily took it, and it has the same playback issue. I'll open it up and likely find the same problem. Don't know where to pick up a belt. Was it a 4 inch or 5 inch that would work best? Thanks ahead of time.
good tascam recorder..easy design services and good future >>need one>
Great exactly my problem where do you get the replacement belts from
Place I got it from has closed their doors.
I Took mine apart the belt had melted on the wheel I cleaned it put a new belt on but still wont play it rewinds fast forwards the mixing desk works ,any other ideas I would to get it working .
Nice work. Ive watched a bunch of your cassette fix videos, and have emulated your approach to fix a number of my machines. I would never have thought you could take those capstan motors apart until I watched you do it on one of the stereo deck videos. Gave me the confidence to try it, and discover I had ruined the motor bushing by using an undersize belt. Couldn't figure why the speed kept changing...
re: this PortaStudio- took new in box in trade in the mid 90s, and just put it on the shelf. This video has sparked my interest in the unit, I think I'll dust off the box and check it out. Do you think it will need a belt? I'm sure it will!
Note: you can pick up a CCW 2400rpm China-sourced motor on Ebay for peanuts (at least in the US). Was a direct replacement for my ruined bushing motor, just needed a speed tweak, and good to go.
What did these sell for when they first sold??
Thankyou your help its much appreciated
Hi friend, great video by the way. I have the 8 track version of this. It's the Tascam 488MK1, it's all I use to record with and the sound quality is great because i use good mics and outboard gear. Thanks for sharing. Regards. Paul.
I love the cat ❤
I have one of these that need refurbishing. Could I send it to you for repair?
I had one of those in my garage band days. I pawned it for...fill in the blank
Ya I had a Tascam 424MKIII that I just sold yesterday for over $500 they seem to be rising in popularity again.
Fascinating and informative!!
Hey 12 volt I have a philips N2535 cassette player and recorder from the late 70s it plays great but when I record you can barely hear it and it’s distorted and I can hear my previous recordings very quit and distorted. What can it be the heads are clean
You have a bias oscillator failure. That's why it isn't totally erasing the previous recording and the new is very low and distorted.
If I remember correctly, did those Tascam Portastudio units only work with Hi bias tapes?
Hello, I bought a Tascam Portastudio 464 and wanted to know... When playing a normal cassette tape of music, should it play fast or at normal speed? I put in The Phantom of the Opera, but it was playing it fast. Tape Speed switch was set at normal and Pitch Control was at 0.
Normal speed should be the standard 1 7/8ips cassette speed. Fast should be double, 3 3/4ips. This was for musicians to do multi track recording at home and get the best sound possible from cassette.
@@12voltvids Okay, so it is normal for it to play Off The Shelf music tapes faster than normal? I understand that recording at higher speeds gives you more audio quality. But I thought that only applies when the switch is set to High. So switch set to Normal is still faster than normal store bought music tapes?
@@12voltvids I bought a new belt, removed the plastic rears, cleaned, reassemble and greased with white lithium grease... cleaned Capstan and roller... demagnetized record/play head... cleaned all potentiometers... And wanted to see how it sounds... first time I have had this type of recording unit.
@@12voltvids So, if it is playing too fast... do you know what maybe the problem? I tried the L and H potentiometers on the control board with no helpful results.
@@Michaelebills it is a cool unit. I believe the first of the affordable home multi track systems offered that half decent sound. With the DBX noise reduction and high speed it could get almost to the sound of consumer reel to reel. The 4 track 3340 i have obviously will kick it's ass in 15ips, but it gave other systems a run for their money and running with a pair of these one could do some pretty sophisticated mixing. Record 4 tracks, mix to stereo and record onto track 1 and 2 of second unit. Then add 2 more sessions mix this into the stereo and just keep going. Obviously the early sessions are going down multiple generations but that would typically be your drums, bass, rhythm section. ADAT and other multi track digital systems made these obsolete pretty quick. Qbass and protools killed all analog recording at home. Now a laptop is all that is needed.
Could someone help me what size is the belt (flat band) of the cassette deck of the portastudio 488 tascam width, length and diameter, thanks for your help
It's 4mm wide. Have to measure length.
@@12voltvids Thanks brother, the band melted, that's why I'm looking for the width and length measurements, because the band melted, I appreciate your help, greetings brother!
@@joesmile2025 thread dental floss around. Tie tight cut and measure. Subtract 10% and you have your size. The width is 4 or 5mm. Even the manual will not tell you the size. It will have the OEM parts number which these days is onobtainuum.
@@12voltvids Thank you brother for your help, I will do it and I will tell you if I got it
Cool unit. Made to repair on the fly.
I just picked up a TASCAM 464. FFWD and REW are working with no problems. However, pressing PLAY doesn't work. The motor / capstan does not turn. Anyone have any ideas as to what the problem may be? Thanks!
Nice video ID --- a YONGAR DT4 sounds exactly like the name of something that would be featured on this channel.
