When you're laying down tracks on the 388's multi-track recorder you use the assign buttons in conjunction with the pan pots to route the channels to the tracks. NOTE: By using these
ANY channel (or combination of channels) can be routed to
ANY track (or combination of tracks).
EXAMPLE
Let's say you're recording a four piece band consisting of vocals, 2 guitars (or 1 guitar and a keyboard), bass and drums, and you have the mics plugged in as follows
Channel 1: Lead Vocal
Channel 2: Guitar Amp
Channel 3: Guitar/Keyboard amp
Channel 4: Bass Amp/D.I
Channel 5: Snare Drum
Channel 6: Kick Drum
Channel 7: Overhead Left
Channel 8: Overhead Right
Now, you could just assign each channel to its corresponding track using the
ASSIGN buttons and
PAN pots (i.e you depress the assign button labelled "1-2" in channel one and turn the pan pot fully left to send whatever was plugged into that channel to track 1. To assign channel 2 to track 2 you'd press the same assign button but pan fully right. Etc). BUT. Let's say you want to submix the drum mics to just a pair of tracks, thus freeing up two more tracks for overdubs. In this case you might use the assign buttons and pan pots thus.
Channel 1: Lead Vocal (Assign 1-2 down, Pan left)
Channel 2: Guitar Amp (Assign 3-4 down, Pan right)
Channel 3: Guitar/Keyboard Amp (Assign 5-6 down, Pan left)
Channel 4: Bass Amp/D.I. (Assign 5-6 down, Pan right)
Channel 5: Snare Drum (Assign 7-8 down, Pan centre)
Channel 6: Kick Drum (Assign 7-8 down, Pan centre)
Channel 7: Overhead Left (Assign 7-8 down, Pan left)
Channel 8: Overhead Right (Assign 7-8 down, Pan right).
Which gives you
Track 1: Vocal
Track 2: Free
Track 3: Free
Track 4: Guitar
Track 5: Guitar/Keyboard
Track 6: Bass
Track 7: Drums
Track 8: Drums
Those free tracks can then be used for whatever you like.