Hybrid Technique - Analog + Digital + MIDI? Infinite Analog Tape tracks?

R

resorte

New member
I have a Tascam 388 analog 8-track, Tascam 688 analog 8-track, DAW, and great external hardware MIDI sequencer with many vintage synths. I don't like to work on the computer and don't prefer the digital sound, but have some knowledge and experience with Cubase. I have been using my tape machines, striping the tape with timecode, sync'd to my hardware sequencer. However, on my last demo, the tape started to get very wonky after hundreds of tape passes and overdubs as I 'experiment' to come up with new musical parts while playing back my tape countless times. For my next recording, it seems I should develop a hybrid recording technique where I can record vocals and guitars to the tape, then quickly get them off the tape and into the DAW, still sync'd to MIDI somehow, so I can experiment without degrading the tape in the process, then record new analog tracks and continuously bring them into the DAW along the way.

I am having a hard time visualizing how to make this process work though, keeping it all sync'd, and adding analog tracks to my song in the DAW progressively rather than an all at once 8-track dump. It seems like there could be a way have 'unlimited' analog tape tracks by progressively taking them into the DAW through the working process.

Does anyone else work in a similar fashion?
 
It seems to me that you're in danger of creating an electronic equivalent of a Heath Robinson machine.

Your preferences aside, the easiest way to achieve the kind of thing you are after is to use Cubase to drive your synths. You can mess around with this to your heart's content, using Cubase's MIDI as the controlling time.

When you are satisfied with what you've got, you can record to tape. Then you can add your vocals etc.

Or . . . you can record your vocals and other audio tracks in Cubase, mess around with midi arrangements, then record vocals and midi to tape when ready.

Or . . . you can simply stay within Cubase and learn to live within the computer environment.
 
My hybrid setup involves tracking to 1/2" 8 track then dumping to DAW for mixing and additional overdubs. sometimes I bounce overdubs off tape on the way to disc to smooth stuff out, or slam it real hard for deliberate distortion effects (like for rock vocals).

I'm pretty much working in the box once I get those initial tape tracks dumped to disc. Its kinda hard to tell from your post, but it sounds like you don't really want to work that way...

It seems that your method and workflow doesn't seem compatible with tape. Like gecko said, maybe you need to give digital a chance. It can be your best friend of you need high track counts and lots of overdubs. Its great for experimentation too.

In addition to degrading the audio on the tape, all those passes, rewinding and playback on those old tape machines is gonna wear out the motors and heads on those tape decks prematurely. Then you will be stuck with digital!
 
It would probably be best to do all your experimenting on the computer and then dumping it from the computer to the tape. Or, do all your experimenting on the computer then, once you know what you want to do, re-record it to tape.

Then the computer is used for pre production and the tape is used for the actual thing.
 
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