How to get all 8 tracks out individually from the Tascam 488 MKII

[gro...@my-dejanews.com]

I have a Tascam 488 MKII and have stuff recorded on all tracks. I am trying
to transfer this into my PC using the Layla system which has 8 inputs. My
problem is that the Tascam seems only to have 2 standard outputs. I've tried
several things, but don't seem to be able to get each track out separately.

Does anyone know if this can be done and if so, how?

Any information will be appreciated

thanks

groshe

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[Scot Johnston]

gro...@my-dejanews.com wrote in message <7540bp$m03$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...

You can take tracks 1 and 2 out of the inserts.

You can get the other six out of Line L, Line R, Monitor L, Monitor R, Aux
Send 1 and Aux Send 2. You can line up the tracks however you want, but
here's one way (for example):

pan 3 hard left and assign to the 1/2 bus -- it will appear on Line out L
pan 4 hard right and assign to the 1/2 bus -- it will appear on Line out R
for monitor, select the 3/4 bus
pan 5 hard left and assign to the 3/4 bus -- it will appear on Monitor L
pan 6 hard right and assign to the 3/4 bus -- it will appear on Monitor R
turn all Aux sends counterclockwise, except:
turn up send 1 on 7 -- it will appear on Aux out 1
turn up send 2 on 8 -- it will appear on Aux out 2

Alternatively:
You can take track 8 out of the Sync Out on the back.
You can take one track out of the Tape Cue jack.

It's not pretty, but it should work.

[Chris Gieseke]

gro...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
>
> I have a Tascam 488 MKII and have stuff recorded on all tracks. I am trying
> to transfer this into my PC using the Layla system which has 8 inputs. My
> problem is that the Tascam seems only to have 2 standard outputs. I've tried
> several things, but don't seem to be able to get each track out separately.
>
> Does anyone know if this can be done and if so, how?
>
> Any information will be appreciated
>
> thanks
>
> groshe
>
> -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own

You can't. That is why I bought a Yamaha MT8-X cassette 8-track...it
has 8 individual track outputs. However you can use your effects loop
sends as assignable outputs. It still won't give you 8 but it's better
then just two.

Chris G.

[Les Cargill]

Chris Gieseke wrote:
>
> gro...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
> >
> > I have a Tascam 488 MKII and have stuff recorded on all tracks. I am trying
> > to transfer this into my PC using the Layla system which has 8 inputs. My
> > problem is that the Tascam seems only to have 2 standard outputs. I've tried
> > several things, but don't seem to be able to get each track out separately.
> >
> > Does anyone know if this can be done and if so, how?
> >
> > Any information will be appreciated
> >
> > thanks
> >
> > groshe
> >
> > -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
> > http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
>
> You can't.

CAN TOO! :)

> That is why I bought a Yamaha MT8-X cassette 8-track...it
> has 8 individual track outputs. However you can use your effects loop
> sends as assignable outputs. It still won't give you 8 but it's better
> then just two.

Actually, someone else posted a way to get all 8 out of
a 488 MkII in a post above. It will indeed work:

1) Two tracks out the inserts in track 1 & 2 ( this
is the tricky part ).
2) Four more out the Main and Monitor busses.
3) Two more out the F/X sends.

Being able to directly get the tracks without bothering
the mixer section is a nice feature of the Yamaha.

The instructions were quite complete on the previous post.

>
> Chris G.

--
X-No-Archive: yes

Les Cargill - lcar...@worldnet.att.net

[Chris Gieseke]

Hmmm Does the 488 assign individual tracks to the monitor output in
stereo? Sorry for my misinformation, I forgot about the assignable
monitor output. I also forgot about the inserts. I had assumed that
when assigning individual tracks to the monitor buss, that they are in
mono like most of the 4-tracks I've used (it's also like that on my
8-track) with no way to pan those tracks on the monitoring buss so as
to seperate them.
Thanks for the info.

Chris G.

[Chris Gieseke]

Scot Johnston wrote:
>
> gro...@my-dejanews.com wrote in message <7540bp$m03$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>...

> >I have a Tascam 488 MKII and have stuff recorded on all tracks. I am
> trying
> >to transfer this into my PC using the Layla system which has 8 inputs. My
> >problem is that the Tascam seems only to have 2 standard outputs. I've
> tried
> >several things, but don't seem to be able to get each track out separately.
> >
> >Does anyone know if this can be done and if so, how?
> >
> >Any information will be appreciated
> >
> >
> >thanks
> >
> >groshe
> >
> >-----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
> >http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own
>

> You can take tracks 1 and 2 out of the inserts.
>
> You can get the other six out of Line L, Line R, Monitor L, Monitor R, Aux
> Send 1 and Aux Send 2. You can line up the tracks however you want, but
> here's one way (for example):
>
> pan 3 hard left and assign to the 1/2 bus -- it will appear on Line out L
> pan 4 hard right and assign to the 1/2 bus -- it will appear on Line out R
> for monitor, select the 3/4 bus
> pan 5 hard left and assign to the 3/4 bus -- it will appear on Monitor L
> pan 6 hard right and assign to the 3/4 bus -- it will appear on Monitor R
> turn all Aux sends counterclockwise, except:
> turn up send 1 on 7 -- it will appear on Aux out 1
> turn up send 2 on 8 -- it will appear on Aux out 2
>
> Alternatively:
> You can take track 8 out of the Sync Out on the back.
> You can take one track out of the Tape Cue jack.
>
> It's not pretty, but it should work.

