4-track straight to pc

[foomangoo]

Hi,
I am big newbie. Just thought of something!
Can I use my tascam 4-track as my mixer.....er...a....well...- Heres what I thought -
I would plug guitar or bass or drum machine or whatever into one channel, instead of recording onto tape, I put the line outs directly into my soundcard and record onto Cool Edit?

I usually only record one thing at a time anyway so would that work? Then I could use cool edit to add fx and do other tasks and mixdown on pc.

 

[james123]

I think it should work , not a 100% though. Why dont you go ahead and try it ?

 

[foomangoo]

cool, i did give it a try and it works for the stuff i have on the tape. i will have to see if i can do it live, but i bet it will.
i put down 3 tracks and have been monkeying around with them (Dont know how to use cool edit too much!). i then promptly accidently deleted 2 of the tracks i worked on! live n learn ay?

thanks!
any suggestions on recording this way are appreciated!

 

[cincy_kid]

CTRL + S for the win!

i always hit save after almost everything I do so in case I accidentally mess it up I can always revert back to the last saved copy.

Cool idea on the 4track tho, good luck!

 

[rayc]

Don't sell the 4 track short.
USE IT & then upload/record into your DAW program.
I had put my 4 track aside for a while as I only had a 2 input s/card. I had to mix into stereo to record fromit.
NOW I have a nice multi in/Out card and can record to tape & then drag it all discreetly into Cakewalk. The DIFFERENCE, from stereo IN & from DI digital in compared to using tape IN is AMAZING. Flexible, clean, clear, TAPISH.....
Mind you what you want to do does work - I used my 4 track pres etc as an interface to the PC with NO problem.

 

[mx_mx]

Im gonna try this. But do you have to have a tape in and the record button on for it to work, or just have the 4-track on?

 

[rayc]

Tape in Y record on - depends on your machine. It's easy to test & know though.
If you can't get a reading on your 4 track meters for the input without pressing something you'll need to press it.
As the wise man said to the actress - suck it & see.

 

[johnnymegabyte]

I used my 4 track pres etc as an interface to the PC with NO problem.

Me too. My Yamaha 4 track M3X has 6 inputs, 2 with pre's.
For now, it's the front-end / mixer to my Line-in.
However, I use a crapola Radio Scrap DJ mixer from 1980 from the Line-Out of the PC to monitor. It feeds into channel 5/6 of the Yamaha, which I have to Mute when recording.
Until you can afford something better, make use of your "old $h1t"
and it's not like I have Abbey Road Studios in my basement

 

[Dani Pace]

It may not boost your status much around here but yes it will work so if that's what you have to work with, use it. I've got a couple of 4 track machines that get used exactly the way you plan to use yours. Just remember to use the line in or aux in on your soundcard and you should have little or no problem getting it to work. If you are in doubt about if the 4 track has to be in the record mode, just hit record and pause. This should give you a signal out through either the stereo out or the monitor out or both.