Tascam M-216 question

[famous beagle]

Hey y'all,

I know there are a few people here that are familiar with this mixer. I really love the mixer, and I love its sound, so before I get rid of it for another one, I wanted to ask this:

I have a Fostex R8 R2R, and I want to record 4 tracks of drums (kick, snare, R OH, L OH). However, this mixer only has 4 subouts. So I can route each mic to one of those, no problem. I also want to record a bass and a scratch vocal/acoustic track at the same time. I can run these through my DMP3, so I won't need the 216 for them.

The problem is that the channels on this mixer only have 1-2 or 3-4 assign buttons. They don't have L-R assign buttons like most others I've worked with. So, in order for something to show up in the main mix, it has to be assigned to one of the subgroups.

So my question is, if all four are already taken, how do I monitor the tracks coming off the R8 while I'm recording the drums?

Thanks!

 

[Track Rat]

If that mixer has INSERTS on the mic channels, those can be used as direct outputs that are PRE EQ/FADER. That gives you a lot of Gozintas and Gozoutas. The only downside (although I don't see it as a downside) is you have no EQ going to tape and the level control is only from the trim pot.

 

[Strryder]

If that mixer has INSERTS on the mic channels, those can be used as direct outputs that are PRE EQ/FADER. That gives you a lot of Gozintas and Gozoutas. The only downside (although I don't see it as a downside) is you have no EQ going to tape and the level control is only from the trim pot.

As Track Rat said, you should be able to use the inserts as direct outs, mackie mixers do this by using a regular tip/sleeve cable plugged into the insert jack to the first "click", on my mackie this does not break the normal connection to the rest of the mixer channel strip, hopefully the M-216 will work the same way, that would leave you with two recording busses and then you could still use the other two of the output busses as your stereo bus formonitoring.

You could use channels 9 thru 16 as recording inputs with each channel directly feeding an input on the recorder, then have your recorder's outputs going into channels 1 thru 8, they have the tape return buttons on them.

You could also use the foldback out for monitoring, the first 8 channels have a tape return switch right at the foldback knob, this would let you monitor tape returns while also using the rest of the channel as a seperate input, at least I'm pretty sure it works that way on those mixers, the big drawback to the foldback bus is that it's mono, but it does add quite a bit flexibility to tracking setups.

 

[famous beagle]

Track Rat: You know, right after I posted this, I thought about the insert option. I originally had the same thought (that I won't be able to EQ to tape) and figured "oh well, that's not that big of a deal." But then I checked the 216 manual, and it turns out that the insert jack is placed after the EQ. So that's definitely a good option there.

Strryder: Yeah I'd forgotten about the Foldback mix. I'd never gotten into the habit of using a cue mix, even way back in my 4-track cassette days, because I was always just recording one track (two at the absolute most) at a time, and so I never needed it. This is really the first time I'm wanting to record a bunch of sources to individual tracks simultaneously in the analog world. With digital, it's not an issue, obviously, because they can be mixed in the box. I'm not really fond of the mono monitoring thing, but it is nice to know that it's there in case I need it.

Thanks so much for the responses y'all! I think I'll keep this mixer after all! I really do like the sound of the preamps on it for kick and snare.