Cables and Connections?????

[Stale]

I'm a newbie to digital recording and I can't figure out how all the connections work. I have a SB Live Drive in my computer with SPDIF and MIDI inputs, and a TASCAM 4 track with analog audio output. Is there a way to connect the 4 track to the computer and record the tape to a WAV???

I'm looking at buying a TASCAM 788 digital multi-track recorder. It's got SCSI and SPDIF connections. What is the best way to connect that to the computer to burn a CD? Anyone have pros/cons on the TASCAM 788??

Thanks,
Stale

 

[AlChuck]

Ther sure is a way, but you are somewhat limited. You have only two line-level analog inputs (or a single stereo input depending on hoiw you want to look at it) on a 1/8-in. stereo minijack (unless you bought the fancier model that has a connection panel that fits into a drive bay, in which case they are either RCA or 1/4" jacks, not sure which). So you have to either mix the four tracks off the Tascam down to two tracks, or do two tracks at a time in two passes.

I'm assuming the Tascam has four 1/4-in. analog line outputs, so you would need a cable that has two 1/4-in. mono jacks on one end and one 1/8-in. stereo jack on the other end. There are adapters you can buy to mate different cables and connectors, but a dedicated hard-wired cable is always better.

If you have a SCSI port on the computer you could presumably copy the recorded data off the 788 straight to the PC as-is.

The SB Live S/PDIF port is a stereo port and it has some limitations on sampling rate that might make it problematic. I think it will only work at 48 kHz, so if the Tascam does not match that the transfer will be weird or won't work at all. I think it might also be the case that if you are recording off the S/PDIF port, the two analog inputs are disabled and vice-versa, so you can't use them as two separate stereo inputs that you can use simultaneously. But don't quote me on that...

 

[SPINSTERWUN]

I'm a newbie to digital recording and I can't figure out how all the connections work. I have a SB Live Drive in my computer with SPDIF and MIDI inputs, and a TASCAM 4 track with analog audio output. Is there a way to connect the 4 track to the computer and record the tape to a WAV???

Since you have SPDIF OUT on the 788 and you have SPDIF IN on the SB, you shouldn't have a problem transferring the data from the board to the computer.

Since, you are just transferring the mixdowned (sp?) song to the computer for burning, you will only have to do one pass.

Go SPDIF OUT of the 788 to SPDIF IN on the SB.

Once you have the song transferred you can use your burner software to make the CD.

 

[SPINSTERWUN]

....... Anyone have pros/cons on the TASCAM 788?? .......

Why spend the money on the TASCAM 788, when you can get a better soundcard (for less money) and do all of you music creation on the computer?

peace...

 

[SPINSTERWUN]

Oh, I almost forgot the original question................[/b]

....Is there a way to connect the 4 track to the computer ....

One SPDIF cable.

 

[SPINSTERWUN]

Yo lo siento, mi amigo....

I answered the last question incorrectly....

With the board you have now, you will need to purchase a Left/Right 1/4" male to 1/8" STEREO male cable.

Once again, excuse me for the mis-information.....

 

[Stale]

Sound Card

I'll think about getting a sound card and recording with that. How would that work? Mixer into the sound card??

In reply to this post:
"Since you have SPDIF OUT on the 788 and you have SPDIF IN on the SB, you shouldn't have a problem transferring the data from the board to the computer.

Since, you are just transferring the mixdowned (sp?) song to the computer for burning, you will only have to do one pass.

Go SPDIF OUT of the 788 to SPDIF IN on the SB.

Once you have the song transferred you can use your burner software to make the CD. "

With my analog recorder I mixed down by recording to an old stereo system. How would I mix down with the Tascam 788??

 

[brainofj]

I have much the same set-up as yourself. I have a Tascam 414 connected tomy p.c running cubase. I also have Soundblaster Live 1024. I connected the 4-track to my pc via the LINE OUT on the 4-track and straight into the input on the soundcard. It is quite a simple set-up, but quite good for starting out. If you can get a hold of CUBASE, this is a bonus, it really is good software to use. I hear on this forum that a DELTA 44 card is quite good.

 

[SPINSTERWUN]

Re: Sound Card

I'll think about getting a sound card and recording with that. How would that work? Mixer into the sound card??......

How would I mix down with the Tascam 788??

Once you finished the song on the 788, you would send ALL of your tracks to the SPDIF OUT. You would then use your EDITING/RECORDING program to record IN thru it's (the soundcard's) SPDIF IN.

Now............... if you opted to use a multi-tracking program on your computer, you would track OUT of the 788 in the same manner. Except, you would send 2 tracks at a time instead of ALL of them. In turn, you would set-up the multi-track program to RECORD, 2-tracks-at-a-time, thru the soundcards SPDIF IN.

You won't really lose any binary information, because you are remaining inside of the digital realm.

I hope I said made sense.