Super 8 Tracks?

[James E]

Jim, I grew up IN CALIFORNIA IN THE 70's. And I had 8 track recording equipment at home. As to your assertion that there was none in the 60's... Oh contrare monfrare....
My grandfather had a reel to reel unit w/ an 8track built into the side that was an Akai (not cheap crap). So let's pause for a minute. What was the singulary most popular home recording and playback medium in the 60's? According to my father and grandfather that would to Reel to Reel.

According to you in th 60's 8 tracks were specifically for cars. While I agree w/ that statemnt, still many would like to have the ability to make their own 8 tracks to listen to in the car. And so my grandfather and father did just that with this Akai unit that was built before I was born. In fact it was built in 1961. While probably not everybody had one, many people did. (A few uncles and older cousins come to mind.) So I don't really care what your memory tells you when the facts I saw are completely to the opposite. Oh and BTW this all took place in the early 60's IN CALIFORNIA!
Cheers,

[super8man]

Anybody here have a high-quality 8-track to digital recording space?

Well, I can record from 8-track direct to miniDisc thanks to my SONY MDS JE520 deck...and the JE520 takes in optical digital and outputs optical digital so perhaps this is to be considered a A/D converter that makes 8-tracks into "digital quality" sound...

[CHAS]

Another common use of 8-track technology - up until very recently - was in radio stations. Ads, bumpers and stuff were commonly on 8-track-style cartridge. You hit play and they were there and they stopped at the end, cued for the next usage. Also, sound effects people in radio and theatre loved these cartrdiges for the same reason. They always automatically re-cued themselves. In both of these examples they were not actually 8-tracks - they were full 2-track stereo. It was the cartridge/loop design that was valued.

Rick

Ha -- I recall that well. I was a college radio DJ from 87-91. We used those damn carts...the sound got pretty bad after awhile since we couldn't afford to buy new ones very often and had to keep recording over the old ones!
Here's the typical sort of cart player we had at our station:

[James E]

Yup, that's a cart player alright..... Interestingly the tapes in these could be removed if the cart became dammaged or unplaybale and the recording recovered on a studio 1/4" 2 track. I had one up until a few years ago. An Otari Mx-5050. Great machine. Made hand edited remixes on it al-la Razormade Records and master tapes for cutting vinyl masters.

[Jim Carlile]

And so my grandfather and father did just that with this Akai unit that was built before I was born. In fact it was built in 1961. While probably not everybody had one, many people did. (A few uncles and older cousins come to mind.) So I don't really care what your memory tells you when the facts I saw are completely to the opposite. Oh and BTW this all took place in the early 60's IN CALIFORNIA!
Cheers,

When were there 8-tracks in 1961? There were Muntz cartridges and 4-tracks from about '65 until '69 or so. These were supplanted by 8-tracks at that time. I was there.

I'll say it again-- it was unheard of to home-tape 8- tracks back then. Maybe the very late 70's, early 80's some cheap home equipment had the ability to do so, but it was neither common nor popular.

Let's go back in time. The reason for this is simple-- few people even thought about making their own tapes for the car. They bought them at the store. The whole concept of making a 'mix tape' was unheard of at the time. People listened to the radio, bought the few popular albums that were available, and then the got the 8-track if they liked it.

It wasn't like now, where everyone listens to tons of different stuff. The mentality was completely different. There was no need for home taping. That's why few people-- if anyone-- ever did it.

I have no doubt that there were 8-track recorders around, but they didn't sell. There was a lot of novelty stuff like that, trying out different formats. Remember Playtapes? Or those big Grundig cassettes? Or Muntz?

The people I hung around with would have been the first to be using 8-tracks and recording them at home if it had been a viable medium. They made mix tapes before there was even a word for what they were doing.

But it just wasn't viable. So people taped cassettes and took them in the car, and even that was an eccentric thing to do. Later, one of the most popular adaptors was a cartridge that plugged into the 8-track player and had a lead out of it that you plugged into the cassette output.

It's funny. I was very much around back then, and I remember the time well. Most of you were not. Home recording of 8-tracks was as rare as-- well- using double super 8. That's a good comparison.

[Blue Audio Visual]

I have no doubt that there were 8-track recorders around, but they didn't sell. There was a lot of novelty stuff like that, trying out different formats. Remember Playtapes? Or those big Grundig cassettes? Or Muntz?...

...It's funny. I was very much around back then, and I remember the time well. Most of you were not. Home recording of 8-tracks was as rare as-- well- using double super 8. That's a good comparison.

Jim - the prima facie evidence says otherwise. If I do this ebay search I get 44 completed listings, all of which are for 8 track cartridge recorders with the exception of an "8 track video recorder", which is a new one to me and to the rest of the world who are familiar with Video 8! Amongst them are a couple of Pioneers which I would hardly describe as being crap.

