sgulley
Superstar
If you really like music and recording it then never stop trying to get better at it.
Posts: 2,994
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Post by sgulley on Mar 26, 2005 21:58:23 GMT
I went over to the Tascam forum today and looked at a few of the posts regarding the 2488. I saw the link to download the Quick Guide and User documentation so I did so.
It has a lot of really great features so the PS5 menus are far less in comparison. If you are buying one to get away from manual Menus and cursor selections you might be disappointed, cause this is not the case.
It has vocal reverb, de-esser and Exicter processing capability, and selectable 16 or 24 bit processing for the particular mix quaility you want, and mastering the mix before the burn. It starts with an 80M Segate hard drive that can be replacec with, up to currently, a 160M drive. Tascam recommends that only the Segate drives be used for a replacement. Suppose to be very easy to do.
The one thing that the PS5 does have that the 2488 doesn't is the ability to input MIDI chords and assign instruments. It's MIDI tone generator is basically for drums alone (does have tempo mapping), or the same ability to import in MIDI backing tracks or SMFs using the USB port. The 2488 does allow tweaking the SMFs and reassigning the parameters but not the individual notes, in other words, you can sort of edit.
If you want to record something quick, the PS5 is still be best for that. If you want to record live, or produce a sellable music product, then the 2488 looks really good for that. I'm sure someone that actually owns a 2488 knows a lot more about it's capabilities.
Some some quick-study notes that I wanted to share if someone is curious, or decides over the next year to upgrade.
Stan
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Post by nikonbob55 on Mar 27, 2005 4:35:19 GMT
Hiya Stan, Agree to all the points you made above - and my 2488 arrived here just yesterday. Playing with it reminds me of my first few days with the PS5 (now how the heck do I do that???), but I suspect the learning curve will be shorter thanks to the time spent with the PS5. I also got the tutorial DVD from Tascam - watched it through once on the big screen, and now I'll keep it on the PC so that I can fire it up and review particular sections as are necessary. One thing I've found on the TG already - you're right in that it's strictly drums and percussion, but a big advantage is the flexibility of programming. Let's say you've set up a pattern which works well, but you're not crazy about FILLBA, for example. You can use the FILLBA (or FILLAB, Ending, Intro, whatever) from a different pattern without changing the rest of your setup! As you get to know the patterns, just take notes as to which ones contain a particularly useful fill, ending, etc., and then splice those into the pattern that's more appropriate for the overall piece you're working on. Nice touch! What's driving me crazy now is the way one has to route signals out of and back into the 2488 to use an external processor - the 2488 doesn't have inserts, so it's a whole different process to work with. In any case, it'll certainly be a learning process, BUT the time spent with the PS5 has already proven to be invaluable!
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Post by mcarp555 on Mar 27, 2005 10:40:17 GMT
It's interesting to see all the people struggling to understand how the 2488's drum patterns work over in the other forum. As Bob has mentioned, any veteran PS5 user would probably find it second nature. I also have a sneaking suspicion that the drum patterns are the same, just stripped of the non-percussion instruments.
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sgulley
Superstar
If you really like music and recording it then never stop trying to get better at it.
Posts: 2,994
|
Post by sgulley on Mar 27, 2005 17:23:37 GMT
Reading through the 2488 user manual yesterday Tascam sure did bring in a lot of familiar features and ideas from the PS5. I also saw where they are already providing new features and add ons from their first firmware release like they originally did with the PS5. What I like about the 2488 is the availability of all of those tracks (and virtual) for layering without a need to bounce. The only need to bounce is when you want a special effect just for a single track where you would bounce in the effect to itself. Otherwise that effect would render to all of the other tracks.
My advise would still be to use the PS5 to design the song and get the original ideas first, and then restart the same project on the 2488 to produce a 24-bit version with better quality. That would be more work but the second time around is almost always better anyway. Still haven't made a final decision yet, and it would probably be at least 6 more months with the price dropping before I would decide. I would probably also install a bigger hard drive if I go with the 2488, but maybe Tascam will have done that for me anyway with an upgrade. Guess that would again depend on future marketing decisions.
Stan
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Post by nikonbob55 on Mar 27, 2005 19:32:26 GMT
Hi Stan, Just to touch on two points of your last post - price is more flexible than it appears. I found an authorized Tascam dealer on Ebay with a perfect 100% feedback rating (over 3000 feedbacks in a 6 year membership) which is where I got my 2488 for $958 - with free FedEx shipping to boot! ;D This compared to driving up the street to the local Guitar Center and plinking down the average $1199 (possibly a little wiggle room, but not that much), and then adding state sales tax. That savings was enough to convince me to go ahead and take the plunge. Once the unit arrived, it was in perfect condition, and it already had the 1.01 firmware upgrade installed (which indicates that this dealer moves enough inventory to have new stock on hand from Tascam). As to the drive upgrade, the procedure is very well documented in numerous posts on the other forum, and it's not difficult at all (well, speaking for myself anyway - I've been a service technician since 1977, so ripping things apart and upgrading or repairing them is not a big deal to me), but with the convenience and speed of USB 2.0 transfer, you really wouldn't need to install a larger drive. Simply set storage space aside on your computer and do periodic backups of your songs, which is a good practice in any case. I agree that the PS5 has a definite place in my home setup, but the lure of 24 uncompressed tracks with no need to bounce was just too tempting for me to resist!
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Post by mcarp555 on Mar 27, 2005 22:25:29 GMT
I refer you both to my essay Beyond The PS5 for some tips on how to integrate the little blue box in with a larger multi-track. My PS5 and 788 work quite well together.
And Stan, I'm just finishing up a song that I've done on both machines. I'll post them both on SC soon so you can compare the 4-track version with the 8-track one.
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Post by nikonbob55 on Mar 28, 2005 2:32:21 GMT
That is an excellent essay, Mike! I just started today to "audition" the preset patterns in the 2488 in order to get to know them as well as I already know the PS5 selections. It would be simple to program a song's pattern layout on the PS5 and then use the line out into a linked pair of tracks on the 2488. Where I do want to learn and be as comfortable on the new console as I have become on the PS5, there's no need to retire it at all.
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