Up until recently the cassette decks were not available balanced i.e. pro level +4db ... basically balanced is a hotter and better signal than a -10db consumer level.

I haven't used 24 track 2" tape since the 90's and wouldn't dream of maintaining a vintage tape machine. I expect reissues in a few years and will reconsider then.

Anyways, the saturation and warmth of 2" tape just sounds better as I see it and 24 tracks means it is more of a mixing workflow.

I had good results with 8 track 1/2 tape back in the day and expect reissues in that format too.

I would use even the best cassette deck as sort of a effect pedal - delay for example. IOW not as a 2 track final mix.

Its easy to find professional mastering using analog compressors (Knif Vari-Mu II) , analog eq (I have an API 5500 and its used a lot in mastering) etc.

http://www.audibleoddities.com...

That's not mentioning plenty of the tracking using analog synths, compressors and eq for tracking ... guessing at least 50% of modern vocals use a hardware analog compressor such as a LA2A but that's my perspective.

The company API makes analog mixers, compressors and EQ that has seen a modern surge into the 500 series lunchbox format. Over 30 brands of analog eq and compressors are available in 500 series, including most of the gear from Neve and Chandler.

They've been trying digital modeling for 35 years and while the ADC has improved it still is like a sex doll vs a real girlfriend. Its close, but if they had 85% bananas some people would prefer the real thing.

The way I see it, the warmth of tape, transformers and transistors is something people will try to program for centuries and will be pretty much at the same place they started in the 80's.

More seriously, analog is forever. If you buy an analog eq, compressor or synth its pretty much the same design as the 60's (LA2A) or Moog Model D reissue (70's) . You do usually get MIDI and lower noise as a plus. The sound is all that matters. Upgrades is for digital, analog not so much.

SMT has actually brought the analog clones and reissues to be cheaper than the software emulation - the Pultec EQ reissue is now cheaper than the software plugins.

I realize lots of people are skeptical of tape, but things like balanced ins / outs and control voltage (pre-midi, Moog and analog equipment uses it still) was not even twinkle in someone's eyes on cassette tape decks when the digital age started.

In short for this example, digital delay doesn't sound as good. It sounds too perfect. Binson tape delays were used by Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin a lot but cassette decks opens new possibilities. CV can actually control wow and flutter for cool effects. This space case TE-1 deck with all the bells and whistles is around $1000.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc...

Eh link didn't work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Digital audio for musicians cannot emulate anywhere close to the classic Roland Space Echo (RE-201 etc) machines imho, which is why for $1000 you can get a fully balanced +4db professional signal in and out of a refurbished Marantz cassette deck like this.

IOW as an effect its like one of the classic tape machines they stopped making in the early 80's.

Another example is the Binson tape delay machines as seen in Pink Floyd's echoes in the film "Live at Pompei" .

As for fidelity ... well, digital audio for better or worse is the delivery method these days. I'm not making demos on cassettes :-) . However, its common for popular bands with a big budget to record to 2" 24 track tape still ... which arguably has better fidelity ymmv.

Digital audio for musicians cannot emulate anywhere close to the classic Roland Space Echo (RE-201 etc) machines imho, which is why for $1000 you can get a fully balanced +4db professional signal in and out of a refurbished Marantz cassette deck like this.

IOW as an effect its like one of the classic tape machines they stopped making in the early 80's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]

Another example is the Binson tape delay machines as seen in Pink Floyd's echoes in the film "Live at Pompei" .

As for fidelity ... well, digital audio for better or worse is the delivery method these days. I'm not making demos on cassettes :-) . However, its common for popular bands with a big budget to record to 2" 24 track tape still ... which arguably has better fidelity ymmv.

Digital audio for musicians cannot emulate anywhere close to the classic Roland Space echo machines imho, which is why for $1000 you can get a fully balanced +4db professional signal in and out of a refurbished Marantz cassette deck like this.

IOW as an effect its like one of the classic tape machines they stopped making in the early 80's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Another example is the Binson tape delay machines as seen in Pink Floyd's echoes in the film "Live at Pompei" .

As for fidelity ... well, digital audio for better or worse is the delivery method these days. I'm not making demos on cassettes :-) .

I've been working at home for over a decade. No doubt you will get interrupted ... so I try to work the hours my family are sleeping. Its getting better now that they are on facebook and youtube so much these days.