If I do a similar searcha similar search for DS8 cameras I only get 4 completed listings for DS8 cameras, although my search syntax may well be narrowing down the results.

[downix]

Anybody here have a high-quality 8-track to digital recording space?

Well, I can record from 8-track direct to miniDisc thanks to my SONY MDS JE520 deck...and the JE520 takes in optical digital and outputs optical digital so perhaps this is to be considered a A/D converter that makes 8-tracks into "digital quality" sound...

That would work (have a minidisc setup for my computer). Interested in some duplication of old 1900-1930's recordings?

[super8man]

As an aside, how about poor old Hilary's running for cover from sniper fire recollection. Afterall, she clearly recollected that this happened...then changed her mind.

But seriously, Jim, I do "get" your most recent post - you are right, like now, there was a lot of experimentation for electronics and what would sell. Like my Diamond Rio (not the band) handheld mp3 player, in the future people may see a lot on ebay and think they were popular when in fact they were not. Fair enough. But still, SOME recording did exist even if we agree that we are talking about the years 1975-1980. In which case it may be merely the poorest folks who could afford to make their own 8 tracks since cassette decks were more pricey as they were made by generally higher end companies (don't know, just thinking out loud).

But, I think consensus says (or is that Confucious) 8-track home recording DID exist and was reasonable AVAILABLE that if people decided to record their own 8-tracks, they could have quite easily. Notice I did not say they DID record their own, merely that they could have.

Now let me return to laughing at Hilary running for cover from sniper fire while DIRECT VIDEO EVIDENCE would suggest otherwise. Oh yeah, she also pumps her book with such salacious "recollections."

DOWNIX - email me offline to let me know more...

Cheers,
Mike

[James E]

I guess perhaps Akai made a typo on the manufacturing plate.... Or more likely it was well worn and I mistook a "7" for a "1" So that makes the Akai reel to reel 8 track transfer machine built in 1967.

[Angus]

I've seen a photo of an Akai reel to reel with an 8-track machine built into the right hand side...but 1961 seems far too early. 1967 seems more likely. I do not know if the 8-track unit built into the Akai was a recorder or play-only unit.

I was discussing 70's in car-audio (from a UK perspective) with my older cousin over Easter...he hadn't ever heard of 8-track.

Still trying to ascertain when "most" people in the UK got colour TV's. Apparently my parents struggled with my grandfather's gift of his B&W (he'd bought a colour set) until perhaps 1972 by which time their recollection is that "everyone had colour". I have photos which feature their 18" Invicta colour set dated 1973. My dad strongly remembers believing "It doesn't make any difference to the story if its in B&W or colour" until he saw Wimbledon tennis while he passed by a TV shop. He's now contemplating a 42" plasma...that'll go nicely with the convertible Lexus I suppose...

[James E]

Angus, the Akai machine we had most definately recorded form R2R to 8 track. (& Vice Versa.) That was in fact the primary purpose of the machine, so you could record your own 8 tracks for car/portable use. I seem to remember the manual/ brochure saying something to that exact effect. I had the machine through the early/mid-90's before parting w/ it. 1967 seems more right to my mind as well. Thinking of the overall design of it verses R2R's I had from the earlier 60's . IC's gained in design improvements in leaps and bounds in the 60's making better and smaller/ cheaper machines more practical for home/personal use. The 70's even more so making them cheap.
Cheers,

[Blue Audio Visual]

I guess perhaps Akai made a typo on the manufacturing plate.... Or more likely it was well worn and I mistook a "7" for a "1" So that makes the Akai reel to reel 8 track transfer machine built in 1967.

The Akai 1800 series are the machines you're referring to. AFAIK the earliest one was the 1800L which was introduced in the very late 60s, plausibly as early as 1967 though I would have thought it to be a year or two later.

[Angus]

Akai X-1800 SD. I've been googling. Styling sets it of the same era as my 1720L which is circa 1970 if memory serves.

The x-1800 SD seems to have an 8-track recorder built into the right hand side...and rather like today's DVD-VCR units has buttons to dub from cart to tape and vice versa.

Akai of course also produced a weird machine that recorded video onto quarter inch tape...it doubled as a regular reel to reel audio machine too...but you killed the video heads if you tried recording video onto regular tape intended for audio!

[S8 Booster]

for what it is Wikipedia worth.....

shoot.....

[timdrage]

What an odd thread, people sure do like to argue at cross purposes on the internet!

I have a quad 8-track recorder, not quite working properly tho alas.

lot like global warming and CO2: its all the rage now but in time we will fondly look back on it

Yeah, the good old days when we had a bunch of patronising climate-change-themed ads and movies in lieu of actually doing anything about the problem, and some people on the internet were still in denial about the whole thing anyway. :?