cakewalk

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aceteleman77

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I recently picked up a good deal on a used Tascam 424 (good ol' analog tape.... lol) Anyway, thought I'd try my luck with using it in conjunction with my OLD version of Cakewalk (Pro Audio 7) but ran into a slight problem - can't seem to get individual tracks to syncronize... example: right now I have 3 tracks that I dumped to cakewalk and they all start together fine but by the time they are 8 to 12 measures into the song they are totally out of sync. Anybody got any experience with this kind of setup and make any suggestions on how to correct the problem??? I just thought it would be much easier to do than it's turning out to be....

Thanx,
Ace
 
Maybe the motors on your tape unit are a bit variable in speed or your pinch roller is worn (and/or needs cleaning) so the tape isn't being pulled through at a uniform speed
 
The best way to transfer an analog multitrack mix, is all the tracks at once. Meaning you need a soundcard with as many inputs as you have tracks in the project...
 
analog recording

Thanks for the reply Bulls Hit but I guess I didn't make myself clear as to what I was trying to accomplish. It's not the 4 track that I'm haveing problems with it's the Cakewalk program that I can't seem to get the track to sync up in. If you have any ideas about that I'd appreciate it.... I've been thinking that perhaps I'll need to buy some sort of an attachment to convert the analog to digital or something that will cause it to start in sync.... I don't know, this is a new experience for me....
 
As moskus said, the best way to go from a 4 track to your pc is to record all 4 tracks at once to the pc. For this to work you need software capable of recording multiple tracks concurrently, and a multiple-in sound card like a delta 44.

I'm assuming that you don't have those, so you have to record 1 track at a time. Assuming for a second that the 424 is working fine, you will still have syncing issues because you won't be able to press record and play at exactly the same in the same place for each track.

Your best bet in this situation is to just record the 4 tracks independantly, then manually sync tracks 2, 3 & 4 in turn to track 1, using split events or drag & drop or whatever editing facilities PA7 provides you with
 
tried that too, with a yamaha four track. Speed of all tracks varied . Fucked up and beyond repair, while the yamaha was fine. I think minor variations in motor speed are to blaim.

Guhlenn
 
guhlenn said:
I think minor variations in motor speed are to blaim.
Click to expand...
Absolutely right! Even when you record tracks one by one from a digital workstation, they will drift apart due to the word-clock. But at least with digital equipment you can sync Sonar/PAx to the workstation.

You can do that with analog equipment too, but then you need to stripe the tape with SMTPE and have a soundcard (or another peace of equipment) that can read the SMTPE-code...
 
Hey Moskus, this caem quite as a shock. You say digital has the same problem? I just confirmed my purchase of a brand new computer to edit tracks i recorded on an AKAI DAW.. You're telling me that when i transport the 8 tracks two by two through the S/PDIF out i will have the same problem?

And what would the hardware cost to fix the problem :(
 
guhlenn said:
You're telling me that when i transport the 8 tracks two by two through the S/PDIF out i will have the same problem?
Click to expand...
Bingo!
:) or :( whatever the case might be... ;)


But surely the Akai will have an syncing option, SMTPE or MTC (midi)?
 
Tascam

Well, seeing as how I started this little discussion, I appreciate all the good advice, etc. but, last night the ol' Tascam went tits up in the middle of a project (GOD I WAS PISSED!!). So, seeing as how I'd been holding on to my income tax refund check for "whatever", it gave me the excuse to finally break down and go digital. I went and bought a Fostex MR-8 today. I'm pretty happy with it so far as it seems to be pretty user friendly, gonna have to go buy a bigger flashcard for it though, the one that came with it (128mb) ran out of space real quick. I hope it is relativly simple to upload my work to my computer so I can use my Cakewalk program for further mixing and editing..... If anybody has an MR-8 and has run into anything I should know about I'd appreciate that too....



Ace 'The Teleman'
 
moskus said:

But surely the Akai will have an syncing option, SMTPE or MTC (midi)?
Click to expand...

Syncing options? as in simple cable connectors or big ass SCSI cards that cost 350 ? I'm really unfamiliar with this, i'll check the site of Akai. Thanks though..

Guhlenn
 
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