How the Heck do I transfer old 8 Track stuff to DAW?
Mark W
into ProTools. The only problem is I can only cheat my way into getting a
few outputs at a time... 2 line out, 2 monitor out, 2 effects sends. Each
one probably more degrading to the sound than the last.
I tried to dump them in a few at a time, recording one of the tracks every
time so I can align them all with that, but what starts out as phase
problems in the beginning, by the end of 2 minutes becomes discrete echoes.
In other words, one pass on the tape happened at a different speed than
another.
How the heck do I work with this? Do I have to create submixes so I can do
it all in one pass?
Regards,
Mark
--
http://www.marktaw.com/
Ole Dantoft
The only two ways I can think of are :
1: Find a PC with an 8-input soundcard (a rare animal, if there ever was one
!) and transfer it in one pass.
2: Find someone with an 8-track DAT-recorder - many studios use them, alone
or in groups of 2to3to4 - and make an intermidiate transfer from the Tascam
to DAT. You'll then be in the digital domain and transfer of 2 tracks at a
time to your PC can be done without the timing-issue. It'll still be a pain
in the butt, but doable nonetheless !
HTH
Ole
"Mark W" <sp...@marktaw.mailshell.com> wrote in message
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Tony
the Tascam at one time.
Why not record two tracks at a time and then simply sync them. I have done this easily and it works
great.
Tony
Chris G.
some posts on how to do this (if you have a 8 input soundcard that is or an
ADAT). You might try doing a Goggle-Groups search in the archives of this
newsgroup to find the answer.
I had to do something similar, transfering 4 tracks at a time from a Yamaha
MT8-X cassette 8-track. I had to do a TON of cutting and pasting as well
as using the "time stretch" control to fix parts that got un-aligned due to
fluctuations in the tape motor speed. It took a LOOOONG time to do but it
is possible with the right tools and a lot of patience. Just make sure that
the last two tracks are something like bass guitar and vocals which are both
easier to cut and splice then drums or electric guitar for example.
Chris G.
aka-Miles Teg<GD>
"Mark W" <sp...@marktaw.mailshell.com> wrote in message
news:Xns931ABE7D...@199.45.49.11...
Mark W
news:3d454v0h2nlpfh9gv...@4ax.com:
> Why not record two tracks at a time and then simply sync them. I have
> done this easily and it works great.
Because they don't sync... Each time I run it, it seems to slow down just a
bit so if they're synced at the start, they're off at the end.
Ben Bradley
>I took out my old Tascam 488 MKII porta studio and wanted to dump the files
>into ProTools. The only problem is I can only cheat my way into getting a
>few outputs at a time... 2 line out, 2 monitor out, 2 effects sends. Each
>one probably more degrading to the sound than the last.
>
>I tried to dump them in a few at a time, recording one of the tracks every
>time so I can align them all with that, but what starts out as phase
>problems in the beginning, by the end of 2 minutes becomes discrete echoes.
I recall long threads here a couple years ago describing awful
pains of transferring multitrack tape to DAW through a two-input
soundcard.
>In other words, one pass on the tape happened at a different speed than
>another.
>
>How the heck do I work with this? Do I have to create submixes so I can do
>it all in one pass?
Find someone with an 8-track cassette machine with all outputs (I
think the 'original' recorder-only-no-builtin-mixer Tascam 8-track
cassette was the 238), and an 8-input soundcard (is it the delta
1010?) and pay them to transfer it. Or to an ADAT or 8-track HD
recorder, from which you can then transfer two tracks at a time to the
computer with no speed variation.
Or do the chop-chop-chop thing with the tracks you transferred...
>Regards,
>Mark
>--
>http://www.marktaw.com/
PEACHESANDSHIELA
likely remaning tracks at 2 of the outputs. For example, you'll want your vocal
on its own track for processing but you can survive with your kick and snare on
the same channel. Likewise you dont need a buncha backup vox to be on seperate
outputs. Or put your drums with your panned guitars... or whatever, do whatever
you have to. If you blow the submix then just re-dump em until you get it good
enough.
