TASCAM MODEL 12 RECORDING: Multitrack Recording a Song (Pt. 1) | 424recording.com 

Had mine about 2 months.. my first proper mixer. I love it.. no more recabling into a small interface , and it works just as well with or without my computer.. I love that you can start things off without a computer, and then finish off and mixdown linked if you want. I also love that you can switch between computer or live monitoring per track... No more latency issues getting guitar tracks down on big projects... A few things I'd change for sure but overall a game changer for me

anton schultz latency due to settings or your computer? Or did you mean to say no more latency

@@Formelyknownasnone I meant no more latency! As it's really easy to switch to live monitoring on let track basis which I couldn't do on previous interfaces I've had

Hey, Joel. First and foremost it's an analog mixer so anywhere you'd want to use that in the portastudio workflow, the Model 12 would come in handy

I have one and I simply love it

Awesome, Steve! Happy recording. Yeah, the inputs on the back was a big selling point for me in terms of the Model 12 vs the others, thanks for bringing that up! Great info here. Thanks for commenting and watching. I'm sure this info will help others decide in the future. Cheers!

best stuff happens when the rec is off😅

What is a strip? I am a noob 😅

@@itsJoel59 a channel

Wow, thanks, Utkarsh. Thanks for watching!

Yeah, that's a big reason these multitrackers are great. No screen, use your ears, tactile. Definitely recommend it if you're getting back into recording. Cheers and thanks for watching!

Glad I could help! Enjoy! Let me know if you have any questions but I'm still learning myself!

Yes! It helped me as well! Clear and easy to understand!

amen!!! I'VE HAD THE SAME DREAM FOR YEARS!!!

It’s basically a computer without a screen… being ‘anti-computer’ is a low resolution understanding. Your typing this on a pocket computer and you aren’t anti that

Welcome aboard!

Yeah! I'm loving it. It feels like a futuristic 424 haha

Thanks. Let me know if you have any questions

Thanks, bun! More to come for sure. How are you liking it? Did I ask you this already haha

@@424Recording Its a blast! I'm not use to having open tracks, my instinct is still stuck on only using 4 tracks. Got a Yamaha CP last fall (its a mini keyboard), I'm sure I'll start using those extra tracks for this.

Hahaha I know what you mean, re: open tracks. Do it up!

What? That's wild! I agree. I'm impressed with the Model 12. It has many uses. It definitely solves a lot of routing issues I've ran into in my setup as well. Well, I hope this video helps inform your decision if you ever choose to get it. Let me know if you have any questions, Godof! Cheers!

Wow, thank you, Jeremy! I appreciate that, man. Thanks for checking it out and I hope it helps!

424 Recording looking forward to vocals in part 2

Thanks, dude! There's also more mixing and adding effects coming up. Stay tuned, bro!

Many more to come. Thanks, samuel!

Thanks, Leafsmith. You're going to have a blast. I need to look more into the MIDI functionality. My main desire for getting the unit was the multitrack functionality and everything else is a bonus to me. It seems like a lot of people are excited about the MIDI functionality; I want to hook up some of my gear and make a song that way soon. I'm very much a novice at that sort of stuff so it should be a great learning experience. It seems like you can also connect the Model 12 as a DAW controller and also like you said an interface. I agree, it's super inspirational and solves a lot of connectivity issues for me. Cheers and thanks for watching!

Thanks for watching! That's cool, re: 505. I used to have a RC-3 I think it was? It's like the pedal one. Yeah! Vamp is great for practicing. I think it's cool that Tascam is also adding more features and updating the firmware. Thanks. I wish the Digitakt had individual outs but this is a good solution for isolating different parts of the mix. Cheers and happy recording!

Are you using the looper as permanently connected effect to the Model 12 that you can send to any track as needed?

@@nebula0697 no, but that’s an interesting thing to try. I guess you mean using the RC-505 as an effects unit and routing the wet signal back into the model 12? I was using the model 12 to shape the instrument sounds via its inputs, analogue preamps, some mild eq and a little reverb. Main output 1 and 2 went to the looper if I remember correctly.

Glad I could help! Oh, yeah the 2488 neo? Those are cool. I used one many years ago. I think this one is more straightforward and has a lot more functions! Sure! Hit me up. I'm planning to make more videos on this in the future, too, so let me know if there's anything that is unclear and I'll try to incorporate it into a video! Cheers and happy recording!

Thanks for watching!

Awesome! Enjoy!

Glad you liked it, Brent!

That's a great idea! Yeah, it seems like a great board for live sound and recording live sounds. It sounds like it would work in your workflow, Mike!

@@424Recording Yeah, just out of my reach at the moment price wise. I need to pay for more important things right now.

