Tascam 388 Help

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PsychFuzz72

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Howdy Folks

I've recently become part of the analog community with my relatively new Tascam 388. I've been busy writing songs of late so I haven't gotten around to fully wrapping my head around this beast just yet. I have a pretty noobarific question but any help would be greatly appreciated.

I gave it its first serious test run today and everything works so far. All meters light up and move, transport rewinds quickly, it plays perfectly...no weird squeals or sounds etc...the headphone jack works. Heads were cleaned 2xs with 91% alcohol and I think they are pretty darn clean. Rest of path is also clean.

I am using Quantegy 457 tape BTW....

Anyway, I have my amp miced w/ a SM57 through my boost pedal, right into channel 1 mic input. I have the stick up top in "mic" position. Trim is about 11:00 and i'm keeping the meter somewhat in the -7 to 0 range. Assign 1-2 button is on, the red "Rec function 1" button on the right is on, faders are all on almost 8 and i have it panned hard left. Oh yeah, I also have the monitor gain up to 2:00 and pan at noon over on the right hand side (white buttons). I did not press the red L-R button during recording, only during playback.

Ok, just wanted to get detailed because I wanted to know if i'm missing something or have something on I shouldn't. When I go to playback, I put the stick into "rmx" position, undo the red rec function button and press the red L-R button on the channel. However, the sound is extremely low. I have to max out channel volume and master to even hear it. What I do hear sounds great; no warped crap or noise or anything like that. Just sounds very low. Headphone volume is maxed too. Is it just the fact that the headphones are garbage and I HAVE to get monitors? Something else much worse ?? Any suggestions to fix this???

SORRY its so damn long but i'm a bit frustrated

Thanks alot for any help fellow tapeheads

-Nick-
 
I'd find a way to see if the level is good coming out of the monitor out jacks or stereo out jacks, and/or borrow a different set of headphones.

What is the L-R meter activity like on playback? Does it seem normal?

dbx on during record and playback?
 
Hey sweet

Thanks for the response.

Yeah i'll probably just grab some cheap Behringers or something just for the time being until I can get something better.

Anyway, as I recall, channel meters were moving fine. As a matter of fact, they were reading a bit hotter in playback then when I was tracking. The two L-R meters however, did not move at all....or if so, a very tiny amount. I assumed that you only needed those when you were mixing down.

DBX was off during tracking. I did turn it on a couple of times during playback to see what it sounded like.

And now, this morning, when I went to go listen to the piece I had on tape, it's gone.
:eek:
:confused:
 
Just an update for anyone who gives a rat's dupah


In all of my frustration, I went back and messed around with my 388 (I am 110% committed to becoming adept at working this awesome beast) and got it to somehow work.

For those who don't want to read prior posts, I basically could only get a whisper through my headphones with all volumes maxed. I figured what the hell, switch it over from "stereo" to "aux" over on the transport section and viola....loud, in yer face signal. This goes against the 1,000 posts i've read on this machine stating this must be switched to stereo.

From there, I put the post button on channel one "on" and could use the master AUX on the right to make it even louder. I guess this is wrong however, and hope somebody out there knows :D
 
Hey PsychFuzz, I was actually going to mention that! LOL I had it all typed up the other day, and then figured "nah, I'm sure he's tried that" and just canceled the response. Glad you got that to work! The 388 is an awesome machine and like no other!
 
jjones


Thanks for the response, bro....glad somebody out there even bothered!!!!

Yeah, I couldn't believe it when I hit that AUX button....loud, thick sound !!!! It was like an archaeologist discovering a rare fossil. EUREKA!! Just thankful I didn't blow my eardrums out (headphones were maxed)

There is just no comparison to digital....so warm and punchy....this machine is one of the best musical gear purchases i've ever made. Period.

I just hope that using the AUX is ok after every post prior stating differently.

Rock on, man !!
 
Sweet....

Stereo L-R buss works fine when I switch on the green "meter" button that's located over the master volume fader.

There is also the orange insert button (still don't know what that does) and the blue PGM/CUE button.

Moving further along the learning curve; I also noticed that I cannot pan either of the channels on playback, yet I can EQ them. I am guessing it's possibly because I recorded to both channel 1 + 2, assigned both & had both centered (?) Instead of just recording to channel 1 only, and then panning it hard left and panning channel 2 right.
:confused::confused:
 
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