questions about PGM Busses and other functions on Tascam 388

  • Thread starter Thread starter ianbernacett
  • Start date Start date
I

ianbernacett

Member
Just got my 388 fully functioning. I have some brief questions about the tape machines mixer section; I couldn't find information on in the manual. First, what is PGM? I know you have to use the PGM master meter when recording tracks but I guess I dont understand what this function serves therefore I'm having trouble understanding it's purpose on the mixer. Second, why must monitor gain be fully turned pending on the track to the full left or right direction same for pan knob in the monitor section? and what's the relationship between those knobs and the individual track's fader and pan knob in relation to the actual signal being recorded? I'm sure more questions will come up but let's start here.
 
PGM is an electrical path / roadway to the tape track you wish to record on. It also allows you to use multiple mixer channels to feed onto a singular tape track by allowing you to assign up to 8 mixer channels to a single or stereo pair of tracks. Where would you use something like that? Think about a drum set which might have a mic on the snare, kick, each individual tom and a pair of stereo mics to capture the cymbals. So we're talking about 7 microphones which need 7 mixer channels but you only want to record the drums to a stereo pair of tracks on the tape. The PGM system allows you to assign those seven channels down to 1 or 2 and by making use of the pan controls, you can also set up the mix so that the kick is centered, the snare and hats slightly panned right, the toms panned left to right and the overheads on the cymbals panned at 10 and 2 O'clock. And once that's all done, you have a nice stereo recording on only two tape tracks with 6 still left to record all the other instruments. Get the picture???

If there were no pan controls, you'd end up with hard left or right recordings that would sound very un-natural like older Beatles recordings from the early 60's where they were still struggling to figure out what to do with stereo records where everything was mono a few short years before that newer era. Panning makes the sound more natural.



Cheers! :)
 
thanks for the reply, also how should my monitor controls look while recording monitor gain and pan more specifically does this portion of the mixer affect the actual signal at all? Also, I have four drum tracks recorded; I wanna bounce them to two track stereo how would I go about doing this on the 388?

if someone could basically post a simplified guide to recording a single track on and hearing it playback exactly how it was recorded on tape. I'd greatly appreciate it, I started a recording session yesterday and wanna make sure everythings correct signal wise before we really get the ball moving.
 
...

The Monitor section does not affect the Main Mix/Pgm Buss section at all.

The monitor channel receives it's signal from the Tape when the Rec Function buttons are set to Safe or Enabled/Rec-Ready in Play mode.

The monitor channel receives it's signal from the Input when the Rec Function buttons are set to Enabled/Rec-Ready AND the transport is in the Record or Record-Pause mode.

:spank::eek:;)
 
A Reel Person said:
The Monitor section does not affect the Main Mix/Pgm Buss section at all.

The monitor channel receives it's signal from the Tape when the Rec Function buttons are set to Safe or Enabled/Rec-Ready in Play mode.

The monitor channel receives it's signal from the Input when the Rec Function buttons are set to Enabled/Rec-Ready AND the transport is in the Record or Record-Pause mode.

:spank::eek:;)
Click to expand...

EDIT: I read your post and sussed it out. THANKS!

Hi there. Maybe you could help me here!
I just got a 388 which is in great shape and I really like it, but still can't quite get this section working..
I presume it is for monitoring when overdubbing so I can listen back to tape without using the main channels? Whatever buttons I press I can't seem to hear anything from the monitor section.
I checked and the individual outputs for the pgm buss are working. I just can't seem get the Gain/Pan section to do anything..
Any thoughts?
Thanks
David
 
Last edited:
It's been a while since I used the 388.

I seem to remember that when a track is rec-enabled and inputs are assigned to pgm-busses, when you also press the Stereo L/R button on a channel, the Monitor section auto-mutes. Given that this is a vague recollection, I believe it's because the Monitor section and Stereo L/R section share a signal path, and therefore auto-mute is required when they are activated simultaneously to prevent an internal feedback loop.

Think this explanation is fairly correct, but it should also be tested out by experimentation. I don't have the 388 handily set up to test these functions.

:spank::eek;)
 
Yes, L-R buss trumps any other signal going to the monitor buss...it avoids an internal feedback loop that way, but also then can be used like a solo-in-place feature.
 
sweetbeats said:
Yes, L-R buss trumps any other signal going to the monitor buss...it avoids an internal feedback loop that way, but also then can be used like a solo-in-place feature.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's what confused me. If my l-r button is down, the PGM section can't be heard. Apart from that, it's all logical. Kind of!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top