This channel is an absolute treasure.

I am not a musician. I do not play an instrument. 'Don't make music of any sort. 'Do not know how a video from David Hilowitz Music made it into my suggested videos feed one day a few weeks back. Do not know what led me to click the video. But I do know what led me to watch the video all the way through and what's kept me coming back to every video since: David, you're a great story teller and, even if I'm not a musician, I can certainly recognize the creativity and imagination that goes into your work. Thanks for making these videos.

for the record, you don’t really need new tapes, used tapes are a lot cheaper and erasers aren’t expensive. almost always it’ll be exactly the same as new, and if on the off chance it isn’t, that might be cool in itself anyway

This couldn't have come at a better time!!! I can't believe it. A great friend of mine just recently gave me the exact tape recorder for free too and I'm a little lost so this was a big help! Thank you

As always, blown away by your creativity and abilities for creating soundscapes and sound designs. Every sample, every video, every story, is as fascinating, intriguing, and captivating as the last.

I’m trying to control my envy, someone gave you something a lot a people dream of getting. But I couldn’t think of a more deserving person, you already gave us so much with this channel. Thank you.

The dude with the sunglasses in the chair on the cassette getting blown away by the sound is Peter Murphy, the lead singer of Bauhaus! ❤

David, I just want to say how comforting and soothing your content is. For real, it's like therapy. Not to mention just plain exciting sometimes. Thank you.

This was my very first multitrack recorder! I remember buying the whole recording rig including an Alesis SR16 drum machine.. good memories

To be serious, I love the hiss that a tape produces. It's really warm and welcoming. I havw a cassette player and love to listen to it when I'm low

I got a tascam 4 track in 1997. Lots of great times with friends and recorded probably 25-30 songs that I eventually transferred to digital and still have copies of today. What an amazing experience it was to write and record, alone and with friends.

So funny story. I've been working for the last 4 weeks on completing the restoration of my 1981 DeLorean. While I've been covered in dust and dirt and old car parts, I've gone through every video you have in your series. I finally just got the last piece re-installed while listening to this one. It feels fitting to be restoring something from the past while you bring the past to the present. Keep up the amazing work. Your videos kept me sane while everything was broken apart!

I know 2 guys with this exact tascam 4-track. both got it either for free or dirt cheap. both work perfectly fine. so well indeed that i already borrowed them twice in order to produce a small batch of albums on tape for local artists. 2 of them in parallel, recording A+B sides at the same time, resulting in basically 4x realtime duplication speed. quality product EDIT: i am actually heading to meet one of those guys to record some dusty dub reagge drums with this thin onto tape right now.

I started with 4 tracks in the 80s. They were and still are (as you've demonstrated here) liberating.

Many, many bands recorded their first demo on a Tascam 4 tracks. Back then it was a technical miracle.

I made my first mini-album on a lower grade Tascam 4 track recorder about 23yrs back. There was already some recorded speech on one of the tapes I used but it came through in reverse whilst I was recording. It sounded cool so I left it in.

This was the first thing I used for song writing when I was in Highschool. 1998! Cool to see it featured somewhere. ❤

this is so beautiful and i have always been a sucker for Tascam and Vostex 4trackers...it is so more in connection with working with true audio. So its great to watch you enjoying playing around with it. And what an amazing blessing to have received this gift. Mine Vostex a 4tracker unfortunatly died some time ago so i up finding an new 4track tape recorder....got many tapes left to enjoy recording with. Have a wonderful day ahead and enjoy your weekend. Kind healthy regards from out of Finland, Bastiaan Anthonie Baaij PS: great videos you create!

when you get something for cheap you feel really excited but when its for free you feel really happy

All I can say is "WOW". its sounds beautiful!!!!

This brings back memories! My recollection of the 4-channel version of this machine from the 80's was the individual tracks were stacked like a sandwich on one side of cassette.

6:08 has such an incredible 80's sci-fi vibe. This is incredibly cool stuff

I love this so much!! How much love, care, and excitement that you put into sampling. Finding old gear and giving them a new purpose is the best feeling. Thank you for posting this. cheers!

I've only watched two or three of your videos so far but I've been loving your whole approach; the way you talk about how you acquire stuff, your editing, and your taste in music too.

Your work is a treasure. Finding at the interface of technology, creativity, search. Fell in love with this video and sample library.

Dude you are awesome. These videos are very comfy and really sparks a interest for me to get some tape equipment.

