Tascam 488 mkii track 1 no sound.

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BonkingAround

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I can hear and see the first track when I record. As soon as I play back I can hear nothing or barely be able to. Even in the loudest recordings I can barely hear it. I just don’t know what would be broken.
 
Further to what Mack has asked, presuming you've cleaned the heads and checked you get the same with a fresh tape - are all the other tracks recording ok? I had a similar problem on a 244 a while back which turned out to be a loose connector to the dbx board for track 1.
 
Findlay said:
Further to what Mack has asked, presuming you've cleaned the heads and checked you get the same with a fresh tape - are all the other tracks recording ok? I had a similar problem on a 244 a while back which turned out to be a loose connector to the dbx board for track 1.
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I’ve tried in and out of headphones. I’ve cleaned the heads and tried multiple brand new tapes. All the other tracks record just fine. I’ll try and check the connector even though I’ve never done it before. Thanks for responding!!
 
Just had another thought - worth trying before opening up. On the 244 there are jumpers on the back connecting the phono sockets for connecting accessories to each channel. I don't know if the 488 has anything like this but on the 244 if these aren't seated properly you can lose signals. On the 244 there is a tape cue setting on the output which is useful for checking signals - not sure if the 488 has this either!
 
Findlay said:
Just had another thought - worth trying before opening up. On the 244 there are jumpers on the back connecting the phono sockets for connecting accessories to each channel. I don't know if the 488 has anything like this but on the 244 if these aren't seated properly you can lose signals. On the 244 there is a tape cue setting on the output which is useful for checking signals - not sure if the 488 has this either!
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The pic I added shows the only options I have. I read a bunch of other people having problems losing tracks but none of them seemed the same as mine. I’ve flipped and cleaned the switches also.
 

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Stupid question maybe but have you read the manual from end to end, especially the bit about the difference between CUE and MIX? CUE being what you hear through the headphones and MIX what comes out of the mix down. My 424 MKIII can do the same as you describe and it's just that I've got the routing wrong for what I'm trying to do. I had to read the whole manual and follow it step by step to get it. On the 488 manual page 7-8 and page 37 cover it.. TASCAM 488 PORTASTUDIO OWNER'S MANUAL Pdf Download.

Just a thought.
 
Thanks! I’ve been using this specific recorder for ten years and I always switch between cue and mix. Thank you for helping though.
 
Have you tried switching off the dbx and recording again? I guess you have tried flipping the tape over to see if track 8 plays back in reverse on track1 and playing back an old good recording to show if it a record or playback issue?
 
Findlay said:
Have you tried switching off the dbx and recording again? I guess you have tried flipping the tape over to see if track 8 plays back in reverse on track1 and playing back an old good recording to show if it a record or playback issue?
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Yes, actually that’s funny you mention it. After I started to try and figure it out I decided to flip and see and it works just like normal. Just the first track in the 8th and reversed and it sounds fine.
 
Sounds like track 1 is recording ok then, just not playing back. What does track 8 sound like played back as track 1 with a flipped tape? I'd switch the tape sync off (not sure which track this affects) and recording with dbx switched off (does this switch all tracks?)

I'm still wondering if it is a fault with the track 1 dbx decoder, as happened with my 244 - for me it was luckily just a loose connector.

Also - I think there are separate output jacks for tracks 1/2, 3/4, 5/6 and 7/8. Presumably no playback signal at the 1/2 output jack either?
 
No separate output jacks on a 488 mkI or mkII.

The Tape Sync switch should be off.

The dbx switch is a global switch for all tracks, the Tape Sync switch defeats dbx on track 8 regardless of the position of the global dbx enable switch.

So with Tape Sync off, is there any change in the problem when you try recording to track 8 if the dbx is off vs on?

And earlier there was a very good question: when you flip the tape, how does the playback of the track 1 recording sound being played back on track 8?
 
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