Tascam ??

[briz]

Hello,
I have a Tascam 424mklll. I bought it used and didn't get a manual. I want to transfer some finished songs to my computer so I can make MP3's. How do I do this???? What hardware/software do I need?? I saw a thread that kinda hinted about it but never really answered the question. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks briz

 

[ermghoti]

Cheap and ugly: plug your headphone out to the line in on your soundcard. It will be loss-y and noisey.

Various levels of good: you will need an analog to digital converter (usually shortened to "converter" and either an upgraded soundcard with digital inputs, or a digital to USB/Firewire dongle of some sort. There are a couple of ways to accomplish this for about $200.

Search the above terms, and your questions will become more focused.

FWIW, you might as well record direct to your computer, if at all feasible. Cassette multi-tracking isn't a great recording medium.

 

[A Reel Person]

Aaaawww, c'mon!

First, you need an RCA-to-1/8"-stereo Y-cable adapter.
Plug the RCA's into the Line-Outs of the 424, and the 1/8" stereo plug into the Line-In on your standard PC soundcard.
Develop your 4-track composition and mix on the 424, as usual, to get the best sounding mix.
You'll need recording software that records from the soundcard's Line-In to WAV files in 16-bit/44.1kHz stereo format.
Once you've recorded your tape mixes to WAV files, then you need an additional piece of software to lay the WAV files out into songlists, and burn audio CDs of that.
Other software is required to convert from WAV files to MP3 files.

Sounds easy, huh? It is!

The Y-cable adaper is a common inexpensive Radio Shack type of item.

I can't name any specific software for recording stereo WAV files, but try software titles by MAGIX.

The only software I know of for free that converts WAV files to MP3 files is Audiograbber with a LAME plugin to get 128kbps resolution on your MP3's. Despite only being able to name one MP3 software title, (the one I use), there are many, so other suggestions may follow.

I heartily disagree with the above post & the opinion that cassette mutitracking is not a worthy format. First of all, pls don't burst a guy's bubble on his first post, & tell him he should just start from scratch recording on the 'puter. Second, there's a wide range of opinion on this board as to what's a worthy recording medium or not. Third, the question was specific, so pls try to provide an answer that fits the framework of the question.

One bit of bad news, is the 424mkIII has been discontinued by Tascam. Not only is it not available as new product in stores, but Tascam has removed it from it's website, and therefore removed the link to the downloadable manual. There's nothing that's too complex about the 424mkIII that it can't be learned by intuition, but if you're really needing the manual, you'll have to order it from Tascam Parts, at (323) 727-4840.

Good luck to the original poster. Mixing from the 424mkIII and recording onto the 'puter, for purpose of creating CDs of the mixes is fairly easy. Lots of people do it all the time, including myself.

Cheers.

Thanx.

 

[ermghoti]

I heartily disagree with the above post & the opinion that cassette mutitracking is not a worthy format. First of all, pls don't burst a guy's bubble on his first post, & tell him he should just start from scratch recording on the 'puter. Second, there's a wide range of opinion on this board as to what's a worthy recording medium or not. Third, the question was specific, so pls try to provide an answer that fits the framework of the question.

I was going to quibble with the fine points of the assesment of my post, but I had assumed the 424 had been lying around for a while, unused, and you have assumed it is a new purchase. That would definately change the nature of my advice.

I would note that I provided two answers to the original question. I also still feel that it is fair to point out that there is a budget involved in taking tracks from a 424 to a computer, and that that same budget overlaps with the budget required to track directly to a computer.

 

[briz]

Thanks Guys,

I have a lot of live concert cassettes that I already have recorded just lying around that I want to transfer to CD's, thats why I asked. I'm not planning on doing much additional recordings from the Tascam. You have been really helpful. This might all sink in some day.

briz

 

[A Reel Person]

I found the online copy of the 424mkIII manual.

For some reason, Tascam was hiding it.

http://www.tascam.com/Products/424mkIII.html

http://www.tascam.com/Products/424mkIII/Porta_424mkIII_manual.pdf

 

[Grizzly]

Howdy
Get yourself this product ADS DVD xpress. This plugs direct in to your USB1 or 2. Plug your line level output into the RCA audio jacks and boot the included software tell it where to store the captured file then burn your CD. I use this all of the time for audio and video works great and only cost about $100.00us.

Hope this helps

Griz