Tascam 388 Computer???

[classicrockman7]

Hey, I love my Tascam 388, it works so well, it sounds great, and produces warm and clean tracks. I only have one problem, getting it to the computer.

I want to do the final mixdown on the computer. So I need to get 8 tracks to my computer simultaneously. I looked into getting an I/O but I feel like they are more than I need. Does anyone do there mixdown this way? It seems to me the best way to do it.

So i guess let me know how you, or how you would simultaneously bounce 8 tracks to the computer so you could mix it there?

Thanks guys

[_DK]

There should be two mono line-outs, RCA or XLR... An alternative is to get an 8-track sound card to capture all the tracks separately for further digital editing
Have you tried mixing down to a cassette deck? I've gotten outstanding results... even an old consumer deck would do. 2-track reel deck - even better! But you need to use line-in -> line-out, don't use the microphone output.

[Hi_Flyer]

you need an interface with 8 analog ins. Probably the cheapest option is the Delta 1010LT, which is a PCI card. I think you can grab them used on ebay for under $200 USD if you are patient.

If you want to go Firewire, you might be able to grab a Yamaha i88x for pretty cheap. These were going at blowout prices for awhile, but it seems they are being phased out by Yamaha, and their support for this product and their mLAN technology could be better. This is compounded by the fact that the mLAN drivers kinda suck. Too bad, cuz its a nice piece of hardware.

Behringer probably has a cheap interface too, but I have never really looked closely at their product line so I can't recommend a model.

what is your budget for the interface?

Once you get your tracks to the PC, I HIGHLY recommend Reaper for mixing www.reaper.fm

[classicrockman7]

I have to do it in a way that 8 tracks get to the computer seperately. I'm looking for quality more than ease of use. my budget is low because im starting college next fall.

By the way, I just checked out reaper, it looks like a great program. Perfect for what I need. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Hi_Flyer]

I would check out the Delta 1010lt first if I were you. I was looking at them on ebay just now and they are cheaper than I thought. Definitley the best bang for the buck, and its probably the cheapest option right now to record eight tracks simultaneously to PC. They are made my M-Audio and their drivers are pretty solid. They don't offer as many features (monitoring etc) as some of the fancier interfaces, but since you have already the built in mixer on your 388, you can get by without some of the bells and whistles. The only drawback is that it is PCI, and PCI technology sort of seems to be on its way out. Firewire on the other hand seems like it may last longer.

With a 1010lt you also have eight analog outs back to your mixer, so you could track stuff to PC, and break out stems to tape and then mix on your board, which is an idea I have been toying with.

[bloomboy]

Originally Posted by Hi_Flyer

With a 1010lt you also have eight analog outs back to your mixer, so you could track stuff to PC, and break out stems to tape and then mix on your board, which is an idea I have been toying with.

I would really reccommend doing it the other way round... track to tape and then transfer to computer. Just in my personal experience (which I'll admit is none too extensive) if you're determined to go digital, tape to digital is going to sound much fuller than digital to tape.

[Hi_Flyer]

well, it seems that another big criticism of working ITB (in the box) is digital summing. You have the option to do it either way with the 1010lt, which is all I was trying point out.

Yet another option is to track to tape, transfer to DAW, then route the stems back out to your board and mix through the board but don't actually print to tape again. This would be great if you had some nice outboard gear you wanted to use in mixing, and didn't want to sum ITB.

[Sexy Heather]

This thread interests me, because I feel the same way about my Tascam 688. What I do presently is record with my 688 and then mixdown to my Power Mac G4 using Coaster. The finished tracks sound great. When I got the 688 in 1990, I mixed down to a two-track Teac cassette deck and made cassette copies of the master. By the mid '90s, I was making WAV files of the cassette masters and by the early 2000s, I was using my present method. The heart of it is still my trusty old 688, however. I never could have envisioned using it in the various ways I have back in the early '90s. In the future, I'm certain I'll use it in ways I can't imagine now.

[THX1136]

The Delta would be the way to go. If your computer is working fine, will accept PCI and you're not upgrading anytime soon it should be a good approach. I use Garageband when I need to do more than 2 tracks and then dump over into ProTools Free (yeah I know, it's ancient, but it works for me).