Connecting my Tascam 388 with my Presonus Firepod

[WhinyLittleRunt]

I just began the wiring phase of my new little home studio.

My goal is to record everything in analog on the 388, then be able to bounce all tracks simultaneously to the Firepod into Logic for finalization. I have basically set up shop like this:

-XLR panel on studio wall with 8 XLR inputs and one headphone jack.
-Panel connects to the 8 mic inputs on the 388, headphone jack to a stereo cable into the phones input.
-Main outs from the 388 to my monitors, the RCA main outs to a stereo receiver AUX input.
-Stereo receiver has speaker wires running to terminals on the control room wall that terminate on the other side (live room) to two standard stereo speakers, used for playback monitoring.
-Individual "Tape Outs" from all 8 channels on a snake to the Presonus Firepod's 8 inputs (front inputs, unfortunately)

1. Is there a way to separate the balanced main outs and the RCAs? In other words, if I wanted to monitor in both places it's fine. If I wanted to monitor just in the control room it's fine too. If I wanted to monitor just in the live room, I can't shut off the control room monitors unless I physically turn them off. I have made them a bit of a hassle to get behind so I was hoping there was a kill switch somewhere on the 388 but I'm not hopeful...

2. The tape outs on the individual tracks are really just the individual channel outputs, right? I'm guessing this will work fine to the Firepod...

3. If I wanted to route the playback from the computer (or any audio from the computer) through my monitoring system, I'm guessing I'd have to run the outputs of the Firepod to somewhere on the 388... anyone know where that somewhere is?

I know it's not an ideal setup but I'm trying to work with what I have, and the computer was really the least of my worries, but if it's there I'd imagine it would be smart to be able to monitor its audio through my playback system also... Any tips would be appreciated. I'll get some pics uploaded soon.

 

[sweetbeats]

1. No way to separate the source of the RCA and XLR STEREO OUT jacks without surgery. Your control room monitors should be connected to the MONITOR OUT jacks, the live room to the STEREO OUT jacks. That is how you separate them because those outputs have separate level controls.

2. The TAPE OUT jacks source direct from each tape track right off the playback amp. If you want to transfer tracks from the 388 to the DAW "wet" with 388 eq and such then it would be best to use the BUSS OUT jacks. When transferring you would set channels 1-8 to RMX (which sources the tape tracks 1-8) and then buss each channel individually to a corresponding buss (i.e. assign channel 1 to buss 1-2 and pan hard left, assign channel 2 to buss 1-2 and pan hard right, and so on up to channel 8 assigned to buss 7-8 and panned hard right). If you want the most direct transfer of those tape tracks then, yes, use the TAPE OUT jacks, but if you want to be able to ride the faders and/or maximize and control each tape track's signal level going to the DAW then you want to use the BUSS OUT jacks.

3. STEREO BUSS IN jacks.

Its actually a completely fine setup (in response to your comment "its not an ideal setup". Tascam was nice to include features like the above input and output patch points on the 388 in order to interface it with an external mixer which, in this case, is your DAW interface.

Yes DIM or MUTE functions would be nice on the MONITOR OUT jacks but you've got a knob you can turn down.

[EDIT]

In retrospect, my response to #1, I realize what I said doesn't solve the problem of killing the audio to the live room. The 388 wasn't really built to address two monitoring areas. If it was me I'd hook it up like I said and then get something like THIS to kill the signal to the live room amp when not needed.

 

[WhinyLittleRunt]

Cool, thanks Sweet...

My biggest problem when I do this kind of thing is that I rush to get it done and get everything set up and in place (OCD-ish) so it makes it harder for me later on to fix something when I have a revelation I need to build a 4-legged stand to custom fit the 388, because it weighs a ton and I have it perfectly sandwiched between a bumpy concrete wall and half of a glass computer desk, which is also just perfect to the other wall (looks better than it sounds; worked out well). So I have no play with it, and it's on a double X stand at the moment so bringing it out to get to the back sucks. If I can build something that has wheels and fits the same width I'll be golden. Then I can get into the patch points easier...

I did read through the manual last night and I had forgotten about both the Monitor outs and the stereo buss ins. Had I not already done the above, I might not have wasted anyone's time!

I tested with the direct tape outs last night into Logic, and it worked, but I'm glad you just said something about not having any control over the channels because I noticed the faders and master LR weren't affecting anything! I will reconnect everything to the BUSS outputs. I was like, 'this sounds lousy...' haha.

 

[WhinyLittleRunt]

One thing that still irritates me about the Firepod is that it doesn't have 8 1/4" line inputs in the back, only outputs. Something doesn't feel right about running my tape outputs back into more preamps...

 

[steviejingles]

I use this setup all the time for transferring 388 tracks to Cubase for mixing/adding tracks.

Since I'm not worried about using the 388s mixer when I do this, I just go from the 8 RCA Tape Outs on each channel to the 8 line inputs on the Firepod. I'm not sure if there are different models, but mine definitely has 1/4" Line Inputs. Channel 1 & 2 on the Firepod have Line Inputs on the back, while 2-6 use the front inputs, which are all line inputs when you use 1/4" cables instead of XLR.

Hope that helps.

 

[sweetbeats]

One thing that still irritates me about the Firepod is that it doesn't have 8 1/4" line inputs in the back, only outputs. Something doesn't feel right about running my tape outputs back into more preamps...

Line inputs 1 and 2 are on the back of the Firepod, and line inputs 3 through 8 are on the front using the 1/4" phone jacks on the combo connectors.