Tascam 788 Owner's Manual

Also see for PORTASTUDIO 788: Supplementary guide Addendum Tutorial Brief guide

Contents

Tascam 788 Owner's Manual Manual pdf 9 page image

1 – Introductory concepts–Disk vs. tape recordingTASCAM 788 Digital PortaStudio 9Multitrack recorders can be analog (for example, theTASCAM PORTASTUDIO cassette series) or digital(for example, the TASCAM series of DTRS record-ers), and likewise mixing consoles can be analog ordigital. The 788 is digital, that is, after the signalsenter the 788, the mix, recording process, the internaleffect processors and mixdown are all digital. Thisavoids any possible loss of quality caused byrepeated conversion between analog and digital.This also allows a consistent frequency response (i.e.there is no loss of the very high or very low frequen-cies) and dynamic range (from quiet to loud), sinceall the components in the integrated 788 system aredesigned to work with each other.Disk vs. tape recordingThe 788 uses a disk for recording, but traditionally,multitrack recording has been done on tape. Themethods of recording with tape and disk recordingsystems differ in a number of ways.Multitrack tapesA tape is divided into a number of different “tracks”;usually either 4, 8, 16 or 24.A typical arrangement of tracks used during a tape-based recording session is shown below:If more tracks are required in the course of a session,there are a number of alternatives:• It is possible to record on unused parts of a track(for instance, if there is a saxophone part which isnever played at the same time as the backingvocals, you can use the spare portions of track 7 forrecording the saxophone).• By sacrificing a track of audio, special synchroniz-ing timecode can be recorded on the “sacrificed”track, allowing sequenced MIDI instruments toplay along with the audio tracks.• If there are more instruments than tracks, it is pos-sible to do a “mini-mixdown” from some existingtracks to a spare track or tracks. This is known as“track bouncing” or “ping-pong”.• In the example above, the four recorded tracksincorporating the drum parts will be bounced andcombined onto tracks 7 and 8. Tracks 1 through 4may now be reused for other purposes.Multitrack disksOn an analog tape deck, the number of tracks avail-able is determined (mainly) by the width of the tape.By contrast, in a disk system, the power of the pro-cessor determines how many tracks can be recordedand played back at one time. On the 788, eight trackscan be recorded and played back at one time.While a tape’s tracks are recorded side-by-side alongthe length of the tape, a disk track may be placedanywhere on the disk.If you could see the magnetic patterns that arerecorded on a hard disk, you might find that theTrack 1 Bass (kick) drumTrack 3 Drum Kit (left)Track 2 Snare drumTrack 4 Drum Kit (right)Track 5 Bass GuitarTrack 6 GuitarTrack 7 Vocals (backing)Track 8 Lead vocalsTrack 1 Bass (kick) drumTrack 3 Drum Kit (left)Track 2 Snare drumTrack 4 Drum Kit (right)Track 5 Bass guitarTrack 6 Rhythm guitarTrack 7 Click track (disposable)Track 8 Guide vocals (disposable)Track 1 Was bass (kick) drum - now reusableTrack 3 Was drum kit (left) - now reusableTrack 2 Was snare drum - now reusableTrack 4 Was drum kit (right) - now reusableTrack 5 Bass guitarTrack 6 Rhythm guitarTrack 7 New mixed drums (left)Track 8 New mixed drums (right)