I recently acquired a Tascam 2488 mkii for my home studio. Before this I used a yamaha interface to communicate with some basic computer recording software like fl studio and audacity.
What I want to do is be able to is transfer tracks from my computer (like drums and keyboard controllers) to the Tascam. I've tried hooking up the computer via the Tascams USB outlet but I've had no success. I'm wondering if there's another way to do this from my interface. The 2488 has all kinds of inputs and I'm wondering if I could hook it up in real time instead of importing files. Would something as simple as an RCA hook up work? If anyone has any experience with this I'd be very happy to get some information. Thank you,
On page 77 – 78 of the MKII manual is the procedure for importing wav files to the 2488 FAT partition.
The FAT partition is a special area on the 2488 internal hard drive for file transfers going both in and out of the 2488. This page covers both wave files and SMF (Simple MIDI File) transfers – both go thru the FAT partition.
So if the tracks transfer you mention is audio (wav file) then USB is the way to do it.
But you must know this USB connection is a data file transfer and even though the data is a wav file, you are not transferring audio in an audible musical sense, you are transferring bits. It’s kind of confusing.
Now if you are triggering audio on your computer and you simply want to record it on the 2488 then hook up to two inputs or the SPDIF in on the 2488, route the inputs to two tracks, arm the tracks, press record and play the tracks on your computer. If you use SPDIF you have to enable that thru Preferences - see page 92-93. Whew - gets deep fast.
If you want to sync the 2488 to your computer and hear the computer generated audio you still have to make the audio in connections. The procedure for this is on page manual 89. the 2488 transport controls will start and stop your computer application and keep the two in sync. For this type of situation change the time display on the 2488 from ABS (absolute) to BARS and BEATS.
If you prefer to use the method RAMI mentioned, be sure the files are in the proper format.
16 or 24 bit, 44.1 Khz and try to keep the file names simple.
I think long file names will be truncated to 8.3 but that might have changed.
The MKII will import either mono or stereo, a nice improvement from the MKI (that I have) which only did mono.
