S
stucat
New member
Having written music by hand for 20 years, I bought a Mac and Finale. What a great tool! Unfortunately, the Mac wouldn't burn CD's and the Finale wouldn't make WAV files.I took the computer to a studio & discovered I couldn't separate the GM tracks easily (because with all that equipment, they couldn't figure it out). Only recently after badgering one engineer to death was I able to have him load my .mid files to a ProTools studio setup. The digits weigh nothing. The ProTools took up an entire room and probably cost $$$$$$$.
Enter the Tascam 2488, a digital multitracking work station with a GM play module.
The 2488 loads and plays Finale .mid files from my old Mac. With very little coaxing, I can separate the instrumentation as much as I want. I look at the investment I made in the Mac and
Finale...$2400. Money is money. Then I look at what I spent last year getting half baked stereo versions at a local studio...$700. Then I look at what a complete Mac upgrade with Finale would cost...$2800.
Now I still have the old Mac and Finale but with a new 2488, a machine that will do what most studios could not do, which is , make good General Midi scratch tracks and click tracks for my ensembles to overdub. With as much time as I spend in writing, it's nice to know I can have a professional layout on one machine that I can run, without a bunch of hype. I can make rehearsal CD's, scratch tracks, good live tracks, edit, mix down, mix-up, master, all on one system, and the digits transfer to other digital workstations (if you know what you're doing).
Last month I laid 230 MIDI tracks with the 2488. This month I will substitute all tracks with live musicians. We may use the ProTools studio to do the sessions. I may even find myself emailing the digits from the 2488 sessions to the studio for them to transfer to their control board. Digits are digits, you know!
Enter the Tascam 2488, a digital multitracking work station with a GM play module.
The 2488 loads and plays Finale .mid files from my old Mac. With very little coaxing, I can separate the instrumentation as much as I want. I look at the investment I made in the Mac and
Finale...$2400. Money is money. Then I look at what I spent last year getting half baked stereo versions at a local studio...$700. Then I look at what a complete Mac upgrade with Finale would cost...$2800.
Now I still have the old Mac and Finale but with a new 2488, a machine that will do what most studios could not do, which is , make good General Midi scratch tracks and click tracks for my ensembles to overdub. With as much time as I spend in writing, it's nice to know I can have a professional layout on one machine that I can run, without a bunch of hype. I can make rehearsal CD's, scratch tracks, good live tracks, edit, mix down, mix-up, master, all on one system, and the digits transfer to other digital workstations (if you know what you're doing).
Last month I laid 230 MIDI tracks with the 2488. This month I will substitute all tracks with live musicians. We may use the ProTools studio to do the sessions. I may even find myself emailing the digits from the 2488 sessions to the studio for them to transfer to their control board. Digits are digits, you know!