Mixer / recorder combination

robble

New member
Been posting here a lot lately, hope that’s okay. I’m looking to finally get a reel to reel 8 track. I’m looking at a Tascam m-308 for $100 locally. And a Fostex r8 for around $300. I’m used to the workflow on my 488, and want to double check that I can connect these together and be able to record, monitor, and mix through these too. I’ve noticed that most studios seem to have far more channels than tracks they can record, but don’t know if this is necessary, especially when I won’t be recording more than 8 tracks at a time. Thanks for any and all advice.
 
Yes this will work for sure. The M-308 has four busses, so it will be very easy to record four tracks at once without having to repatch anything if you need to. It also has direct outs on every channel as well.

I have a Fostex 80, and I'm pretty sure the R8 works the same in that it couples the inputs of 1-4 to tracks 5-8 as well. In other words, if you're plugged into the track 1 input, you can either record on track 1 or track 5 (or both) without having to plug into track 5 too.

So, you could have the M-308's four busses routed to tracks 1-4 of the R8, and you'd be able to record on any track without having to repatch anything.
 
There are (at least) two reasons for the extra channels. One is if you don't have an inline board you use one set of mixer channels to feed the recorder and another set of channels for the returns from the recorder. The other reason is for accommodating effects returns. You could use generic auxiliary returns, but using actual channels gives you more options with eq and routing.
 
is it possible to record and playback through the same faders on the m308? I as under the impression it would as I think it was made to work with machines like the Tascam 38. I also need to be able to listen to the cue while recording.
 
Theres an old thread here on this forum that tells you everything you want to know about that mixer.
Called...
Working with an M308. Do a search or google it. :D
 
is it possible to record and playback through the same faders on the m308? I as under the impression it would as I think it was made to work with machines like the Tascam 38. I also need to be able to listen to the cue while recording.

In short, yes you can do all of those things.
 
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