Standalone portastudios

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roscoenyc
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Re: Standalone portastudios

Post by roscoenyc » Wed Jan 30, 2019 6:30 am

I had a lot of various porta-studios.
Fostex, Tascam, Roland.
I might crack a grin thinking about the things we were able to do with them but I wouldn't go back there for anything.
To me it's like some young person going on about the '70's who never suffered the indignity of a 100% Polyester shirt.

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vvv
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Re: Standalone portastudios

Post by vvv » Wed Jan 30, 2019 11:00 pm

I hadda leisure suit.
bandcamp;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.

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roscoenyc
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Re: Standalone portastudios

Post by roscoenyc » Sun Feb 03, 2019 7:18 am

vvv wrote:
Wed Jan 30, 2019 11:00 pm
I hadda leisure suit.
And platform shoes no doubt!

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vvv
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Re: Standalone portastudios

Post by vvv » Sun Feb 03, 2019 10:22 am

Yes! I recall one time, mebbe being 14 or 15, walkin' to the mall, cracked the sole where the molded heel joined the arch - that was a PITA, and foot, walk home.

To this day, I do not wear polyester, altho' I have a new appreciation for, bounuseducationaldisco.
bandcamp;
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I mix with olive juice.

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shedshrine
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Re: Standalone portastudios

Post by shedshrine » Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:46 am

https://tascam.com/us/product/model_24/download
https://tascam.com/downloads/products/t ... add_va.pdf
Don't know if you've already pulled the trigger on something yet, but thought I'd bring this to your attention in case this new functionality might swing your vote towards a Model 24. I just did the upgrade last night, though I haven't done any mix conversions just yet.

The second post in your thread here, by flood survivor and awesome musician A.David.MacKinnon makes a good point about tracking to a standalone and mixing in the box for the sheer power and recall. Certainly that will be the case for many/most? of the people who go with a Model 24. The 24 doesn't have direct outs, which means bouncing out (24 bit) tracks through whatever processing and back onto another track. Processing that will help glue the mix together. With tape based portas like A.David's 488 or a 388 that's a part that's baked in to an extent.

As someone in a similar situation to yours, in that you want to avoid the box and screens but still want a cohesive mix, I have found a few key pieces of outboard that get me something similar. There are many of course, as it is a keystone of the sport, this gluing things together business, I'm sure you already have some go to pieces, and I'm sure others can chime in with their favorites, but for my uses, in no particular order:
a deltalabs effectron and an empress superdelay vintage modified using the tape delay setting at minimal settings are particularly awesome. Everything sounds better through that sucker. That box is not cheap, i got a good used deal, but empress has a new unit that is just the vintage modified tape delay section as a pedal which I would hope would get you there for less money. Effectrons just have a wonderful way of making everything melt, and they have such a unique sound. The first (I haven't heard the revision unit) ART Pro Vla stereo compressor has great glue qualities as well. And the Lexicon MPX1, though I find it hard to navigate, has some sick thickness adding sounds. Those are down to $200 now
You're budgeted at a grand I see. I got my Model 24 as an open box so it was $150 off. Regardless, let us know which option you choose to go with.

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A.David.MacKinnon
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Re: Standalone portastudios

Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Mon Mar 11, 2019 6:16 am

shedshrine wrote:
Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:46 am
https://tascam.com/us/product/model_24/download
https://tascam.com/downloads/products/t ... add_va.pdf
Don't know if you've already pulled the trigger on something yet, but thought I'd bring this to your attention in case this new functionality might swing your vote towards a Model 24. I just did the upgrade last night, though I haven't done any mix conversions just yet.

The second post in your thread here, by flood survivor and awesome musician A.David.MacKinnon makes a good point about tracking to a standalone and mixing in the box for the sheer power and recall. Certainly that will be the case for many/most? of the people who go with a Model 24. The 24 doesn't have direct outs, which means bouncing out (24 bit) tracks through whatever processing and back onto another track. Processing that will help glue the mix together. With tape based portas like A.David's 488 or a 388 that's a part that's baked in to an extent.

As someone in a similar situation to yours, in that you want to avoid the box and screens but still want a cohesive mix, I have found a few key pieces of outboard that get me something similar. There are many of course, as it is a keystone of the sport, this gluing things together business, I'm sure you already have some go to pieces, and I'm sure others can chime in with their favorites, but for my uses, in no particular order:
a deltalabs effectron and an empress superdelay vintage modified using the tape delay setting at minimal settings are particularly awesome. Everything sounds better through that sucker. That box is not cheap, i got a good used deal, but empress has a new unit that is just the vintage modified tape delay section as a pedal which I would hope would get you there for less money. Effectrons just have a wonderful way of making everything melt, and they have such a unique sound. The first (I haven't heard the revision unit) ART Pro Vla stereo compressor has great glue qualities as well. And the Lexicon MPX1, though I find it hard to navigate, has some sick thickness adding sounds. Those are down to $200 now
You're budgeted at a grand I see. I got my Model 24 as an open box so it was $150 off. Regardless, let us know which option you choose to go with.
You’re gonna make me blush.
I don’t know enough about the 24 but if it’s digital I’m guessing you can export data and mix in the box? If that was ever needed.

+1 on the effectrons. I have 2 and they’re the best box out there for mangling sounds in real time.
I have the same VLA and can also attest to its usefulness although I use it less often then I used to (for whatever reason).
Another good trick for mix glue is to route the mix through some transformers. I have a pair of McCurdy line amps with transformers on the ins and out (with some other nice stuff in between). It’s hard to really explain what it does but you can clearly hear it when A/Bing. The bottom end gets tighter and the top gets a sparkle/sheen. It sounds more like a finished record. My old studio partner had the tube version of my McCurdy line amps and that thing was magic. The results were similar to my solid state version but on steroids.
Easier to find and more budget friendly would be the old urei room EQs. They’re silver and the model numbers are 500 something (memory fails). There are a bunch of versions but if I’m not mistaken thay all share the line amp circuit and transformer from the 1176. Even with all of the EQ sliders set flat you can hear it doing something nice to the mix.

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Re: Standalone portastudios

Post by Trick Fall » Thu Mar 21, 2019 11:14 pm

At one point my interface and computer died and I was so tired of dealing with computers that I bought a Korg D3200 and used that for a couple of years. It's a bit of a pain in the ass to deal with backing up files, but you can mix internally and burn a CD. I also thought the preamps and built in effects were pretty good especially the EQ. I also loved the layout as there are sixteen track faders and 16 knobs that change function depending on what you are doing. It's really a pretty nice box. It'll do 32 tracks at 16 bit 44.1, or 16 tracks at 24 bit. I actually only ever used it in 16 track mode because this eliminated having to bank faders.

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Re: Standalone portastudios

Post by Burnt Ernie » Sun Mar 24, 2019 3:03 pm

+1 on the Korg D3200. I've got one I added the 2seemy video adaptor to it,so I don't hafta use the tiny onboard screen-it works with any VGA monitor,and I swapped the 40 or 80 Gig onboard HD to a 240 Gig. I was using it to record band practices. Sounds really good,has a TON of onboard processing.
I am the Walnut

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