It's difficult to imagine that it was 30 years ago that the recording world was set on it's ear by a product from TEAC, called the 144 Portastudio. The Portastudio introduced musicians to multitrack recording, so that they could record a track, then rewind and record a second track along with it.
From the 144 a progression of ground-breaking products evolved, including 8-track cassette systems with mixer and in-built sync facilities, followed by hard disk and solid-state media based models.
According to trivia in Wikipedia:
- John Frusciante recorded his first two solo albums on a 424 Portastudio.
- Bruce Springsteen recorded his album Nebraska on a Portastudio 144.
- Marilyn Manson recorded The Family Jams on a four-track Portastudio
- Alan Wilder recorded his first solo album 1+2 under nick-name Recoil on a four-track Portastudio
- "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded half of the songs on his debut album with a portastudio in his drummer's garage, before signing up for a proper studio.
Today, TASCAM still sells musician-focused Portastudios. The latest model is the DP-004, a battery-powered four-track recorder. The new model records CD-quality audio to SD Card media, yet retains the knob-laden interface of TASCAM's original cassette Portastudios.
Tascam DP004 $499 RRP