Very interesting video! I have made a 5 second tape loop to record continuous sounds. I have run into a problem with my loop tape. I hope you can help me over come this issue. I have a Tascam Portastudio 464 as well as an old standard stereo cassette player. When I pop the loop tape into the standard cassette player it runs at the regular speed. But when I pop it into the Tascam and press play it runs really fast. Like fast forward fast! I've tried re-looping several different ways and I always get the same issue. If I use a regular tape in the PS464 it all functions work as expected. This only happens when I insert the loop tape. I suspect the Tascam is not liking something. Maybe a tension issue? Have you any insights regarding this issue? Is there a work around? Thanks in advance! Keep up the great work!
I figured out the problem...me haha! You are correct! Thanks for helping out!
I like these machines, if you're going to record music to tape this is defo the way to do it, i had the minidisc version of this unit, it was fantastic.
With two of these it was easy to copy a conventional tape with high speed and good quality - *both sides at once!* But only if the length of the master tape matches with the blank one, otherwise there will be a long silence at the beginning of one side. Since originals were random length, this usually means you should have to cut the tape to the correct length. Not a huge deal with the proper tape cutting and gluing accessories, but only worth the effort if multiple copies were needed in a hurry.
Never done this, but when I've seen one of these machines in the late '90s, I immediatelly thought it would be great for that purpose. Were decks like this existed for lower price, without the mixing console capabilities? Maybe smaller scale pirate cassette makers used something like this. Or self-publishers, for smaller runs. The latter shouldn't have necessarily cared about cutting the tape, since they could arrange their albums to fit correctly on a standard length tape, or they could order custom length tapes, but I don't know what used to be the minimal ordering quantity for those.
Do you have to drain all capacitors first so don't get electrocuted?
Is worth opening to fix on own versus sending to tascam which I hear is expensive 150.00 up to hundred's!??
I think it's definitely worth trying fix yourself before sending tascam
There are no high voltages in the capacitors in this unit. Less than 12 volts.
@@12voltvids
I must thought tube amp rules apply same.
If I've used deoxit spray maybe I gummed up motor?? Needs cleaned? What should be used?
Comments other vid by guy works tascam said never use wd-40 leaves sticky residue
I think he said lubricate 105?
@@radiojoehead I use 3 in 1 electric motor oil for lubricating bearings not wd40. Deoxit or nutrol to clean control and switches.
can you please make video for PIONEER PRIVATE XR-Z83V, how can i change cassette rubber. with thank's
I bought one of these brand new in 1996 at the age of 21. Having the tape and the inputs was just so accessible, I can’t be assed with software DAW etc.
I got a LG 55 inch ln57 no picture you can see it when first turned on instantly black screen but can see picture with flashlight any help would be appreciated thank you.
So the backlights are not working. Check the voltage. If low then you have a power supply issue if over the rated voltage (which should be printed on the power supply board or on the back of the set) then you know the power supply is working. The voltage is too high because an led has gone open and is not providing a proper load.
@@12voltvids thank you for replying I will check it out thank you. I'm just hoping that it's not the led lights because they look a little rough to change.
@@scottmx6
They are a pita to do and it usually is the LEDs because they are pretty unreliable.
@@12voltvids sorry but I'm not sure what pita means lol does that mean it's difficult?
@@scottmx6 pita. Pain in the ass.
that tascam has three motors are they made by teac ?
Tascam is the professional arm of teac.
3 motors. Capstan, reel drive and mechanism control. Basically to operate a cam to raise and lower the heads and pinch roller.
do you mean channels 1 and 3 for normal use?
No, channels 1 and 2 are the standard cassette channels. 3 and 4 are what would be 1 and 2 on the B side.
@@12voltvids ok thanks
I have their current portastudio but I found their software hard to use and it's consigned at the moment. This older version looks easier to use. Looks more like the PreSonus AR I upgraded to except we use SD cards now.
The first time I used a 4 Track Tascam - I was confounded.. I couldn't unmix the Sade commercial album I had on tape. I literally thought I could use this machine to isolate the drums , vocals ect. LOL
Thanks so much for posting this! I have this machine and its having this problem but I do not think mine is the belt I think mine is actually the motor. Are you on instagram ? I would like to send you a video of what mine is doing to see if you think its the motor
Instagram? Nope not on it or Facebook or for that matter any social media except RUclips. I also don't use what's up, telegram, messenger or the likes. I had BBM to keep in touch with my friends because it is the only one that doesn't link to my phone number.
Good machine, shame the person and noise on that tape is just a row.
Nice, keep tape alive please.
That cassette could of been planted, but it wasn't a bad try I could feel the song.
LOL..I've got one of those.
I have a Tascam 246 version which I bought for a very good price a few years ago. The tape mechanism was not working properly and I think someone had tried to replace the belts but did not fit the mode swich control back in properly. It works very well but the transformer hums a bit.
You need to teach it the words.
@@12voltvids Funny.
Loll.. still have mine...works fine...
Most of these things if you run them regularly they last longer then if you put them away and forget about them.
@@12voltvids how come; i guess caps deteriorate without use, belts decay, and moving parts seize??
Hi