4 track to CD or digital

[luvwindnwater]

I have 4 track tapes I wish to mix down to CD. I have no recording equipment anymore but am going to buy and start over with digital. Can I just buy a cheap 4 track recorder and mix down to a digital recorder? If I want to record again on these 4 tracks/digital Can I do track to track for future recording and editing? I guess I still need a CD burner or do digital recorders have them included?
What I want to do is put these 4 track songs onto digital, track for track and re-record parts of the song. then burn to CD. Can and How do I do this?
Also the digital recorder is to record basic demo's. Any suggestions on what brand/model?

 

[drfringe]

I'd go digital, because you can find a unit for the same price, and get one with a burner and you're all set- so many models to choose from. You can go all through the PC too.. That's how I launched my pc, trying to figure out cakewalk, install a soundcard, upgrade memory, etc.

 

[drfringe]

I've seen some fostex vf160 models pretty cheap on ebay. Easy to use, reminds me of my old fostex tape deck.

 

[luvwindnwater]

But when I get a 4 track tape recorder will I be able to put the four tracks seperate on to the seperate digital tracks, or will I have to just mix all 4 tracks onto only one digital track?

 

[Dani Pace]

It's pretty easy to go from a 4 track tape deck to a PC. The hardest part is getting the tracks to sync up, tape speed isn't always consistent on tape decks. You don't notice the variations when playing the tape on the deck but when you separate the tracks and rerecord them digitally it becomes quite obvious.

The basic things you will need are a tape deck with line out (preferably aux sends for each track,) the necessary cables/adapters to connect the deck to a PC, and of course a PC with a decent sound card and recording software. I recommend using the aux sends for 1 track at a time transfers and always use the line in on your sound card.

Connect the tape deck to the PC (power off while making connections) and proceed to record the same as you would using a mixer or other external source. It's not hard but it may take a few tries to get the levels right and as already said you will have to do a little adjusting to get the tracks to sync up (align.)

After you transfer the tracks you can add more tracks directly on the PC. If you don't have a mixer/preamp you can use the tape deck as a mixer (if it has a decent preamp built in) to add more tracks.