in the fog

[dvantone]

greetings... can you help?
was given a tascam portastudio424mk11 on my birthday
i want to record to my p/c that has a 5.1 sound card. And I dont know if there are other components that I will require in order to transfer the recorded music from the Tascam. Any thoughts? Please help for we are sick of being in this damn fog. Visited "Tweakheadz" site and found they were very informative and helpfull but we are unfortunately still in the fog. Thanks for any help, input (or fog lights) you may have. Peace.

The EmTees

 

[Tifstorey]

Hi,

Due to it being a fully integrated little bit of kit, the only thing you can really do is route it into your computer after it's been recorded on the cassette.

What you'll need to do is run a cable from the main outs on your Portastudio to the input on your computer. I don't know what the connections you have are, but it'll most likely be 2x 1/8" jack (Portastudio) to a single trs 1/8" jack (Computer).

http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/item--HOSCMP15 < Then just get 2 small adapters to change the 1/4" connections into the smaller 1/8"
You can no doubt get one cable, but i couldn't find one in a quick search in google. Hopefully someone can link one?


If your soundcard isn't brilliant then the sound quality could decrease, and like i say - you wouldn't have much control over it due to the equipment you have has been designed specifically to be used on it's own without the need of a computer.

To record the sound into the computer, you could either record it whilst you're recording into the portastudio, or just play it all once you've recorded it and record on your PC (Recommended)

Hope that helped a little,

Edit: Just read your post again to see you wanted to just transfer the recorded audio over. So yeah, that cable should do the trick ^

 

[dvantone]

Thanks Man

We sure do appreciate your your advise aqnd knowledge Tifstorey. You sure seem to know what your talking about. Will it be ok to contact you again via e-mail if we need further advise? Also, would you happen to have a suggestion for a soundcard? Thanks again.

-The EmTees-

 

[Tifstorey]

No problem, and of course your more than welcome to email me, although posting it on the forums would give it more of a chance to be answered.

Regarding sound cards, it all depends on your budget really. I'm assuming you'll be recording on the porta studio and then running it through into your computer? If that's the case, you won't need more than 2 inputs, so this should do the trick: http://www.maudio.co.uk/products/en_gb/Audiophile2496-main.html

Nice quality and a nice price for what it is. If you do buy that though, you'll have to get a different cable to connect it to your computer. (2x 1/8" > 2x RCA)

Tif

 

[dvantone]

almost thru the fog

Hey Tif,
thanks 4 advice on M-AUDIO2496 SOUND CARD almost bid on one on E-BAY until i read they don't perform well w/ dual core processors (of which I have) any thoughts?

thanks again,

 

[Tifstorey]

Hey Tif,
thanks 4 advice on M-AUDIO2496 SOUND CARD almost bid on one on E-BAY until i read they don't perform well w/ dual core processors (of which I have) any thoughts?

Where's the source you got saying they don't perform well with dual cores? If that's the case, then obviously it's not worth buying it, but i've never heard anything about them performing badly with dual cores, especially if it's a 64bit. What's your budget for a new card?

 

[dvantone]

RE:dual cores

Hey there Tif!,
Thanks again for the quick response.
I read about the dual core problem on the tweakheadz web site
(cant remember where) but if you think its not a problem i'll
have a closer look. Wanna kep it under $100 as i'm kinda new
at this. Can you explain the difference between "interface" &
"sound card" Keep in mind i've already got the Tascam
portastudio.
as always,
thanks again for your help
theEmTees

 

[Tifstorey]

Well, it's more than likely correct if you heard it off tweakheadz. Never heard of it myself though, might be worth checking M Audio out to see if there's any drivers due to update it?

Regarding sound cards and interfaces, they're more or less the same. Sound cards are plainly just sound cards. Interfaces are external sound cards or breakout boxes (Routed into a PCI/PCI-X card) that have things to help you control the sound, ie. master output, input 1 volume, headphone volume etc.

Your Portastudio is a multi-track recorder, which is done 'in the box' rather than routed to software on your computer to record the signal.

Just had a quick scan on the internet and there's this: http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/flypage/product_id/3844 that seems pretty good.

PCI cards: http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/?m_ma...53c5c7176f09b16180db6148194&filter_type=basic

All others (Firewire, USB):
http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/page/shop/browse/category_id/9f73a8ba694fa4af34e42f1936f270a5

Realise i'm in English pounds there, don't know an equivalent for you guys across the pond.. Either way, it's a good site to reference the different types of gear out there.