Can I use 2 Tascam 16x08 to record 10 Channels Simultaneously?

[goochusmaximus]

Hello im new to recording (i have some experience doing simple things like 1 vocal + 1 Acoustic Guitar) and im not sure how to go about recording my band live (we are a Trio). I used Cubase LE 8.5, i was wondering if i could hook up 2 Tascam 16x08 to be able to record 10 Channels simultaneously. 7 will be with drum mics 2 will be for guitar and 1 for bass. If not could you help point me in a direction to be able to record 10 channels at the same time?

 

[ecc83]

No, whilst it IS possible to run multiple USB AIs (done it, lost the hair) they will not be in sync and you will have dire mixdown issues!

I hope you have not bought the two Tascams yet? (if so there is a kludge) What you need is either a pre amp with the two extra mic channels or, even more flexible IMHO a mixer, but one with channel "Inserts", better would be "Direct Outs" but they are usually only found on expensive units.

The mixer can feed the line inputs on the AI. You will need some special TRS to TS jack to jack cables to go from insert to line in* . In fact many bands already own a mixer if only to handle vocal PA?

I will say, and so will others, setting up and running a multi-mic/multitrack recording is quite a task and you will need a fairly large room and for quite a long time! You might be better to use the money to get a professional studio to do the work? Also, if you still have a 2 track recording facility Google "Co-I stereo recording" Such a rig set up in a decent room can give good results IF you are a good, well balanced group.

*Hobby horse a'trottin'! Save time and money by learning to solder and some very basic electrical skills.

Dave.

 

[ashcat_lt]

If you really needed to, you could use XLR>TRS to cram the extra mics into the 1/4" line holes. It's not best practice and could be noisier that absolutely necessary, but with sensitive mics (not SM57/58) and loud sources that are already noisy (guitar amps), you can often get away with it.

If you can buy or borrow something with the extra preamps, it would probably be better, but two interfaces just isn't at all fun to mess with.

 

[ecc83]

If you really needed to, you could use XLR>TRS to cram the extra mics into the 1/4" line holes. It's not best practice and could be noisier that absolutely necessary, but with sensitive mics (not SM57/58) and loud sources that are already noisy (guitar amps), you can often get away with it.

If you can buy or borrow something with the extra preamps, it would probably be better, but two interfaces just isn't at all fun to mess with.

You can actually get XLR to jack stepup transformers that will give about 15 to 20dB of gain into a line input. They are pretty cheap (~ £10) and thus not of super quality but probably fine for electric guitar, kick drum etc.

Dave.

 

[jimmys69]

Hello im new to recording (i have some experience doing simple things like 1 vocal + 1 Acoustic Guitar) and im not sure how to go about recording my band live (we are a Trio). I used Cubase LE 8.5, i was wondering if i could hook up 2 Tascam 16x08 to be able to record 10 Channels simultaneously. 7 will be with drum mics 2 will be for guitar and 1 for bass. If not could you help point me in a direction to be able to record 10 channels at the same time?

Tascam drivers do not allow combining two units. Even if they did, Cubase would kill it anyway. You would need two external (stereo) preamps and one with digital outs, just to get to the 16 available with the single Tascam. Not the best investment.

If you really feel you need 10 or 16 tracks, find a different 8 channel interface that has ADAT inputs.

Or just screw around with mixing things half assed with a mixer and dump it in...

 

[DM60]

Am I missing something? Can't the 16X08 record 16 channels? 10 channels with preamps, 8 with XLR, two 1/4" and then 6 with 1/4". Those can be feed by a mixer or something with a preamp to give a total of 16. No need for two.

Maybe I didn't read the OP correctly.

 

[jimmys69]

Am I missing something? Can't the 16X08 record 16 channels? 10 channels with preamps, 8 with XLR, two 1/4" and then 6 with 1/4". Those can be feed by a mixer or something with a preamp to give a total of 16. No need for two.

Maybe I didn't read the OP correctly.

No, you are correct. I just lost my ability to do math...

 

[jimmys69]

And that is what threw me off. I was looking at 10 tracks and the adding of a second Tascam. My bad.

