Upgrading from 424 to 488 Questions/Concerns

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tiredofdriving

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Hi, I'm new to the board.

I love my 424 mkIII, but felt I needed more tracks (tired of bouncing), so I impulsively bought a 488 a week or so ago, which will be arriving in the mail hopefully this Thursday. I've got a few questions and concerns I could use some help with...

Questions:
What's a good cassette tape to use? When I bought my 424 the seller threw in 15 or so Quantegy 472 tapes (he said were discontinued) which have worked wonderfully for me. A friend recently borrowed my 424 and had terrible results with a different type of cassette. What's a good, available, not TOO expensive cassette to use? Can I keep recording over my Quantegy tapes without a huge loss of quality?

Can I take songs I've recorded on my 424 and use them in the 488? The 488 review on this site seemed to say I could (although I bought a 488, and not a 488mkII). I love the idea of having four extra tracks to use on songs I've already recorded. Is there a big loss in quality though?


Concerns:
No XLR inputs (remember I have the original 488, not the 488mkII). Is there a loss in quality between XLR cables and 1/4 inch cables?

Trim control on only two tracks. This is a big problem. I'd like to record drums (four mics at a time), whats the easiest way to do it? Can I use my 424 as a mixer or something?

No Direct Record Mode. I really liked this with the 424. It worked well and was real simple.

Hm, I think that's it for now. If i think of more, I'll ask. Sorry for the long post! Thanks!

keith
 
Wow!

I lost count of all the questions you had!

OK, lets see...TDK SA60's should do a comparable job to what you were getting from the Ampex/Quantegy tapes.

I'm not sure what those bad tapes were?

About using your old tapes over and over again; Most cassettes will be reliable for about 500 plays. After that, your living on borrowed time.

About playing your 4 track tapes on the 488; I wouldn't suggest it as a reliable means of playback as the head alignment might be off and some phasing may occur. Plus, each of your 4 tracks will be occupying two tracks each on the 488 so, you wouldn't be able to add 4 more reliably to build up those projects.

About the lack of proper microphone inputs; Absolutely yes. Use your 4 track Portastudio as a sub-mixer for your drum kit and send a stereo out from the 424 to two tracks on the 488 and go from there.

I think I got most of them?

Cheers! :)
 
Yo "Weary Driver:"

To add to what the Ghost said, if you can find Sony UX Pro cassettes, buy them. They have a very quiet ceramic mechanism.

Quantagy bought out Ampex - their cassette tapes have noisy mechanisms. I bought some but didn't especially care for them.

If you buy an electric magnet tape eraser, it will save your recording heads a bit. It's the same type of eraser used by DJs--works very well.

I had two 488s and enjoyed them; I've mixed quite a few cuts from those tapes into my Yam 2816 and got good results; one problem is tape hiss -- it also gets enhanced by a digital recorder.

You might think about a digital box later on. Once you push the button and there is no tape to rewind, you'll never go back.

But, enjoy and have fun with your new toy.

Green Hornet:D :p :cool:
 
Thanks for the input! I'm sure I'll have more questions after I start using the 488.

Cassettes are reliable for 500 plays? Fantastic! I'm a one-take kindof guy, so I'm sure my quantegy tapes have hundreds of plays left on them. But thanks for the recommended cassettes. It might be nice to pick up a big pack of good ones and then just record one song on each.

I'm not too great with recording, could someone explain exactly how I can use the 424 as a mixer to record drums onto the 400 (ex. "plug the this into this...etc)?

Someday I might step up to digital, but right now I've been getting great results with recording onto the tascam, and then plugging it into sound forge.
 
tiredofdriving said:

I'm not too great with recording, could someone explain exactly how I can use the 424 as a mixer to record drums onto the 400 (ex. "plug the this into this...etc)?
Click to expand...

Plug all your mics into the 424 mkIII, make sure the channel select switch is in the mic/line position. EQ and pan each mic independently.

At the Monitor Select section, make sure you have the switch in the L/R position.

Plug a set of rca cables into the 424s Line Out, you will need 1/4 inch adapters at the other end to plug into your 488s channel inputs, I assume.

You can still use the fx loops, and all the other bells and whistles of your 424, but they will only work for the two channels of the 488 you are plugged into.
 
more information please!

Hey everyone,
I have the same situation, but in reverse! I have a Tascam 424 4 track, and i would like to use a small sub-mixer to plug in about 4 drum mics, then send it to my Tascam. . .

I was wondering if anyone had some ideas for a cheap sub-mixer. . .something with at least 4 XLR balanced mic inputs, and some phantom power, and a stereo L & R output. . .so I could send that to channel 1, and 2 on the Tascam. . .

Nothing too expensive, . any ideas on a small mixer and can this be done?

Thanks guys!
 
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