Tascam 38 and m-30

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reelconfused

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I've just purchased a tascam 38 8-track reel-to-reel. The unit originally was paired with the tascam m-30 mixer. The multitrack itself has no output for headphones or monitoring, just eight tape ins and eight tape outs. Do I really need the m-30?
Or, should I invest in a better console to do both my recording and mastering? I'm trying to use analog all the way.

This is my first post, so please let me know if this should be in the newbies section

thanks
-rc
 
Hi (Welcome)

I have a 38 myself.
You WILL get an answer here, but you can also post in the "Analog only" forum too. (And hopefully the Tascam bbs will be back up soon as well.)

There are alot of experienced guys here, among the MANY are Ghost of FM, Reel Person and Derek Verner. (They KNOW the Tascam gear... Reel Person likely has three of everything!! Tascam is gonna start calling HIM for parts! LOL)

I'd use the M-30 (Heck yeah I would!) but if you need a bit more flexabilty (Channels) the whole M series can be found at incredible prices. I'd say the M-30 is all you need to start with, but you may out grow it.
( The dbx units can be found cheap and may prove useful too.)

The other guys can REALLY tell you the lowdown, so I'll let them do the talking, but Welcome all the same. :)
 
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Well, you had to go and ask, didn't you?

As you said, the basic board originally paired with the 38 was the M30. It's a good, basic board, that can do everything you need in the way of 8-track reel production. The channels sound good, EQ is high quality, and it's not any of that chincy stuff you see nowadays. Although the M-30 is a simple board, it's no-nonsene, sleek, well designed features allow you to do many things with the flip of a switch, whereas some other mixers might require you to repatch for monitor, remix, etc.

I've had the M-30 with my original 38 since 1983, and I wouldn't part with it. In fact, I have four of them! I have a 24-track that I've been scoping three M-30's to support, which if patched correctly, would do that very well.

With a board like the basic M30, although at first glance it may seem to lack features, it's an open mixer architecture, that is functionality that's only limited by your imagination, [patch-wise].

Plus, a real benefit, is that I've seen M-30's closing for ~$85-$125 lately, and that's a sweet deal, indeed.

Anyway, what do you mean, hold out for a better console? You need a mixer, at least that's established.

The M-30's one of the most basic analog mixers that's particularly matched to the 38. The 300-Series and 500-Series mixers all raise the bar over the M-30, of course, with the passage of time, etc. However much money you want to spend, man, the mixers are out there. I, for one, will swear by the M-30 with respect to the 38, and take it to the limit. I have four, like I said. I also have two working 38's, a 34, 34B and a load of 234's, all of which, IMO, are perfectly matched to the M-30.

What a coincidence,... I have four of them!;)

Well, last thought, is that you can hardly do better for the money than the M-30, and it's quite capable. Like I said, with patch functions/combinations limited only by your imagination, given that you adhere to basic feedback avoidance principals.;)

I think there's a certain in-depth appreciation I have for the simple M-30, after 20 years. It's something that might not just strike you, right out of the box. It does have 6-XLR inputs and 2-1/4"-HiZ inputs, plus TONS of I/O patchpoints, and PHONO PREAMP INPUTS. Scoped for DJ's, too. Well, a DJ could be a musician, in certain cases!;)

Of course, I do have larger mixers too, incl the M-312 and 388's,... er,... uh,... FOUR Tascam 388's!

[...not to mention, TONS of Portastudios! They all have mixers! Ha!]

Okay, lock me up now. I'm insane!;)
 
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Reelconfussed,

The 38 has no headphone jack built in because it would have been an expensive feature to install onto an 8 chanel tape recorder.

A common cassette deck or even a two or four-track reel to reel can cheaply add this feature because it only involves adding in a simple ic circuit or two tapped off the output stage of the deck.

On an 8 track recorder, you would need a fairly elaborate summing and switching circuit to enable headphone monitoring. The beginnings of an actual mixer!

When TASCAM designed the 38, they looked at this machine as only being used in smaller budget professional music studios and elaborate home studios where an external and separate mixer would always be present and therefor, no need for a headphone jack as the mixer would provide this function.

The M30 was paired or suggested in the owner's manual as the matching mixer but, in reality, any of their 4 or 8 buss mixers with unbalanced, -10db RCA jack connections would be suitable to use with the 38 as long as they had a minimum of 8 chanels to work with. Of coarse, the more the merrier too so, if you find a bargain on E-bay or elsewhere for a 12, 16 or 20 chanel board with 4 or 8 busses, you could easily use those also.

Four buss mixers are cool if you are working by yourself or with an other person or two as you could record up to four tracks at a time in one take without using the direct outs of the chanel strips.

Eight buss mixers are well suited to when you are the engineer and you have a room full of musicians all wanting to play live and do the song in one take and be able to have each of their parts recorded on a separate track on the tape.

I hope that helps!

Good luck with your sound.:)
 
Right, like I said, the 300-Series and 500-Series raised the bar on the M-30,...

technically, and for however much money you want to spend, there's a mixer for you!

If you integrated an 8x2 stereo cue monitor into the 38, it would resemble [mono cue on] the 34B, but the bomb of STEREO-integrated cue monitors belongs to the 234 Syncaset. [Unless we're speaking outright about Portastudios, of course].

Beyond a simple 8x2 integrated cue monitor idea for the 38, you'd then be crossing very quickly into 388 territory, with it's fully integrated mixer +8-tracks on reel, Portastudio-style unit. However, they never made a 1/2"-15ips version of the 388. I guess there's always a catch!

The minimum you'd need for basic 8-track cue would be the 2U-rackmount M-1B mixer, but for the whole enchilada, THEN to accompany it on the INPUT SIDE, you'd want the MX-80, 8x2 MIC/LINE mixer, less EQ, for which you'd THEN want the PE-40, fully parametric EQ,... all 2U-rackmount units, of course.

So, seeing as that list stacks up, for full functionality, [IMO] you're looking at an M-30, minimum.

Also, consider the M-35, which is a slightly different mixer from the same line, probably a little less popular, and therefore a bit harder to find, but which are selling in the same price range.;)
 
Hey,

thanks a bunch for the input everyone. I'm going to see what I can find locally
-rc
 
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