2488 Question

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GaryR50

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I am planning to buy a 2488 digital workstation and would like to know if the 2488 can produce a CD that sounds as loud as a commerically recorded and mastered CD, or will everyone who listens to my CDs have to jack up the volume all the way? I realize that in the digital mastering process there are all sorts of tricks of the trade used to boost the volume, but, after reading a few lists of the hardware and software used by commercial mastering studios, I think there is no reason why I can't do the same thing on the 2488. Am I wrong?

Gary
 
If you master the 2488 you can get pretty close to commercial. I have the 2488 and have not tried it yet. I've come pretty close to it with my Korg D1600. But I get best results when I export the mix to PC and master from there.
 
:D Yo Gary:

You can get your vocals, solos louder if you run them through a compressor.

I got the RNC unit and for the money, around 175 pezzutos new, it really added some whack to my CDs. Of course Blue Bear questions LOUD over quality and maybe sometimes quality is LOUD and other times, maybe not.

A good mic pre is an asset too. I run my vocals into a Grace 101 and that into my RNC and from there into the recorder, Yam 2816. Similar unit to the Tascam except I have a much large view screen.

Green Hornet ;) :rolleyes: :D
 
It would be really hard to get cd's burned on the 2488 to commercial volume levels. It's best to run your stereo mix at 24bit to good computer based 'mastering' software where you can easily make things loud enough.
 
Mastering

Typically these machines are designed to do EVERYTHING. That being said, they do some things better than others. Mastering is probably not the easiest thing to do any any DAW. I've had good results exporting to wave files and then mastering on the PC. Is it possible to master on a DAW? I think so IMHO. But it is probably easier on a PC.

philboyd studge said:
It would be really hard to get cd's burned on the 2488 to commercial volume levels. It's best to run your stereo mix at 24bit to good computer based 'mastering' software where you can easily make things loud enough.
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wedsr1 said:
If you master the 2488 you can get pretty close to commercial. I have the 2488 and have not tried it yet. I've come pretty close to it with my Korg D1600. But I get best results when I export the mix to PC and master from there.
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wedsr1 - I've been looking at both units - can you provide a quick review of what you like/dislike about the Tascam and Korg?
Thanks!
 
Tascam 2488 vs Korg D1600

1. Korg D1600 - $1299 - $1599
2. Taskcam 2488 - $1199

1. D1600 - 16 Tracks @ 16-bit
2. 2488 - 24 Tracks @ 24-bit

1. D1600 - Record 4 tracks simultaneously at 24-bit.
2. 2488 - Record 8 tracks simultaneously at 24-bit.

1. D1600 - Touch Screen - Ease of use. Large View Screen.
2. 2488 - No Touch Screen, adequate view screen

1. D1600 - 8 INPUTS - 4 XLR with Phantom Power or balanced + 4 more balanced Inputs.
2. 2488 - 8 INPUTS - 4 XLR only/Phantom Power + 4 more balanced inputs.

1. D1600 - Burn to CD truncates 24-bit data to 16-bit.
2. 2488 - Burn to CD dithers 24-bit to 16-bit.

1. D1600 - Does not play General MIDI files.
2. 2488 - Loads and Plays General MIDI files.

1. D1600 - Plays internal Drum Patterns
2. 2488 - Plays internal Drum Patterns

The D1600 is a great machine. I will continue to use it. The D2488 on the other hand has a leg up in my opinion because of the 24 Tracks and General MIDI Playback capabilities. However, I have not used the 2488 extensively.

For more info on the D1600 visit http://www.korgstudios.com discussion forum. The 2488 is too new to have the massive user support group that the Korg D series units have.

Either is a great machine.

mrx said:
wedsr1 - I've been looking at both units - can you provide a quick review of what you like/dislike about the Tascam and Korg?
Thanks!
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Thanks for the break down, Wayne.

The price/feature ratio is tempting, but I'm not sure Tascam has learned anything from the PS05 fiasco. Stuff like the track pairing, that an earlier post said essentially makes it 'an 18 track DAW', will be an important issue for some, yet isn't easy to spot under the blaring "24 TRACKS ! ! ! ! " ad campaign.


(As I recall before Tascam took down their forum the first time around it wasn't just PS5 discontent, but a fair number of 788 users that were feeling jerked around.)
 
2488 & Track Pairing

I'm actually thinking about returning the 2488. I have the Korg D1600. Having 16 mono tracks with pan knobs faders for every track and the touch screen is pleasurable. I'm not feeling the paired track thing at the moment. That's one of the reasons I stayed away from the Yamaha AW16G. But I think you can at least split the pairs... I'm not 100% sure on that. I'll have to look around some more. I'm not sure at this point. I have 30 days anyway because I got it from the Guitar Center.

