Help with my 2488

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OFrankieJ

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My studio is in my basement and my computer is upstairs. Just wondering a few things before I have to go and move everything around and rearrange my entire house. I have the original Tascam 2488. Can I transfer raw multiple tracks to my computer through a flash drive or even a CD and then work on the tracks individually on my PC? Or do I have to hardwire my comp to my tascam? does anyone know?????
 
there are two options for transferring files from the tascam to the computer. either a usb wire connecting tascam to the computer, OR you can export your tracks to cd and then take the cd to the computer.
 
Sorry for not being more clear. The situation is this, my computer is a few rooms away from my studio set up. I just was wondering if i could use a flash drive to get my tracks to the computer. What I really want to know is this, is it possiable for me to record on my tascam and do some extra mixing and mastering on my computer, or is that two completely different processes?

I just want to know if its possiable before I go out and buy an expensive software package.
 
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Well, I don't mean to seem rude or ungrateful, but if it was clear to me I wouldn't have asked for clarification. If you are firmiliar with the 2488 you will probably already know that in order to burn a song to a CD, you must first master it. Once it is burned, it is a stero mix and no further editing of individual tracks is possiable. I already know this because I have been using my 2488 for about 3 years now. I was posting on this board because I was hoping there was some secret trick I was missing and some other helpful person would be able to help me. I didn't need the sarcasm. I learn new things about recording everyday. I am open to any help anyone has.

Thanks
 
OFrankieJ said:
Well, I don't mean to seem rude or ungrateful, but if it was clear to me I wouldn't have asked for clarification. If you are firmiliar with the 2488 you will probably already know that in order to burn a song to a CD, you must first master it. Once it is burned, it is a stero mix and no further editing of individual tracks is possiable. I already know this because I have been using my 2488 for about 3 years now. I was posting on this board because I was hoping there was some secret trick I was missing and some other helpful person would be able to help me. I didn't need the sarcasm. I learn new things about recording everyday. I am open to any help anyone has.

Thanks
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It isn't sarcasm. I was stating a fact. Nicole answered your question as clearly as possible.

Nobody said anything about mastering the song and transferring the 2-track. You simply export each track onto a CD, and bring it over to your PC. You'll have every individual track separated and ready to mix as you like.
 
you can export the individual tracks as well as the mastered tracks and both can be messed with with computer plugins. sound is just a signal and it can always be altered.
 
OFrankieJ said:
Well, I don't mean to seem rude or ungrateful, but if it was clear to me I wouldn't have asked for clarification. If you are firmiliar with the 2488 you will probably already know that in order to burn a song to a CD, you must first master it. Once it is burned, it is a stero mix and no further editing of individual tracks is possiable. I already know this because I have been using my 2488 for about 3 years now. I was posting on this board because I was hoping there was some secret trick I was missing and some other helpful person would be able to help me. I didn't need the sarcasm. I learn new things about recording everyday. I am open to any help anyone has.

Thanks
Click to expand...
Ok, here is the trick STOP IT!

You might say, oh, just stop it and that will work?

And yeah, STOP IT! DON"T BE RUDE AND UNGRATEFUL!

Now you're thinking ~just stop it and that will make it more clear and fix my problem?

And yeah, STOP IT! DON"T BE RUDE AND UNGRATEFUL!

or I'll turn your tascam into a machine that can only export mastered songs!!!:D

Take a stress pill and start over.

RTFM! If you had done that to begin with we wouldn't be having this conversation.
 
Export as WAV files to use with PC software

You cannot work with TASCAM's native format files on a PC. If you want to mix/edit/master on a PC using something like ProTools, Sonar, Cakewalk, etc, you need to put the files in a format they will understand.

Wave (.wav) files

I also have an original 2488 and I use this technique to export files both to my PC and to a pro engineer who then uses his gear to master my work that I've recorded on the 2488.

After you have recorded your tracks (and I suggest recording as "dry" as possible, and as "hot" as possible without clipping), follow the instructions in Section 6 for "File Import/Export" (pp 68-69). You can export to USB (via the FAT partition), but in your case, due to geography, export to CD.

So far, I have exported as many as 29 tracks to CD, loaded them on my PC, and imported them into various PC software applications for further mixing and mastering. Remember that the 2488 has 250 virtual tracks available to you. If you have a lot of tracks, or a very long song, or a lot of edits, the track files will be large and you may have to export via multiple CDs (you can select which tracks to export).

When you import the .wav files on your PC, the files are named TRACKxxx.wav (xxx being the track number from the TASCAM). Because all the tracks start at clock tick 0.0.0.1, they are all synched up when you import them into the PC software.

Good luck...let me know how it goes.

