Tascam DA-88 not erasing old content when recording new material

[pgj]

I'm obviously doing something wrong. I just got a DA-88 and I recorded on track 1, then rewound and recorded something completely different on the same track. But now I hear both. How can I get this thing to erase existing audio on an armed track when recording a new take?

 

[RRuskin]

Old or new tape? If old, try reformatting it to see if it makes a difference.

 

[rob aylestone]

The way they record is segmented, so the old analogue system where things would not erase, or you would hear both cannot work. If you can hear the old and new at the same time that sounds like routing issues. Record the same audio to ALL 8 tracks, then re-record new material and I bet the old ones vanish. Is there a mode where it's sort of overdubbing? I cannot remember if the 88 did this or not? You are actually recording the new track onto a different track, and not the old one. I'm not sure the old 88 did this, but worth checking.

 

[pgj]

I'll check it out this evening after work. Hadn't thought about routing. Thanks, Rob!

 

[pgj]

Yep. Was able to test on my lunch break. It was a routing issue on the console. Thanks again, Rob!

 

[pgj]

Wait. Sorry. Scratch that. The problem is still happening. I actually bought 3 of these machines at an estate sale, and I think I must've re-run the test on one of the other machines the other day when I said the problem was fixed. Today, when I went back to the first machine (the only machine of the three which otherwise performs perfectly) and ran the test again, the problem returned. I tested again on one of the other machines tonight and the problem does not happen there. Then, again, it reappears on the first machine. Since it doesn't really seem like a transport issue I'm going to try moving this good transport (the best of the three) to one of the other machines. Hopefully then I'll have at least one flawless DA-88. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[pgj]

It was actually the opposite swap that ended up doing it -- transport B in machine A.

Now machine B won't even record with transport A in it. Another interesting thing is that machine B -- previously, before swapping transports -- had been showing the error light during playback. I manually cleaned its transport -- again, prior to swap -- and all of the moving parts seemed to be moving freely, but the error light stayed lit. But now that it has been moved to machine A, the error light never comes on. And the transport from A, which never showed errors during playback while it was in machine A, now shows errors when installed in machine B. So something else, unrelated to the transport itself, is causing those errors in machine B, and like I said before, it won't even record now.

But at least I've got one functional DA-88.

I did a few tests with a mandolin and it sounds great. Using a Røde NT1 thru a Tascam M-308.

The big test will be drums I think -- specifically cymbals, according to some people.

We'll see.

So far so good.

 

[pgj]

The way they record is segmented, so the old analogue system where things would not erase, or you would hear both cannot work. If you can hear the old and new at the same time that sounds like routing issues. Record the same audio to ALL 8 tracks, then re-record new material and I bet the old ones vanish. Is there a mode where it's sort of overdubbing? I cannot remember if the 88 did this or not? You are actually recording the new track onto a different track, and not the old one. I'm not sure the old 88 did this, but worth checking.

Updates above. Just realized I've been replying to my original post instead of your response.