Tape Trail

Posted by Inmate51 (A) on January 23, 2018 at 09:33:36

In Reply to: RE: I'd LOVE to have one posted by Skylab on January 22, 2018 at 18:51:28

"your condescending scoff wasn't really called for,"

Not condescending, nor a scoff. Just a taken-aback response, with a healthy dose of reality.

"the reason I'd love to have one is I think reel to reel decks are incredibly cool machines."

I heartily agree that they're really cool. And, their complexity and functionality is part of that. Plus, they record and play back sound. What more could a person want?

But I'm surprised that a person would "love to have one" when it's not even a real product "yet". I've read several of the site pages, and apparently, people have only seen "it", but no one has heard it, and, there aren't even any specs. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I get it that companies regularly announce new products before they're actually available for sale (the Apple iPhone 10 comes to mind), but a large manufacturer can get away with that aspect of trying to "leap-frog" the competition or whet the appetite of the market. A tiny manufacturer, which hasn't ever even sold ANY tape recorder, is just blowing smoke until they have a fully functional and production-ready product.

At some point down the road, I "might" love to have one, but I'd reserve that comment until it's actually available and the mechanical and audio performance are known, and guaranteed with a warranty. There was a "review" where the writer was drooling all over the LOOKS and the "fit and finish" - but not a word about tape transport operation or smoothness, and not a word about audio specs or quality.

Remember the buzz over the "upcoming" Joy/Revox tape deck? Here's a sample from May of 2016:

https://www.gearnews.com/revox-new-r2r-tape-machine-set-arrive-next-year/

Where is it? This might be a clue, from July of 2017:

http://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=58373&highlight=joy+revox

In the computer software field, there is a term for exciting new "products" which don't yet exist: Vaporware.

:)

Edits: 01/23/18