Coop
 
bcooper153 said:
You cannot work with TASCAM's native format files on a PC.
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Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean, I don't know why you say that. The 2488's audio files ARE Wav. files. No need to convert them.
I suggest recording as......."hot" as possible without clipping),
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No. You need to leave headroom. The theory of recording "hot" as possible doesn't apply to 24 bit digital. It was valid with analog and maybe to a certain extent 16bit digital. But with 24bit digital, you shouldn't be recording as hot as possible. There's no need to peak anywhere past -6db.
 
RAMI said:
Unless I'm misunderstanding what you mean, I don't know why you say that. The 2488's audio files ARE Wav. files. No need to convert them.
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I think what he is refering to is the process you have to go through to convert your tracks to wav files before you can export them, whether it be your master track or virtual tracks. The tracks aren't wave files until you convert them for exporting.
 
NYMorningstar said:
I think what he is refering to is the process you have to go through to convert your tracks to wav files before you can export them, whether it be your master track or virtual tracks. The tracks aren't wave files until you convert them for exporting.
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Oh, you mean transferring them to the FAT partition??? Right. I actually thought they were wav. files anyway, and just needed to be transferred to the hard-drive. But you're both probably right about what you're saying.
 
True...

Regarding headroom, yes -6b is adequate. My concern there is that you must record hot enough to overcome the noise floor resulting from your sound sources and cables. Analog or digital, disk or tape, 16 or 20 or 24-bit, noise is noise.

- - - - -

I have been told that some issues of the 2488 user manual provide instructions for wave file export that would result in only exporting one track at a time. If you highlight a track and select "YES/ENTER", the 2488 will proceed to export the highlighted track. Using the same procedure for multiple selections in other commands, you may highlight a track, select "INSERT", highlight another track, select "INSERT" and repeat as necessary, selecting "YES/ENTER" when you are ready to export. You can "de-select" a selected track by highlighting it and selecting "INSERT".
 
bcooper153 said:
Regarding headroom, yes -6b is adequate. My concern there is that you must record hot enough to overcome the noise floor resulting from your sound sources and cables. Analog or digital, disk or tape, 16 or 20 or 24-bit, noise is noise.
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Exactly. Noise is noise. So turning up your level to record as "hot as possible" simply turns up the noise from your sound sources and cables, etc. at the same time. It doesn't accomplish anything as far as reducing noise floor, in fact it actually turns up the noise.

The reason we used to record "as hot as possible" when using tape was to overcome the noise produced BY THE TAPE ITSELF. Tape noise isn't an issue in 24bit digital recording, so not only is peaking WELL BELOW zero adequate, it's the proper way to track.



I have been told that some issues of the 2488 user manual provide instructions for wave file export that would result in only exporting one track at a time. If you highlight a track and select "YES/ENTER", the 2488 will proceed to export the highlighted track. Using the same procedure for multiple selections in other commands, you may highlight a track, select "INSERT", highlight another track, select "INSERT" and repeat as necessary, selecting "YES/ENTER" when you are ready to export. You can "de-select" a selected track by highlighting it and selecting "INSERT".
Click to expand...

Good advice. That's the way to export multiple tracks.
 
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bcooper153 said:
I have been told that some issues of the 2488 user manual provide instructions for wave file export that would result in only exporting one track at a time. If you highlight a track and select "YES/ENTER", the 2488 will proceed to export the highlighted track.
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When you highlight a track for export and press enter, it simply places a checkmark next to that track. You can do that repeatedly until you select as many tracks you want and then export them all together.
 
NYMorningstar said:
When you highlight a track for export and press enter, it simply places a checkmark next to that track. You can do that repeatedly until you select as many tracks you want and then export them all together.
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Isn't that what he said??? I'm slow.:eek:
 
RAMI said:
Isn't that what he said??? I'm slow.:eek:
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In retrospect, I think he is talking about different issues of the manual which I didn't know even existed. Then he started talking about other commands like "INSERT" which is where I got lost. I shouldn't talk before I'm on my second cup of java :D
 
NYMorningstar said:
In retrospect, I think he is talking about different issues of the manual which I didn't know even existed. Then he started talking about other commands like "INSERT" which is where I got lost. I shouldn't talk before I'm on my second cup of java :D
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Actually, it is the "INSERT" button, not the "ENTER" button, that you have to hit to place the check marks.

"INSERT/MOVE" to be precise. That's the one you have to hit to put the check marks beside the tracks you want to export.

The "ENTER" button is the same as the "YES" button. That's the one you want to hit after you've selected all the tracks you want to export. :)
 
guys, why aren't people talking about the usb transfer process? didn't peoples in this thread say you have to burn to cd to transfer to the computer?

not true. all of the multi-insert-clicking is correct, then you plugin the usb cable and away it goes, transferring files to your system.

this is NOT based on my personal use of the box, I'm getting one next week (a mk1). but I've read and been told that's how it works and that the resulting files are wavs is what I understood.

cheers,
Don
 
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