Anyone using reference tracks ?

[Dean82]

Hi everyone

I'm a newbie and I want to know how to use reference tracks with the Tascam. I was thinking of taking a stereo lead out of my laptop, plugging into a stereo track (13/14?) and sending my chosen tune to the Tascam. Would that work and would the signal from my laptop have a flat response eq ?

Ta

 

[Phil Tipping]

Hi Dean, welcome to the forum. You can certainly transfer audio that way, but you run the risk of introducing noise/hum by using an analogue audio link, and you'll be at the mercy of the laptop's audio output amplifier quality (and freq response), and also have an extra complication with setting the signal level.
A far better way is to convert your audio to a wave file on the laptop, then copy this file to the AudioDepot folder on the sd-card (either physically move the card or use the USB link), then use the machine's Import function to transfer that file into a nominated track in your current song.
There are a couple of caveats, but that's the basic idea, and you will end up with a pristine copy of the audio.

 

[Bugatti]

Hi Phil

That’s great advice - thanks very much!

Dean

 

[Dean82]

Hi Dean, welcome to the forum. You can certainly transfer audio that way, but you run the risk of introducing noise/hum by using an analogue audio link, and you'll be at the mercy of the laptop's audio output amplifier quality (and freq response), and also have an extra complication with setting the signal level.
A far better way is to convert your audio to a wave file on the laptop, then copy this file to the AudioDepot folder on the sd-card (either physically move the card or use the USB link), then use the machine's Import function to transfer that file into a nominated track in your current song.
There are a couple of caveats, but that's the basic idea, and you will end up with a pristine copy of the audio.

 

[Dean82]

Hi, thank you very much for this. My mate reckons it's a lot easier with a DAW, but this ought to work just as well.

 

[-mjk-]

Either way, you have to be able to play the reference track somehow and do A/B switching between the reference and your current tracks. Once loaded into the DP machine, you can just move faders, and you can also blend them in between. Personally, I wouldn't want to be mousing around in the DAW for that.

Some of us have Bluetooth monitors. I can press a button on the front panel of my monitors and instantly hear a track playing on my phone. Letting a track loop on the phone works pretty well for listening to reference tracks. Just pressing the button give me a quick A/B and the volume control on the phone allows me to gain match how I like it. The take home is that there is more than one way to skin that reference track cat, lol.