Tascam 488 to digital

[FirkinGood]

I have gotten completely lost in the homerecording.com site...

i am needing to get an album's worth of material from a tascam 488 (8track) to the computer for bruning to disc...

now my question is...how do I do that for one...and once i have gotten onto the computer can i mix and master afterwards or do i have to mis and master and then upload to computer?

I'm decent at operating the tascam, but am completely new to getting from there to the computer...


help??

is there free softaware i can get to get it to the computer to mix and master?

 

[69 SG]

The only way I can tell you is how I would do it with my junk.
Using my computer as the Mastering Machine for the final mix down.
I would have to mix down from the 488 to my computer
through my soundcard and using Adaptec Easy CD Creator software
through the Spin Doctor feature.
That is software that I can digitise LP Records
and Line in Tape Drive units to hard disc.

 

[up-fiddler]

Since the 488

only has four outs you probably will need to send stereo outs (R/L) to the soundcard on your computer. Mixing will probably need to be done on your 488. You can, however, compress or effect the stereo mix in the box if you wish. Things like copy and paste to switch a great first chorus for a crappy second chorus are useful in the box features that you could still use for example. I recorded Acoustic News! in 1992 on a 488 in this same manner. It wasn't released until 2004 when I was able to pull it off tape and burn it to CD. (There were some underlying money and starvation issues in the intervening years.) Today I know LOTS more about recording than I did then but you can get the idea. Good luck, up-fiddler.