Just got a 388, help?

[iconoclaST520]

Agh...
Well, I'm more than thrilled that someone gave me their Tascam 388 that's been well cared for, and has seen about 20-30 hours of total use. I have the original manual as well, but I've tried the steps laid out in the part where it says to record "1..3..5..7..9..." in the mic, and while I get a reading on the meters, anything I record doesn't play back. So far, I'm going to assume I'm doing something wrong.

Would anyone here happen to know anything about the 388? Perhaps some suggestions as to what I'm doing wrong?

 

[A Reel Person]

Well, congrats. Free is good.

For a quick recording TEST:

~ Connect mic into the XLR mic input
(An instrument cable or 1/4" mic cable can be plugged into the XLR input with an adapter, plus there's the onboard 1/4" Line input for line level inputs)

~ Select Input (switch) to Mic

~ Rotate Trim fully CCW to start

~ Bring up channel fader to shaded zone

~ Bring up Master PGM-L/R faders to shaded zone

~ Depress all 4 (white) Assign Buttons (1-8)

~ Put PAN control in the center position

~ Make sure the (red) Stereo L/R Assign button is NOT selected

~ Depress all 8 (red) Rec-Funct buttons

~ Speak into the mic & you should see a minimal signal on all 8 PGM meters. Rotate the Trim control CW to boost mic gain. If you want to drive to preamps higher, you'll want to bring down the channel-fader first, adjust the Trim to just before OL, then bring up the fader again.

~ Record
~ Stop
~ Rewind

! Un-Select the Rec-Funct switches to the up position

~ Play

! Bring up the recorded tracks' playback volume in the headphones by using the Monitor section (white knobs), in combination with the headphone master volume knob on the lower right, selected to "Stereo".

More tips:

Listen to tracks played back thru the Monitor section when overdubbing, while simultaneously using the Main mixer section for inputs. This provides a proper isolation between the input and output audio traffic on the board.

When tracks are recorded & final mixdown comes, you will likely want to switch the Main mixer section to Tape and use the full mixer for remix.

I can't recall all the specifics, but pressing a combination of (white) PGM Assign buttons, the (red) Stereo L/R Assign button (I think in combination with a Rec-Funct button) will cause the 388 to go into auto-mute, which prevents an internal feedback loop from developing.

*** Off the top of my head, that should give you all 8 tracks recorded simultaneously, then played back thru the monitor. I'll try to verify it hands on later.

 

[iconoclaST520]

Thanks!!!
That did it!

I also noticed much better quality after I cleaned all the rollers and heads with isopropanol.

Now, the fun is about to begin

 

[A Reel Person]

And...

you saved $450 bucks!

 

[iconoclaST520]

Funny, because I just so happened to be watching that auction just in case this one didn't work