There’s good technological reasons for that. The things that make for high fidelity with tape are high speed, wide tracks, fresh tape, and head alignment. 30 ips is better than 7.5ips is better than 3.75 ips. 8 track tape moves at something like cassette tape speed of around 1 ips. The wider the track the more room for signal. Half track tape is better than quarter track, is better than 8 track.
Then there is tape wear. The signal is carried in the magnetic layer of the tape. All tape wears as its played. RTR and cassette tape wears only when moving through the capstan and pinch roller and across the tape heads. 8 track tape has this same wear. But 8 track also is made to be an endless loop. How do you put an endless loop of tape in a box? With 8-track they put the tape on a reel very loosely so it goes in on the outside and comes out the inside. Yeah, can you believe? So the tape is constantly sliding past itself the whole time. Incredible. What moron thought this one up?
Oh and then as if this wasn’t bad enough they splice a bit of aluminum on to trigger the deck to move the heads from track to track. That wonderful track selector button that lets you change tracks is really shifting the heads back and forth. One of the many critical elements in playback, precise head alignment. Hard enough with fixed decks. Clicking back and forth? Recipe for disaster.
No wonder 8 tracks are the worst sounding most jam prone of all tape formats.
Then there is tape wear. The signal is carried in the magnetic layer of the tape. All tape wears as its played. RTR and cassette tape wears only when moving through the capstan and pinch roller and across the tape heads. 8 track tape has this same wear. But 8 track also is made to be an endless loop. How do you put an endless loop of tape in a box? With 8-track they put the tape on a reel very loosely so it goes in on the outside and comes out the inside. Yeah, can you believe? So the tape is constantly sliding past itself the whole time. Incredible. What moron thought this one up?
Oh and then as if this wasn’t bad enough they splice a bit of aluminum on to trigger the deck to move the heads from track to track. That wonderful track selector button that lets you change tracks is really shifting the heads back and forth. One of the many critical elements in playback, precise head alignment. Hard enough with fixed decks. Clicking back and forth? Recipe for disaster.
No wonder 8 tracks are the worst sounding most jam prone of all tape formats.