Akai 4track lives again

pumkin · January 2023

Anyone else used to own one of these?

Been meaning to share a couple of pics of this great machine….. Yes it’s Old Skool!! Knobs and all…

I bought this new in the 90’s (maybe late 80’s) from Turnkey In Charring Cross road….

It had extensive use for a number of years before the transport section packed up ….
I had several people look at at but was told it was terminal….

I’d pretty much given up on it until last year I took it to a guy called Darren
at Retro Amps in Newton Abbot ,Devon. And low and behold he’s sorted it all out .

It’s an absolute joy to use …. Basically a six track mixer into a four track cassette recorder .
Various bus options,inserts , and send and returns make it super versatile.
plus the recordings have that analogue warmth. .

I’ve got a pile of old tapes to go through which is fascinating in itself but will hopefully get some new stuff down soon….

And if you’re in the Westcountry I can’t recommend Darren Retro Amps enough …

Supportact · January 2023

That looks great. I've got a tascam, not as fancy as this one though.

hollywoodrox · January 2023

Beautiful

thermionic · January 2023

I don’t remember them, but it looks to be very well featured. Glad to see it back in action.

pumkin · January 2023

thermionic said:

I don’t remember them, but it looks to be very well featured. Glad to see it back in action.

They also made a larger 12 track version that used special 1/2” tapes …

Jfingers · January 2023

I have a Yamaha MT3X or MT4X, can't be bothered to look right now.

It knocks spots off my entry level digital Fostex thing whose serial number I also can't be bothered to check.

Some/most of my favourite recordings of myself and others have been made on cassette.

Some recorded live in a room on a portable cassette player/Ghetto blaster

If anyone is wanting to make money from a recording made on a 4 track, I would point them to the world renowned Howe Gelb and his album 'Hisser' which makes a virtue of it, not a shame based poverty can't afford a studio thing.

My point, I suppose is that if nobody likes your music apart from from a few supportive family and friends, then increasing the expense to record it will make four fifths of fuck all difference.

I love the fact that the lovely looking AKAI appears to have a cushion for the engineers arm.

Jfingers · January 2023

Edited to add, I'd gone on a search rabbit hole about cassette 4 tracks, that was a blended response to you OP and murricans from 2017.

pumkin · January 2023

Yeah the cushions a nice touch … the whole machine has a quality feel about it and for me is so easy to use… I also use a older Yamaha digital aw16g recorder which I know my way round…. My older addled brain now struggles with learning new tech stuff and so computer based recording just frustrates me as I can’t do it without having to think too much …it is a bit of a mental block thing I know….

Caffeine_Vampire · February 2023

Delicious. If you ever decide to sell...

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Akai 4track lives again

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