A couple more A2 questions

[PHILANDDON]

Hey guys:

(1) Does anyone know where I can get a punch-in pedal for the A2? My intent for the machine was not for mastering but to use for direct to two-track recording. How well do those pedals work, and how exactly do they work?

(2) There are two possible ways for me to work. I can send the tape recorded tracks to my digital recorder and EQ and mix them there, or I could get an analog mixer. I have my eye on the Soundcraft Spirit M4. Does everyone agree that using an analog mixer would give me better tone in the end? (One other advantage to using the digital recorder is that it would magically turn my two-track analog recorder into a twenty track machine.) Does anyone work this way. Using a reel to reel as a front end and digital box as a mixer/processor?

Anyway, thanks for the help/feedback.

 

[FALKEN]

A lot of people do do that.

me personally, I leave the digital conversion for the very last step.

It sounds like you are trying to figure out your process. I would just try different stuff and see what works the best. Often it is just a matter of how you like to work.

Mixing in the box can sound pretty good but once there are more than 8 tracks I think the sound gets smaller and smaller, and a board becomes more and more worth it, IMO.

If you find a source for that pedal, let me know. I'm looking for one for my E-16.

 

[themaddog]

(One other advantage to using the digital recorder is that it would magically turn my two-track analog recorder into a twenty track machine.) Does anyone work this way. Using a reel to reel as a front end and digital box as a mixer/processor?

That actually couldn't work because of the timing differences in hearing the sound off of the tape and getting it into the computer. The tape would play back at say 1/8 of a second behind the time it gets recorded, when monitoring from the playback head, which would be out of sync with doing computer overdubs. You could sync from the record head, but that wouldn't really be from the tape and wouldn't have the same sound.

If you don't understand what I'm talking about, write back and I'll try to explain it better.

-MD