Tascam Portastudio 414 Mk II | Review, Comparison & Features Overview

[@c0untbakwerdz]

Happily bought one off a mate 20 yrs ago. Really enjoy messing about with it. Thanks for a really thorough vid. Learned a couple of things even after this time.

[@genericman423]

Track 1, channel fader up, panned hard left, taken from the left side of the main stereo out Track 2, channel fader up, panned hard right, taken from the right side of the main stereo out Track 3, channel fader down, this is the only track taken from the tape cue out, which is a prefader 4x1 submixer Track 4, channel fader down, this track is present on the sync out connector

[@johntammaro]

Just got one for £120, minimal effort to clean pots required only. Arrives tomorrow so looking forward to it. Great video.

[@spookypen]

This looks perfect for my acoustic bongo falsetto singing needs.

[@Bewar3them00n]

Just been given one by my Dad, I had a Fostex 26 back in the 90s which died, which had a similar feature set, so I’m looking forward to getting back to using one of these again

[@phillipdugas8250]

THANK YOU I was looking into getting a 4-track for playing purposes, very nice overview of all the features, now I feel like I know what I'm looking for in similar models/brands.

[@saggygnaw]

Coming here 3 years later to echo this sentiment.

[@michaelscottcutler3627]

I just found one in the trash tonight (6/16/21). Good thing I decided to keep it. Can't believe the prices these fetch on eBay. Thanks for the vid.

[@jebbylawless]

I bought one of these a year ago expecting t to be similar to a very basic Fostex I had as a kid. It's so complicated that I still haven't used it... I'm sure that I could learn to use the most basic features for my purposes though. I want to do the speed adjustment mod though so I can play my old tapes.

[@davidmac42]

Like you, I’m amazed the prices all the Tascam portastudios go for now. I paid £70 for my 424 mk3 about 5 years ago now see them going for £300 plus. Staggering for old tech but they do sound great. Would love a good 246 but prices for a good one are silly. I love my 238 (8 track) but it has wow and flutter issues. Nothing like these machines. Great channel!

[@IThinkYouLookLarvely]

Mine was only just over £300 new (although that was 1997!)

[@BlaineO]

I bought one of these about 10 years ago from a pawn shop that a friend of mine owns for $25. I’m just now learning ANYTHING about it but you guys have me stoked.

[@bobbythompson4268]

Jimmy stroke me

[@MadeOnTape]

yes! i remember that video with the NIN keyboardist: very cool and unorthodox use of the portastudio, and i don’t see folks using them live too much like him 😂

[@taylorh4480]

I bought one of these so that my band could record demos at home back in the summer of 1998. To this day I still prefer recording demos on it.

[@guerrilladigital]

I recently scored one for $75, but it came with an underpowered power adapter. waiting on a replacement before I start messing with it. Love the small footprint, as compared to my 424

[@fearlesssound8275]

where did you get that

[@guerrilladigital]

@@fearlesssound8275 bought it locally from a friend.

[@EasyHeat]

This was my first 4 track back in the day.

[@GhostShipPartIV]

Super helpful vid, thinking about grabbing one this weekend.

[@IThinkYouLookLarvely]

Having read the comments, I wish I re-bought one of these a few years ago. Currently looking on eBay, and found one with no power supply and untested with bidding already at £42 and a whole week to go until bidding ends. I bought mine new in 1997, and sold it part ex in 2001 for a Fostex digital. Had a lot more fun with the Tascam. Still have the Maxell XLII cassettes, some of which I foolishly didn't mix down properly before selling! I guess one idea would be to transfer them from a normal tape deck and fix the speed in a DAW. I guess two of the tracks would play backwards and half-speed too, but that's also easy to fix.

[@nepntzerZer]

wealth of knowledge and straight shooting through overinflated price hype

[@nintendoor1]

i got mine for $110. i feel super lucky. it’s absolutely mint and has the power adaptor

[@fender1000100]

$110 is a bargain of a lifetime in great condtion. You did good. I'm eyeing one on ebay. And its already at £220.

[@fearlesssound8275]

@@fender1000100 wow im about to buy one for 400 so sad

[@fearlesssound8275]

where did you got that?

[@ThatsJustEric]

Lucked up

[@kh8189]

I paid about the same on eBay but this was back in 2014. Market rough now but honestly I love this machine so much I would pay 500 to replace it if I had to without crying too much

[@deathmorphosis]

I have a mate in the UK that helped me (in Northern Europe) get one back in 2009 for £19.99. Was in fully working condition and came with the OEM power adapter. Worked like a charm. It's definitely been used a lot since then, but now I need to get it serviced. Fourth track won't record whatsoever and outputs noise even in recording mode, the knobs and some buttons no longer work. Pretty sure what the issue is, although I'm not too familiar with servicing and reparing portastudios...can hopefully find someone locally to get it fixed for me.

