Software to convert Backup/Restore.001 files into the DP-24 format

[AstraLeadGuitar]

Dear Tascam Forum readers,
Is there any software you know of capable of converting the Tascam Backup/Restore.001 files made by the 2488 MKII or Neo and saved onto a computer, into files which are compatible / readable by the new DP-24?

I have a dilemma you see: the motherboard has failed on my 2488 MKII. The price to replace it is so high that I would much prefer just to upgrade and buy the DP-24. But I can’t lose all my songs which I am currently mixing. And I can’t convert these Backup files into Wav files for use with the DP-24 precisely because the motherboard has failed!

It seems such a pity and a big oversight on Tascam's part that the song backups can’t be imported straight into the newer machine. They really should have accounted for this situation. So, aside from the undesirable, risky option of purchasing of an unguaranteed second-hand 2488 MKII/Neo, do you know of any solutions to this problem, like the aforementioned software conversion? I would appreciate your advice. Thanks very much.

 

[Alfredo]

you can get the hard drive and read it thru a pc. Once you connect your new dp24 to the pc move those files to the backup directory. recreate the song and then use the restore function in the dp24.

 

[Alfredo]

check in the manual in the dp24, this piece is from a 2488neo, but all of them work the same:

Restoring from CD

If you ever need to restore your data from a data backup CD or CDs, you basically reverse the process.
Before you start restoring a song, make sure that you have all the discs that were used to back up the song.
If some of the discs are missing, you will not be able to restore the song (you cannot load half a song).

1 Put the first (or only, if there is only one) disc of the backup set into the CD-RW drive.
2 With the transport stopped, press the
MENU key. From the DATA BACKUP menu, select CD RESTORE. The 2488neo reads the title of the song from the disc and asks you if you want to continue.

3 Press
YES/ENTER to continue, NO/EXIT to eject the disc and cancel the operation.

4 If you go ahead with the restore, the 2488neo copies the data from the disc to the active disk partition. A bar graph on screen shows the progress.
5 If the backup is spanning more than one disc, when the first disc has been read, it is ejected, and a message asks you to put in the next disc. Insert the next disc and press
YES/ENTER.

To cancel restoration, press the
NO/EXIT key instead of the YES/ENTER key. You cannot cancel a restoration once it has started.

If you insert the wrong disc (out of sequence or from a different backup set), the 2488neo ejects the "bad" disc and asks you again for the correct one. If you really cannot find the right disc, you must press
NO/EXIT to cancel the restore.

NOTE

If you cancel the restore operation part of the way through, none of the song is restored, and the 2488neo goes back to the state before the restore was started.

6 When data is restored from the last disc, the disc is ejected, and the restored song is loaded

Using USB for backup and restore

By using a USB cable to connect the 2488neo and a per-sonal computer, it is possible to back up songs and restore them to and from the computer’s disk drive.
Song data that has been backed up this way is not audio data and therefore cannot be played back on a computer.
It is also possible to use the USB connection to import and export audio files. See "File import/export" on page 81 for details.
The 2488neo and USB data transfer is carried out at USB 2.0 speeds (if your computer uses the older 1.1 USB standard, it will still work, just slower). Consult your computer documentation for details.

NOTE

We recommend that you always use a cable designed for USB 2.0 operations to ensure accurate and fast data transfer.

See "Use with a personal computer" on page 8 for conditions regarding the connection of a computer.

 

[RealTime]

Hi AstraLeadGuitar!

I would not advise putting your 2488 hard drive in a PC. The FAT partition may possibly be readable but the song partitions are in a TASCAM proprietary format and you may corrupt those partitions, never to be recovered! (btw the proprietary format is probably what is stopping anyone coming up conversion SW for the DP24). The only safe way, in my opinion, is to put the hard drive in another mkII and then transfer songs to the FAT partition for transfer to a PC or direct to CDR in the 2488.

I'm guessing you haven't been able to solve your motherboard problem?

Ian

 

[AstraLeadGuitar]

Hello, Alfredo and Ian!
Sorry to take some time in getting back to you. Tascam told me that the format of the Mark II is different from the DP-24, so, songs cannot be transferred over using the restore function. The only way is, as you say, to put the hard drive in another Mark II or if the backups were already on a PC, transfer them to another Mark II.

