synching to DAW?

S

stainlessbrown

New member
I have a TSR8 (works great) and I have a Digi002R

I've looked at the PP2 unit for synching, but it only has midi connections. The TSR8 has a RS232c (which as best I can tell is the midi "port" used for synching it

I have found one of the Tascam MTS30 synch unit... but no pics of the back to see if it has a midi port... and no info online that I can find (nothing on the Tascam site)

I'll be using tape for vocals, acoustic guitars, piano, and I'd like to also use for kick, snare and toms.

Synching would be much easier that tracking to both and using the digital track to line up the track from analog

is there a conversion cable available for RS232c to midi?
 
This comes up from time to time and people have different ideas. But I've had the best sync with the TSR-8 as master and the DAW following through a SMPTE to MTC sync box. I find it's a lot more stable, not to mention easier to accomplish if you use the analog deck as master and DAW as slave.

You stripe one track of your analog deck (normally track 8) with SMPTE, so you lose one track just for sync. Then that track is fed into an external sync box. I use an older JL Cooper PPS-1 and it works great. I also have a PPS-100 that I like even better for features. Then you set your DAW to external sync so it will follow the MIDI Time Code comming in from the sync box.

There are many different brands of sync device and everyone seems to have a favorite. How well it all locks up will also depend on how well the manufacturer has implemented it in the DAW... hardware and software. I like the Echo Layla stuff, even the original Event Echo Layla 20-bit. They're all rock solid in slave mode following an analog deck.

Not sure about the Digi002R. I've not worked with it.

So basically you don't need anything to connect to the RS232 port on the TSR-8... it wont help you. All you need is audio out from track 8 sending timecode signal to your sync box, which in turn drives your DAW in sync. :)
 
Beck said:
I find it's a lot more stable, not to mention easier to accomplish if you use the analog deck as master and DAW as slave.

.........

I like the Echo Layla stuff, even the original Event Echo Layla 20-bit. They're all rock solid in slave mode following an analog deck.
Click to expand...


Ditto & ditto.

That's how I do it..and...I use (3) Layla24 boxes which gives me 24 channels of A/D/A, as I like to mix back out of the DAW through my analog console and outboard gear.
My DAW is Samplitude.

The sync setup in Samplitude is pretty straightforward. I can make my deck be the Slave...it has a built in synchronizer and when I use to use Cubase (the original Atari version), I had special drivers specific to my tape deck that were installed into Cubase...so at that time having Cubase as master was actually very easy and super rock solid. I was even able to control the tape deck's transport and punch in/out functions thanks the special driver.
But now...I let the tape deck run as master...and Samplitude complies very nicely. When I hit Record...it simply sits there "waiting for sync". Ss soon as the tape deck hits the SMPTE/MTC trigger point, Samplitude kicks in.
 
Hey guys, I'm thinking of getting an Otari 4 track for next to nothin'. What I'd like to do is sync my 38 to the 4 track. can I use the same setup that was previously recomended? How much is this equipment? Does anyone have it here for sale (REAL CHEAP?)
 
I sync Protools to my TSR8 through a PPS2 with my Digi 002r. It's a small world!

It works great for me and once you set it up the first time it will be easy to repeat.

Step one is to tell Protools to send MTC to the PPS2. Wire the PPS2 to the TSR8 on a track ( I use 8) and then set that track to record and start playback on Protools. Make sure you set the PPS2 to 'Stripe' mode. Record the audio on Track 8 for a while. I typically just run the whole tape.

Step two is to feed the audio from the TSR8 back into the PPS2 which now gets set to 'read' mode. Put Protools 'Online' and then as the tape plays back Protools will use the MTC coming from the TSR8 and it will chase it.

Make sure you have MIDI cables going to the PPS2 is both directions from your 002 or other Midi interface, of course. I use a separate midi interface that I leave wired to the PPS2 all the time.

If you choose to stripe the whole tape from top to bottom with SMPTE, which is what I do, your next session that uses that reel will need to be 'offset'. If you're first song on the reel is 6 minutes long your next song will be sending out SMTPE code that is starting around the 6 minute mark. You can leave it as is but when you press play on the tape, Protools will jump to wherever you are on the reel. The only 'real' issue here is that when you press 'Return to zero' in Protools it will jump to 00:00:00 and not 00:06:00 where your session actually starts. The SMTPE offset is easy to do, it's just in the 'Session Setup' window.

For running Protools, you will use the play/stop buttons on the TSR8. If you press play in PT you will only get PT, not Tape. Press play on the tape machine and you get both. Hopefully you have the remote!

Good luck and let me know if I can help more!
 
Syncing two analog decks together is a pain. I wouldn't recommend doing it, because it requires a lot of equipment and you have to deal with drift and waiting for the two machines to get in sync with one another. Also, with a 4 track Otari and the 8 track Tascam 38, you'd only be ending up with 11 tracks, because you'll lose a track on each machine for the SMPTE timecode.

Just my thoughts,
-MD
 
I'm with Mad Dog. Too much work for not enough pay off. You should definitely get the Otari anyway though..
 
themaddog said:
Syncing two analog decks together is a pain. I wouldn't recommend doing it, because it requires a lot of equipment and you have to deal with drift and waiting for the two machines to get in sync with one another. Also, with a 4 track Otari and the 8 track Tascam 38, you'd only be ending up with 11 tracks, because you'll lose a track on each machine for the SMPTE timecode.

Just my thoughts,
-MD
Click to expand...

Yes I will have only 10 tracks. Maybe I'll just record and bounce tracks. I don't know.
 
sr71rules said:
I sync Protools to my TSR8 through a PPS2 with my Digi 002r. It's a small world!

It works great for me and once you set it up the first time it will be easy to repeat.

Step one is to tell Protools to send MTC to the PPS2. Wire the PPS2 to the TSR8 on a track ( I use 8) and then set that track to record and start playback on Protools. Make sure you set the PPS2 to 'Stripe' mode. Record the audio on Track 8 for a while. I typically just run the whole tape.

Step two is to feed the audio from the TSR8 back into the PPS2 which now gets set to 'read' mode. Put Protools 'Online' and then as the tape plays back Protools will use the MTC coming from the TSR8 and it will chase it.

Make sure you have MIDI cables going to the PPS2 is both directions from your 002 or other Midi interface, of course. I use a separate midi interface that I leave wired to the PPS2 all the time.

If you choose to stripe the whole tape from top to bottom with SMPTE, which is what I do, your next session that uses that reel will need to be 'offset'. If you're first song on the reel is 6 minutes long your next song will be sending out SMTPE code that is starting around the 6 minute mark. You can leave it as is but when you press play on the tape, Protools will jump to wherever you are on the reel. The only 'real' issue here is that when you press 'Return to zero' in Protools it will jump to 00:00:00 and not 00:06:00 where your session actually starts. The SMTPE offset is easy to do, it's just in the 'Session Setup' window.

For running Protools, you will use the play/stop buttons on the TSR8. If you press play in PT you will only get PT, not Tape. Press play on the tape machine and you get both. Hopefully you have the remote!

Good luck and let me know if I can help more!
Click to expand...

excellent! thanks! and to be clear- the transport on the TSR8 will cause PT to do the same? Or do I need to arm PT if I'm recording to both digital and analog Which I may at times.
 
PT is just following time code.

If you want to record to both tape and digital, that's fine but you need to arm both of them and before you press 'Play' on the TSR8 you need to record enable Protools, not just the track itself. You need to arm each track and then press the red record button on the Protools transport. Then press play on the TSR8 (or record and play if you are recording something to tape as well).

Again, when you do it once or twice it will all make sense :)
 
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