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Question about 8 tracks...
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 9:47 pm
by Snowblind
The band I'm in has been recording some demos on a Tascam Portastudio, so we were wondering how to transfer a recorded songs on to a computer (mac). The tascam is a newer version, but I'm not sure which to be exact. It actually has a USB output, but when we try to export the song nothing happens. Is there a specific program that you need to be able to do this? By the way, we can listen to the songs fine through the actual 8 track itself, but we just can't seem to be able to transfer it on to a computer. All help is greatly appreciated. Thanks

Re: Question about 8 tracks...
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:08 pm
by 01010111
It's possible that the tascam and the mac aren't compatible. I'm using the dp004 and it'll export just fine to my laptop running Linux. I think the solution here is obvious. Switch to Linux.
Re: Question about 8 tracks...
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:17 pm
by Snowblind
wfs1234 wrote:It's possible that the tascam and the mac aren't compatible. I'm using the dp004 and it'll export just fine to my laptop running Linux. I think the solution here is obvious. Switch to Linux.
Hah

well maybe we can try it through a friends PC, but do you mind telling me how you usually do it, just so I can check if we are doing anything wrong, next time we try it.
Re: Question about 8 tracks...
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:31 pm
by bob the r0bot
This sounds like your just missing some device drivers. Have you checked tascam's website to see if it lists any required software?
Re: Question about 8 tracks...
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:38 pm
by 01010111
I turn on the dp004, leave it on the main screen, plug it into my computer via the usb, the computer treats the dp004 like an external drive and I can pull up the individual files. This worked on both linux debian and windows 7, so I'd be surprised if it didn't also work with mac os as well.
There is an important first step here though, you have to have the tracks ready to export to the computer. You have to navigate some of the sub-menus to do this, and if you do it track by track it will take a while because you can only export one track at a time. The easier way is to create a stereo master track, with all your other tracks recorded to it, and export that to the computer. If you haven't done any of this, your computer will still pull the machine up as an external drive, but when you open it to explore the files it will be empty.
Re: Question about 8 tracks...
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:05 pm
by Snowblind
bob the r0bot wrote:This sounds like your just missing some device drivers. Have you checked tascam's website to see if it lists any required software?
Thats a good idea I'll check that out.
wfs1234 wrote:I turn on the dp004, leave it on the main screen, plug it into my computer via the usb, the computer treats the dp004 like an external drive and I can pull up the individual files. This worked on both linux debian and windows 7, so I'd be surprised if it didn't also work with mac os as well.
There is an important first step here though, you have to have the tracks ready to export to the computer. You have to navigate some of the sub-menus to do this, and if you do it track by track it will take a while because you can only export one track at a time. The easier way is to create a stereo master track, with all your other tracks recorded to it, and export that to the computer. If you haven't done any of this, your computer will still pull the machine up as an external drive, but when you open it to explore the files it will be empty.
Ok well when we plugged it in with the USB, the mac didn't even pick it up as a external driver. It probably either isn't compatible, which I highly doubt, or I need to download some drivers. Did you download any drivers wfs1234?
Re: Question about 8 tracks...
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2011 11:35 pm
by 01010111
I didn't have to install any drivers. Most things are made to be compatible with pc (sadly), and I'm running ubuntu on my linux which has been fantastic at handling all my usb stuff without downloading additional drivers.
I'm not sure how similar mac and windows are, but I know that in windows if you miss an update, stuff like this can very easily happen. So if you don't have all the updates from apple you need that could also be an issue.
Re: Question about 8 tracks...
Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2011 2:17 am
by Snowblind
Hey thanks for all the help, hopefully I can figure something out next time we try and record.