It would have been a problem finding another Mark II because I live out in rural France! Not exactly the heart of Surrey or the suburbs of Los Angeles where there are loads of musos with all types of recording units! So, I decided that the only avenue was to repair the fault.

Through Tascam, a chap called Jo Fialho who had been Tascam Head Service Engineer for 25 years got in contact with me. With Tascam's cost-cutting exercise, last year, they farmed out repairs to Germany. Jo branched out as a self-employed repairer, approved by Tascam. He was great and very attentive to the customer's needs. His prices are very reasonable too. He replaced the motherboard and while he was at it, the transport-function panel board too. It's now back working like a dream!

I do recommend Jo for anyone in the U.K.:

Chalfont Acoustics
6 Copthall Corner
Chalfont St. Peter
Gerrards Cross Bucks SL9 0BZ
Tel : 01-753-893133
Full details + his e-mail address here: http://www.tascam.eu/en/service.html

 

[jpondhawk]

My advice is to send all the tracks from each song to the FAT drive (USB export) and then open the FAT drive on your PC... move all the wav files to the PC (or just drag the entire WAVE folder to the PC. Go back to the 2488 and write down the settings for each track, i.e. pans, volume, EQ, effects...

When you get the DP-24. Create a song and then access the SD card and put all the wav files in the WAVE folder. Then import those files to the same track numbers you had on the 2488. After they are all imported, look up the settings you wrote down for each track and apply those.

I've been doing that for a long time on my 2488 and NEO... Have a new DP-32, I haven't used yet. Still wish that the stereo tracks on the DP-32 had separate panning ability like on the 2488 & NEO. Makes no sense to omit that very important feature. Recorded tracks should not all have the same pan. That makes muddy tracks.

Another suggestion... if you use up all your time on a song on the 2488 and/or NEO because you have been replacing or recording over tracks, just make a list of the actual tracks you are using (find the track names or numbers in virtual) and export them to the FAT drive. Create a new song and import those tracks to the new song making note of all the original settings and applying that to the new song. When you play them all back and are satisfied they are correct, save and delete the song you took the tracks from. It will free up a lot of space.

 

[AstraLeadGuitar]

Hi, jpondhawk (would that be Jorie or are you a fan of the PondHawks?).

Thanks very much for taking the time to detail the transfer process into the DP-24. I also like your tip on taking only the tracks which are being used in a song and transferring them to a new song, then deleting the old song.

One thing: I find it most disconcerting to hear that the stereo tracks on the new DP-32 are not pannable. Do you mean to say that a left and right stereo pair is permanently panned fully left and right? And you can’t change their position in the stereo field? Or can the stereo pair be panned together to the left or the right but you can’t individually pan the left and right tracks? I ask because obviously loads of the recording space on the Tascam is taken up by stereo tracks. It’s already ‘bad enough’ that they can’t be recorded on individually, or be EQ'ed , or have their volumes set differently. However, at least the pan could be set differently. This is what I do all the time: I record a stereo pair like a guitar and then I pan the left track to 11 o’clock and the right track to 5 o’clock, thus giving a nice right-hand sweep in the stereo spectrum, but not fully left and right.

Perhaps you could confirm exactly what the situation is? Thanks!

If it’s so that the stereo tracks can’t be panned individually on the DP-32, that’s really awful and a terrible oversight on the part of Tascam. After all their years in the business of providing superb home recording equipment, you would have thought that their gear would get better – not remove essential functions!

You know, in past years, people have become dreadfully lazy about panning and producing an alive, vibrant stereo spectrum and just don’t bother panning tracks properly. The result is just a mish-mash of noise! Perhaps too, with music going downhill like it has, and people playing cranging ‘wall of sound’ guitars and roaring vocals, engineers think it’s hardly worth the trouble of panning because of such a racket going on! Maybe Tascam are going along with the lazy trend thinking that full track panning functions don’t matter anymore – how wrong!

As a Tascam DP-32 owner, perhaps you would think it a good idea to make some customer feedback to Tascam so that they change their firmware to rectify the situation?

Cheers!
Astra.

P.S. (By the way, my dad lived in the Windy City for two years.) I listened to tracks by the PondHawks – very harmonious, musically attractive and catchy!