As for getting them synced, you'll need either a 6-input soundcard (or a
program that supports multiple cards at once) or you'll need an intermediate
digital unit. For example take a hard disc recorder with 6 inputs ( something
like my Roland VS-880 would work) and dump the tracks to that, them dump the
tracks 2 at a time to your PC (preferably digitally but if not, oh well). MAKE
SURE you record a click before the start and copy across ALL tracks, so you
have a visual reference to line up in your DAW software later. A rim-click or
high-hat sample or something or other will work fine.
Les Cargill
>
> I took out my old Tascam 488 MKII porta studio and wanted to dump the files
> into ProTools. The only problem is I can only cheat my way into getting a
> few outputs at a time... 2 line out, 2 monitor out, 2 effects sends. Each
> one probably more degrading to the sound than the last.
>
Not necessarily.
> I tried to dump them in a few at a time, recording one of the tracks every
> time so I can align them all with that, but what starts out as phase
> problems in the beginning, by the end of 2 minutes becomes discrete echoes.
YUP! BTDT.
> In other words, one pass on the tape happened at a different speed than
> another.
>
> How the heck do I work with this? Do I have to create submixes so I can do
> it all in one pass?
>
> Regards,
> Mark
> --
> http://www.marktaw.com/
Get something that taske 8 analog inputs into a machine, then
use the inserts to get tracks 1&2 in.
You *can* stripe track 8, then have N-track chase the 488, then
set things up so the same track on the 'pooter and on the 488
are hard panned left right, so you can guess how to sync things.
But I don't recommend it for songs longer than 2 minutes. It's pretty
tiresome. The pitch knob isn't very high resolution.
Get something that dumps 8 channels of analog into a PC. Look at the
Frontier Designs or Fostex websites. I've used a Lightpipe card with
N-track and it's pretty powerful.
--
Les Cargill
Les Cargill
Tony
the same speed so they should go to your PC at the same speed. Sorry to hear you had problems with
this. Seemed so easy to me. Maybe your PC is slow or you have an audio latency problem?
Tony
PEACHESANDSHIELA
>They are being played at
>the same speed so they should go to your PC at the same speed. Sorry to hear
>you had problems with
>this. Seemed so easy to me. Maybe your PC is slow or you have an audio
>latency problem?
If you have a magical cassette mechanism that doesn't drift then by all
means share the model name with us.
groove_sf
you really can't get discrete tracks if you don't have the right
outputs -- regardless of whether you have enough inputs on the card.
i have a tascam 414 4-track, so i could get 4 distinct outputs using
the L & R stereo channels and the 2 aux. sends. I can't see doing it
with 8 tracks.
you're stuck with either combining some of your tracks or trying so
sync. them after getting them seperately (but i've heard that's
*really* hard).
Chris G.
multitracks have tape speed fluctuations.
Chris G.
"PEACHESANDSHIELA" <peachesa...@aol.comdontmail> wrote in message
news:20030207115041...@mb-cr.aol.com...
Mark W
> You can get all eight out of a 488 MkII:
>
> http://www.homerecording.com/tas488tips.html
Les, this is exactly what I was looking for. You rock.
Mark W
> You *can* stripe track 8, then have N-track chase the 488, then
> set things up so the same track on the 'pooter and on the 488
> are hard panned left right, so you can guess how to sync things.
Thanks to everybody for their suggestions.
The recordings I wanted to get were far form traditional rock, they were
more like... sound experiments. Okay, 90% traditional rock, 10% general fun
with music. I wanted to be able to bring them into PT & mix them entirely
there for practice.
I have an 8 channel sound card, though 2 have mic pre's so they're going to
be colored differently from the rest. C'est La vie. At least I can get all
8 out of the 488 at once & into PT at once.. I'll have to choose which
tracks get the mic-pre coloring.
Les Cargill
This should be a line-level to line-level transfer. No mic pres need
be involved. I suppose they *can* be, but you run the risk of too much
signal going into 'em.
--
Les Cargill