That is not possible. But 16 is. Hell, I did it for a few years. I have a ART TPS2 for sale. lol

 

[ecc83]

"---Quote (Originally by ecc83)---
You can actually get XLR to jack stepup transformers that will give about 15 to 20dB of gain into a line input. They are pretty cheap (~ £10) and thus not of super quality but probably fine for electric guitar, kick drum etc.

Dave.
---End Quote---
Um, dood. That is not the question nor anywhere near what the OP asked...."


***************

Been deleted for some reason I know but my reply was actually complimentary to Ashcats post, not the OP's

Dave.

 

[Guitargodgt]

I have no idea why you can't just take the line outs on one unit and run it to the line inputs on channels 9-16 on the other device. Just use short TRS cable. The only thing I can think of that might botch this is clock and if the unit can run in stand alone mode (hopefully it's powered by an adapter and not the USB bus).

I also have no idea why this would be noisy? Seriously how do you think high end preamps are patched into professional gear guys (ok clock is usually involved but 90% of the pro studio stuff I have worked with has been analog connections)? lol


Anyhow the issue you might run into, and I can't find the information, is how many PHYSICAL inputs and outputs you can have inside cubase. LE is pretty limited and it wouldn't shock me in the least if they ganked it down to 8 ins and 8 outs.


Also, I have no idea how monitoring is done on the alesis. You may find limitations there as well.

 

[jimmys69]

I have no idea why you can't just take the line outs on one unit and run it to the line inputs on channels 9-16 on the other device. Just use short TRS cable. The only thing I can think of that might botch this is clock and if the unit can run in stand alone mode (hopefully it's powered by an adapter and not the USB bus).

I also have no idea why this would be noisy? Seriously how do you think high end preamps are patched into professional gear guys (ok clock is usually involved but 90% of the pro studio stuff I have worked with has been analog connections)? lol


Anyhow the issue you might run into, and I can't find the information, is how many PHYSICAL inputs and outputs you can have inside cubase. LE is pretty limited and it wouldn't shock me in the least if they ganked it down to 8 ins and 8 outs.


Also, I have no idea how monitoring is done on the alesis. You may find limitations there as well.

I could be wrong, but from my experience with the previous Tascam US1800, there is no direct output to the line outs without using the driver in DAW. The fact that you can't run two instances of any ASIO driver in Cubase means that a second unit would be worthless. Again, this may be different with the 16x08. I could be wrong.

There is still ability to record 16 tracks at once with the unit.

I must have missed something as I am not sure where the mention of 'Alesis' came into play here.

---------- Update ----------

"---Quote (Originally by ecc83)---
You can actually get XLR to jack stepup transformers that will give about 15 to 20dB of gain into a line input. They are pretty cheap (~ £10) and thus not of super quality but probably fine for electric guitar, kick drum etc.

Dave.
---End Quote---
Um, dood. That is not the question nor anywhere near what the OP asked...."


***************

Been deleted for some reason I know but my reply was actually complimentary to Ashcats post, not the OP's

Dave.

What was deleted?

 

[ashcat_lt]

My US1641 makes horrible noises if it is powered up but not connected to a running computer. Like, if I shut off the computer and leave the interface on, it makes these intermittent bursts of noise. Maybe that's changed for the 16x08, but I'd actually be very surprised if that unit works in any kind of standalone capacity where you could get away with patching the outs from one to the ins on another. I just don't think those inputs are really connected to the independent outputs via any analog audio path. There must be an analog mixer for the direct monitoring to work, but I still don't think it will work.

What was deleted?

Pretty sure it was whichever post said "Um, dood..."

 

[ecc83]

My US1641 makes horrible noises if it is powered up but not connected to a running computer. Like, if I shut off the computer and leave the interface on, it makes these intermittent bursts of noise. Maybe that's changed for the 16x08, but I'd actually be very surprised if that unit works in any kind of standalone capacity where you could get away with patching the outs from one to the ins on another. I just don't think those inputs are really connected to the independent outputs via any analog audio path. There must be an analog mixer for the direct monitoring to work, but I still don't think it will work.

Ah! "Stand alone" operation. IF the OP already has the two AIs or access to them it might be possible to run one of them on a "clunker" PC?
By that I mean any old gash laptop that would not have the power for complex, multitrack working but might at least allow a second unit to run and therefore act as a second set of mic amps?

