Tascam 202MKVII

The Tascam 202MKVII is an easy-to-handle, good-sounding dual-well cassette deck for professional use in karaoke bars and sports centres, yet also for town halls, civic and community centres, schools or libraries. It can also serve as a reliable audio storage or backup solution for authorities like police departments or civil defence thanks to the proven long-term stability of tape and the additional option of USB output for digital backups on a computer. The unit offers excellent sonic performance due to its wide frequency range.

Both decks in the 202MKVII can record, so you can actually make two masters of the same source at the same time. RTZ function and a repeat playback feature are provided, and you can increase or lower the pitch and tempo while playing back for Karaoke or sports applications. Microphone input on the front panel makes automatic recording (solo or mixed with a line-level source or a cassette) convenient. There is also a pre-listening function that helps you prepare the next song on one deck while the other deck is playing. And of course, you can use the two decks for cassette dubbing at normal speed.

If you still value audio cassettes as a reliable and inexpensive recording medium, the Tascam 202MKVII is a modern, practice-oriented solution at a truly affordable price.

When using the 202MKVII with two cassettes and its “Special” playback mode, you can listen to a tape with headphones while the other tape is playing back via the line outputs. This allows you, for example, to cue to the next track without interrupting the current playback. In “Normal” playback mode, both decks’ playback signals are output from the line outputs and the headphones output in parallel as usual.

Moreover, both decks have a “Return to zero” button which allows you to quickly locate to the counters’ zero positions. Not only can you mark the beginning of a cassette – you can also mark the beginning of a song or any other important point on the cassette, for example.

The 202MKVII offers a switchable noise reduction that can be used to reduce hiss during cassette playback. It is most effective when used with cassettes recorded with Dolby B noise reduction.

Note: The noise reduction function on the 202MKVII can only be used for playback.

A microphone input with level control on the front panel allows you to quickly connect a dynamic microphone for announcements or Karaoke. Since a mixing function is included with the unit, it is also possible to mix the microphone signal with cassette playback or an input signal and record it to one of both decks. You can even change the playback pitch and tempo of Deck 1 by ±12 % which is useful when using the cassette deck for Karaoke or in a sports centre, for example.

Audio from an externally connected device can be recorded simultaneously to two cassettes in Deck 1 and Deck 2. This allows you to create a master tape and distribution or backup copy simultaneously during a recording session. And if you need a copy of an already existing cassette, the dubbing function is right at your fingertips.

Unlike most other cassette decks, the modern 202MKVII is equipped with a USB output that allows you to create digital archives of tape material using recording software on a Windows or Mac computer. Audio can be captured at sampling rates from 8 kHz to 48 kHz and 8/16-bit resolution.