setting up my Tascam 38 8-track reel to reel

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federationofide

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Hi! I have been using a home Pro Tools setup for a while, but wanted to switch to analog. Luckily I found a Tascam 38 for a descent price. I am used to just having a pair of stereo outs that I can run into my monitors. The Tascam 38 has 8 outputs - one for each channel. What sort of setup do I need (and I am assuming what else do I have to buy) to get going? Thanks!
 
You need a mixer. A hardware version of that screen in pro-tools with all the sliders on it ;)
 
Thanks :) I have a cheap-o Behringer 8-track mixer. I'm guessing you mean a better one? Suggestions? Would a proper mixer (such as the recommended M-30) allow me to send the outputs from the tape deck back into it?
 
If you are looking for a mixer to be going to and from the 38, you'll likely need direct outs. If you are only tracking one or two tracks at a time, you could use an external preamp (plugging into different tracks as needed) and route the outputs of the 38 to your 8 channel mixer.
 
federationofide said:
Thanks :) I have a cheap-o Behringer 8-track mixer. I'm guessing you mean a better one? Suggestions? Would a proper mixer (such as the recommended M-30) allow me to send the outputs from the tape deck back into it?
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What model is the Behringer?

Leddy is spot-on...in order to not pull your hair out and to be able to monitor any or all of the 8 tracks for overdubs and at mixdown the mixer should have some sort of monitoring facility so you can check in on the tape tracks and still monitor the sources connected to the input strips of the mixer.

How many tape tracks do you want to be able to record at the same time?
 
Hi. I don't have the mixer in front of me, but it is one of the cheapie Behringers. I would love to be able to record and monitor 8 tracks at a time
 
Get the model number and I'll be able to tell you what you can and can't accomplish with it. It will be limited, but with repatching between operations and depending on how many tracks you want to record at a time (can you answer that pls?) you may be able to get by.

Ultimately if you want to have completely undependent monitoring facilities for tape deck outs as well as sources and flexible routing to the tape deck AND control surface switching for quick reconfiguring from tracking to mixdown you will want something different.

Tascam M-30, M-35, M-308 and M-1508 are all great 8 x 4 options for this from the Teac family. Relatively affordable, good sounding and feature-packed as well as not being gihugic in size. Expect an M-1508 to be needing the least TLC at this point. IMO the M-308 is tops out of that bunch in terms of sound and features.

Lots of other options from other manufacturers too. I'm just most familiar with the Tascam offerings and they are relatively plentiful on the used market and have good user community support.
 
Hi. I have a Behringer Eurorack UB1202. I want to be able to record 8 tracks at once, or at the very least 4. It looks like I'll have to find one of the Tascam M line
Thanks
 
The 'beats is right the Tascam mixer are great, very logical design and easy to use the the ones mentioned are perfect for 4 or 8 track work. Some of the Fostex mixers would be ok too, like the 450, which I believe was designed or otherwise marketed for use with the Fostex 8-tracks. The thing to look for are at least 4 buss outs, 8 direct outs if you want to record 8 tracks at once (or get an 8 buss mixer but that is likely going to be a considerable step up in size) and the ability to monitor 8 channels, so something with 8 tape returns and a monitor section. Look over the specs for the M-308 listed above, and use that as a guide to features.
 
Get the tascam M-30 The build quality is way better, Way better.
 
federationofide said:
Thanks for the info! What is the difference between the bus outs and the direct outs and I can assume with the Fostex 450 I can record and monitor 8 tracks at once?
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Here is a link to the 450 manual, http://www.fostexinternational.com/docs/downloads/pdfs/450_owners_manual.pdf which should give you some basics about signal routing which you can apply to the Tascam's as well. The direct out is per channel the buss is the summing amplifier. Some people prefer to use the Dout as it is one less "gain stage" although some others (like myself) prefer to use the buss outs.

As to your second question, I'm not sure you can actually monitor what is recording to tape simultaneosuly with the 38's playback head.

I'd agree with Herm though with teh build quality of the Tascam. I use the 450 as a for instance as it was paired with an 8 track setup.
 
The M-1516 would work great. Keep in mind it will have a bigger footprint with the 16 channels but if the price is right and the 16 channels is useful to you then it could be a good solution.

A direct out sources directly off the output of the channel strip fader, so it will only carry the signal of what is plugged into that channel strip.

The "busses" are also called the subgroups. Each channel strip can be routed to (on the 4 mixers I mentioned as well as the Fostex 450 or the Tascam M-1516) any or all of the 4 subgroups, and the way these groups work is that they connect up to the tape deck permanently so you can always get to any tape track from any channel strip just by using the pan knobs and routing switches. Like was mentioned above you can also connect the direct out jacks to the 8 tape deck inputs and do it that way. But any of those mixers have 8 monitor inputs for "tape returns" that can be monitored independently and swichted into the channel strip for mixdown time.
 
Anybody have experience with the M208 mixer? There's one on ebay today. It looks like it has 8 tape inputs?
 
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