tascam 788 portastudio question

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Smithkirk

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I have two question if someone could please help me, I am not very good at this recording thing and I have had this unit for awhile and now I am back at it. I want to add some kind of audio interface to it so I can get rid of that crazy adapter for Xim mic cords and also I hate plugging into the back of the unit, I would rather plug in from the front. I do not know much about them, do they have to be powered in order to go into the 788? which reasonably priced one would you recommend. thank you so much for any help you can give me on this.

thanks all
 
Well, if you add a mixer, that kind of defeats the reason for a portastudio. If it is in a HR setup, for about the same price, you could look at replacing your interface for the computer and use the portastudio for, well, porta recording.

Decent 2 channel USB interface $200 or less if you watch, 8 channel Tascam $400, many times on sale for $299.

My penny's worth.
 
I guess what I am trying to do is to avoid having to plug into the back of the 788, I am in a very small space and just want to plug in out front and to avoid having to use the adapter for the mic. Recording with the computer is out for me and so i am trying to just make this work but just needing a little more flexibility with plugging in but still get a decent sound. Can you plug an interface into the 788 beings they are usb powered or is there another unit that would work or should I just get a simple small mixer?
Thanks so much for all of your guys ideas, I wish I was more advanced into the computer recording but not there yet.
 
Smithkirk said:
I guess what I am trying to do is to avoid having to plug into the back of the 788, I am in a very small space and just want to plug in out front and to avoid having to use the adapter for the mic. Recording with the computer is out for me and so i am trying to just make this work but just needing a little more flexibility with plugging in but still get a decent sound. Can you plug an interface into the 788 beings they are usb powered or is there another unit that would work or should I just get a simple small mixer?
Thanks so much for all of your guys ideas, I wish I was more advanced into the computer recording but not there yet.
Click to expand...

So, I use a mixer as my interface is a PCI card with the hook ups in the back of the computer. Pain in the A$$, kind of like your situation but worse. I use a mixer with left and right channels and just run the out to my interface. All connections (XLR, balanced/unbalanced go through the mixer. The mixer has phatom power and its own power source. I pan one ard left the other hard right so I an record separate tracks. So for you, if you use a mixer, then your monitor out on the mixer would go to your interface.

I hope that helps.
 
Ok now I am just thinking of just using a small mixer instead with my 788. Does anyone know how it would all hook up. I am looking to record only acoustic guitar and voice,maybe a drum machine. Is there a way to hook a small mixer up and not have to keep switching cords around.As you can see I am pretty brain dead to this kind of thing. Thanks everyone for your help.
 
Smithkirk said:
Ok now I am just thinking of just using a small mixer instead with my 788. Does anyone know how it would all hook up. I am looking to record only acoustic guitar and voice,maybe a drum machine. Is there a way to hook a small mixer up and not have to keep switching cords around.As you can see I am pretty brain dead to this kind of thing. Thanks everyone for your help.
Click to expand...

Right, as stated above. You want to do the same thing, except instead of an interface on your computer, you run the monitor mains to 788's inputs. Set your levels on the 788 (may take some adjustments), but once you have it set, leave them alone. I use 1/4" outs to my interface, but if your interface will take XLR, then I would recommend using XLR. Keep your mixer handy so you can plug and unplug as required (or not). But I find if I am putting a mic on the acoustic, then want to switch to bass or electric, I switch out to Instrument In. But that will depend on your mixer. But hopefully you get the picture. You're just daisy chaining.
 
Not sure I completely follow this. The way I have it hooked up now without a mixer chained to the 788 is that I have my powered monitor speakers hooked to the Stero Outs left and right. Now if I purchase say a Yamaha MG82CX. How do I chain from the Yamaha to the 788 so I can use my guitar, mic, drum machine plugged into channels of the yamaha. In other words what outputs(name outputs) on the mixer go where on the inputs on the 788( the 788 has inputs A,B,C,D,and Aux inputs? As you can tell I am a real novice, I have been playing guitar for years but the recording thing is really hard for me and hooking up equipment gets confusing to me. Thanks for your patience with me I appreciate so much you helping me.
 
I'm thinking, adding a mixer to your chain would only make matters worse for you.

You could purchase a mixer that has two outputs and put them on your 788 A and B, C and D would not be used. That leaves you with just two channels to record too. I don't think you want that. What can't you leave everything plugged in and disconnect at the other end? Or use extensions so you are unplugging 1/4" Extensions. That would be the easiest.

I just have two outputs (mixer out) to two inputs (interface) To get a mixer that outputs more channels starts getting pretty pricey. Plus, if you are pressed for space, they become pretty large.

Maybe somebody else on the board has some ideas.
 
You could just make up some extender cables-male on one end, female on the other,or build a box with some transformers in it.
 
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