Get the sounds of a Tascam 388 tape machine with this free sample pack

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As a music producer, you can never have too many samples at your disposal. And thanks to a new collaboration between Macks Faulkron’s Rex Studio, BandLab and MusicTech, we’re pleased to bring you a new professionally recorded sample pack totally free.

Available via BandLab Sounds, the Rex Studio Tascam 388 pack spans 42 loops – 26 drum loops, four bass, eight guitar and four other sounds including flutes and more – and 59 one shots, all recorded through the rare eight-track Tascam 388 analogue recording console and tape machine at Rex Studio in Islington, London.

Since the opening of Rex Studio in 2009, big-name artists – including Sky Ferreira, Labrinth, BADBADNOTGOOD, Picture Parlour, and Caroline Polachek – have flocked to the facility to flavour their music with the unmistakable analogue flavour of the Tascam 388. And with the new BandLab Sounds Rex Studio Tascam 388 sample pack, you can add this vintage vibe to your productions.

“Can we run it through the tape machine?” is a regular request he gets from artists working at the studio, as he told MusicTech when we visited the facility last year. “Definitely, that’s the vibe,” he tells them.

Rex Studio has built such a reputation for the flavour the Tascam 388 adds to mixes that Macks Faulkron has even set up a bespoke online service, through which artists can have their digital mixes sent through the unit for a vintage tape feel.

BandLab Sounds offers a versatile sampling interface, with the ability to audition individual samples before you download them, edit their tempo and key, and trim to your desired length. There are also attack, release and tone parameters for further tweaking any sound, plus the option to reverse it before downloading.

A significant portion of the time spent sampling is in finding the perfect sample for your project. But to speed things up, BandLab Sounds has organised the samples in the Rex Studio Tascam 388 pack by key, tempo, character, length and instrument, so you can locate what you’re looking for quickly.

Speaking on the last 15 years running Rex Studio, Macks Faulkron told MusicTech: “It’s been a blast. Honestly, to be an indie studio in the current climate feels like a massive achievement on its own, and I’m always so thankful for the support of the labels and artists that choose to work with me in either capacity as an independent business. If I can continue to do that for the next 15, that would be a privilege.”

Download the Rex Studio Tascam 388 sample pack.

[Editor’s Note: BandLab and MusicTech are both part of Caldecott Music Group]

Sam is the Associate News Editor for Guitar.com and MusicTech. Thoroughly immersed in music culture for the majority of his life, Sam has played guitar for 20 years, studied music technology and production at university, and also written for the likes of MusicRadar, Guitar World, Total Guitar and Metal Hammer.