I suggest that anyone attempting to purchase a DAW make sure the store has a good return policy. At least you will have time to try it out.


mrx said:
Thanks for the break down, Wayne.

The price/feature ratio is tempting, but I'm not sure Tascam has learned anything from the PS05 fiasco. Stuff like the track pairing, that an earlier post said essentially makes it 'an 18 track DAW', will be an important issue for some, yet isn't easy to spot under the blaring "24 TRACKS ! ! ! ! " ad campaign.


(As I recall before Tascam took down their forum the first time around it wasn't just PS5 discontent, but a fair number of 788 users that were feeling jerked around.)
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You're exactly right about Guitar Center - I've gone in after 29 days (sometimes a few months in a row) and never had a problem. They'll take stuff back at different stores than the original place of purchase, and make it painless, no matter how you paid originally. <end of advert>

Too bad about the 2488. Is your 1600 the one without USB?
 
No USB

Yup, I have the D1600v40, SCSI interface, no USB. The older version. But it is a work horse, 16 tracks, 16 faders, 16 pan knobs.
 
Thanks for all the helpful responses, guys. I see at least three of you are mastering on the PC. What mastering applications do you use? Any freeware or shareware alternatives?

So, if the general consensus is that you can't quite get Redbook quality masters out of the 2488, then to what level can you get, and how much further tweaking on the PC is needed to bring it up to Redbook, if that's even possible?

Gary

P.S.: Roland claims its MV-8000 (about $800 more than the 2488) is capable of Redbook masters. Does anyone know if this is true, or is it just more manufacturer's hype?
 
track pairing? You never know what you're getting into with a DAW without loads of research. Definitly not something to buy in an impulse, I have a lot of impulse holes in my wallet. The 2488 looks so awesome in the ads. But I always wonder what's going on under all those buttons and the lack of being able to grab a nob and pull some eq. no - knobs. got to go to a menu. The reason I am using DAW's in the first place is to get away from menus and mouse clicks. that's why I originally got the Sony mdmxmk11 nice mixer, but sooo many other drawbacks that it's gone from sight now. There is a mastering forum here, you'll get a lot of comments there, mastering is sounding to me like production, a whole career in itself....
 
Choosing a DAW

I've had the D1600v40 for over a year. I originally picked it because of what it could do in it's price range, ease of use (touch screen), 16 faders, 16 pan knobs. You get used to not having real buttons and knobs.

The 2488 is the same animal (without the touch screen or individual physical faders and pan knobs). You get 24 tracks @ 24-bit. It is a good buy. The paired tracks is a small obstacle. I generally use about 6 - 8 tracks for stereo keyboards so they are paired anyway.

It all depends on what you want or need to do. Either way, the 2488 is a great deal for the money.
 
I just noticed from the picture in the ad that the 2488 doesn't have any pan knobs... Out of all the stuff that gets hidden in menus, that one still drives me nuts with these things.
 
2488 & Pan Knobs

There are none!!!!!!!!!!!

But... they are very easy to access. You'll get used to it. I don't pan that much anyway after I set them. It only becomes a problem at mix down. With the paired tracks, one could do a pre-mix of vocals and bounce to a stereo pair, having the pan already set. Kind of forces you to be organized and make a decision. If you are a perfectionist, having those knobs would be perfect. Without them it kind of forces you to settle... less tweaking on your mix. That's one way of looking at it.
 
Sooo you are lucky enough to have one of those suckers, what's it like? Do you feel the warm and fuzzy 24 track Tascam thing? ;) Seriously tho, how long have you had it, I think it's kinda new?

No knobs at all would be strange, except for the top, I gues those are trim pots for the input amps?

The unit does look very smooth. Do you hear the hard drive spinning and head access?

Of all the DAW's that's the only one I'd like to see in action. I guess I'm nostalgic for the Tascam. Maybe I'll drag out the old Portastudio 488 that's in the box on my shelf. At least I can mix it to digital if I really do it. I'd have to demag the heads, clean and lube it, go find a high quality cassette, review the mixer routing, it's been a while....
 
This machine will do it all

This machine will do it all. Just take your time and read the manual. I have recorded, mixed and burned a bunch of great sounding songs. Just to get used to operation the machine I recorded an accoustic trio, a local garage band and a couple songs that my band did. I took the CD around to some local studio guys for a opinon and also to listen to the mixes on their equipment. They were all very impressed, very impressed. They were also little depressed, getting good sounding product is with in any ones reach. You don't have to go to a big studio to get it.
All this stuff about Panning Tracks, the linking of the Stereo Tracks (Channels) and the loudness of the final mix. You can pan any channel. When you are using the linked stereo channels you can control all aspects of each channel just like it was a single channel. You can mix your product as loud as any commerial product or louder if that is important.
The size of the screen, it is alittle small.
This is the best 24 Track out there for the money.
 
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