Well I'll be..... I didn't know assigning tracks to the 3/4 buss made
them come out of the monitor outputs....cool. Sorry for the misinfo.

Chris G.

[JWalk...@aol.com]

It's a little ugly, but it can be done:

1) Deselect all the channel send buttons and all the buttons in the monitor
section. 2) Use the insert jacks on the front for tracks 1 and 2. 3) Use
the effect 1 output for channel 3 by turning up the effect send 1 on this
channel. 4) Use the effect 2 output for channel 4 by turning up the effect
send 2 on this channel. 5) Send channels 5 and 6 to send 1+2, pan hard left
and right, and use the line outs for these. 6) Send channels 7 + 8 to send
3+4, pan hard left and right, select 3+4 on the monitor section, and use the
monitor outputs for these.

It's been a while, any corrections please let me know.

JW JWalk...@aol.com

In article <7540bp$m03$1...@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,

[Les Cargill]

Chris Gieseke wrote:
> <snip>

> Hmmm Does the 488 assign individual tracks to the monitor output in
> stereo?

All busees are assignable to the monitor out. Stereo bus 1&2 is
hardwired to line out.

> Sorry for my misinformation, I forgot about the assignable
> monitor output. I also forgot about the inserts.

I had once posted herer saying you couldn't do this, so you may
have gotten that from me! I didn't think about the inserts at the
time.

> I had assumed that
> when assigning individual tracks to the monitor buss, that they are in
> mono like most of the 4-tracks I've used (it's also like that on my
> 8-track) with no way to pan those tracks on the monitoring buss so as
> to seperate them.

They're all panned into whatever stereo bus (1&2, or 3&4 )
they happen to be on.

> Thanks for the info.
>
> Chris G.

--

Les Cargill - lcar...@worldnet.att.net

[gro...@my-dejanews.com]

Thanks to all of you that replied to my post. Last night I tried your
suggestions and indeed got all 8 tracks out - felt like a miracle!!!

BTW, I called the TASCAM help desk a few days ago and they told me that it
can't be done with the 488.

Thanks again

[Chris Gieseke]

Do them a favor and call them back to tell them. Better yet ask to talk
to a supervisor there at the Tascam product support. They really should
know things like that.

Chris G.

[Les Cargill]

gro...@my-dejanews.com wrote:
>
> Thanks to all of you that replied to my post. Last night I tried your
> suggestions and indeed got all 8 tracks out - felt like a miracle!!!
>
> BTW, I called the TASCAM help desk a few days ago and they told me that it
> can't be done with the 488.

ROTFL!

>
> Thanks again
>
> groshe
>
> -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==----------
> http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own

--

[Todd Jones]

Chris Gieseke wrote:
> Do them a favor and call them back to tell them. Better yet ask to talk
> to a supervisor there at the Tascam product support. They really should
> know things like that.
>
> Chris G.

Or at least they should be saavy enough to recommend a 688 upgrade as a
way to do it ;-)

-Todd

[josh.c...@gmail.com]

Will this also work on the original 488 portastudio, not the MKII???? Wow, I am replying 17 years later!

Thanks!

[Les Cargill]

josh.c...@gmail.com wrote:
> Will this also work on the original 488 portastudio, not the MKII???? Wow, I am replying 17 years later!
>
> Thanks!
>

"It's just a step to the right!" - "Let's Do The Timewarp"

Dunno; never had one in my hands. I don't think it has
the inserts on 1&2 so you can't use those. It does
have 1/2/3R/4L and F/X sends so that gets you to six.

--
Les Cargill

[michael woods]

Here we are in 2022, reviewing a thread from 1998. They say the internet is forever, but here it is being put to good use! Far out, 1998 was a long time ago, but great times. I was in London UK and on the other side of the world from my Tascam 488 Mk2 (which was languishing in storage in Kingaroy in country Queensland) and was missing it as I was writing songs about my travels and only an old dictaphone for capturing the ideas. When I returned home in 2000, I got busy and hammered out 2 albums worth on that Tascam, such a good machine. I ran out of creative gas when kids came into my life and the Tascam was relegated to the attic and ultimately superseded by digital devices. It was only late in lockdown last year that I wondered if it would still work. I retrieved it, plugged it in but there were issues with the tape transport and nothing would play. I was so lucky to discover an audio technician in Sydney (Earth Audio) who used to service Tascam and knew exactly what the problem was and after months of searching we eventually found the parts to repair the tape transport plus replace the belts and other parts and now it works perfectly well. I'm absolutely thrilled! I have 62 tapes, mostly TDK SA-90s and the process of archiving to digital has begun. I located this thread, followed what it says and it works perfectly, I am now transferring tape to a Zoom 16-R seamlessly. Two things have astounded me. The build quality of the Tascam. It spent 20 years in an un-lined attic, sometimes baking in the summer and all it needed was a few of the plastic parts replaced (which in fairness probably only ever had a 10 year life span). Secondly, the tapes (which were also kept in the attic) are in top condition and play perfectly. The quality of those cassettes staggers me. Anyway, hope you don't mind my story. Longwinded way of saying that what is written above (2 outs via insert jack; 2 outs via line 1/2; two outs via monitor 3/4; two outs via effects) works perfectly.