8 Track Cassette mixes sendable to the VF160EX?

[Horsey]

Hi all!

I apologize if this has been covered elsewhere, I couldn't find anything through Searching.

I just upgraded from a Tascam 488 MKII (8 Track Cassette Multitracker) to the Fostex VF160EX. So far I'm having a blast learning this new piece of hardware from the ground up.

However, I'm not having any success transferring old mixes that I made on my old 8 Track onto the new Fostex multitracker. I may be going about it all wrong, and I couldn't seem to find any applicable info in the manual. I currently have RCA cables running from the output of the Tascam into the RCA plugs of the VF160EX. When I play the cassettes I can hear everything coming through loud and clear on the Fostex but I can't seem to figure out how to make the 8 tracks on the cassette come through on 8 tracks on the HD recorder.

Has anyone ever had any success transferring this sort of thing over to their new recorder?

Thanks a million in advance!

[rboyce_boston]

Hi.

If I understand correctly what you are trying to do (transfer 8 individual tracks from you 8-track cassette recorder to 8 individual tracks on your VF-160)....you can't easily (i.e. quickly) do this. A few things you should keep in mind:

1. I assume your cassette recorder only has 2 channel (i.e. "stereo") analog outputs, probably on RCA jacks, and possibly on both RCA AND 1/4" jacks. Basically, this means you can only output 2 channels of audio (which could be comprised of up to 8 tracks previously recorded on your cassette deck). Think of it as how you would do a mixdown from your cassette recorder to a mastering device like a DAT recorder;
2. Your VF-160 has a TOSKLINK digital input that can handle either a) 2 channels of audio via the SPDIF format or b) 8 channels of audio via the ADAT format. But since your 8 track cassette deck probably does not support either of those formats, transferring 8 channels of audio simultaneoulsy is not an option.

So, I think the only thing you could do is to transfer 1 channel at a time. You coud accomplish this, for example, by playing back Track 1 on your cassette deck and inputing the signal into Track 1 on your VF-16 (using either direct or bus recording mode. In addition, you could probably transfer 2 tracks at the same time if you pan the first track hard left, and then pan the 2nd track hard right, and then you take the analog stereo output signal from your cassette deck and input it into 2 tracks on your VF-160.

The biggest problem is going to be syncing it all together. You are going to have to always start at the exact same point on both the cassette deck AND the VF-160 for each track of each song that you transfer. On your VF-160, I would create individual programs for each song that you want to transfer. But since the transfer process is going to be dependent on having you physically pressing the play button on your cassette deck and the record button on your VF-160 AT THE SAME EXACT TIME EVERY TIME, the odds are that the tracks will not sync up 100%.

Personally, I would consider doing a project like this on my computer, using a sound card and some multi-track recording software that would allow you to more easily sync up the tracks after the fact (by using your mouse to drag and drop each track so they are all lined up properly). In fact, I've used a shareware program called nTrack Studio to do a few project like this, where I needed to create a composite recording from 2 different sources (a soundboard recording and an audience recording of a live concert).

HTH,

ray

[A Reel Person]

The 488mkII just has a "Line Out" in stereo. The best you'll get in transferring this way, is a STEREO MIX transfered out on 2-tracks.

However, there is a cool way to tap 8-outs off the 488mkII, with a bit of doing. It's a workaround that someone devised, that also requires 2 special "Insert/Out" adapter cables, as found at americalmusicalsupply or Zzounds dot com.

There are some user's posts on it, here on the bbs. Also, there's a quick writeup of it on the BBS Info page.

See: http://homerecording.com/tas488tips.html

"... there is a way to get all the single tracks out from a TASCAM 488 MkII, although it's not pretty:

1- Insert 1
2- Insert 2
3- F/X send 1
4- F/X send 2
5- Sub select out 1/2, panned left.
6- Sub select out 1/2, panned right.
7- Sub select out 3/4, panned left.
8- Sub select out 3/4, panned right.

Then select sub 3/4 only for monitoring."

[Horsey]

Thanks so much for the tips, guys! I got all tracks sent over to the new Fostex with no sound degradation.

Much obliged!

HH