[@Tetrakan]

I'm in the UK and would be able to repair that. If that is of interest, message me over Facebook or Instagram to discuss.

[@igor_timofeev]

Can't get reasonable price tag for Tascam, so I routed to Fostex X-26 this week. It costed me some $60-70 with shipping in working condition with new pinch roller and cleaned, lubed. So... don't know is it bargain or not.

[@Ascsoms]

Fantastic overview...bought my 414 Mk ll back in the early 00's new from Turnkey, used to be on Tottenham Court Rd in London. (It replaced my Yamhaha MT 120, my first 4-track, which cost me £250 second hand in 1992, awesome machine, nick named it Knight Rider cause of its colour, low profile and LED's ha ha) People used to take the piss when I gigged with my Tascam cause they were all on Laptops. Funny how things change.

[@saren6538]

Legowelt uses the 414 reckons the eq is great and fattens sounds .. have you found this ? I wonder is the same eq system on the 424 as well ? Thanks

[@Tetrakan]

I like Legowelt's music and I've seen a few of the videos where his portastudio is featured. Some EQs sound nasty when you add frequencies (as opposed to cut) but in my experience you can use the EQ to boost frequencies on Tascam portastudios and it will sound good. The low shelf cutoff is 100 Hz, so thats the bass guitar, left hand of the piano, lowest strings on a guitar etc. My interpretation is that Legowelt means the preamp and nature of the tape medium fattens the sound as much as the EQ - I make this distinction because the 414 has no control over low mids, which is another frequency range I tend to associate with the adjective "fat". So if you are in the market for a portastudio to use the same way as Legowelt 424 mk III might actually be better since it will work basically the same but you can boost low mids too.

[@WesleyWattley-xy4fg]

​@@Tetrakan How much for that black tascam 03 ?£ 's 🇬🇧 for sale any 4 tacks Sir? Tetrakan 👍

[@dja.selekta]

Got one today £110 no power cable. Bought one on the way to collect, a little dusty 😂 but after a clean everything seems to work. Happy days

[@rolandedrummer9723]

Good video. Lots of info. I got my 414 in 2001 or so. 170 bucks-ish. Barely used.

[@XJDesigns1]

Do you sell it?

[@rolandedrummer9723]

@@XJDesigns1 I still use it!

[@betterthisway7815]

i’m sure you’ve answered this before, but which of the portastudio models do you think is the most reliable to have?

[@Tetrakan]

Actually the 414 is a pretty good balance. Basically all of them have an Achilles heel....the 244 has the easiest cassette player to maintain but if you get something wrong with the record or playback amps, access to those circuit boards is murder; on a 464 overall electrical access is better but motor regulator chip burns out and one of the gears which raises and lowers the magnetic heads crumbles with age. And so on and so on. At least with the 414 changing belts is easy, access for everything is easy. Not the easiest cassette player to keep running but not the worst either. I'll be doing a Tascam portastudio tier list video soon with some overall recommendations and units to avoid, hopefully that'll give you a clearer idea of the relative merits if the different models, thanks for watching.

[@dopebeatdan]

Hello, my Tascam 414 MKII only outputs to the right side on all tracks. When I use the pan knob and move it past the half way mark to fully left the signal lowers and ultimately is mute all the way counter-clock wise. I've tries the monitor L-R through headphones and well as lineout and I only hear sound coming from the right (speaker). Can you please let me know if you have come by this type of issue and what could be the culprit? Much appreciated, Thank you.

[@Tetrakan]

Probably something up with the master fader. Check for these in order - dry or broken solder joints where the fader joins the circuit board; lint obstructing the brushes; corroded brushes; leaky coupling electrolytic capacitors, dry joints or faulty opamps in the pre or post fader buffers.

[@dopebeatdan]

@@Tetrakan Thank you so much! I will check those things out, much appreciated!

[@Tetrakan]

Have a look at this video, it's a porta 03 but same sort of principles apply. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nIfWYXSCrqqIg7s also check out the electrical troubleshooting and cleaning playlists on my channel home page, a few relevant videos re cleaning g disassembling faders there

[@fender1000100]

I got a 424 MK3 for 230 quid very good conditon. A friend of mine paid 205 for this 414. In very good condition. So I think if they're in good Nick. 200--250 is an acceptable asking price.

[@mackmccord3743]

Where? Eye'm not seeing these prices for good and working units anywhere

[@andresound100]

I have recently acquired the mk1. Unfortunately track 2 does not record. Where would I start looking for diagnostics? Any help would be appreciated, even if someone has posted fixing a similar problem. Internally the unit looks untouched and in good nick.

