No, you switch circuitry at the erase and record heads. The record tracks that are switched to repo play at the head position the new tracks are recorded. New tracks have to be on source. There's no point in using the playback head for anything
I guess I am really concerned about what you guys are calling round trip as I rarely record more that one instrument or vocal at a time. Have to hear what you are playing with or there is not much point. I may upgrade the computer, it is not the computer cost I am concerned about but I have tons of very spendy plugin's that are 32 bit and work quite well. I do not want to spend thousands to upgrade them. And yes I am running Vegas 7.0 or 8.0 with one gig ram but mainly for audio not video. I have mixed and edited 48 tracks at 24 bit 44.1K using tons of plugins with very little problems. Just have to watch reverb usage as adding them independently to each channel can eat up horsepower fast. Have had to create a submix or effects buss for live drums or back up vocals etc to use fewer reverb plugins. It could be that the higher end plugins are more efficient using less processing power. I know all plugins are not equal. I know a P4 3.0 is a dinosaur but guys they cut some pretty good records on equipment inferior to the P4 in it's day and so far it has just been for mixing audio. If my plugins are all backwards compatible I will probably upgrade the computer. It is over 10 years old and will die someday forcing the issue. My main issue again is monitoring and recording with prior recorded tracks. I'm sure I'm missing something here but I need to be sure I can build projects a track at a time monitoring and recording with the USB interface otherwise it is useless to me. tracking on the 2488 is not that bad and gives me a lot of flexibility. I just get impatient with the export/import step. Tascam also should have built a video out to hook up a large monitor if you wanted. That would have been great. And I am also old and have owned the 3340, A3340S, 40-4, 80-8 w/DBX etc.
Direct Monitoring eliminates any problem with latency. If you are monitoring the analog signal directly from the interface, latency can be anything and it doesn't matter. You won't hear the plugs on the track, but you don't necessarily need to. There are a lot of people who say they can't sing unless they have reverb to hear themselves. The fact is they can if they practice a little. Once you're completed recording your tracks, you put whatever plugs the song calls for. You'll hear them during playback.I guess I am really concerned about what you guys are calling round trip as I rarely record more that one instrument or vocal at a time. Have to hear what you are playing with or there is not much point.
I may upgrade the computer, it is not the computer cost I am concerned about but I have tons of very spendy plugin's that are 32 bit and work quite well. I do not want to spend thousands to upgrade them. And yes I am running Vegas 7.0 or 8.0 with one gig ram but mainly for audio not video. I have mixed and edited 48 tracks at 24 bit 44.1K using tons of plugins with very little problems.
Yeah, reverb plugs are resource hogs. Use as very few as you can. I only use one, send everything to it. My songs are pretty simple.Just have to watch reverb usage as adding them independently to each channel can eat up horsepower fast. Have had to create a submix or effects buss for live drums or back up vocals etc to use fewer reverb plugins. It could be that the higher end plugins are more efficient using less processing power. I know all plugins are not equal.
Well, that's how 90% or more of us record our songs. One track at a time. The interface and DAW software work together to allow that to happen. Be sure to use the ASIO driver for whatever interface you purchase.My main issue again is monitoring and recording with prior recorded tracks. I'm sure I'm missing something here but I need to be sure I can build projects a track at a time monitoring and recording with the USB interface otherwise it is useless to me.
Be sure to use the ASIO driver for whatever interface you purchase.