For hifi elitists the best cassette deck is considered the Nakamichi (and this is probably true), but in the studio the Tascam 122 was a MUST: it was able to suffer any abuse without ever missing a beat.
I have always had the utmost respect for any Tascam gear

 

Akai AX-80. Bought for peanuts in the 90's, still in use to this day.

Must be loads of these still floating around.
Akai S3000xl, Yamaha FB-01, Korg O5R/W, Roland D-110, EMU proteus/1
Win XP PC racked up just below with editors for the lot.

 

Wow, an FB-01, 05R/W, and Roland. I feel vindicated for showing my old modules.

 

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's the Yamaha SK20 combo organ thingy:



So it's a decent drawbar organ, kind of Vox Continentalesque, then there's a preset string machine section which isn't exactly a Solina but does the job. Finally there's a polyphonic (6 voices if I remember correctly) synth. Very basic 2osc job but on top of that it's pretty impressive. Then you can layer the sounds (there's a mixer on the left). Tremolo/vibrato for FX.

We had one laying about in our rehersal space for a couple of years and while we never used it for anything serious it was always fun to play. Friend's got it now, so I got access to one if I really wanted. Weighs a fucking ton as well.

If you see one I'm not saying "BUY IT NOW" (unless you get one for pennies), but do try to play one, great fun!

 

... and then this came and changed my life

 

My friend had an SK20! They definitely had a vibe. Better than a lot of all-in-one machines of the day. The Moog Opus 3 was another; decent sounds for a low price but not as good as the SK. It *did* have that dreamy Polymoog chorus phase shifter though.

 

Opus 3 is news to me, sounds interesting. Not that I want one of those big bastards at the moment!

 

Oh, the Opus was itty bitty and light. I see people are trying to sell them on Reverb for $1075, $1700 though... that's abject insanity imho. Analog or not that a $200 synth max in my book. Actually I wouldn't pay real money at all for one in this day and age.

 

Only one really... why would anyone pay that kind of money for a cassette deck over an open reel?? (Please don't say to play prerecorded cassettes )

 

The answer is simple and not debatable ...and that is ...The More You Know !

 

HiFi enthusiasts are famous for their total lack of common sense

I remember a crazy autoreverse model of Nakamichi deck (super expensive): instead of reversing the heads there was a mechanism that reversed the cassette

 

what an honor .... we have one among us ''with common sense''

 

Sir, let me disagree with your statement:
Obviously I have a deck: when I download vintage albums in flac files I always record them on cassette. After that, I also write the playlist on the internal cardboard with the pen. I know, it's a completely nonsense procedure, but it gives me so much joy

I confess: I'm one of those hi-fi enthusiasts ...

 

No one with a fetish for either hi-fi or music gear can be accused of having "common sense"

 

maybe someone will get lucky and find one for a realistic price :


Korg Karma




it appears we missed this one. far more likely to find cheaply:


Korg MS2000

 

this one is crazy never even seen a picture of it anywhere...

 

Hello everyone,
I just dropped in to say what a beautiful thread. I can't say that I own/owned lots of gear vintage or otherwise
but I grew up reading about this gear in magz such as: Keyboard, future music etc...
first serious gear I owned (after a Yamaha PSR of some sort) was a Roland D5 combined with an MC50 mk 2
what a tedious job editing the sounds on the two lines 16 digit D5 or sequencing on the MC50. but I had lots of good times back then
I used to sequence for hours and hours Sigh...
Sorry I couldn't post any pics

Cheers

 

In a weird way though, weren't those the best days, when we just owned a couple pieces of crap and pulled anything we possibly could from them? I remember making demos by bouncing between 2 cassette decks through a mixer until the sound turned to noise (yeah, the Nakamichi would have helped there *lol*) and figuring out how to make 2 mono synths a poly synth!

That trick, BTW, was to set each up with the same basic patch and tune one to play a 5th. Then I made the 3rd note, thus the chord, with the other. It was a bitch to do live. In all my years I'm the only person I've ever seen do it!

 

Or use a Polaroid!

The rubber rollars and bands usually are an issue.

My first "multittack" was two of those black dictating cassette decks, recording on the first and then playing it back and recording on the second machine what was coming through the horrid speaker and what I was playing to the first. The results were less than lo-fi but better than nothing. I was 12 years old and thought that I was godlike.

 

@BEAT16 , where are you ? lets hear from you