Topic: pcm-m1 & 90m DATs?

[cgrooves]

I never use anything but 60m DAT's in my m1 because of the head wear issues, however, do any of you ever use 90m when absolutely necessary?  I'm probably going to use one for the truckers, since I may miss some of the music doing a tape change if I use a 60m.  (One really long set with an encore)  I'm kind of anal about details, and missing a little of the show would pretty much ruin the whole tape for me.  I used a 60m for them at Bele Chere (knowing how festival sets usually go) and barely caught the whole show. 

So how many of you m1 users will occassionally throw in a 90m when necessary?  I guess it will 'clean' the heads a little, with the added wear on them 

[dmonterisi]

i have run the m1 with 90m tapes numerous times without problems.  you should be fine.  you may want to watch the clock and throw in a 60 for the encore...i missed the last song of a show of theirs last year trying to squeak by on just a 90m...

[cgrooves]

Thanks for the reply.  Yeah, you definitely get your money's worth at 'The Rock Show' 

[leegeddy]

I never use anything but 60m DAT's in my m1 because of the head wear issues, however, do any of you ever use 90m when absolutely necessary?  I'm probably going to use one for the truckers, since I may miss some of the music doing a tape change if I use a 60m.  (One really long set with an encore)  I'm kind of anal about details, and missing a little of the show would pretty much ruin the whole tape for me.  I used a 60m for them at Bele Chere (knowing how festival sets usually go) and barely caught the whole show. 

So how many of you m1 users will occassionally throw in a 90m when necessary?  I guess it will 'clean' the heads a little, with the added wear on them 

i run 90m dds all the time. haven't had a single issue with either sony or memorex brand tapes.

marc

[nickgregory]

agreed, I rarely ran anything but 90M in my D100 with no problems

[cgrooves]

Good deal.  Makes me feel easier about using them when needed, coming from you guy's experience. 

Ended up taping the truckers in T-town lastnight, and it came in around 2.5 hours.  About an hour into the show, I checked my levels to find that there weren't any    Pushed / wiggled the mini stereo jack and they came back up.  Did the transfer today and discovered that about 20 minutes of the show was missed due to this.  Really sux, because I like my shit to be wired tight, and it basically means that I will not be able to circulate my source.  Don't know if someone stepped on / kicked my gear bag when I wasn't looking or what, but I'm almost to the point of taping all of my connections together prior to showtime to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

Thanks again.

[stirinthesauce]

Hate to hear you had a 20 min cut.  That sucks.  Had a brief cutout during the encore but hadn't had a chance for the playback to see how long.  The little I listened to though sounds nice, a lot better than my ears there.  Thanks for the thread, been sitting on some 90m and been leary about using them.  Guess it's time to use 'em.

[cgrooves]

Glad you got in touch.  PM me sometime, and we'll trade sources on the truckers & pgroove shows we were at.  At least I only lost 20 minutes, instead of only recording 20 minutes 

If I remember correctly, you run a D8.  The only problems I've ever heard of were from running the 90m DATs in the m1, due to the smaller heads.  You should definitely not worry about using them with your recorder.

See ya around.

[emalvido]

Hello
I usually use HP90m tapes, no problems at all,
Ed

[nic]

the D7/8 had potential problems with 90m dats, but not the D100/M1.

the problems were with the transport motors burning out during rr/ff or packing/unpacking.
the D100/M1 has better motors that throttle up/down instead of going full speed like the D7/8 did.

[tonyvt]

I would stay away from the 90 meter tapes. I have found them to be more prone to shedding, jamming, stretching, drop outs, diginoise and other various problems.

[cgrooves]

My initial post was in reference to Oade's claim that the 90m DATs wear the smaller / softer heads in the m1.  There is even a picture on his site of head wear that claims to be from just a couple of months of using the 90m's. Apparently, many people think that this claim is bogus. My main concern was of premature head wear only. With the price of 60m and 90m being roughly identical, I'll probably just order only 90m's the next time around and stop using the 60m's altogether.
Thanks for the replies / thoughts.

[OOK]

Here is just a tip from an insider.........I can't tell ya who......there is no difference between 60m and 90m dds tapes except for a microscopic thickness.  the whole idea behind the hype was to sell more tape! and it worked for many years.  There was even hype about the difference between DDS tape and Dats made for music.  The claim was the formulations were different, this is false also.  Actually DDS tapes are better because they are made in sterile conditions because of them being used mostly for DATA tape backup drives( the concern here was dust), ones for music are not.  I have always used sony 90m DDS tapes and have never had a problem as a result of the tape.  Normal wear and tear yes but it had nothing to do with the tape.  Nothing against the Oades, I have the utmost respect for them, but people will believe what they want, I just have trust in what I was told.

[leegeddy]

Here is just a tip from an insider.........I can't tell ya who......there is no difference between 60m and 90m dds tapes except for a microscopic thickness.  the whole idea behind the hype was to sell more tape! and it worked for many years.  There was even hype about the difference between DDS tape and Dats made for music.  The claim was the formulations were different, this is false also.  Actually DDS tapes are better because they are made in sterile conditions because of them being used mostly for DATA tape backup drives( the concern here was dust), ones for music are not.  I have always used sony 90m DDS tapes and have never had a problem as a result of the tape.  Normal wear and tear yes but it had nothing to do with the tape.  Nothing against the Oades, I have the utmost respect for them, but people will believe what they want, I just have trust in what I was told.

agree!

I would stay away from the 90 meter tapes. I have found them to be more prone to shedding, jamming, stretching, drop outs, diginoise and other various problems.

disagree!

i run 90m dds tapes. 99% of DAT tapers i personally know run 90m dds tapes. my dog runs 90m dds tapes. i've had zero issues with 90m dds tapes in all my decks.

marc

[mahntoh]

Been using 90 meter Sony DGP DDS and Maxells for over 6 years on the M1 and never had any problems. Just make sure you service your deck at regular intervals to achieve maximum performance.