Eye watering price reminders

[Aural Reject]

Came across this article from 1990 when I was looking for something else that reminded me of just how pricey noise removal used to be....£90k a system anyone?

"Includes hard discs that can store up to two hours of material"

Praise be for RX and its ilk!

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg ... ecordings/

[Hugh Robjohns]

Yes, it's very easy to forget how far we've come in a relatively short space of time -- 30 years in that case. In the early 90s CEDAR were really pioneering at the cutting edge of the technology, and digital audio storage was still on video tape rather than computers -- indeed, computer hard-drives were physically huge. massively expensive and with tiny capacities back then! PW is very fond of telling the tale of how he bought a 700MB hard drive to use with his SoundTools system for mastering CDs in the late early 90s, and it cost more than a very decent car!

H

[Dave B]

Sorry - I thought that this was about Russ Andrews and its new range of £2500 iec power leads ....

[James Perrett]

I remember that Barry Fox seemed to have some kind of animosity towards Cedar - as can be seen from the tone of this article and others that I've read from him. Fortunately Cedar survived and became a success story although Cedar prices are still somewhat eye watering for most of us.

[Aural Reject]

Sorry - I thought that this was about Russ Andrews and its new range of £2500 iec power leads ....

Trifling in comparison, Dave

[MOF]

I worked my first University ten week summer break to buy a Teac A3440 four track tape recorder, a 2A mixer and Shure Sm58 mic’ for £1000 in 1978, which is £5689 in today’s money.
I remember buying 8MB of RAM for an S1000 sampler, second hand, for £80. Yes I did mean megabytes.
In fact I dread to think how much I’ve spent over the years on equipment but I’ve enjoyed using the gear.
I read an interesting article about Virgin Manor Studios in Oxfordshire, the mansion was cheaper than the technology they put into it, now if they still had that facility it would be the other way round.

[ConcertinaChap]

Sorry - I thought that this was about Russ Andrews and its new range of £2500 iec power leads ....

Oh, you mean their new budget range? Good to see them pricing something for the people.

CC

[Arpangel]

The Quantel Paint Box, anyone remember that? Came out in 1981, a special effects box for TV graphics that started at £120,000

[DGL.]

and, of course, things like the Fairlite and Synclavier, OMD's Fairlite II costing £30,000 more than the value of their parents house!

[Wonks]

Sorry - I thought that this was about Russ Andrews and its new range of £2500 iec power leads ....

Oh, you mean their new budget range? Good to see them pricing something for the people.

CC

I was just about to write that!

[John Willett]

I do remember when blank CD-Rs were £16 EACH

And my DAT recorders were £2,000 each.

[Sam Spoons]

My wife and I bought our first house in 1976 for £5000, at the time a Tascam 48 had a retail price of £6000.

[Zukan]

PW is very fond of telling the tale of how he bought a 700MB hard drive to use with his SoundTools system for mastering CDs in the late early 90s, and it cost more than a very decent car!

H

[MOF]

The Quantel Paint Box, anyone remember that? Came out in 1981, a special effects box for TV graphics that started at £120,000

By 1985@ Central TV bought something similar for £60k, it didn’t do anything fancy it just replaced using a camera, vision mixer and video recorder to record a caption done by the graphics department, so when you look at it that way it was good value.
I remember that camcorders for ENG were always £60k for the body, lenses were extra, at each change of technology, a bit like computers today.

[Logarhythm]

Zuke, that image is really unsettling - I can't get past the two left feet

[forumuser840717]

My wife and I bought our first house in 1976 for £5000, at the time a Tascam 48 had a retail price of £6000.

Are you sure that was a 48?

I bought one in about 1988 having wanted one since they came out in around 1984 as I couldn't run to a 58. The 48 was about £3k new (in 1984) but mine was used and pretty high mileage though still in good nick, and cost £1200 for which I'd sold a Revox B77HS. I probably should've kept the B77 as it'd be worth more now than the 48. However I did trade it up (at least I thought at the time that it was a trade up!) to a Brennel Mini 8 1" machine which sounded pretty good but was possibly more use as a training device for tape machine maintenance and soldering!

[Hugh Robjohns]

... a Brennel Mini 8 1" machine which sounded pretty good but was possibly more use as a training device for tape machine maintenance and soldering!

[Music Wolf]

http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/tascam-48/4100

[James Perrett]

... a Brennel Mini 8 1" machine which sounded pretty good but was possibly more use as a training device for tape machine maintenance and soldering!

All those tantalum capacitors that had a habit of going short circuit. I used to have to fix one regularly for someone although I never actually used it for recording.

[Sam Spoons]

I got the price from 'The Home Studio Handbook" which, I think, was a collection of reviews from Home & Studio Recording mag. But I am relying on my memory so anything could be true..... I think I know where the book is so I'll post a pic if I can find it.

[Mike Stranks]

... and then there was the weight of these behemoths...

My Ferrographs used to tip the scales at 26kg...

(I could never afford Revoxes... )

[James Perrett]

I got the price from 'The Home Studio Handbook" which, I think, was a collection of reviews from Home & Studio Recording mag.

In which case you are probably out by a decade for the 48 as Home & Studio Recording started in the 80's and the 48 was reviewed in 1984. You can read the review at

http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/tascam-48/4100

I had a quick look at the August 1976 issue of Studio Sound and prices mentioned ranged from under £2000 for the Itam 8 track up to nearly £5000 for an Otari 8 track. Actually that quick look took rather longer than expected because that particular issue also includes some really interesting articles on Abbey Road studios which I hadn't seen before. I found it at

https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Ar ... 976-08.pdf

[Hugh Robjohns]

Actually that quick look took rather longer than expected because that particular issue also includes some really interesting articles on Abbey Road studios which I hadn't seen before.

I have that problem a lot too! I have a paper mag archive of Studio Sounds (and Tape Recorder before it) from 1970, extending right through into the current Resolution era. Often, if I go to look something up I end up spending an hour or more reading some long-forgotten but utterly fascinating articles!

The RadioHistory archive is very useful -- and great for searches -- but I find the scan quality very poor and tiring to read.

H

[Arpangel]

Does anyone remember Beat Instrumental magazine?

[Stratman57]

Yes I remember beat instrumental magazine, although not as a reader when it first came out. A guy across the road from my parents house brought a whole pile over to see if my dad was interested in them.

The one article that sticks in my mind was, if I remember right, a sort of diary written by Jeff Beck when he was on tour with the Yardbirds, where he said he was on a train going to the next gig and he borrowed a woman's nail varnish to fix a scratch on his guitar because it was an exact match for the colour.

Regards, Simon.