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Ultimate 8-track:
the
788
Digital
Portastudio
Number of tracks: 8
(6 recordable at once)
Number of mixer
channels: 8
Recording medium:
internal hard disk (over
3 hours of 8-track at
16-bit, capable of 24-bit),
expandable with
external SCSI drives
Mixdown to: optional
CD recorder or external
cassette
Extras: two effects
processors, mixer
automation, MIDI sync,
internal tempo map/
metronome
TASCAM invented the Portastudio
many years ago, and has brought the
mixer/multitracker into the digital
era with the
788
. The faders and
transport controls work the same way
they do on a cassette Portastudio.
But we’ll admit it — with dozens
of switches and lights, and some
cryptic names on its top panel, the
788
can be intimidating when you
fi rst look at it, especially if you’ve
never recorded before. Don’t worry
— the
788
’s “QUICK SETUP” button is
designed to help you out. One push
sets all the mixer controls to the
right settings for tracking, another
push sets them for mixing. So, you
can be clueless about what some
of the buttons do, and still start
recording.
When you need no-com-
promise sound quality.
Of the TASCAM products described
so far, the
788
leads the pack in sound
788
788
quality. Our cassette Portastudios are
good, and the Pocketstudio is digital,
but the
788
’s 24-bit digital recording
and excellent analog-to-digital
converters are state-of-the-art.
What does that mean? It means
that the
788
’s frequency response
is wider, and the noise is lower, than
previous generations of analog or
digital multitracks, resulting in bet-
ter-than-CD sound quality. Essen-
tially, what you plug into the
788
is
exactly what you’ll get out of it—no
extra noise or hiss.
Hidden features of the
788
’s digital mixer.
The
788
has 8 faders and 4 trim
knobs, but you don’t see any other
knobs for EQ and effects sends. That
Track Assign (seven buttons
serve eight channels)
Record Ready buttons
Channel faders (seven)
Jog/Shuttle wheel
Editing controls
Transport controls
Cursor controls
Master fader
Source selection (Inputs A-D,
Aux inputs, Track or stereo
Input trim controls (four)
(inside) hard disk
Effects 1 and 2 buttons
EQ, Send and Fader/Pan buttons
work with LCD screen
788
back panel show-
ing audio, MIDI and SCSI
connections.