Recording Electronic drums on a portastudio 464

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Badmongo88

New member
Hi, I am some what new to this forum. but have been reading alot about the portastudios lately. i have been recording on daw for sometime. very rarely that is actually because i find it alot like a hassle to plug every thing and it isnt very flexible. so i have invested in a portastudio 464 as i am fascinated by these devices and want to focus on creating my music to make my first record. i will be doing all of the playing and recording myself.
the instruments that will be recorded is guitar, electonic drums and vocals. And i was wondering how is the best way to record electronic drums on my portastudio it has 1 usb output, 2 or3 minijack out puts. so how would i go about recording the drums is what i wanna know?
 
DAWs aren't flexible so you're using a cassette Portastudio? Okay.

Obviously you can't use a USB with a cassette multitrack recorder. Without knowing the make and model of the drums it's hard to say what the other outputs might be useful for.

Probably something with MTC and a sequencer would be the best way to record the drums. Stripe one track with time code, output time code to sequencer, record drums MIDI output on sequencer referenced to the time code, or something like that.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
DAWs aren't flexible so you're using a cassette Portastudio? Okay.
Click to expand...

Yes, i find that daws are alot of hassle. portastudios are more hands on after what i have read anyway. and sounds perfect. in reality i would want a big reel to reel analog recording device but thats a bit 2 expensive for me. computers arent very reliable. and with tape it's their forever unless somebody was to record over it or permenatly destroy the tape
 
I think

you have to discover and define what's output on those minijack outputs. Are they mono or stereo? Are they separate mono outputs for sections or pads, or for a stereo composite output of the whole kit? What specific electronic drum kit?

When you have determined what's on the drum's minijack outputs & which ones you'll use, then you'll use cable adapters converting to 1/4" plugs and plug those into the 464's mixer. From there it's pretty straight forward and easy to record one or more channels to one or more tape tracks.
 

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A Reel Person said:
you have to discover and define what's output on those minijack outputs. Are they mono or stereo? Are they separate mono outputs for sections or pads, or for a stereo composite output of the whole kit? What specific electronic drum kit?

When you have determined what's on the drum's minijack outputs & which ones you'll use, then you'll use cable adapters converting to 1/4" plugs and plug those into the 464's mixer. From there it's straightforward and easy to record one or more channels to one or more tape tracks.
Click to expand...

There is a mix out, mix in and phones. so am guessing i can use the mix out and and 1/4" adapter and just connect that into the mixer as you say and that is the easiest way? ok that make sense. but do i den need to write the sync track on the track for which i am going to record the drums?

Thanks alot for the help:) much appreciated
 
Badmongo88 said:
There is a mix out, mix in and phones. so am guessing i can use the mix out and and 1/4" adapter and just connect that into the mixer as you say and that is the easiest way? ok that make sense. but do i den need to write the sync track on the track for which i am going to record the drums?

Thanks alot for the help:) much appreciated
Click to expand...

You don't need to write sync track but you do need to decide if you're going to use one or two tracks to record your drums. Is the Mix Out stereo or mono? If it's stereo and you want to conserve tracks you'll have to figure out how to get it to mono. It might be a good idea to solder up a custom cable with summing resistors built in for this purpose.
 
bouldersoundguy said:
You don't need to write sync track but you do need to decide if you're going to use one or two tracks to record your drums. Is the Mix Out stereo or mono? If it's stereo and you want to conserve tracks you'll have to figure out how to get it to mono. It might be a good idea to solder up a custom cable with summing resistors built in for this purpose.
Click to expand...

It say's in the manual it supports line stereo output. so that makes it stereo. wouldn't it make it mono if i just connect it into a mono channel on the portastudio?

are there any guides out there on making a custom cable as such?

Thank you very much:)
 
Badmongo88 said:
It say's in the manual it supports line stereo output. so that makes it stereo. wouldn't it make it mono if i just connect it into a mono channel on the portastudio?
Click to expand...

Well, you can record only left or only right, but then you're losing some information from the side you leave out. If you connect left and right to one input of the recorder without some resistors to isolate the two channels it can cause distortion.

Read this: Why Not Wye?

Badmongo88 said:
are there any guides out there on making a custom cable as such?
Click to expand...

See Figure 2 on the linked page above. It can be built as a cable or as a box to connect cables to. For you it might be simplest to build it with a 1/8" TRS plug on the stereo end and a 1/4" TS plug on the mono end.
 
...

If your Mix Out jack is stereo, you will need a Y adapter cable that's 1/8" stereo on one end and terminates in two 1/4" mono plugs on the other end.

You may also get a 1/8"-to-RCA Y-cable and two RCA(F)-1/4"(M) adapters, which might give you more flexibility in the long run.

