Tascam 2488 Neo

[jprice444]

Thanks AD30! Just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to harm the machine - especially since I'm just beginning to have fun with it.

You can have the phantom power on all four mics. The dynamics don't care, it will not hurt them. MUTE OR PULL MASTER FADER DOWN WHEN APPLYING PHANTOM POWER!!! ALSO, DO NOT PLUG OR UNPLUG ANYTHING UNTIL YOU SHUT THE PHANTOM POWER OFF!!!! That's when the damage occurs. Did some great recording with the tascam check it out at http://ad30.org

[jprice444]

Can anyone tell me what the Stereo Dynamics key does, and when to use it? There is virtually no information about it in the manual.

Thanks

[RadMan47]

Can anyone tell me what the Stereo Dynamics key does, and when to use it? There is virtually no information about it in the manual.

Thanks

The Stereo Dynamics key serves as either a compressor or expander of the main stereo buss. Also, since the stereo buss also allows it to be EQ'd, you can "shape" your full mix. What I don't know is whether or not any such adjustments to the stereo buss flow thru when you do your final mix recording and then subsequent mastering.

I mean, compressing an already compressed mix seems a bit illogical.

Wish I could be of more help to you.

Be well .... Kenny

[jprice444]

Man, do I miss the simple days of recording with my old straightforward four track. These days, 90% percent of my studio time is spent on electronic mysteries, and 10% on actual recording. I lost three weeks when I had to send the unit back to the factory for a brain-damaging feedback problem that had no explanation, but they could find nothing wrong with the machine - which, of course, still has the problem. (It does this on Playback without ANY mics plugged in, or active channels.)

My main issue has always been with the effects of this unit. Since most everyone on the planet uses both reverb and delay on vocals, I was astonished to discover that both of these effects are only available on the Single Effect section of the unit - which means you can only use one or the other.

So I go out and buy a dual effects processor so I can use the external effects sends and then I learn that I can only assign the effects to one channel? Unbelieveable. I guess I'll be sending the effects processor back for a refund, since I can't use it. Yes, I did speak with a Tascam tech, and yes, you can only assign the external effect to one channel. Even using both external effect sends has a serious limitation. For example: From the first processor, let's say I have a nice reverb that I want to apply to the vocals on channel 4. On the second processor, I want to add delay to the vocals on channel 4. Can't be done. Why? Because the external effect "loop" is completed by using an open input for the return - such as E, F, G. Right? But I can't assign E and F to the same channel.

Anyway...I might be wrong about all this, but I don't think I am. Surely there are many of you on this forum who are using external effects processors. Any ideas?

Thanks.

[RadMan47]

Man, do I miss the simple days of recording with my old straightforward four track. These days, 90% percent of my studio time is spent on electronic mysteries, and 10% on actual recording. I lost three weeks when I had to send the unit back to the factory for a brain-damaging feedback problem that had no explanation, but they could find nothing wrong with the machine - which, of course, still has the problem. (It does this on Playback without ANY mics plugged in, or active channels.)

My main issue has always been with the effects of this unit. Since most everyone on the planet uses both reverb and delay on vocals, I was astonished to discover that both of these effects are only available on the Single Effect section of the unit - which means you can only use one or the other.

So I go out and buy a dual effects processor so I can use the external effects sends and then I learn that I can only assign the effects to one channel? Unbelieveable. I guess I'll be sending the effects processor back for a refund, since I can't use it. Yes, I did speak with a Tascam tech, and yes, you can only assign the external effect to one channel. Even using both external effect sends has a serious limitation. For example: From the first processor, let's say I have a nice reverb that I want to apply to the vocals on channel 4. On the second processor, I want to add delay to the vocals on channel 4. Can't be done. Why? Because the external effect "loop" is completed by using an open input for the return - such as E, F, G. Right? But I can't assign E and F to the same channel.

Anyway...I might be wrong about all this, but I don't think I am. Surely there are many of you on this forum who are using external effects processors. Any ideas?

Thanks.

Yep, I agree that the biggest negative to the 2488Neo is in the very limited abilities of the internal effects. While I'm no expert on this subject, the 2488Neo has two external effects sends which I believe are assigned to EFF 1 and EFF2. It would seem that you should be able to do what you want via that route.

Alternatively, you might consider a fairly old trick, which is copying your Channel 4 vocal to say channel 5 and then apply the external delay to Channel 5. Adjust the faders on both channels to get the "blend" you want and then leave them as is or buss them to one of the stereo channels.

Hope this helps.

Be well .... Kenny

[IAMNOONE]

Hello, I like to "test drive" the new music I create by burning it to a CD then listening to it in the car while I am driving. I have been working on a new song and I went to burn it to a CD last night and noticed I had to make a master track before I was able to record what I had to CD. I am new to using the 2488NEO and I am wondering if there is anyway to record what ideas I have alreeady recorded to CD without mixng it down or anything? For instance I now have a guitar track and a keyboard track. I want to be able to save it to CD and listen to it later on to think of any changes or other parts I wish to add to it. Is there anyway to do this? I hope this makes sense! Its just the way I create new stuff! Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give me! Have a nice day.

