Tascam 388 PGM BUSS + M-308 mixer?

  • Thread starter Thread starter WhinyLittleRunt
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WhinyLittleRunt

WhinyLittleRunt

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Two questions actually:

I understand that the PGM Ins take the signal from another line-level mixer; is it just my unit or does it not route to the Stereo L/R fader even when selected? In other words, I can't hear anything via phones or speakers. Is it just that you're unable to monitor unless the tape is actually in rec mode? I haven't tried that yet because I didn't think that made sense...

And second, what would be the benefit to hooking up my M-308 mixer to the 388? Is there any other than expanding the amount of individual channels? And if that works through the PGM Ins, that goes back to my original question...

EDIT: I just did a test with a cassette deck in PGM 1 and 2 and recorded it to tape. I got it on playback, but the weird part is I have not found any way to monitor it going in, or during recording... That's where the hangup is.
 
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The PGM IN jacks feed the PGM MASTER faders, so make sure those are raised, and then you need to make sure are monitoring the PGM groups via the monitor mixer so make sure the monitor mixer gain knobs are up and then you should hear what is connected to the PGM IN jacks in the STEREO buss (making sure the STEREO MASTER fader is up and that you have STEREO selected as your monitor source over by the monitor level knob to the right of the transport controls. Does that help anything?

As far as using the 308 with the 388, I can think of only 2 good reasons to do that:

1. You need more inputs or aux busses in which case you'd want to cascade the 308 to two of the 8 line inputs on the 388 mixer -or-
2. You like the sound of the 308 better than the 388 mixer. The 308 *may* have a little more something to it, but you have to realize that both mixers are nicely designed and there is something to be said for the 388 mixer being internal to the recorder and a bit more simplified signal path...what you gain with 308 "character" may be lost in a more complex signal path...and also remember that the 388 mixer is true 8-buss and the 308 is 4.

AFAIC #1 is the only reason I'd use an external mixer with the 388, not to say that its not fun to experiment with different setups and valuable to try it out...nothing wrong with that...but the 388 has a great "little" mixer onboard.
 
sweetbeats said:
The PGM IN jacks feed the PGM MASTER faders, so make sure those are raised, and then you need to make sure are monitoring the PGM groups via the monitor mixer so make sure the monitor mixer gain knobs are up and then you should hear what is connected to the PGM IN jacks in the STEREO buss (making sure the STEREO MASTER fader is up and that you have STEREO selected as your monitor source over by the monitor level knob to the right of the transport controls. Does that help anything?
Click to expand...

Totally, except I'm doing all that :D It's like a total fail; I can get it to produce almost a bleed-through if I raise everything to the max, but what should work logically, isn't...

You know what I'll do, I'll test the same idea on my M-308 and see if everything works as it should, then I'll know if it's something wrong with the PGM buss circuit on the 388.
 
So, can you get anything through from an input on the 388 mixer to the stereo buss??
 
sweetbeats said:
So, can you get anything through from an input on the 388 mixer to the stereo buss??
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, everything else is working as it should. That's why I was going crazy thinking I must be doing something wrong to not be able to monitor the PGM inputs. However, like I mentioned, it does record to tape. But obviously without monitoring I have no idea of levels etc. I'll have to poke around and see what could be causing it... if it's any consolation, I'm not sure if the monitoring section is even working since I never really had to use it..
 
I should also mention that the signal in the PGM Ins does show on the meters, and it appears to be a correct representation. I can hear it very slightly if all faders are up etc. I'm starting to wonder if the monitoring section isn't working...
 
Um, ok. So either I'm just really dense or it just magically started working...:facepalm:

I figured out what I was doing wrong; I had the L/R engaged on the channels to route them to the stereo buss. That seemed to be all I needed to do to activate the monitor section/pgm meters.

I'd rather feel stupid than have a broken recorder!
 
Ah. So you had some l/r assign switches in the on or down position, yes? And with them all up things are working normal yes? The l/r assign switches pseudo double as solo switches on the 388. They trump everything which is what you'd want in mixdown anyway but its handy during tracking when you're dialing something in to be able to assign that source to the l/r buss and kill everything else. Saves control surface real estate and simplifies the circuit topology. One the cool-smart things on the 388. Glad its working.
 
That's alright, you should have seen how long I struggled with that one because I kept changing settings every time I tried testing it...:facepalm:
 
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