Hi, I sincerely hope someone here can help me with my digital recording, as it has been driving me round the bend trying to get answers to these. I apologise if these questions are a bit moronic, but all the manuals I got with my equipment seem to skip over all the key information.
My recording set-up:
1 x Tascam 788 portastudio (with a SCSI output, S/PDIF coaxial RCA digital output, stereo output and monitor output).
1 x Packard Bell R4250 laptop (3x USB ports and a mic in socket).
My questions:
1) How do I go about recording digitally into my laptop, assuming I have, say, Cool edit or Pro Tools? There seems to be a wealth of information on using the software, but not a lot on how to actually get the music onto the machine. Do I or can I record digitally in via a USB port, do I need to buy extra hardware to do this which has specific output ports?
2) Given the specifications of my Tascam 788, what is the best way to master from it using the Digital S/PDIF coaxial RCA socket, as any connector leads I find for it are RCA at both ends, and would hate to think about all the adaptors I would need to eventually attach it to a USB port on my laptop.
3) Can anyone point me in the right direction - books, sites etc - for good, practical information aimed at non-technical experts? Most I have read speak in double-dutch and abbreviations that assume you have a lot of prior experience in this field.
I thank you in advance for this, and any help regarding these topics will be greatly appreciated.
Paul
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Basically you will need some sort of audio interface with a S/PD
Basically you will need some sort of audio interface with a S/PDIF input on it. Remember that S/PDIF is only two channels so if you plan on sending all the tracks from your Tascam you can only do two at a time.
At that point you would need to sync the PC to the Tascam via MIDI..and that of course would require a sound card with MIDI on it as well as S/PDIF.
If all you plan on doing is mixing within the Tascam and then sending the mix to your PC, then all you'll need is a SPDIF input. Any soundcard will do at that point since you'll be doing a simple digital transfer. Digital transfer is just that...simply passing the digital signal from one device to another without any change in the signal.
M-Audio makes some really cheap simple interfaces for the PCI slot in your computer. They also make some USB interfaces as well which should be just fine for doing two track transfers.
HTH
Opus :D