Syncing 4 Track Reel-to-Reel with PT

[rastro2]

Is there an easy way to sync up my olde Tascam reel to reel 4 track with ProTools? I'm using a 002R. I think it'd be kind of fun to have some tape warmth in the mix, and my tape deck is sitting around neglected on a shelf. Has anyone else experimented with this? Is it worth the trouble?

Thanks,

Joe McGinty (hi Joel!)
www.carouselrecording.com

[Chris_Avakian]

smpte time code, but it will turn your 4 track into a 3 track...

[joel hamilton]

Is there an easy way to sync up my olde Tascam reel to reel 4 track with ProTools? I'm using a 002R. I think it'd be kind of fun to have some tape warmth in the mix, and my tape deck is sitting around neglected on a shelf. Has anyone else experimented with this? Is it worth the trouble?

Thanks,

Joe McGinty (hi Joel!)
www.carouselrecording.com

Hi Joe!

When I did a collaboration recently that involved a cassette 4-track, I realized something very important: Cassette 4 tracks DO NOT track very well, speed wise or sync wise. The tracks I loaded back into PT after a trip around the country on a 4 track cassette were not only a different speed by the end of the song, they were almost a quarter step sharp, ONLY AT THE END OF THE SONG!!!! It was insane... it was very hard to deal with pitch wise as well...
The way to incorporate SOME of the fun, in my opinion, is to run tracks out through the line amps in your 4 track, back into protools, and accommodate for the latency of a native system like PTLE. Especially something like an optigan, or funky key sound (which I know you have many flavors of that type of thing) the line amps will "shape" the sounds in a pleasing way that at least "hints" at the 4 trak recordings we all know and love....
hope that helps you, or at least inspires you to try something wacky....