[@MyVidMix]

Is anyone making new tape mixers?

[@MyVidMix]

If not, then come on Behringer, get on with it. Lol.

[@Tetrakan]

@@MyVidMix The answer is no. As I understand it, the main barrier is the tape heads and motors, the machinery needed to mass produce them has long since been dismantled for scrap metal. So it'd take someone with Behringers clout to get the production process up and running again, fingers crossed!

[@MyVidMix]

@@Tetrakan - Wow, awesome info to know. Thankyou 🙏. That would be so cool if they ever did. Actually, I’ll just leave one comment on one of their videos and we should have something by next week. 🤣

[@travisraab]

@@MyVidMix exactly! Haha

[@dominiccoppola2305]

Great video. Somewhat unrelated but do you happen to know how Cortini used the effects send return in the follow up Reverb video? Trying to do something similar with my 414 but I am still having difficulty understanding the effects feature and chain for this machine.

[@Tetrakan]

Just rewatched it...seems like tracks one and two are printed with mono information, whereas tracks 3 and 4 have effected material (reverb and delay based on track 1 and 2) in a stereo field. Remember on this model and the 414 mk I you can plug either mono or stereo cables into the aux send and receive, well in the video Cortini is only using the topmost of the effects sends and the first two pedals in his effect loop (the shimmer reverb and the overdrive) are mono, so i'm guessing that the aux send cable is mono, and the signal being received by the strymon timeline from the shimmer and overdrive is going into the mono/Left input , but the output of the timeline must be stereo (ping pong delays and so on) because there are definitely two output cables plugged into it...its off screen but It must be a Y cable returning this stereo information to the aux receive. I hope that clarifies but ask on if not, and thanks for watching!

[@ericseaman542]

Will recordings made on the 414 repro correctly on the 424?

[@Tetrakan]

Yes, so long as you set the DBX and tape speed correctly

[@hartware6155]

Seems that you know your way around portastudios. Thx for this! Also I’m about to buy one but i’m not sure which one, it’s either this one or the original 424, because the 424 has a slow tape setting and the others don’t. Which one of the two would you recommend other than that?

[@Tetrakan]

Hartware I’d definitely go for the 424 vs this one, three speeds vs one speed is a big deal, and it has tape outs so it’s easier to integrate with digital. All other features are the same except size/ form factor ( 424 takes up slightly more desk space than a 414) and I do prefer the blue plastic.

[@hartware6155]

@@Tetrakan yes the 414 looks better imo and is slightly more compact, which is a big advantage on stage. but the speed settings is more important for me I think and of course the tape outs. Is there a difference in the eq's? Because when you boost the high band on the 414 it sounds hissy, was wondering if that's also the case on the 424.

[@Tetrakan]

@@hartware6155 yeah they're both hi low shelves at the same cutoff frequency. I can't say off the top of my head whether the exact same opamps are used but I think you'd need magic ears to distinguish between them in a blindfold test

[@hartware6155]

Tetrakan Supermonobloc thx for this! The 424 it is then :)

[@TwoThreadsAhead]

Do you by any chance do maintenance/restore these for people if they pay you/can send them to you ?

[@Tetrakan]

Maybe if you're in the EU, or even better the UK, you can message me on facebook if that applies.

[@حسيناحمدطعمهالطعمه]

Is this machine contain 3.3/4 &7.5 speeds?

[@Tetrakan]

Only 3&3/4ips. That is high speed for cassette, 2x commercial cassette. Commercial cassette is 1&7/8 ips. 7.5ips is a speed I have only seen on reel to reel machines.

[@MBinDenver]

I've found my 414 has buzzing with tracks 1 and 2 - but the buzzing isn't recorded, and there is zero buzz with tracks 3 and 4, it seems to just be through the headphone / monitor. Any thoughts? We did some recording a few weeks ago and everything sounds great through playback. Great channel and videos!

[@Tetrakan]

The simplest explanation would be a ground wire is disconnected, it’s easy to leave the ones which attach to the that cassette player chassis via ring connectors loose when you change belts and so on, is that something which applies to you?

[@AmbientSky]

would type 1 tapes work on this?

[@Tetrakan]

Ambient Sky yes but the amplitude and frequency of the bias oscillators of any portastudio is optimised for type II chrome tapes. So in addition to the fact that type one tapes respond to frequencies differently, saturate differently have a higher noise floor and leave more residue on the heads and tape path, they will perform less well in a portastudio than in your home cassette deck. This is from a technical point of view though, I’ve heard of people preferring type 1 tape in their 4track, and lets face it, it’s not exactly a high fidelity medium to begin with, so if you like how it sounds, go for it.

