I'm having a big studio upgrade/clearout soon and have this Tascam Da-40 which i havent used in a while. Does anyone think its still worth having a dat machine around these days and how are the convertors in these machines standing up to bouncing itb?

Thinking of getting Apogee rosetta 800 with x firewire option to use with logic 7.1.

I'm keeping my DAT just in case somebody brings me something on DAT - it's probably never going to happen !

They're not worth anything S/H so why not hang onto it a bit longer.

si

Mine hasn't been switched on for the last 3 years, altough I bet if I sold it, the very next day someone would come in asking for a DAT to CD transfer. I'm keeping it. Its resale value = 0.

Stein Tore

I have a 3700 which I paid a small fortune for...ebay price make me sick, so I'm keeping it for possible using it for remote live recordings. I have alot of stuff backed up to DAT, so I'm keeping it for that too...barely used in great condition, why give it away ...?????? Even though it records at 16 bit, is that really a bad thing ?? Isn't 16 bit, cd quality ?????

Same here exactly

heh

I'll probably hang on to mine now, as they are worth so little.

How do you guys think the sound quality of dat tapes and/or convertors compare to bouncing in the box/direct to cd?

I know some drum and bass producers who swore that quantegy dats sounded more like analogue tape, but also that each brand had its own sonic signature. I've been using tdk's and they seem to emphasise the highs a lot more, whilst also losing low end.

The recording quality on mine was always very good, and a giant step up from any analog tape machine I've ever had. I liked the machine at the time, but now do everything on my computer. But bringing the computer to a gig would be a hassle, where as the DAT machine, could replace the cassete machines many people used to use for live. It could also work well for dj's playing back a recorded set.

Who knows, maybe I'll come up with a good use for it someday, as it's still a good quality two track recorder.

It keeps happening to me! At least once a month I have to fire up the Sony PCM-R500. Of course, it's usually just to dump a snippet into the computer, so the "10 Hours Use" headcleaning light only comes on once every 12-18 months.

Used to own 4 Panasonic SV 3700s. I have 1 left for the odd moment i.e. accessing older DAT mixes and when "Bounce To Disc" screws up on the rare occasion.

I literally just put the final nail in my DAT's coffin, by transferring all my drum samples from my old DAT's to hard drive. I'm keeping it in the closet, as I'm terrified someone will walk in with something on DAT for me to use(although I highly doubt it'll ever happen).

I have no personal need for a DAT machine, but at least twice a year, a client needs something transfered from DAT to either the computer or CD.

here at my city I am the last and the only guy who still keeps two Tascam Dat machines. The pain in the ass DA30MK2 and the upgraded version of his, the DA40, much much better.
Occasionally some TV ads and even short movies are recorded on location with crappy portable Dat machines at 48khz but the director or the editor needs to transfer all that crap to his Avid or whatever it might be. So, I tranfer everything to SD2/WAve/AIff files with the PT rig and they keep happy.

In my studio we have about 10 DAT machines floating around

2 in our multi track room, 4 in the experemental audio labs, and 4 more in the Stereo recording room... 2 for DAT to CD dubs, and the other 2 for stereo backups for ProTools

they've saved my ass many a time

Though we have many years of archived concerts on DAT so copy requests float in a lot

Peter

I've taken to using mine constantly during live tracking sessions nowadays. I just hook up the main outputs from the desk and keep four or five 90 minute DATS handy to record EVERYTHING during the session. Sometimes a rare musical gem emerges from the band jamming around for a bit. Most of the time it's just good for comedy value.

They're still great for a mobile 2 channel recording rig. I've got my Sony PCM500 in a soft rack, along with a symetrix pre and compressor. This is a great little thing to have for some decent recordings, or just to record band practices.
Maybe I'm way in the dark, but I still don't trust CDR's for live recordings.
later,
m

I am keeping my DA-40, occasionally somebody come in with a DAT tape for mastering.

I just pulled my DA30 Mk II out of storage to dump on eBay and the thing won't even play a tape. Worked fine when I retired it, now it will make a nice doorstop.

I used mine last week when a client came in with a shoe box full of tapes and needed to transfer to CD.

Gonna keep it for another 10 years when the vintage 'DAT Sound' is the rage.

dat???