David Got His Four Track for Free

David Hilowitz brought the recorder home, cleaned the tape head, and quickly discovered that the machine provided precisely the sound he had been looking for. The next day, David recorded a series of samples that became the core of the Tape Violin [Decent Sampler] library.

These can be found in the series of “Tape Violin” patches. Once those basic, long notes patches had been recorded and re-recorded several times, David continued the experiment by passing the results through a series of outboard hardware effects (Habit, Microcosm, Generation Loss), the results can be found in the 13 experiment patches–each of which consists of two unique sample sets which can be adjusted to taste.

The PORTASTUDIO 424 MKIII offers full audio production capabilities in a single box. A full-function mixer and an 4-channel, multitrack cassette recorder are the two primary divisions of this product. Input devices (microphones, instruments), output devices (headphones), a two-track recorder, and effect processors are all required to finish the recording system.

The Three Steps to Multitrack

Microphones or instruments are frequently connected to the mixer inputs in TRACKING and Overdubbing. There must be a two-way flow through the console in OVERDUBBING since the MONITOR section and TAPE CUE of the mixer must be used to listen to prior recordings while recording new ones. The signal from the multitrack is transferred to an external two-track recorder in MIXDOWN.

The big sample library David made for this can be found on David’s decent|SAMPLES site: Tape Violin [Decent Sampler]

Patches included

• Tape Violin 01 – Solo Violin (mod wheel): The main long notes patch. Control the dynamics using the modulation wheel (MIDI CC#1)
• Tape Violin 02 – Solo Violin (velocity): The main long notes patch. Control the dynamics using the MIDI velocity.
• Tape Violin 03 – Solo Violin (legato simulated): A “simulated legato” version of the main long notes patch.
• Tape Violin 04 – Trio: An ensemble patch consisting of three different violin takes played at the same time
• Tape Violin 05 – Ensemble: An ensemble patch consisting of nine violins at once
• 13 “experimental” patches contain two unique, matched sample sets. A morph knob allows the user to fade seamlessly between the two sample sets. These were created by taking the output of the four-track and putting it through several different outboard effects.