Need some help with a 414...

[Dondello]

Hi! I've been recording stuff for awhile, but it was all on the computer (hehehe, if you want to hear it, email me ) and recently, to decide whether I wanted one, I rented a Tascam 414 for a month. So far I love it, I mean, I -wanted- that analog sound. Frankly, I was SICK of 48khz beyond-cd-quality sound! Anyway, I got no manual with it, so there are a couple things I'm not quite catching...
1) Can I bounce internally, or do I need another recording device?
2) WHY DOESN'T PAN WORK? Why is my headphone jack in MONO?
3) I don't entirely understand the 1-L 2-R 3-L 4-R thing. I guess the fact that the headphone jack is mono doesn't help. Grr!!!!
Well, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Dragon]

Is the headphone jack really mono or did they rent you a bad one? Sounds like you didn't get a manual, either, in which case you should complain!!!

 

[Dondello]

Well, I probably should complain but it doesn't matter.. The headphone jack IS stereo, it's just the pan information doesn't get sent to it. Is this normal? I'm assuming the monitor out (L/R) is where you can hear the effect of the pan. I'll have to try hooking speakers into the monitor tonight. My theory is that Tascam doesn't believe people want to hear full stereo whilst overdubbing. That's what the headphones are used for, right? Overdubbing? In that case, the monitor outs are for control room speakers. For those of us homerecorders who don't have a sound-proof control room in our basement, it just makes things difficult. Especially when the phone jack and the monitor use the SAME volume dial. SO, when I am overdubbing and listening to the other tracks in my headphones, the monitor is also playing the other tracks, thus bleeding it back into my microphone. Oh well. Just have to unplug them every time, I suppose.
Can I bounce internally, though? On each track there's a switch that goes between LINE-MIC/NONE/TAPE ... input switch. The first two are obvious, but is the third for bouncing? I can't get it to work..
Any help would be enormously appreciated

 

[Tucci]

Hello Dondello,

I do not own a 414 but I do have a Tascam 424 which I think is similar, so maybe I can help a little. On my machine I do get stereo with my headphones. I can hear the panning perfectly. I don't know why you're not getting stereo - trying speakers is a good idea.

I think you should be able to bounce tracks internally, I can with mine. Say you have something on tracks 1-3. If you want to bounce all of those to track 4 here is what you do:

Set your source switches for tracks 1-3 to tape. pan those three tracks all the way to the right. Put your track 4 switch down from -safe- to -Bus R-. Now when you press play/record tracks 1-3 will be recorded onto track 4 because they are panned hard right and track 4 is recording anything that is coming in on the right stereo bus. Make any sense?

If you had music on tracks 2,3&4 that you wanted on track 1 you would pan everything to the left because track 1 use the left stereo bus.

Here is another thing you can do with the Bus L or R positions and panning:

Say you have your mic plugged into the first port. You can record to any of the four tracks (or all at the same time)without unplugging it. You just switch your switch from -safe- to the -Bus L or R- and pan accordingly. Cool huh?

Hope I explained this well enough. If I got anyhting wrong I am sure someone will correct me.

Have fun,

Tucci

 

[Dondello]

Thanks for the reply! I managed to figure most of it out myself yesterday. The biggest issue for me was the fact that the track INPUT selector (tape/safe/line) should be an INPUT selector and the TAPE selection is more of an output thing.. Anyway, I was trying to mix down and NOTHING was coming out, and I was extremely frustrated, so I was trying everything and there was just one thing I hadn't hit yet. The INPUT switch. What would that have to do with output? Nothing. But that's what TAPE does. Anyway, my temporary hate for the machine quickly dissapeared Plus, I can hear the pan on the monitor/line outs. But not the headphones... haven't tried bouncing yet Thanks!