Well, David, that is beautiful. Bravo. Always enjoy your videos, especially the narrative and background you walk us through. This sample pack is a highlight for sure. 👍🏻

I so highly value and appreciate your creativity!

Excellent. I still have my 424. I got it as a replacement for the Tascam porta one after the buttons broke. It was an excellent entry level machine. I still have un-opened tapes. Oh how times have changed.

Sounds amazing David. Thanks for sharing this.

New patron here. This sample library worked really well for me and the whole experience of using your website and plugin has been so much more delightful than I could’ve imagined especially from a free app Beautiful sounds so far. Thank you.

You pulled a 10cc "I'm not in Love" with your mixer. It sounds incredible.

Those Tascam 4-Tracks were very high quality, some of the greatest demos ever recorded were done on them and some of them were even kept in the final mix of the studio versions.

I have the same one! It's definitely a fun thing to mess around with and can stimulate creativity through the limitations you have to work around.

I always finish these videos and immediately start tinkering with my music gear. You have such a unique and smart way of going about making music, so inspiring!

Love the ambient music you got out of this!

I think it's that idea of using these old recorders as instruments to make sound is why they've had a revolution. Before you wanted to get as clean a recording as possible but now that it's super easy to get that we are able to embrace the randomness of the analog stuff.

You are just an evil genius. The samples you made here is WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW. Best thing about this one is it's IMPERFECTION. They are NOT identical, they are not 100% in tune, there is something OFF and this is BEAUTIFUL

Everything is very beautiful, the studio holder, the person who gave it as a gift, you who rescued it and the sounds you have created on that beautiful machine, which allowed many (myself included) to introduce ourselves to the world of audio recording and mixing and also in the music. With the same attitude you have in the video, pure experimentation. The door to that world was the Tascam 144 (4 tracks), where I was able to record a band of friends playing techno pop, darkwave, without having much idea how to do it, but with a lot of enthusiasm and intuition. Then the Tascam 424 and finally the Tascam 488 which for us was god level, with 8 tracks. I really liked your video. 😃👏👏❣ P.S. Apologies if there are errors in the writing, I wrote in Spanish using the google translator.

I have been binging your channel for a week it’s really good

Sounds fantastic, David! Thanks for sharing them!

Awesome find, this reminds me of when I was a teenager browsing Gearspace forums (formerly Gear*****) and came across a thread where people would create collaborations on tape on track at a time. Someone would start with a basic idea and then send the tape off to another person to record the next track, whatever they felt like throwing on there, then repeat the process until the tape was at its limit. I couldn't afford a 4 track (even then the prices were out of control) but it was fun watching these ideas grow. It would be cool to see KZfaq bring this lofi game of telephone back

I got some “new” cassettes at a St. Vincent thrift store just last week. I pick ‘‘em up whenever I see them. Usually in packs of four or so and usually for just a couple of bucks. The ones I got last week are Maxell UD II CD 110. Packaging says they are great for CD recording with High Bias. I love how sharp/cool the packaging looks. It’s very aesthetic. The tapes are black but translucent with gold an white text.

NICE!!! The Portastudio is a gem. The mic pres actually sound pretty good!

Sounds fantastic. Well done.

I used to have the same machine, and it never felt sufficiently lo-fi to me to actually record with, and it was so much easier to record direct to Ableton for me. This sample library was a legitimately brilliant usage for the machine.

I really admire your work, thanks for sharing everything you do :)

Absolutely amazing!

Really musical, really smart. Thank you, David

I thoroughly enjoyed this man!

I love your videos and your voice man!

David, I'm in line with what everyone is saying. You're an absolute legend for giving so much to this community with everything that you do. And these videos always has me watching them with a big fat smile on my face. Thank you so much for making my day just that little better!

Dang David this might be the best violin pack I’ve ever heard

You have no idea just how much I have learned from your genius. Many thanks my friend.

Terrific! I love getting creative with my cassettes. Nostalgic and warm… look forward to hearing more.

such a pleasure listening to this soothing music

Thank you very much for creating such wonderful and useful musical instruments. I can’t wait to get this collection.😊

I totaly love your videos David. :)

Your quickly becoming a favorite channel. Also magnifying a definite misuse of available tools in my studio. I’m certain to become a patron soon, as you’ve demonstrated GREAT value from inspiration. Keep up the awesome work. ✊🏾👍🏾✌🏾

I really enjoy your channel, very well curated! I also love how clean and clinical your video style is, it’s beautiful. Lastly I have a full studio and the most fun I have is cleaning and manicuring old gear, with electronics, they look so good when they are super clean.