Total bodge and botheration I agree but if that's what you gotta do??

Dave.

 

[Guitargodgt]

Well the physical connections are there so I went to look at the manual, page 13:

The unit will operate in a mode called Mic Preamp mode when it is not connected to a computer through a usb cable.

In this mode you can use it as a stand alone mic preamp without using a computer or the like.

<chart showing that inputs to outputs are fixed to their correlating numbers so pre one to line out 1 etc...>

You can adjust the output level of each channel using the gain knob of the corresponding channel.

So yeah boom, just do what I said. Plug one into your computer. Plug the other into the wall. using short TRS cable connect line outputs on the one that is not connected to a computer to the line inputs 9-16 on the one that is connected to your computer.

 

[Guitargodgt]

Now this is IMO of course but if you have not purchased 2 of them I would look at something else like a used presonus digimax D8 on ebay.

The reason I recommend that over another tascam is because down the road should you upgrade the tascam, the d8 is likely to upgrade with you while another tascam probably wont.

 

[Guitargodgt]

Oh and in terms of cabling, something like this should do fine I think.

https://www.amazon.com/Livewire-TRS...id=1480048642&sr=8-7&keywords=trs+patch+cable

 

[TheMaartian]

The 16x08 does have 16 inputs, but only 8 mic preamps. If the OP needs to record more than 8 mics, you can do that easily with 2 US-16x08 boxes. You connect one via USB to your DAW and leave the other with no USB connection. It will then default to an 8-mic preamp, with inputs 1-8 connected directly to line outs 1-8. Those line outs can then be patched to the USB-connected interface's line inputs (9-16). Easy peasy.

Go to the Tascam US-16x08 Getting Started page and scroll to the bottom to check out this blog post.

Introduction of US-16x08 in the Home Studio of Masayuki Muraishi

Product: US-16x08 | TASCAM

And if you haven't noticed, Tascam have posted the v2.0 driver for the US-NxN line. The US-16-08 and US-20x20 drivers pick up a new Mixer Driver feature that uses WDM. While not ASIO multiclient, you can connect your DAW via low latency ASIO, and connect Windows audio to the higher latency Mixing driver (10.x mS latency vs. 16.x mS for me for one specific measured route; still tolerable, since I use the Mixing driver only when I want Windows audio played through my Tascam i/f, to, for example, play a Groove3 video while I have SONAR open).

 

[jimmys69]

The 16x08 does have 16 inputs, but only 8 mic preamps. If the OP needs to record more than 8 mics, you can do that easily with 2 US-16x08 boxes. You connect one via USB to your DAW and leave the other with no USB connection. It will then default to an 8-mic preamp, with inputs 1-8 connected directly to line outs 1-8. Those line outs can then be patched to the USB-connected interface's line inputs (9-16). Easy peasy.

Go to the Tascam US-16x08 Getting Started page and scroll to the bottom to check out this blog post.

Introduction of US-16x08 in the Home Studio of Masayuki Muraishi

Product: US-16x08 | TASCAM

And if you haven't noticed, Tascam have posted the v2.0 driver for the US-NxN line. The US-16-08 and US-20x20 drivers pick up a new Mixer Driver feature that uses WDM. While not ASIO multiclient, you can connect your DAW via low latency ASIO, and connect Windows audio to the higher latency Mixing driver (10.x mS latency vs. 16.x mS for me for one specific measured route; still tolerable, since I use the Mixing driver only when I want Windows audio played through my Tascam i/f, to, for example, play a Groove3 video while I have SONAR open).

Good to know that things have changed. I moved on from the 1641/1800 long before this happened.

Great to hear!

 

[Possum_84]

The 16x08 does have 16 inputs, but only 8 mic preamps. If the OP needs to record more than 8 mics, you can do that easily with 2 US-16x08 boxes. You connect one via USB to your DAW and leave the other with no USB connection. It will then default to an 8-mic preamp, with inputs 1-8 connected directly to line outs 1-8. Those line outs can then be patched to the USB-connected interface's line inputs (9-16). Easy peasy.