[@americanmisfit1]

do you know if the effect send can work as an AUX send

[@Tetrakan]

It can.

[@RosssRoyce]

Your review is super detailed, thanks! I just can’t follow it because there is no pauses between sentences, phrases and words so listening about bouncing it slipped into another theme before I knew it 😝

[@Tetrakan]

Use settings to slow my voice to 0.75 speed. Use pause.

[@bigsby19]

Thanks for posting up this excellent video.

[@rbnjr]

Dont know if i can use this machine but one is for sale for 250.00 on facebook marketplace.

[@claycowartisamazing]

The condition of that unit is so minty.

[@abalaster9085]

The Porta 07 is compact and does most of what the 414 does aside from only recording 2 tracks at a time and not having a dedicated return for the second effects send (cue) though you can use the stereo bus in in the same way). But yeah, 414s are sexy as fuck but at the price of a 424, no thanks. Would love to have a 424 mk i for the three tape speeds though I'm probably just going to try and mod my 07 to do the same. I'm probably just going to solder a three way switch with 5k and 10k ohm resistors to the motor, though I'd much prefer to use a pot instead, but I've never seen a three notch pot lol

[@travisraab]

I bought one of these about 15 years ago for a i think $50. My roommate drove me cause i didn't have a car. I still have it maybe i should shoot it out against my 388.

[@only_the_best_stuff5706]

because of Alessandro Cortini I want it really badly, the LOFI sound its amazing. Rumours are there that Tascam will make a new release, I guess you already heard that? I have no experience with this analogue gear. I can pick up for 250€ But not sure if I should do it..

[@Tetrakan]

Tascam had a flutter about a year ago with a social media podt saying wouldn't it be cool to make an updated one. Since then they've posted a couple if things admitting the cost of setting up the manufacturing tech for magnetic heads etc is too expensive. So unless behringer steps in, I don't think it'll happen. The price you mentioned isn't bad, I've seen higher. As I said in the video though, porta 07 is very similar and usually cheaper. Also both of those are 3&3/4ips if you go for one with lower speed of 1&7/8ips it'll sound grainier. The 424 mk 1 does a speed half if that again, do that'd be my number 1 pick for a lofi sound, good luck

[@only_the_best_stuff5706]

@@Tetrakan I think Behringer could really step in yeah, I see its the other version that I can get, the portastudio 414, in a good condition with the original box, except its not the mkII version. Really doubting if I should bull the trigger. I think I would lofff it. but yeah,, Guess I need to send it to you if it its broken then,, haha

[@zapatatheghost90026]

Damn I payed 50$ for mine

[@Tetrakan]

Bargain!

[@fearlesssound8275]

where??

[@alanduncan1980]

I need this explained to me like I'm a five year old. I ain't got no learning. I don't know those fancy words you're saying.

[@ozzatra7447]

thank you, great video

[@ZenMountain]

Thank you!!!

[@EARART]

Hell yes

[@igor_timofeev]

I've got myself 414 mkII in black color for $190

[@Tetrakan]

Good price!

[@oinkooink]

I sold a mint condition one of these I'd owned since the early 2000's new a couple of years ago. Regret it.

[@JGW-im3nf]

Anything with a Tape is overpriced. They tapping into Model 12 prices

[@wheatonna]

So we have Nine Inch Nails to thank for the ridiculous prices of these obsolete machines... I would have predicted that by now they'd be $5 at the thrift store. Nope!

[@myfalsenamedotcome]

These videos are positively only an excuse to show his tattooed hands.

[@Tetrakan]

For more tattooed body parts swing over to his onlyfans account 🍆😍💯

[@myfalsenamedotcome]

@@Tetrakan Ahah! No man, thanks. I'm all set.

[@myfalsenamedotcome]

@@Tetrakan Good videos, by the way ;)

[@truthfinder4973]

im stuck with tascam mf-p01 butt its all g00d i paid 0nly 40 buck f0r it in 2012. butt i g0t it 0ut the 0ther day i f0r g0t h0w fast things was lay d0wn sense then i learn things 0n daw. i 0ne day had a ideal did 4 full tracks, then rec0rd each track 0ne by 0ne in the daw it was n0t hard t0 line back in time i use fl studi0 b00m all in time .0mg it s0unds g00d in the daw s0 last week i 0rder a new cassette deck im a get back t0 the 0ld anal0g ways i miss it.

[@lesstime1678]

you voice only have 1 level ,,, no peak or low ,,,,, only 1 lever ,,,mid range , very strange voice

[@Tetrakan]

you punctuation have too many commas,,, no capital letter or period,,, very strange conjugation