TASCAM 238 CLASSIC VINTAGE 8 TRACK CASSETTE RECORDER 1989

TASCAM 238 (For Parts- Status Non working)
Classic vintage 8 track machine recording at double speed (9.5 cm/sec) onto a standard chrome cassette. It takes up 4U of racking space and due to the sparseness of the rear panel, rack mounting this machine is certainly a viable proposition. The audio inputs and outputs are on phone sockets and will need to be run into a mixing desk at the semi professional level of -10dBm. Noise reduction is dbx and is switchable on the rear panel so that tracks 1-4 and/or 5-8 can be exempted from the process. In addition, you can remove the noise reduction solely from track 8 for recording a sync code. This facility is accompanied by a separate level control and filter for track 8, which band passes outside of 300Hz to 7kHz, so reducing the effects of bleed-through from either the adjacent track or extraneous noise to a minimum. Anyone who has tried to record a sync code onto a B16 without going via a mixing desk will appreciate just how important this independent sync level control is as well as the switchable dbx.

The front panel is made up of three parts; the meter section on the right-hand side which has eight level meters of the 12-segment variety ranging from -20dB up to +8dB with a record ready/safe button at the base of each; the recorder section on the left with the usual controls one would expect to find on a cassette machine along with tape speed and pitch control, and the guts of the 238 in the centre memory and punch in/out functions.