Go to the Tascam US-16x08 Getting Started page and scroll to the bottom to check out this blog post.

Introduction of US-16x08 in the Home Studio of Masayuki Muraishi

Product: US-16x08 | TASCAM

And if you haven't noticed, Tascam have posted the v2.0 driver for the US-NxN line. The US-16-08 and US-20x20 drivers pick up a new Mixer Driver feature that uses WDM. While not ASIO multiclient, you can connect your DAW via low latency ASIO, and connect Windows audio to the higher latency Mixing driver (10.x mS latency vs. 16.x mS for me for one specific measured route; still tolerable, since I use the Mixing driver only when I want Windows audio played through my Tascam i/f, to, for example, play a Groove3 video while I have SONAR open).

Hey-total newb to these forums but I am in a pickle! I bought a task him 16 X08 for my main pre-amp & bought the 4 x 4 task him because it was less money and I didn’t need a second 16x08… but now I’m faced with a huge problem.
I need to connect the task him 16 x 8 and the task him 04x04… I was told by the very curt gentleman at task him I have a couple options, the first being the ASI oh for all driver as I have a PC with 16 gigs of RAM, close to 5 yards I I was told by the very curt gentleman at task him I have a couple options, the first being the ASI oh for all driver as I have a PC with 16gb RAM, close to 5gHz and a 1.5TB SSD w/ a 2TB drive so my pc only has to run the software …

Other than that I was told I would have to send the line out one and two from the US 4 x 4 into inputs 11 and 12 on the 16 x 8… I have no idea if I would continue to get mono tracks but my drum kit right now requires 11 bare minimum XLR mic ins (which I SHOULD have on the 16 x 8 combined with the 04x04 But apparently only Apple computers will allow to preempt to be installed at once… I hate Apple so much because they are so goddamn expensive excuse my French I am poor as hell I am on disability I have autism and to make matters worse I barely make $700 a month USD… I had been saving for over a year to get these two preamp’s and now that they’re here a few months ago by and what I thought were my sure fire Bettbut apparently only Apple computers will allow two preamp‘s to be installed at once… I hate Apple so much because they are so goddamn expensive excuse my French I am poor as hell I am on disability I have autism and to make matters worse I barely make $700 a month USD… I had been saving for over a year to get these two preamp‘s and now that they’re here a few months ago by and what I thought were my “surefire bets”Are, with the exception of the 16 x 8, garbage considering I’ve gone past the period of time in which I could return it and get a refund… Sweetwater did not tell me I could not of them up together even when I asked them directly because I told them “this is what I need to do to microphone present wants the same but I don’t need to eat channels” Brian StokeAre, with the exception of the 16 x 8, garbage considering I’ve gone past the period of time in which I could return it and get a refund… Sweetwater did not tell me I could not of them up together even when I asked them directly because I told Sweetwater personally what I need to do to use the two tascam pres @ the same time but I *don’t need nor can afford* two 8-channel pres! I said all that & more. “You are a-okay my man, those are just the same model one has eight channels and one has four you can plug them both into the same computer as long as it has the right specifications and a i5 - i7 - Plus I would recommend getting a USB 3.0 hub, that could make it even easier just make sure it has the SS 3.0 or C in place but still they’re both the same model the drivers will match your PC you’ll be able to run this and multiple other programs with the specifications you’ve given me! If only Apple made computers this powerful …” -that was from a recorded conversation with me and Ben Stokes of Sweetwater. I will always remember his name and not for a good reason

I’m sorry about the rant, that’s the hardest part of being on the spectrum for me…blabbing on & on.

But this - this is potentially a catastrophe for me as I cannot return or refund or exchange for anything (credit or refund or whatever) so…
Either I’m stuck with a piece of trash or there’s got to be away!

Hey now! Hep me! Hep me!

Thx,
Steph Elliot aka Possum aka the ElliotTet
Saemusic84@yahoo.com
Stephen.Elliot84@gmail.com
978-958-2098 (my temporary Google voice number - it gets texts and calls though!)
Talk soon???

 

[mjbphotos]

You should be able to run 8 mics into the 16x08, and 3 mics into the 4x4, then use the 3 line-outs from the 4x4 to 3 of the line-ins of the 16x08.