The Tascam 388

palinilap · Post by **palinilap** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 7:30 am

TheRealRoach wrote:I'm not sure how well it would do. The technological atmosphere when the 388 was first released was a lot different since it was before the cassette portastudio was available. The 388 WAS the small economical option to home recording. Now with computers I don't know that anyone would really be into it enough. Anyone that WOULD be a potential buyer probably already owns a 388, and anyone who already HAS the 388 and would be open to drop $4000.00 on a new machine would likely go with a 2".

I guess they could make some changes, like 16 tracks mixer instead of 8, or -- god forbid -- onboard effects. But any bigger than it's current format would no longer make it portable. I mean, hell, it's hardly portable as it is. You can't move it without two people.

Being a limited release, I think they'll sell out pretty quickly.

I just hope we don't see the price of used units increase with the new popularity. I'd like to score one this fall.

j.harv · Post by **j.harv** » Fri Jul 08, 2011 2:58 pm

HOAX!!!!!!!!!!!

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Sat Jul 09, 2011 3:04 am

I confess.
It would be great if it were to happen.
Just started off as a "what if.." post and I kind of got carried away.

palinilap · Post by **palinilap** » Sat Jul 09, 2011 11:01 am

shedshrine wrote:I confess.
It would be great if it were to happen.
Just started off as a "what if.." post and I kind of got carried away.

Well done! I was skeptical after seeing the April 1st release date, but thought the story was too elaborate to be a hoax.

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Sat Jul 09, 2011 7:29 pm

palinilap wrote:
shedshrine wrote:I confess.
It would be great if it were to happen.
Just started off as a "what if.." post and I kind of got carried away.
Well done! I was skeptical after seeing the April 1st release date, but thought the story was too elaborate to be a hoax.

Hope I didn't make anybody mad. I was just thinking of what it would take for Tascam to be able to reintroduce the 388, and went with it. Then I thought to put it in article form and.. I fully intended to let everybody know it wasn't for real, but I couldn't resist seeing what kind of reaction it got first.

kslight · Post by **kslight** » Sat Jul 09, 2011 7:45 pm

Well it would be cool but ironic... The price was probably the least believable part of the hoax...I think it would cost much more than $3500 to do it right. Didn't even notice the 4/1 date until after someone pointed it out. I think it would be price prohibitive to recreate from a business standpoint, I don't think many would pay what it would have to cost. As cool as the 388 is, with today's recording technology it's not a good value at several thousand dollars, only a cool toy like a film camera for a few hundred.

caseydentinger · Post by **caseydentinger** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 10:53 am

recently picked one of these up and i am working to get it in good order. transport is working well now but there is an audible squeal on playback and the highs are really scratchy. also sometimes the tape sticks and i have to use the lifter to get it moving.

the heads and rollers are pretty filthy and i'm going to get some high % isopropyl for the heads but what should i use for the rollers? i imagine alcohol is no good for the rubber.

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Tue Jul 12, 2011 2:06 pm

to clean rubber rollers: wet qtip, or qtip w/mild soap, damp cloth works well. (Bottom of page 10 references this)
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... &start=135

If your tape is sticking and shedding, you have bad tape. You need to toss it unfortunately. (bottom of page 8 for more info)
http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... &start=105

In other words, read this thread my friend!

nice pic btw

dustypants · Post by **dustypants** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 8:28 am

long time reader of this thread and all the other 388 related stuff, it's been SO helpful over the last year! I've tried to read everything and hold off posting as long as I could, but now I need some help!

I really need some advice on bouncing down tracks on the 388. I'm currently having a few issues bouncing a pair of overhead drum tracks down to a mono track. I think I may have tracked the drums a bit too loud as every attempt to bounce down to this mono track is way too distorted, no matter where I get the levels set.

I guess if I KNOW I'm going to bounce drum tracks (or any other track for that matter) does this mean I need to record them quieter than a say a track I know won't be bounced? I guess to compensate for the total volume of all of the tracks bouncing down to 1 mono track?

This is one of the tracks I'm trying to bounce the drums on: (tape outs from the 388 so nothing is bounced yet, but you can hear what i have to work with at least)
http://soundcloud.com/dustypants/track-06-s

I've also created a soundcloud group for this mighty mid-fi machine, so please join and post if you are a soundcloud user!
http://soundcloud.com/groups/tascam-388

and last but not least, here is a photo of my messy, less than ideal recording/mix set up

Thanks for all the help just by posting so much awesome info on this page!!

jwrightzz1234 · Post by **jwrightzz1234** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 4:09 pm

after a good deal of research. Haven't been able to figure out how to make it record quite yet... Followed all the instructions in the manual and got the signal coming through the headphones but when we record we hit playback nothing comes out,,, oh so awful. Please help

j.harv · Post by **j.harv** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 7:06 am

So here's what I do to record.
This is probably what you have been diong,but I'll go over it.

1.Plug mic into mic input 1
2.Flip the mic/line/rmx switch to mic.
3.turn up the trim pot and speak into the mic to get signal.Also turn up the left PGM fader and the master fader to the shaded area.
4.Push the assign 1/2 button and rotate the channel 1 trim pot all the way left.

5.Push the red record button #1.( these are the only buttons that should be down for recording).
6.Push play and record and talk into the mic for a few seconds.
7.Push stop and rewind to beginning.
8.Push the red record 1 button so its off(no flashing light) and also push the
assign 1/2 button so its now in the up posistion.

9.Push the red assign L/R button down.
10.Flip the switch to rmx and push play.You should now be hearing what you just recorded..

I could be missing something because Im not by my 388 right now.
Also make sure you headphone/moitor volume knob is turned up.

zorf · Post by **zorf** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 7:41 am

hey dustypants,
thanks for putting up the 388 site.

dustypants · Post by **dustypants** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:22 pm

no problem on the site!

so doesn't anyone out there mix totally in the box with the 388? Does anyone expand past 8 tracks and bounce stuff down to pairs or mono tracks??

shedshrine · Post by **shedshrine** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 12:24 pm

Hey Zorf, welcome to tapeop man.

and yeah, thank you Dustypants, I just added your link on the first page of this thread, and in "listening to other stuff" here:

Got 388 tunes?

j.harv · Post by **j.harv** » Tue Aug 09, 2011 4:29 pm

dustypants wrote:no problem on the site!

so doesn't anyone out there mix totally in the box with the 388? Does anyone expand past 8 tracks and bounce stuff down to pairs or mono tracks??

Yeah.I mix right in the 388.Dont think I could bring myself to dump it
in a daw and mix from there.

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