788 question

C

Cliff K

New member
Hi, I don't have a 788, but I'm considering buying a used 788 with the 788CDRW drive, and I'm wondering how well it will work as an auxliary mixer, recorder, and burner for my analog home studio. I use an older Tascam M-308B mixer and a Fostex A-8 open reel analog 8-trk machine. I like this equipment and I plan to continue using it, but I sync MIDI gear to the tape and I need more inputs, plus I need something to mix down to and a CD burner, and I don't have a computer. My original plan was to add a second mixer and use it as a return for the MIDI gear, and patch the stereo buss out of the second mixer into the stereo buss insert on the first mixer, or replace the M-308B with a larger mixer, and get a stand alone CDRW deck to mix to. Now I've come across a 788 with the 788CDRW deck, asking price is $450.
What I'm wondering about is the flexability of the 788.

Can I:
1) Use the mixer section on the 788 as an auxiliary mixer to my M-308B? Like patch into the channel and aux inputs on the 788, and patch the stereo buss out of the 788's mixer into my M-308B mixer (I don't know if the 788 even has the jacks to do this)?

2) Can I use the 8-trk digital recorder on the 788 like a stand alone 8-trk? Can a just patch, or some how buss, directly from the M-308B into the recorder on the 788, and can I return the 8 outputs from the recorder to my M-308B? If it's flexable enough to do this I could see some use for bouncing between the digital 788 8-trk and the Fostex A-8 analog 8-trk.

3) Can I some how patch or buss the outputs of the two mixers (the M-308B and the 788) seperately or togther to the input of the 788CDRW deck? I undersatnd that the 788CDRW deck doesn't have analog stereo in jacks, and that I go through the 788 SCSI cable to get to it.
I really don't have experience with digital recording equipment or the architecture of this gear, so I'm thinking of what I want to do in terms of how one would use analog gear. I think that if there's enough flexability with the 788 to use it like one would a seperate mixer, multi-track recorder, and a mixdown deck, the 788 might take care of my needs in one nice package that isn't too expensive; if not, I'll probably stick with my original plan of upgrading my mixer and then getting a CDRW deck.
Any ideas on how the 788 will work for this? Any thoughts in general on the 788 or what I'm hoping to do? Anything to look for in a secondhand 788?

I really appreciate any help you can offer.

Thanks, and happy new year!
Clifff
 
That's a great price. I've been using the 788 for over two years, and it remains my main recording device. While I don't think it will do everything you're looking for, it would certainly provide significant benefits.

As a mixer, the 788 provides only 6 inputs and 2 stereo outputs simultaneously. On the plus side, you can apply a host of decent internal effects and dynamics to the signals.

The 788 can also be sync'd to a MIDI time clock, so it's possible that you could use it as an extension to your existing system.

As for mixing and CD burning, the 788 is okay. But recently I've been exportking song tracks to 24-bit .WAV files and loading them into a PC-based DAW for mastering. With the 788, you can export up to 250 tracks for a single song. The PC-based tools provide a lot more features for mastering.
 
Thanks a lot for the input, Saul. It sounds like a good deal, and it will probably do a lot for me. I guess I can probably sell it for what it'll cost me if it doesn't work out....I may go check it out tomorrow. I'm looking at it as a compromise as an aux mixer, but it will give me more tracks and a CD burner, so I guess it will help. How does it sound? Also, would there be any reason not to run a mix from my analog mixer into two of the inputs on the 788 to get to the CD burner for mastering, or would this work well?

Thanks!
 
I bought the 788: I think it's going to work out fine for me. It seems very flexible, and with all of the virtual tracks, the MIDI, and the CD burner I think there's a lot I can do with it. The drives seem pretty noisy, though, both the hard drive and the CD drive: is this normal? It seems like it could be a problem for recording with a mic.
 
Congratulations.

I was not too happy with the noise level on my 788 either at first. Honestly, I don't know if the noise just when away or whether I just got used to it. I'll check tonight. All I know is that I've developed a habit of staying about six feet away from the machine whenever I'm recording vocals.

I bought a new 60gb hard drive last year for $60, but I haven't installed it yet. I believe the HD's are a lot cheaper now. They're easy to replace. I just haven't gotten around to it. My new drive is supposed to be a lot quieter than the one that came with my 788.

Now that you have your 788, you should check what version of operating system you're running. Version 2.0 and higher provide several very attractive features. If you have v1.10, you can upgrade via CD. Otherwise, you need to contact Tascam to get an eprom upgrade. Either way, it's an easy upgrade.

The new OS allows you to import/export individual tracks in 24-bit .WAV format. This feature has become essential to my work, especially when I need to break up long live sessions into separate songs.

Another thing is that v2.0+ allows you to create up to four 16gb partitions. Earlier versions of the OS only allow 4gb partitions.
 
Thanks, man! This machine's very cool. It's got version 2.02 OS on it. The previous owner was using it to move wave files to and from his computer....seems like a pretty handy feature. Right now I've got the stereo buss out from my bigger mixer going into inputs A and B on the 788 and I've been working through the tutorial manual. It seems very user friendly, easy to use, and I'm an old school analog guy who learned how to record, mix, and edit on open reel analog machines. I really like the feature of 250 virtual tracks that can be moved around, plus the fact that any sub-mix bouncing can be redone: I think those features count for a lot, even though it's an 8 track. It's nice to work with grouped faders for mixing a lot of seperate tracks, and with the 788 being able to bounce a sub-mix and then go back in and adjust it or redo it is a similar way of mixing it seems, but I haven't gotten that deep into it yet.
The only thing that I'm having trouble with is changing or editing the tile of a song. The manual says that pressing "SHIFT" and "MENU/TITLE" will display a box with the title to be edited, but nothing happens. I do get a box with the tile if I press "SHIFT" and "HOME/ESC", but this isn't the box that one can edit the title from. The "SHIFT" function seems to be working with the other buttons, just not with the "MENU/TITLE" button....I'm assumeing that it's me, that I've misread something or am not doing something correctly....any ideas on that? Anyway, thanks again for your help.
Cheers!
Cliff
 
I'm not at my machine right now, so I don't remember the exact key names, but I believe the combination is SHIFT + HOME. But the secret is that you first have to get into the Song Menu and scroll down to the song title that you want to rename. I'm assuming here that you've already created a song with the default name (e.g. SONG010). Usually, I don't bother to name the song immediately, mostly because I forget. So I just go in later, pick out the song from the list, and rename it.

Here's a little suggestion. I found it very helpful to store song and track names in the WORD section. You'll find this to be very helpful when you're importing/exporting .WAV files. This is because the 788 doesn't transfer the names of the tracks or songs when it creates .WAV files (i.e. it just names the new files WAV001, WAV002, etc. ) That little black wheel may be fine for scrolling, but it's a pain to write with.
 
Saul: You da Man! Thanks, that's it, it works when I'm in the "song" screen. I was trying to do this from the "home" screen. Thanks (again!) for helping my lame digi-newbie ass out, it's much appreciated.

Cheers!
 
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