Stereo Mix Lost When Transferring Material from Tascam 488 to Digital DAW

[fozzy1987]

Hi, I'm in the process of mixing down some tapes from a Tascam 488 MkII to Reaper through an Edirol UA-4FX digital four track. I'm using a double-ended RCA cable to transfer music from the left and right channels - leading from the 'Line Output' of the Tascam to the 'Line Input' of the Edirol - but am losing the stereo sound I originally recorded with. I tried connecting from the 'Monitor Output' suspecting that the line connection was faulty, but have had the same issue. It's either coming through mono when I play it back through Reaper, or losing playback altogether when I balance hard right in the mix. I'm wondering if there's an issue with my connection or if the problem lies in transferring all eight tracks simultaneously to one digital track.

If it's the former, any ideas what cables I should be using to retain the original stereo mix? Or, if the latter, is there any way to record to multiple tracks simultaneously in Reaper to overcome the problem (by thereby separating each of the eight analog inputs), or even to allow for panning within a single track?

For the record, I'm not planning on transferring the tapes to fiddle around with in Reaper (I'm happy with the recordings as they are on the Tascam). It's simply a case of wanting my material in digital form for distribution etc.

Thanks in advance for your help,

fozzy1987

 

[miroslav]

I know it sounds too simple (but it happens to everyone)...just recheck your connections and L/R pan settings on the deck, the interface and in Reaper.

I'm sure there is nothing broken...just one setting not configured right and your losing the L/R and ending up with mono.

 

[jpmorris]

Did you say you were trying to record a stereo mix onto a mono digital channel? It certainly matches the symptoms.

If it's definitely a stereo channel you're recording to, it might be one line of the cable has died. You could double-check by swapping the connections on both ends. If, for example, you were only getting the left side through, after swapping the cable around (both ends!) you would end up only recording the right side.

 

[fozzy1987]

Hi guys - it's sorted. Thanks for your help. I hadn't selected the recording input to 'stereo' in Reaper, so it was just creating a double-tracked duplicate of the same mono track. All sounds grand now though. Cheers again,

fozzy1987

 

[miroslav]

I hadn't selected the recording input to 'stereo' in Reaper, so it was just creating a double-tracked duplicate of the same mono track.

BINGO!
I thought it would be a configuration setting.

My DAW defaults to stereo files...so I always have to remember to switch it for mono track recording, otherwise I then have to split the stereo tracks and toss one out. I could leave it...and work with it, but stereo files eat up twice the HD space.