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SPEND MY LIFE MAKIN LOVE


noynekker

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Here's a link to something I worked on "a while ago" 

Wanted to post this to Noel's thread for Cakewalk by Bandlab efforts, but truth is this was done (I think) in Cakewalk Pro Audio version. The audio tracks were done on cassette and synched through midi to instruments to Cakewalk (Tascam Midi Studio 688). Tried to have a bit of fun re-mastering it all with Ozone 8 and other new tools now available.

Let me know if you think it sounds too cassette ?

I'm thinking of re-recording it all, so I guess this is just the demo . . . If I can only get those guitar fingers working the same way again ?

 

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Great stuff ! I'm intrigued how you managed to sync a 688 via midi to the cakewalk DAW . I have a 688 in the studio which I still think has a fantastic spec. Your recording has a 'tape' almost warm sound, and although I use Plat/Bandlab / Cubase 10 , and because I'm old school I wouldn't change this recording. Like David I have to say that your voice fits it so well ... all good thanks for the post

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One of the cool things about the 688 is that it has SMPTE timecode built in. You can stripe track 8 (I think.. haven't owned mine for years) and then sync it to a PC via an interface that understands SMPTE. I used to record all my audio parts on a 688, and MIDI on the PC via Cakewalk version 1.0 for Windows. Once I got all of the MIDI parts like I wanted them, I'd master it all down to and analog 2 track. I loved the 688. Honestly I love doing everything in the box more these days though. I still have the PCI card with the SMPTE I/O if anyone wants to go old school. B|

 

Also, that's a good tune. I'm really impressed that you got that quality using the 688. Old school cool!

Edited by cheap_guitar
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Thanks to everyone for the great and useful feedback !

@ David Sprouse . . . do I do demos for others ? . . . well, I've never been asked, so guess that's a not so far.

@ SPAK and cheap_guitar . . . yes, you've explained syncing to Cakewalk very well, stripe a track on the 688 with SMPTE time code and run Cakewalk to receive SMPTE.

It always worked great, but yes, now I prefer the way things are all in the Cake box these days as well.

@Will . . . I'm hearing what you're hearing, more BASS low end (now that you've suggested it) . . . I'm going to play with that in Ozone 8 in the next few days, thanks !

@James G . . . thank you for the compliment, and Glen Frey is high company indeed.

@LadyFuzztail . . . thanks for reinforcing that the mix has some clarity, unfortunately, I'm forced to do a lot of headphone mixing these days, and that has some serious limitations for getting "good" and balanced mixes.

 

Edited by noynekker
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16 hours ago, cheap_guitar said:

One of the cool things about the 688 is that it has SMPTE timecode built in. You can stripe track 8 (I think.. haven't owned mine for years) and then sync it to a PC via an interface that understands SMPTE. I used to record all my audio parts on a 688, and MIDI on the PC via Cakewalk version 1.0 for Windows. Once I got all of the MIDI parts like I wanted them, I'd master it all down to and analog 2 track. I loved the 688. Honestly I love doing everything in the box more these days though. I still have the PCI card with the SMPTE I/O if anyone wants to go old school. B|

 

Also, that's a good tune. I'm really impressed that you got that quality using the 688. Old school cool!

Off topic but nerdy

Yep you'd have to have a card of sorts as the 688 only sends MTC not SMPTE , MTC ( and CV ) has  all but disappeared these days so I agree in the box creations are less problematic ... that said I have the odd client that has D/speed cassettes that need a mix down/mastering so I'll keep the 688 going + it's good to try new things with old tech 😉

 

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The 688 was great as it had the MTC encoder/decoder built in, so you could stripe your timecode on to a track and use the MIDI out directly.

I used the Yamaha MT8X which didn't have this facility, so I used a Philip Rees PPS100 for striping tracks/syncing to MIDI.

I found for small projects or things like automation using Cakewalk was fine, but for projects with a lot of MIDI information, Cakewalk struggled to keep up - especially if starting mid way through a song. I think in those days I still ran a Cirrus P166 which probably explains this!

To solve this I recorded the whole MIDI song to a Alesis DataDisk. On playback this received MTC/SongPointer information from the PPS100 (with the timecode coming from track 8 of my MTX8) and played my sound modules in time with the audio. I also used this method in the studio when working with an ADAT/BRC : the BRC would send the sync information to the DataDisk and everything would play in time, regardless of where I started in a song.

So what I ended up with was the melodic MIDI information being played by the DataDisk, automation of my Fostex DCM100/MixTab  mixer being controlled by Cakewalk and the PPS100 acting as the master clock.

As the MIDI instruments were basically live, I then had 7 tracks left on my MT8X for audio. The 7 audio tracks, and sound module output were fed into my DCM100 so I could automate my final mix.

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Really great song. Tight performances and a very polished sound - I thought the mix was clear and clean and really open.

