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![[Linked Image from janiceandbud.com]](https://www.janiceandbud.com/uploads/4/4/3/1/44312/janiceboard_orig.jpg) Maybe a better post for the production forum but there are more older users here.  This shot is Janice at our long gone mid 90's Tascam 8 track cassette 688 MidiStudio unit recording my bass track. I'm wondering if there are any former users here and if so have you ever run across any means of accessing the tracks from a cassette without buying a used unit (they are pricey.) For example a service that would do it? I've looked around the net to no avail but ya never know. Thanks, Bud PS And then there is the later Tascam digital recorder that had a proprietary means of saving project tracks to a CD instead of saving each as a wav. And what did I do? Yep used the proprietary method that would now require me purchasing a used one, as above, to access the tracks. Sigh.
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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I used to have a Tascam 4 track, which could be recovered from a normal cassette player, if you could figure out how to reverse one of the stereo tracks.
Unfortunately, the small amount of research I did on the Tascam 8 track indicates that it had custom tape heads, so you'd have to have one of the original units in order to read a cassette.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Ah the good ol' days. We had a Tascam 388 1/4in tape in our songwriting studio and I had a 246 cassette at home. I don't know of any right or easiest way to do what you want. There are track splitters now, I have never tried one but maybe you can save your final mix 2 track master cassette of your session to wav or mp3 and then try the splitter. Sort of a long trip around the bush for you but who knows maybe it'll work.
I used a little tape player/recorder and Cool Edit (Now known as Adobe Audition) years ago on a Dell XPS to save some old songs of ours from cassette to wav files. It did a decent job I thought.
Charlie Fogle might have some ideas. I'd ask him for sure if I were you.
Good luck.
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We had an 8 track reel to reel (and matching 2 track master), and the tapes went before the machine did (it still works as far as I know, though nobody uses it).
Guess the bright side is you have tapes and no player vs having a player and no tapes. At least you have a choice.
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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I used to own a TASCAM 488 MkII 8 track. It has been long gone since around 1999 when I got rid of it. I went to total digital recording with Cakewalk Pro Audio back in them days.
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There are businesses that specialize in retrieving audio and video from obsolete media. I've seen advertisements for such services. +++ HERE +++ is one I found using the search term "obsolete media recovery".
Last edited by Jim Fogle; 12/18/24 01:29 PM. Reason: Add link
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Sorry, I'll be of no help here, but that's such a cool photo of what the home studio might look like back in the day. I've still got my Yamaha 4-track cassette and Bose Acoustimass speakers stored in boxes for reasons I can't explain...
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I used to use the Tascam Porta-One and also have a few of the larger reel to reel tapes from a couple of studio projects I did decades ago.
IF... and that is the key word here...IF..... I decided that I wanted to resurrect those songs from the old tapes, I would simply start from scratch and rebuild or record everything fresh as opposed to trying to recover original tracks from tape. I find in the several times I have actually wanted to rework an older song, and then followed through, that starting from scratch results in a much better quality and a much improved version of the song.
Just my 2 cents worth.
You can find my music at: www.herbhartley.comAdd nothing that adds nothing to the music. You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both. The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.
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Bud,
If your CDs are in the old Tascam 788 format I’ve got a couple of 788’s out in the garage along with the CD recorder/player. I’d be willing to do you a solid and convert them over to wav files for you as long as I can get at least one of the 788’s to fire up.
Last edited by KeithS; 12/18/24 05:55 PM.
Keith
2026 Audiophile Windows 11 RYZEN THREADRIPPER 3960X 4.5GHZ 128 GB RAM 2 Nvidia RTX 3090s, Vegas,Acid,SoundForge,Izotope Production,Melodyne Studio,SONAR,3 Raven Mtis
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dbx or Dolby S? They came both ways. If Dolby S, I'd be happy to loan you my TASCAM 238S deck—just cover the shipping both ways and I'll get it out this weekend. If dbx, that's not going to work but the 238 will as it is the dbx version.
For the same reasons as you, I am looking for a FOSTEX 4 track cassette that outputs 4 channels (some like the X12 and X15 output stereo only). I know that the X-26 will work.
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For the same reasons as you, I am looking for a FOSTEX 4 track cassette that outputs 4 channels (some like the X12 and X15 output stereo only). I know that the X-26 will work. I KNEW I shouldn't have tossed mine a couple years ago, but I did. 
I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome
Make your sound your own!
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Ah the good ol' days. We had a Tascam 388 1/4in tape in our songwriting studio and I had a 246 cassette at home. I don't know of any right or easiest way to do what you want. There are track splitters now, I have never tried one but maybe you can save your final mix 2 track master cassette of your session to wav or mp3 and then try the splitter...
