For discussion about setting up your studio and advice on the gear and equipment within it.
By Altopiano Sun Jul 25, 2004 10:33 pm
hy fam

great news here - my homie is back on the beaz! ... and how! crazy dude is been to busy with work in the past 2 years with no time for music at all -two days ago he just came to me sayin: 'i m back and i m going to buy a novation x-station and a tascam harddiscrecorder 2488! what ya think?' ... well, we are in the middle of summer here but somehow feels like santa claus ...

currently i use an mpc 4k, an access virus kb, a mackie sr 2402, hk active monitors, my guitar, a bass, 2 rncs, 1 lexicon mpx 550 and some others things. my plan is to build my little home production studio and i basically just want to buy gear which suits my setup and needs ... and basically most of the things i want and need are there already. some things will get changed over time and the next thing i wanted to switch is my mackie for an akai dps 24! than some more other external effects and i m fine ... what i absolutely don't want is unused gear coz there is already somethin here from the past ...

... and as i said i wanted the dps24 as my next unit and now comes my mate and changes all my plans ... and since i don't know those 2 units at all - coz they have never been in my plan - i now got some questions to them which i hope someone might answer, give advice, help, discuss, ... whateva.

x station:

anyone in here has tried the x station? as i read its supposed to be a classic novation synth plus a midi controller for several vst plugins! well seems a great one to me - a novation synth is always nice to have but since the x-station has more functionalities (on top some midi control for vst) i wonder

1. whether the x station is a real novation synth or more a midi controller with some small integrated (maybe limited) synth part? if there is a nice novation synth in there its heaven here - what i don't want is a phantastic midi controller with wack synth sounds!
2. how does it work in combination with vst plugins/pc?

tascams harddiscrecorder 2488:

seems a nice investment too - but ... my long term goal is akai's dps 24! anyhow he wants to buy it now ... now i can't afford the dps and the dps is to expensive in his opinion. so no chance for the dps atm! but who knows - the 2488 is much cheaper as the dps and i absolutely have no idea how good the 2488 is?

it seems allright to me too but i seen some first minor shortcomings such as maximal 44 khz and no adat and i fear this one: no moving faders! questions:

1. since i use the 4k it would be great to have adat and 96 khz aswell! anyhow - i want my 4k to be remain the centre of my setup! how is interoperablity between 4k and 2488? ie flying waves form 4k to 2488 and viceversa? all possible via aksys?

2. been searchin on this site for older threads regarding the 2488 and i found one where i been reading that the 2488's faders ain't movin! what does that mean? and what are the consequences? i mean if we get it, it will replace somehow my makkie - so any issues with dumping mixer settings correctly? could anyone please explain what shortcomings the moving fader limitation has?

3. how is the tascams 2488 overally - eq, effects, ... ? despite being a harddiscrecorder - can it be used as a stand alone mixer/replace my mackie? any other shortcomings?

best thing of the story is that my homie is back. the gear he plans to bring in are phantastic news too ... now its just to make sure that santa claus doesn't bring 'undesirable presents'! any advice, help, better suggestions are very welcome

thanx

alto
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By Blaknif Mon Jul 26, 2004 3:22 pm
The 2488 is good to me. It doesn't have automated faders, the faders do move. It only records 8 tracks at a time. You don't need an external board to mix. I'm glad I got mine!!!

By Altopiano Mon Jul 26, 2004 9:51 pm
thanx alot blaknif - i very much appreciate your response! good lookin out. what about any weaknesses of the 2488 - amy things that really sukk or could be an issue?

yo and if anyone knows novations x station ... have a go please ...
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By Blaknif Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:27 pm
If you are recording a long session & you want to seperate songs, (i.e a live show or a mixtape,) you have to copy the whole session however many times {time consuming if you have a 30 track mixtape} or seperate it with a computer program. That is my only gripe. Hopefully they will fix this with a software update. I've managed to get a real good sound out of my 2488.

By Altopiano Tue Jul 27, 2004 3:43 pm
thanx again Blaknif - if thats all its really good lookin out here ...