Tascam M312 with Tascam 38 q's

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burymyteeth

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Hello forum, i've had no internet for months, its been a real pain in the ass. i have however been working on my home studio, my 38 has just been fully serviced and i got a tascam m312 to go with it, i'm having a few issues.

i can't for the life of me get 8 live tracks going at the same time. channels 1/5 are tied together, with 2/6, 3/7, and 4/8, because of the way they are bussed, so if i plug something into channel one, it goes on channel 1 and 5, whether its armed or not, that's really annoying.

also, why can't i use the 1/4" direct outs from the mixer into my tape machine?? i can't get any signal from the direct channel outs to the tape machine, only if i use the pgm out's that are RCA outs. I think that this might have something to do with the previous problem i stated, if i could just use a 1/4" to RCA 8 channel snake out of the 1/4" channel outs into the RCA inputs on the tape machine i think it would solve the previous problem, (because of the way the pgm outs on the back are laid out [1/5,2/6,3/7,4/8]) but i've tried numerous times with no luck. it makes no freaking sense why that wouldn't work. i'm not sure if there's something i have to do with the mixer for the signal to travel that way or not, but it shouldn't be this tricky. any one with any experience with this mixer i would really like to hear from, thanks for your time!
 
The 300 series are ideal for 4-track but Tascam was smart by having two sets of output jacks for the 4 groups. The way they work is like it'll work with an 8-track but recording only 4 tracks at a time. You manage it with the record enable switches on the recorder.

The direct out jacks should work...they are post fader...channel faders up?

Are you getting anything out of them?
 
Replace them with NOS

(Total brain fade...)

This is how tascam does it on almost all mixers. They expect that at an given time you will only have 4 active tracks armed and recording. You can still have 12 sources (mic's or direct in) that are mixed down to 4 tracks.

It is common to get the drums down (for example) then rewind and get the next instrument/vocal while listening to the drums through headphones. Then get the next tracks while listening to a mix of what you already have. Keep doing this till you have it all down or you need to bounce to free up tracks.

Sorry for not being clear on this.
 
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Well til I read all of your post I thought you just need to use the direct outs.
And you say they dont work? I cant believe all of them would be bad. That just doesnt sound right.
I use my 312 into my 38 with all direct outs and almost never use the buss.
Or if you dont have any other choice try using your aux and effects sends for 4 of the channels.
 
so, i don't know whats going on, i tried the direct outs again last night and they were working, ive never had them work before! but thats sweet because that takes care of both of those problems, i was obviously doing something wrong, thanks for having patience with me while i learn this board.

i had another question if you guys care to answer:

the quality of the recordings that i'm getting out of this set up is really poor. there are certain sounds that are left over from the recordings that were on the tape before (i'm using some used 456 at the moment). When i first got the 38 i was able to get some really cool recordings out of it, then i took the thing in to get a complete overhaul and fix some of the channels that weren't working. Now, the tapes i have been using are on some plastic reels that I can't even get locked into the machine, they're too wide. I bought some metal reels off of ebay and they're on their way, because I assumed that the poor recording quality and leftover sounds that aren't getting erased is because the tape is not hitting the heads correctly because the reels wont lock in and sit exactly where they need to be. do you think that the right metal reels that fit in and can lock will fix this problem? When I took it in to get serviced he aligned everything, so I'm guessing that before I took the machine in the tape was hitting the heads correctly (when they were actually out of line) and now that the heads are aligned the tape isn't hitting it right. Haha, that sounds really confusing but maybe someone understands what I'm trying to say.
 
Dude it's been a long time! I'm glade to see your back in action. First off what tape was the deck calibrated with? Was it used? After recording some tunes on the old tape did you check to see if the heads needed cleaned? And are you talking about the hubs and the reel not locking in place? Are you sure they are for the 1/2 inch deck? Let me know if I can help. You should still have my email. BTW I'm still waiting too record my band.
 
I'm not aware of any 1/2" wide tape that comes on plastic reels - only metal reels.

1/4" tape is often found on the plastic reels, most frequently when the diameter of the reel is 7"...
 
dodgeaspen said:
Dude it's been a long time! I'm glade to see your back in action. First off what tape was the deck calibrated with? Was it used? After recording some tunes on the old tape did you check to see if the heads needed cleaned? And are you talking about the hubs and the reel not locking in place? Are you sure they are for the 1/2 inch deck? Let me know if I can help. You should still have my email. BTW I'm still waiting too record my band.
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yo! whats goin' on? yeah finally got my deck up and running! i'm not sure what kind of tape it was calibrated with, i'll have to call back the shop and ask. i have been pretty anal about cleaning the heads whenever i use it, they're in really good condition. i am pretty positive that the hubs on my deck are the right size, if they weren't the guy that serviced it would have said something. i bought a bunch of used 456 off of this guy and he switched all the reels over to plastic ones, which are some funky size that wont fit in. thats what i'm guessing is happening, i've got some metal reels on the way so i hope that it solves my problems! yo let me know when you get some recordings done, hopefully i'll have some soon!
 
burymyteeth said:
yo! whats goin' on? yeah finally got my deck up and running! i'm not sure what kind of tape it was calibrated with, i'll have to call back the shop and ask. i have been pretty anal about cleaning the heads whenever i use it, they're in really good condition. i am pretty positive that the hubs on my deck are the right size, if they weren't the guy that serviced it would have said something. i bought a bunch of used 456 off of this guy and he switched all the reels over to plastic ones, which are some funky size that wont fit in. thats what i'm guessing is happening, i've got some metal reels on the way so i hope that it solves my problems! yo let me know when you get some recordings done, hopefully i'll have some soon!
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Sounds good to me. I have never seen 10.5 plastic reels. I hope others will chime in. I guess since you have them they have been made. Still having a lot of band problems and haven't done a lot of recording but I'll let you know when I get something done.
 
dodgeaspen said:
Sounds good to me. I have never seen 10.5 plastic reels. I hope others will chime in. I guess since you have them they have been made. Still having a lot of band problems and haven't done a lot of recording but I'll let you know when I get something done.
Click to expand...

hope you work things out, i just started a new thread with the first recording i did with my band, give it a listen if you want!
 
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