Transferring and editing

[ohmeohmy]

I understand that different machines probably have different answers to this question but how does the transferring from a multitracker to a computer work out?

Can you transfer track by track, or do you use your computer as a mix down station and edit only a stereo track?

If you transfer track for track how do you line up the tracks correctly? Is there some timestamp on the .wav files?

Once edited on the computer, can you send them back to the multitrack or is there really no need to do this?

Is there a way on decent multitrack machine to record 4 tracks, run them through an effects loop and lay those tracks down on a different four tracks? (i would like to have 4 dry exactly what i recorded tracks and also 4 processed tracks with only recording once.)

what are some prices for machines that do these sorts of things? I'm trying to get a game plan for how much what i wan is going to cost, so i can figure out what i really need after i see the prices.

[manning1]

re: multitracker to computer. be AWARE !! this is a very hairy area, i will detail for you the only way i know to DO IT PROPERLY.
lets say you have a 8 track tascam half inch machine , and lets hope before each song starts you have some blank tape (ie b4 song starts).
try this. lay a simple drum tick down on all 8 tracks before the song starts.
then (and you will need a 8 input sound card to do this). put the computer into record and a split second later start playback of the 8 track.
once recorded on the computer all drum ticks should line up if done properly.
trying to do it one track at a time is really difficult. once again do the drum tick method then line up the tracks on the computer. but to do one track at a time requires a tape machine thats extremely speed stable.
which is often not the case.
hope this helps.