Transferring all 4 tracks at once, but separate to comp.?

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Mr. C

Mr. C

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Didn't know how to title this, but I just read a post in another thread and found out that there are tape outputs for each track on the back of my 424mkii. (How did I miss that??!!) Anyways could I transfer all four tracks to my computer so that they stay separated on the computer? I've transferred the tracks one at a time using monitor out onto the computer to keep them separate, but then with the program I'm using (Kristal) I have a hard time keeping them synced. I'm sure there is a way, but how??? Thanks.
 
Im not sure if this will work but what you need to do is synchronise your computer with you tascam. To do this you will need to get a MIDI-FSK converter to record timecode and other midi info to the tape. U will need to use track 4 for this. On the tape information such as bar number and song position are recorded onto here.

Once you have done this you will need to transfer each track one at a time or if they were mono you could do 2 at a time and panned left and the other panned right. That is assumiong you dont have a big fancy soundcard that will except more that 2 inputs. Im not familiar with kristal so dont know the procedure for assigning left and right to each track.

The error in the synchronisation is caused by the wow and flutter of the cassette. Because it is mechanical it will not run exactly the same everytime

You signal Path sould be as follows:



Tape out 4 into the tape in on the midi/fsk converter. Then the midi out of the fsk converter into the midi in on the soundcard. Then the midi out of the soundcard to the midi in on the midi/fsk converter. Then finally the tape out of the midi/fsk converter into the Sub in R.

Dont forget to set track 4 to record to BUS R and set the DBX NR switch around the back of the Tascam to to SYNC. This get rid of the noise reduction for track 4 only.

Then you can record the midi timecode onto the tape.

When you have recerded the timecode to tape you need to set the timecode source in kristal to something like external. Then you should all be synchronised nicely.

When you do this your tascam tape controls should control the tape controls in Kristal,

However if you have already recorded onto channel 4 you will need to do it without synchronisation and line each individual track up by ear. This can be very tricky.

Other options are to just do a stereo mixdown to the computer as I do.

Hope that this helps and is not at all confusing!! LOL!!

PS i have never done this with software B$4 only hardware so dont know if works but i cant see why not.
 
The easiest way to do this by far is to get a 4 input soundcard such as the M-Audio Delta 44 or Delta 66 and use it to transfer all 4 tracks at once.
 
Or you could do that

perhaps will cost you a bit more but hell its easier!!
 
kq, or anyone else;
If I do a stereo mixdown right to the computer then don't I lose the advantage of some of the effects that are avail on the kristal prog.? For example if I just wanted to do some vocal compression would that not effect all the other instruments, or if I wanted to add chorus to the guitar, etc.? Your other suggestion, although it's a great idea I'm sure, it's way beyond me or the time I would have to figure it out. Anyways I'm really confused about all this. :(
 
yeah you are right you would lose the advantage of adding separate effects to each channel.

So you could either use the midi to control it or but the 4 channel soundcard.

you could get a multi fx rack unit. You can get a behringer one for £78. Its not the best but you get what you pay for obviously. This way you could use the auxillary send and returns on the tascam to connect it. This way you could do a stereo mixdown to the computer with effect on separate tracks.

These are the only three options available to you as far as i know. Dont know if anyone else has any more ideas.

So you've got to choose beween:

That midi setup i described

Buying a souncard with 4 inputs

Buying external effects units

I think the sound card would be the most beneficial option as you can then record tracks straight into the computer quickly and easily.
 
Doing a smpte or midi time code sync'ed transfer with a 4 track cassette machine would be WAY too complicated IMO, and to do so would require that you give up a track on the 4 track machine for the time code to be on, as well as more than likely also needing a more capable software program to do it right, in the end, I think it would be a lot of needless effort in order to do a 3 track transfer, besides, if you already have 4 tracks recorded on the cassette machine you won't have a track for the timecode.

Yes, if you did a stereo mixdown into the computer you would lose the ability to do any mixing inside the computer.

After doing a little bit of looking around, this is the card I would choose for the task, the price has come down quite a bit, I seem to remember this setup selling for over 200 dollars not too long ago, this is a really good deal IMO.

M-Audio Delta 44 $149.00
http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-MII-D442.html



In the firewire dept. I would probably choose the Presonus Firebox, it has 4 analog inputs (2 with mic preamps, 2 line inputs), and comes with Cubase LE, it's a nice looking setup, and would be usable with a laptop if you have one, but at 400 dollars, it might be too pricey for what you want to do.

I am not a fan of USB-1 audio devices, I have an Edirol UA-20 (2x2 I/O) and have not liked it, there's too much noise, maybe other ones would work better but I wouldn't recommend USB-1 at this time.

:)
 
Thanks to all...

I think you all have done a great job in explaining this to me. I'm not out to make a commercial record, um, I mean CD (dated myself there), but just for myself and a couple of bandmates. So I am looking for simple. The soundcard would probably be the ticket, but I might look at effects also. Maybe a little more explanation of how that would work could help. Would I have the effects unit between the Tascam and computer? Or what? Thanks again.
 
U would have the effects set up on the auxiliary send/returns on the tascam and then the line output from the tascam to the computer. This will then record a stereo mix onto the computer with all the effects on each you have used them on
 
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