Wow. Your sample pack sounds incredible!

This really is a nice machine. My wife picked up this exact same unit while thrift shopping for $40. It didn't come with a power supply, but after doing some googling for the pinout I was able to build my own with a $10 transformer. I absolutely love how responsive and smooth the tape transport is. I love that it runs at 3.75 IPS, drastically reducing the chances of audible dropouts, and with DBX enabled there's basically NO tape hiss. After creating a few quadraphonic surround demo tapes and having some fun with it, I eventually decided to sell it on eBay. I got about $450. Kinda wish I still had it, but I'm sure it went to someone who will use it the way it was intended, rather than just a fancy reproducer.

I got one in the '90s and recorded tons of music. It's the best buy I ever made. The restriction of 4 tracks realy pushed my creativity!

what haunting and beautiful sounds you got out of this thing, wow..

Thank for sharing this experience, and thank you for unpacking a tape for us! If I can't do it, it's good to see someone else do it.

Amazing as usual!!

Wonderful work!

As someone who is born in the year 2000 I find older technology more fascinating than newer ones and watching these videos shows what I missed when I wasn't born yet and it's amazing to see how technology worked back then as well.

That is beautiful man!!! Amazing job!

Oh man that half speed one is amazing! Great work as usual!

Every video is a nice break from life, and a great sound every time!

This channel is so amazing.

Ever since I discovered artists like Lorn, Alessandro Cortini, and the idea of Disintegration loops. . .I've always wanted a 4-track cassette recorder. Something about the instability, and lack of perfection is comforting.

Your videos are so good i love watching them

Beautiful David!

brilliant bro.. Keep producing all the good stuff!!

What a blast from the past! I was using a Tascam Porta studio forever until I could finally save up enough to get one of these. I only recently came across your channel, but man, your videos are so well done.

Brilliant videos love from Poland !

I absolutely adored this video. It is now one of my favorites from your channel. You have the Portastudio 424 MKIII. I have the Mark II and I’ll forever be thankful for it. The songs I wrote and the demos I was able to record on it (learning all the while how to record on a 4-track) gave me the edge I needed to get signed as a songwriter with Universal Music Publishing in 2000. Thank you for creating this channel. Like somebody else said, it is a treasure.

Great story and library. The fidelity of that maxwell cassette is incredible... equal or superior to digital.

Records really nicely. Great sound.

for shure a good thing is that one does not gets distracted by waveshapes in display and can concentrate of how it sounds

i just love watching your videos.

Man that sounds beautiful!

I'd love to see/hear how you would record a whole song on this device (multiple instruments and multiple mics at once). I love seeing unique ways of recording and working within constraints of technology/what you have on hand. Killer video!

A singer songwriter I use to love called flatsound used these nicer Tascam tape decks to record his music, the quality is impeccable.

These are amazing tape recorders

can't believe I just found this video and channel! Excellent work, and I agree the portastudio is often more useful as a sound generator in today's context. ✌🤘

I used to own this model 4 track! I miss it so much, so many great memories.

Brilliant! You've just made me smile cos I have one of these I bought new looking but second hand in the mid 90s. It cost me a lot of money as a teenager back then but was worth it as it worked very well for gigs I was doing as well as just experimenting. It's amazing how in so many ways although it's analogue it's still viable even now. You've got a lovely little desk there!

Beautiful!

this is beautiful, will buy

Sounds amazing! Really creative. It reminds me of film music.

Wonderful. I also really like that Tape Violins photo with the violin inside the cassette.

very interesting and amazing tool!

Tascman cassette multi track recorders were so revolutionary and iconic for their time. I have the 4 track version of this and it’s the machine I recorded my first ever songs and creations on. I am one of those people hoarding cassettes. This machine is awesome and a young me dreamed CONSTANTLY, literally daily of having this exact 8-track machine because I was limited by 4 tracks. I would often record all 4 tracks then mix to a “pseudo master” cassette and then re-record that track back to the 4 track as a single track in order to get 3 more tracks. I would never imagine this thing would get used as shown in this video-it’s such a modern take and interpretation of vintage equipment. So interesting!

There's just something about organic, anolog mechanics & engineering, hand's on understandable functionality, that makes everything sound and feel more enjoyable to produce, play, and listen to.

That was a whole experience, wow :)

Another great video!

I used to have this Tascam before I upgraded a bit to the Yamaha MD-8 minidisc recorder studio. I gave it to a girl from Boston who had a punk rock band. Thanks for the memories... 😊