![]() The four tracks of the 244 were also labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4, replacing the idyosyncratic A, B, C and D of the 144. Its successor, the Tascam 244, improved over the orginal in having dbx noise reduction (helping offset the inherent hiss of tape), a two-band, four-knob sweepable EQ, two headphone sockets (one for the engineer, one for the talent), and an electronic tape counter. ![]() Bruce Springsteen recorded his entire 1982 folk-noir album ‘Nebraska’ at home, using just two cheap Shure SM57 microphones and his newly acquired TEAC 144. In the meantime, musicians seized upon the hitherto unparalleled creative freedom offered by this new ‘PortaStudio’. That phrase, a registered trademark of the TEAC Corporation, would first be used on the Tascam 244 Portastudio, released three years later. The TEAC 144 wasn’t actually called a ‘Portastudio’. With a list price of $899, the TEAC 144 instantly became a big seller and the Portastudio was born – although not quite yet. There were also selection buttons for the four-bus mixer, a bus monitor with cue and record buttons, and four separate tape cue output knobs for monitoring work while new material was being added, as well as a variable pitch control knob and, of course, the ability to flip a tape over and record in reverse. ![]() The 144 divided the tape into four distinct bands, using the full width of the tape, played in one direction, to record the material.Įach channel of the 144 had a dedicated fader, VU meter, rotary pan, bass, treble, aux send and trim controls, and mic/line and tape input buttons. TEAC was the only company in the world capable of making a record/play head small enough to accommodate four separate tracks on a cassette’s 1/4 -inch tape. It was the world’s first four-track recorder based on a standard compact audio cassette tape. This changed in September 1979, when – at the annual meeting of the Audio Engineering Society in New York – Japanese electronics firm Tokyo Electronic Acoustic Company (TEAC) unveiled the TEAC 144 ‘Tascam Series’ four-track recording and mixing unit. Up to the late 1970s, if you were an unsigned musician, your options were technically limited and/or prohibitively expensive. ![]() ![]() Unfortunately, creative types were limited by the technology available to them. Ever since the first musicians beat out a rhythm on a hollow log, artists have dreamed of recording their ideas for posterity. ![]()
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