The huge advantage of telecommuting to me is being able to travel. I just need to time my online time - where ever I am - with my companies timezone. That's rarely 9-5 so it allows me to get things done in local business hours.

You really think that with Saddam it was even remotely possible, under severe sanctions and no WMD, that he could have caused more deaths and cost more than the Iraq war started by W?

Instead of "containment" and no threat really besides the starving of kids in Iraq, we borrowed money from China to make Iran stronger. Do you like how that turned out?

One helluva mistake. But my mind was made up years ago. Its called war mongering by hook and crook, with the ends justifying the means. Scott Ritter may be a pedophile, but read what he said before the war. He was right on the money - there was no WMD and it was obvious to everyone who had been there. So W lied - there is no doubt about that to me.

This article by a USA general in 1935 makes me skeptical of your argument:

http://www.ratical.org/ratvill...

People are judged on their credit reports and criminal history, why should using her past history in government to predict future behavior be any different? In this case that means questionable behavior on private data, as she has shown in the past. if its legal then anything goes and the ends justifies the means. And yes, I don't want to associate with people like that.

She is a very high profile lightning rod - unlike most board of directors - and hiring her shows very poor judgement, rightly or wrongly, on Dropbox's part. I expect they will go the way of MySpace. Therefore I'd be making a poor choice imho on betting on their future.

Have a nice evening!

Um, the war is what we are talking about and it and most people now think it was a mistake. Bush owns that legacy. There would have been no Obama and Affordable health care act without it, so you can thank the Iraq war supporters for that. And it was Bush who signed the law. I'm a libertarian and I was against all that from day one.

And the stock market was lower when he left than when he came in - the only president in history to accomplish that. The crash at the end of his term was do to his "ownership society" and hostile actions to regulation, and that will be his legacy too.

Your knowledge, respectfully, on these matters are on shaky ground.

Google for "Rice approved CIA waterboarding" . In her memoir she states " ''I do not regret the decisions we made. I would never have engaged in - or encouraged the President to undertake - activities that I thought to be illegal.''

Alright then, I guess she was never bothered by mere moral questions, so I hesitate to give her my data.

Also, Human Rights Watch has higher numbers than 3. How many were tortured by Jordan, Egypt etc under extraordinary rendition may never be known.

Google is not perfect and the lesser of two evils is still evil. However, it is possible to opt out of most of the privacy invading data collection. There are legal challenges to them on privacy and that is a good thing. There are other options besides Google too if you are so inclined.

You seem happy that we borrowed money from China to make Iran stronger, but the 90% who supported the war at the time is smarter now.

The Iraq war is estimated to have already cost over $1 trillion, and will likely cost $3 trillion when the vets are taken care of over their lifetime.

The increase of debt so far under Obama is around 6.5 trillion. I expect it to drop as the economy improves, but that is admittedly speculation.

Bush increased the debt by about 5 trillion in his two terms.

Use whatever reasonable sources you like for these numbers.

The more important issue is that over 100K Iraqis died, with 4486 US soldiers dead and 32,223 wounded. And for what? We now have another dictator and Badgad is #1 on the most violent city list. There were no WMD so I fail to see what we really gained that was worth the costs in blood and treasure.

There is a difference, at least in appearance, from have your poster girl as some one who thinks water boarding is a nifty idea.

And Google is suing the NSA, rather than announcing that a former National Security Advisor who was part of the problem, is now controlling your data. So instead of fighting the governments worst practices, the actions of Dropbox suggest that the NSA raiding your data is just fine by them.

I am well aware that Google will hand over to the NSA whatever they have to per USA law. And the USA government is one of their biggest check writers. But I doubt they think handing over data in violation of the 4th amendment is a good business practice. And if you are not a USA citizen or an expat, you have no standing at all - not nice for the rest of the world.

Rather, the NSA is likely causing them to lose business overall. Google's lawsuits may be just for show, but like I said, appearances matter. Would you trust RSA at this point?

Have great day likewise!

More like "ankle grabbing" for the lovers of the NSA and water boarding. Going back as far as Napoleon, torture was already dismissed as ineffective, so its sad to me that some people are glad to regress a few centuries. And the "everybody does it" theme neglects that few others countries, ie none, have 30,000 employees and a $10 billion a year budget.

I'm switching to Google Drive since their theme of "do no evil" is still intact enough to avoid high publicity idiocy like politicising their business. Why the fuck do these companies think their political agenda is a part of their business plan? Part of this idiocy alone is a good reason to switch.