Good luck. Thanks and great to hear from you. Two problems with stem splitters, in my experiences, are their inability to parse much of anything with high accuracy other than drums, vocals and bass. Logic Pro 11 has an excellent splitter but on 8 acoustic tracks the result is problematic. The other issue is that a split track will, of course, have all the original fx on it that can't be removed. Have a fun Christmas! Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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There are businesses that specialize in retrieving audio and video from obsolete media. I've seen advertisements for such services. +++ HERE +++ is one I found using the search term "obsolete media recovery". Thanks, I'll check it out. Bud .. I would simply start from scratch and rebuild or record everything fresh as opposed to trying to recover original tracks from tape. I find in the several times I have actually wanted to rework an older song, and then followed through, that starting from scratch results in a much better quality and a much improved version of the song.
Just my 2 cents worth. Thanks for your thoughts. My objective is not to redo the songs. Firstly they feature our now passed on grammy nominated friend on guitar, mandolin and fiddle. Another former bandmate plays dobro and another banjo. So my goal would be to remix and master the original tracks. Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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Bud,
If your CDs are in the old Tascam 788 format I’ve got a couple of 788’s out in the garage along with the CD recorder/player. I’d be willing to do you a solid and convert them over to wav files for you as long as I can get at least one of the 788’s to fire up. Keith, I wish I could take you up on that kind offer but I have to admit to another moment of old man memory failure. I finally found a photo of the recorder and, embarrassingly, it is a Fostex V160 EX not a Tascam. I had used Tascam recorders for so long that I forgot when I moved to digital I bought the Fostex. My only excuse is that it was 20+ years ago. Thanks again for the generous offer! Attached is the photo that sent me in the right direction. Bud ![[Linked Image from janiceandbud.com]](https://www.janiceandbud.com/uploads/4/4/3/1/44312/ah-3-orig_orig.jpg)
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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dbx or Dolby S? They came both ways. If Dolby S, I'd be happy to loan you my TASCAM 238S deck—just cover the shipping both ways and I'll get it out this weekend. If dbx, that's not going to work but the 238 will as it is the dbx version.
For the same reasons as you, I am looking for a FOSTEX 4 track cassette that outputs 4 channels (some like the X12 and X15 output stereo only). I know that the X-26 will work. Mike, that is very, very generous of you. Unfortunately I can find no mention in the manual or elsewhere of my long gone Tascam 688 using Dolby S noise reduction. Thank you big time for the offer. Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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I had written out a response for Tascam 688 options and none of them relevant to Fostex cassette recorders except for this following paragraph would also apply to various Fostex models. There were still a lot of discrete components and mechanical components in these older units that many times translated into dead but revivable.
"Don't exclude "Parts only" and "broke" devices because the failure may either be a minor fix or possibly what's broke may not have any affect on your purpose for the device. Look for the "broke" cause or inquire to what it is. For instance, a working 238 that the record function doesn't work but the machine is otherwise in working order. Since you're not looking to record, a broken device with this failure would allow you to recover your 688 recorded audio."
Many models of the same brand used similar formatted heads that mainly varied in precision, construction materials and quality but shared the same physical size and format. The different models could read and playback material recorded on a different model. In the Tascam scenario, 688 was the best quality, construction and precision followed by the 238 and with the 488 the least quality model. But they all shared similar size and format of the heads and both could read and playback 688 recordings with small variance in quality.
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Bud
If you can give me the exact model and serial number I will try to find a schematic. I also need to know exactly what it is not doing.
If I can find a schematic there is a good possibility, that Gorden, Trev, or I could have some idea of what parts need to be replaced and if they are currently available.
I reread the thread but I don't understand just what is broken. Some small mechanical parts that are no longer available could possibly be made by me at no charge to you. Same for the electronic issues.
Billy
EDIT: Sorry Bud I assumed you still had the machine.
Last edited by Planobilly; 12/20/24 10:30 AM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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There are a couple of Fostex V160 EX on eBay for $150 to $250. https://www.ebay.com/p/70304789Also, something is not adding up. A Fostex V160 is a 16-track track device. Perhaps I am missing something. ![[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]](https://i.imgur.com/411QYRc.jpg) Billy
Last edited by Planobilly; 12/20/24 10:54 AM.
“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”
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Bud, Another company that offers analog to digital conversion is +++ iMemories +++ .
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A huge thanks and a happy holidays greeting to ALL the folks who so generously offered us help.
A special shoutout to Kevin and Mike who offered to either do the conversion or loan me equipment.
I wish my files had been compatible.
This community is amazing.
After considering all the options and given the incompatibility of my older equipment we've decided to peruse the notion of just sending the cassettes and CD's to a business dedicated to such conversions.
Thanks again all!
Bud
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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