Then you may connect the two 1/4" plugs into the lower mixer channel inputs (1-4) & pan both channels dead center, merging the stereo to mono, & then record in mono to a single tape track. If you use the higher channels, (5/6, 7/8, etc.), they input in discrete L/R stereo pairs and are routed directly to the L/R Master buss. These higher inputs are not able to pan together for merged-mono.

:spank::eek:;)
 
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(fyi)

On the 464 you'll have to break out any stereo device output signal to two mono 1/4" inputs in pairs.

On the 414mkII, a single TRS input jack handles a stereo input on the 5/6 & 7/8 channels, each/respectively. But likewise, the 5/6, 7/8 hard-route to the L/R Master buss and are not able to pan L/R to center for mono.

Different Portastudio generations with similarities but slightly different features.

:spank::eek:;)
 
Had an answer that didn't post!

HRcom site seemed to momentarily take a dump!

Take 2:

Well, I am sure about that.

The tape tracks (1-4) assign to mixer channels (1-4) either by Buss L/R mode or Direct mode, switchable.

In Buss L/R mode, tape tracks 1 & 3 assign to mixer Buss L, and tape tracks 2 & 4 assign to mixer Buss R, respectively.

(Mono) Mixer Inputs (1-4) may vary between Buss L and Buss R independently by using the Pan control.

In Direct mode, tape tracks (1-4) assign directly to their like-numbered mixer channels (1-4), respectively.

Buss Mode vs. Direct Mode track assignment is user selectable on the top panel.

Mixer Inputs 5/6, 7/8, 9/10 & 11/12 are hard-patched to route to Buss L/R, respectively.

You cannot pan inputs 5/6, 7/8, 9/10 or 11/12 to center.
The Pan controls on 5/6 & 7/8 channels only vary between L/R (5 or 6; 7 or 8), respectively.
Inputs 9/10 and 11/12 have no Pan control, whatsoever.

IF you use Mixer Input 5, 7, 9 or 11 by themselves, it hard-patches a mono input to Buss L/R in bridged-mono, but I don't think this achieves the stated objectives of the OP.

:spank::eek:;)
 
bouldersoundguy said:
Well, you can record only left or only right, but then you're losing some information from the side you leave out. If you connect left and right to one input of the recorder without some resistors to isolate the two channels it can cause distortion.

See Figure 2 on the linked page above. It can be built as a cable or as a box to connect cables to. For you it might be simplest to build it with a 1/8" TRS plug on the stereo end and a 1/4" TS plug on the mono end.
Click to expand...

ok, now i have read it. I think i understand, but what tools ( a soldering iron of course but what type is preferable?) and what parts and stuff is needed? and like i could do with a step by step guide kinda a thing if it exists? it's quite a while since i had anything to do with electronics but my interest is certainly there

And again Thank You very much:) i am learning alot:)
 
Badmongo88 said:
ok, now i have read it. I think i understand, but what tools ( a soldering iron of course but what type is preferable?) and what parts and stuff is needed? and like i could do with a step by step guide kinda a thing if it exists? it's quite a while since i had anything to do with electronics but my interest is certainly there

And again Thank You very much:) i am learning alot:)
Click to expand...

Go read posts 11 and 12. That's the better way to go.

But I'm sure there are online tutorials for soldering etc. if you want to get into that.
 
A Reel Person said:
If your Mix Out jack is stereo, you will need a Y adapter cable that's 1/8" stereo on one end and terminates in two 1/4" mono plugs on the other end.

You may also get a 1/8"-to-RCA Y-cable and two RCA(F)-1/4"(M) adapters, which might give you more flexibility in the long run.

Then you may connect the two 1/4" plugs into the lower mixer channel inputs (1-4) & pan both channels dead center, merging the stereo to mono, & then record in mono to a single tape track. If you use the higher channels, (5/6, 7/8, etc.), they input in discrete L/R stereo pairs and are routed directly to the L/R Master buss. These higher inputs are not able to pan together for merged-mono.

:spank::eek:;)
Click to expand...

Ok so if i get a 1/8" stereo to two 1/4" mono channels. what would be the difference of merged mono of tracks 1-4 or using the stereo 5/6, 7/8, etc channels?

And thank you very much for the info:)
 
...

:spank::eek:;)
A Reel Person said:
Mixer Inputs 5/6, 7/8, 9/10 & 11/12 are hard-patched to route to Buss L/R, respectively.

You cannot pan inputs 5/6, 7/8, 9/10 or 11/12 to center.
The Pan controls on 5/6 & 7/8 channels only vary between L/R (5 or 6; 7 or 8), respectively.
Inputs 9/10 and 11/12 have no Pan control, whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Inputs 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12 pairs route to L/R and can't be panned to center,... can't be panned to Mono.
 
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