Novice questioning 424 vs. 488

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cloakedcrow

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Hello, all. I posted something similar to this in the Newbies room and got a reply, but I figured I'd put this in a place where lots of people familiar with the equiptment could see it, just to make sure.

My deal is, I'm a singer/songwriter. I know absolutely nothing about recording, but I'd like to start putting my songs on tape, and hopefully (someday) enlist enough of my musician friends to make something resembling an album.

The Tascam 424 mkII was suggested to me as a good-quality four-track with a relatively easy learning curve but enough muscle to make a quality recording, with the right equiptment. So I was jetting around on eBay, checking out the available machines, when on a whim, I searched for the Tascam 488 mkII. They've got bids going that are almost as low and lower than the 424s, for what appear to be fully functional machines.

So my question is this: Is the 488 too much machine for a complete beginner? I've never used a multitrack machine in my life. Should I stick to the 424 to actually build some skills and not even think about the 488 until I've got a bit of experience, or is the 488 easy enough for a beginner to use with the basic functions, gradually expanding into the more advanced possibilities?

Thanks for any and all help!

-ravienne
 
The 488 follows a similar line of logic and required knowledge to use successfully so, if you can score one in good shape for the same coin, I'd be tempted to recommend it over the 424 because the extra tracks can come in very handy and may allow you to not live through the hell of bouncing tracks to complete a production.

With a 4 tracker, bouncing is a way of life for completing most songs in that once you have a basic drum, bass and guitar track down, you are forced to bounce a mix of those three instruments to the 4th track so that you can then go and add a vocal or two, a solo instrument or an addition rhythm part like a keyboard.

With 8 tracks to play with from the beginning in stead of just 4, you can lay down drums, bass, guitars, keys, main and backing vocals each on their own track and then take your time to mix them down to a stereo recorder to complete a production. Eight tracks gives you more mixing flexibility.

The only real drawback to the 8 track unit is that each track on the tape will be on a skinnier lane of tape so, you may run into some leakage problems if your recording levels on the tape are too loud and might bleed over to their neighboring tracks which may be problematic if you want to isolate a singular instrument in the mix and then be hearing a slight ghost of the adjacent tracks on either side of it on the tape. All told, it's not a major issue for most users so throw caution to the wind and go for it!

Cheers! :)
 
An interesting question...

I've never used a 488 eight-track cassette deck, folks here who have say they are great, and I imagine the design to be very much like the 424 mkIII in respect to the mixer and signal quality.

The 424 is still sold new in stores, and that is a big plus. The learning curve would surely be much the same, with the exception of that you wouldn't need to learn to bounce as much with the 488. But, I'd be interested to hear firsthand the quality achieved by the squeezing of twice as many tracks on a single cassette tape.

I haven't been much help, have I? I own a 424 mkIII and a 464, and am biased to the four tracks.
 
The Ghostman has a good point about bouncing tracks, but that can be viewed as a positive point for the four-tracker. Bouncing is a part of recording in any medium, even digital.

Also, I'd like to say that as a songwriter, learning the recording process is a great help. I started out a short year or two ago, and the knowledge of signal routing/processing has opened many new facets of my "sound". Step one is to re-learn how to listen to a recording. You'll find you hear things on your favorite CDs that you'd never noticed before.
 
In fairness, I too started off with a 4 track Portastudio many moons ago and it did teach me the art of bouncing which is a necessary skill to learn.

But, just because your father told you he walked 12 miles to school, up hill, in a blinding snowstorm while being chased by wolves doesn't mean you have to do that too!! :D

Cheers! :)
 
Go with the 488 MKII

I've used these machines extensively as well as a variety of four-tracks, and I can tell you that there is absolutely no difference in learning curve. Having all the extra tracks is a major plus. The issue with tape track width is, in my opinion, very minor. You can get really amazing sound quality with this machine... IF you plan out your recording and are careful to only use 60 minute Type II (CR02) tape and not record too "hot."

The mixer section of the 488 MKII is also intelligently laid out and pretty intuitive, I think.

You should have no problem getting what you want from it. I'd go the 8-track route if I were you.

Bruce in Korea
 
Thanks for the advice, everybody! Y'all have been a great help. I think I'll go for the 488, since most of you thought it really wasn't more difficult to learn than the 424. Thanks again for helping me out!

-ravienne
 
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