Great vocal work, too, although for my own tastes I probably would have preferred the vocal to be just a wee bit more forward. There were brief sections were the vocals were  a bit hidden by the instruments.  

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I had forgotten about the 688 till you guys brought it up.  I wanted one of those so bad! In those days I thought 8-tracks was more than any normal human being could ever use. Kind of like Bill gates and RAM.

Edited by Will
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8 hours ago, msmcleod said:

The 688 was great as it had the MTC encoder/decoder built in, so you could stripe your timecode on to a track and use the MIDI out directly.

I used the Yamaha MT8X which didn't have this facility, so I used a Philip Rees PPS100 for striping tracks/syncing to MIDI.

I found for small projects or things like automation using Cakewalk was fine, but for projects with a lot of MIDI information, Cakewalk struggled to keep up - especially if starting mid way through a song. I think in those days I still ran a Cirrus P166 which probably explains this!

To solve this I recorded the whole MIDI song to a Alesis DataDisk. On playback this received MTC/SongPointer information from the PPS100 (with the timecode coming from track 8 of my MTX8) and played my sound modules in time with the audio. I also used this method in the studio when working with an ADAT/BRC : the BRC would send the sync information to the DataDisk and everything would play in time, regardless of where I started in a song.

So what I ended up with was the melodic MIDI information being played by the DataDisk, automation of my Fostex DCM100/MixTab  mixer being controlled by Cakewalk and the PPS100 acting as the master clock.

As the MIDI instruments were basically live, I then had 7 tracks left on my MT8X for audio. The 7 audio tracks, and sound module output were fed into my DCM100 so I could automate my final mix.

So interesting even though off topic, it's reassuring to know someone out there had amazing lash ups that worked fine too ... but thank the lord we eventually used DAWs to sync everything up ... a   l o n  g    way out from a CV click LOL .....

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. . . since there's a few here who seem to know the Tascam 688 Midstudio pretty well . . . anyone know where you can buy that little motor that makes the wheels all spin on this device ('cause without it, it's just a really great mixer, but no playback or recording)

I would love to re-capture some of the stuff I recorded on the 688 back to digital world.

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Capstan motors should be easy to find. I doubt very much that it's specific to this machine. They were very similar in most cassette decks. Even several from consumer decks like NAD and Nakamichi will probably work. In fact, I've got an old NAD 6240 sitting in the basement that's got problems that I'd be willing to send you free of charge just to get it out of the house. It doesn't work anymore, but I think the motors are fine. God only knows if they're the spec you need though. Find the scats on both machines and compare.

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8 hours ago, noynekker said:

. . . since there's a few here who seem to know the Tascam 688 Midstudio pretty well . . . anyone know where you can buy that little motor that makes the wheels all spin on this device ('cause without it, it's just a really great mixer, but no playback or recording)

I would love to re-capture some of the stuff I recorded on the 688 back to digital world.

As far as I know the C/motors for the 688 are obsolete or at least no longer available. I have purchased two machines over the years as donors to keep my 688 in great condition. I also have the cct diagrams/ official manual for the 688 .... Give me a couple of weeks at most and I'll get back to you and see if I can help. BTW it's a real fiddle to do this replacement and you'll def need a new drive belt .. it's not a job for t he faint hearted so you may need to re-asses. Anyway as said lets see what I can come up with.

 

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Well mine is useless. I just tried it, and fast forwarding and rewinding starts good but then slows to a crawl, so the DC servo motors are shot. They probably wouldn't have fit anyway.

I was just reading up on these, and you can buy new servo motors all over the place, but apparently it's much more difficult to find one that will match your deck than I figured. (There are thousands of different ones.) Heck, I've owned and taken apart lots of cassette decks over the years, and those DC servos all look pretty much the same to me except some had a hole in them where you inserted a jeweler's screwdriver that turns a screw for an adjustable resister that regulates the tape speed. Others don't have it and instead have a pot somewhere on the circuit board for that. Well anyhow they aren't anywhere near being all the same, and it seems that nobody makes exact replacement motors for old take decks anymore. Your chances of finding a new one that has the right specs and physical dimensions are almost zilch. Your best bet is to get parts from an old identical deck, but then again, it will be hard to find one that the motors aren't half dead in---like mine---which is going in the trash today. . . .

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1 hour ago, daryl1968 said:

HA - people pay a lot of money to get that warm tape sound :)

Yeah, and when you try to tell them that this the so-called "warm" sound is nothing but a bass bump that you can duplicate in digital recording with a slight EQ adjustment, they don't believe you. Cassettes never had that by the way. They didn't run at a high enough speed to generate that bass lift.

Personally, I never liked having that bass bump. It worked great on some instruments but terrible on others like acoustic guitar and bass. Half the time you were cutting the bass EQ to get rid of it. There are still studio owners though who perpetuate the myth of "analog warmth" in order to manipulate people into using their studio. A pox on them! >:(

Edited by Will
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