Getting six tracks straight out of a 788... question

F

Frank Wild

New member
Let's assume that my CD burner, which played nicely with my 788 a few months ago, is not going to stop putting the Tascam into PANIC anytime soon.
I'm fairly sure that there's a way to get six tracks straight from the 788 onto my Macintosh, but I am bewildered by the routing scheme.
You probably know that there's STEREO OUTPUT and MONITOR OUTPUT and AUX OUTPUT, so that suggests it should be possible to get six tracks straight out -left and right for each output.
And that's not even including the S/PDIF output.

Maybe an expert here could give me instructions for doing this. I have the manual; it's not helping me much.
 
spantini said:
See if this addendum to the user manual has any useful info. This covers Importing/Exporting wav files via CD.

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Thank for this. It updates my paper manual. I have also tried the WAV export function, but the problem is that the 788 and the CD burner (which still worked a year ago) are not getting along. Since posting, I discovered that the 788 can read CDs from my CD drive. It's the writing that triggers a system panic as much in WAV export mode as in Backup Data mode, which I often used in the past. I also figured out a way to get six audio tracks out of the 788, which I'm happy to share if someone wants it.
 
You might want to post your method, as there surely will be someone else who wants to do the same thing someday. Share the wealth, as they say.
 
TalismanRich said:
You might want to post your method, as there surely will be someone else who wants to do the same thing someday. Share the wealth, as they say.
Click to expand...
No problem! People who understand the machine well will find this redundant, but it would have saved me a lot of time.

HOW TO SET UP THE TASCAM 788 TO OUTPUT SIX ANALOG TRACKS

Pair tracks 1/2, 3/4, and 5/6 (manual p. 41)
Click SEND.
Click SELECT for channel 1. Set both EFF and AUX to OFF (not PST or PRE).
Click SELECT for channel 3. Set AUX to OFF. Set EFF to PST and level to 127 (full).
Click SELECT for channel 5. Set EFF to OFF. Set AUX to PST and level to 127 (full).
Click STEREO and choose TRK1/2 with the jog wheel.
Now unpair 3/4 and 5/6 if you want individual fader control over those tracks.
Plug headphones into the 788. Play a recording with sound on all six tracks. Faders 3-6 are live.
Use SELECT in the monitor section: you should hear tracks 1 and 2 only on STEREO, tracks 3 and 4 only on EFF SEND, and tracks 5 and 6 only on AUX OUT.

Make the six connections to STEREO OUPUT, MONITOR OUTPUT, and AUX OUTPUT.
Be sure to select EFF SEND in the monitor section and use the level knob as another fader!
STEREO OUPUT will carry tracks 1 & 2 only.
MONITOR OUTPUT will carry 3 & 4 only.
AUX OUTPUT will carry 5 & 6 only.
(In this setup, you can use DIGITAL OUTPUT instead of STEREO OUTPUT; the S/PDIF digital carries whatever is on the STEREO bus. I'm using a ProFire 610, so this was my only option for six channels of input on the computer side.)
 
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Nicely done. I had to dump some tracks from my old AW16G and ended up dumping 2 tracks to CDRW at a time. I had 3 long 8 track sessions but everything was easily dumped into my DAW afterwards, so I ended up with workable recordings. It just a long time, with CDRW erasures and writes being the issue. You set up a write, go wash the car or do the dishes and come back later, swap discs and go again.
 
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