[RadMan47]

Hello, I like to "test drive" the new music I create by burning it to a CD then listening to it in the car while I am driving. I have been working on a new song and I went to burn it to a CD last night and noticed I had to make a master track before I was able to record what I had to CD. I am new to using the 2488NEO and I am wondering if there is anyway to record what ideas I have alreeady recorded to CD without mixng it down or anything? For instance I now have a guitar track and a keyboard track. I want to be able to save it to CD and listen to it later on to think of any changes or other parts I wish to add to it. Is there anyway to do this? I hope this makes sense! Its just the way I create new stuff! Thank you in advance for any assistance you can give me! Have a nice day.

I can appreciate your method of "test driving" your new creations. If I understand correctly, you want to export your "work in progress" to CD and then add to the work at a later time. Yes, you can, but to export to a playable CD, you still have to mixdown (which I would think you'd want to do anyway to get a decent balance between instruments), and you must produce a master. The good news is that your original tracks on the NEO can still be added to at a later time, but you have to repeat the mixing and mastering process in order to produce another playable CD. I do this all the time (adding overdubs, etc.) and it's not a problem. For security reasons, I would advise you to export the raw data after each session to CD (this will be in the NEO's proprietary format) so that you don't inadvertently lose any of your added tracks. It's easy to do with the NEO when you clean out unneeded material to keep file size manageable. Good luck .... hope this helps.

Be well .... Kenny

[IAMNOONE]

I was hoping to find a way around this. But I will give it a try. Thank you for your input! Have a nice day!

[jprice444]

Hello,

Among the settings in the "created new song" window, one is for turning the "mixer" on or off. The default setting seems to be "off" - and since I've always created a new song with this setting, I'm just curious what "mixer" they're talking about.

Thanks

[JoeFox]

Greetings everyone.
After completing my mixdown, mastering and burning to a CD on my 2488 Neo, when I play the CD on my personal CD player I have to turn the volume control to maximum to hear the recording. What have I done wrong? If I put the CD back in the 2488 the volume is perfect. Any advise?

Thank you
JoeFox

[jprice444]

Greetings everyone.
After completing my mixdown, mastering and burning to a CD on my 2488 Neo, when I play the CD on my personal CD player I have to turn the volume control to maximum to hear the recording. What have I done wrong? If I put the CD back in the 2488 the volume is perfect. Any advise?

Thank you
JoeFox

Hi Joe,

Are you using the "Mastering Tools" after completing the mixdown? If so, check to see if the compressors are on. By default, they are on, (you can switch them off), and they are usually set to a pretty extreme setting. I prefer not to use them at all.

Another problem may be the method used to burn the CD. There is a record a "track at a time" method, a "disk at once" method, and one other one that I can't recall at the moment. On "disk at once" method, "finalizing" is done automatically at the end of the burning, but on "Track at a time" method, you must manually initiate "finalizing" the disk after the last track has been burned. This makes the disk playable in other CD players.

Finally, if you have powerful studio monitors, make sure their volumes are not set too high during recording. If all else fails, capture one of the individual wave file and look at it with Audacity, (or any other program that shows the wave form). If all looks normal, then you know the problem wasn't with the recording itself but something else.

Anyway, hope this helps. Let us know.

Jeff

[sklawlor]

How accessible is this unit for someone who is blind. Like are there dedicated knobs and buttons for selecting tracks effects and the like? I'm looking into a stand-alone recording solution for myself and I've heard countless stories about people who have latency issues, driver update conflicts, version changes that make things cradh, etc. I want to focus on making music, not troubleshooting problems so figured that a Vuris with a stand alone digital recorder would be the best way for me to go since i'm interested in composing ambient music. Any thoughts on the questions and if the 2480neo won't work for me, is there something that someone can recommend I lok into? Thanks for the help.

Just wondering if anyone had any experiences with this latest version of the 2488?
Dave Huffman

[philli]

when i record a track (accoustic guitat rythym) i add an effect while i record. then i play it back and it has the effect on it. now I add a track of lead guitar. i use a different effect on this track but as soon as i add the effect to the new track, my original track becomes dry on playback. how do i keep the chorus on my rythym track and have a distortion effect on my lead.

[jprice444]

when i record a track (accoustic guitat rythym) i add an effect while i record. then i play it back and it has the effect on it. now I add a track of lead guitar. i use a different effect on this track but as soon as i add the effect to the new track, my original track becomes dry on playback. how do i keep the chorus on my rythym track and have a distortion effect on my lead.

Hi Phil,

Be sure that you are assigning a "new" effect to your lead guitar track without un-assigning the effect you recorded on your acoustic track. I can visualize what's happening to you, (I went through the same thing), but it is difficult to explain it without a hands-on demonstration. Just keep messing around, experimenting - it just takes time and a lot of trial and error to figure everything out with the Neo. It can be maddening at times, so be sure there isn't a hammer or a shotgun anywhere near you or your studio while you're learning. You'll get there.

Jeff

[wayoutwest]

Came with 160 gig HD. Fat 16, Fat 32. Also purchased DP-24 (2). Working with a partner and wanted files compatible with less hassle. Hoping DP-008 files are playable in - DP-24 SD card slot without any conversion. Transfer files to Logic for fine tuning.