Quadraphonic open reel tape
Quadraphonic open reel tape or Q4 was the first consumer format for
History
This was a consumer, or home format based on the much larger and more expensive professional
Prices of consumer four-track machines were rather high but still affordable. Sound quality was judged to be excellent by home users at the time. Recordings had a relatively high
Like other quadraphonic formats it was unsuccessful and not widely adopted. Recording companies mostly stopped selling pre-recorded Q4 tapes by the late 1970s.
Use as home multitrack recorders
As the popularity of four-channel quadraphonic pre-recorded tapes declined, electronics manufactures continued to manufacture the recorders for a new market. In 1972 TEAC introduced the first home four-track recorders with Simul-Sync that were capable of overdubbing. Musicians used them as the basis of home recording studios and created sophisticated home demo recordings for the first time. Some of these recordings were also released commercially to the public. TEAC, and its TASCAM division, as well as other manufacturers sold many of these machines to musicians well into the 1990s.
Operation
All four tracks are used in one direction on ¼-inch tape, playing at a speed of 7½ IPS (twice the 3¾ IPS speed of many other consumer reel-to-reel tapes).
The four fully discrete tracks had full-bandwidth (unlike
Compatibility
Q4 tapes or home four-channel reel-to-reel recordings are not compatible with comparable stereo machines. When these recordings are played on stereo machines only two of the four channels can be heard at a time.
References
- ^ "Quadraphonic open reel tape (Q4) (1969 – mid 1970s)". Museum of Obsolete Media. 2013-08-11. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- JSTOR 832425
- ^ "The Official 'Factory-Made' Reel to Reel Tape Thread". Theartofsound.net. Retrieved 2016-05-16.
- ^ "Sony TC-788-4 on". Thevintageknob.org. Retrieved 2016-05-16.