Makes sense, Mike

Awesome, M P! The big thing for me was the size of the 12 and also the position of the inputs. I like that the 12 has the inputs on the back. It works better for my setup. If you do decide, consider grabbing it through the affiliate link if it makes sense for you! Cheers!

The 16 has 2 more inputs, everything being top accessed makes it useful for mobile recording

Anch'io devo decidere tra 12 e 16 . Tu cosa mi consigli ? Grazie

Thanks, Vicente 😎

Awesome!

That's awesome! Enjoy, Blazin!

Thanks, Peter! Yeah, I'm going to make a vid comparing the workflows soon! Yup, there is a stereo mix function. I haven't messed with it yet. I'm planning to make an export video at some point. If you want to read about it, check out page 47 of the manual. You will need to connect the SD card via an SD card reader to extract the mix. I'm not sure if there are mastering tools on board though but you could load that final mix back onto some tracks and do some final adjustments with the EQs and compressor (though the comp is limited obviously)

@@424Recording Am I right in saying that you can't record FX like EQ & Compression while mastering on the Model 12? Thanks for the informative Vid, looking fwd to get myself a early birthday gift 🎛

@Jimmy Galloway u can export the mix to a pc yes. Or if u want to skip the pc you can record the other faders to the red master fader which works as 11/12 stereo & then you have the mix down done to export to SD or pc

Hmmm, I actually haven't used it as a DAW controller/interface yet. Multitracking it's been awesome, and as a mixer it solves some audio issues in my setup (running multiple computers through one set of monitors). I've been using it everyday since I've gotten it. I need to check out the other functionality though. Sorry I can't be of more help, Tony. Thanks for watching!

You can mix down to single stereo file to the SD Card & put that on a computer, phone, etc on the Model series. It plays like any other song you download. It however has no mastering fx like the Tascam DP-32SD & DP-24SD. It's a marginal difference imo. On the Model 12, 16, etc you end up w/ a fully mixed stereo file on SD card & on the DP series you end up with a fully mixed stereo file on an SD card that has some Tascam mastering fx slapped on top of that. While It'd be cool if the Model series gave you some fx to polish the stereo mixdown they wouldn't be pro-level anyway. You may even be better off without it & mastering the untouched mix elsewhere tbh. Tascam prob knows that & that's likely the logic. The Model series is meant to be more pro-level than the DP series. The lowest Model series starts in price where the highest DP series ends. As for looping there is something called Vamp now in the settings that let's you practice by looping. Tascam added it in a firmware update. It's likely not what you want but I obviously don't know you. I'd watch a video on it. Just search "Tascam Model Vamp." It basically loops a section of the recorded tracks endlessly (to my basic understanding anyway) allowing you to practice or free style play on top of the loop. I don't think it would be serviceable to replace a looper if you want to play a riff, loop it, & record the loop to a track while recording something else on another track. I have many other tools to loop w/ so I've not cared to explore it. Hope that helps man & there is a YT vid I watched on the Vamp feature so check it out.

Nothing, you're doing it right. Live let's you practice but not record on tht track while recording other tracks since it needs record armed to hear in MTR. Probably a pretty rare need tbh. But say for example you want to record a singer on track 1 while you play a keyboard on tracks 3/4 but for some reason you only want to hear the keyboard & not record it but you DO want the singer recorded. Then you'd need 3/4 switched to Live so you could hear the keys w/o needing to arm record since you're hitting record to grab the singer, lol. Hopefully that makes sense, haha. The only other benefit of using Live in your case would be because the blinking light annoys you when record is armed. So in home studio use your missing nothing (besides the undoubtedly rare example above.) Where Live would be more useful & likely got it's name is in a "Live" setting where you'd want everything in a band heard on all the tracks/channels during a show but the sound man probably doesn't want to arm the record button on every track. So if it's for a band/live artist using it as mainly as a mixer more so than a recorder. Even if a band wanted to get rowdy & record said live performance they'd just arm record & leave it in Live & wahh-lahh. Rmbr the Model 12 is 3 things Mixer, Recorder, & USB DAW Interface Controller. Therefore, you will have buttons, features, & settings that aren't really relevant to the mode you choose to use it for. If that's TL/DR than I'm saying you're good, have fun, & what you're doing is working fine. No need to learn how to fix a method you got that ain't broke.

Thanks! Idk the exact way to bypass preamps on a mixer, but the Model 12 does have two inserts and a way to record to the SD Pre EQ. I've never done this before so I am not 100% certain about the logistics. It might make for a great video idea. I'll add it to my list. I hope this helps and happy recording!

@@424Recording Thanks for the quick response and the help!

Great question. I'm not sure. I know that it does have MIDI but I've yet to explore this

Hi Pablo, everything you record is saved to each track. So you can export a stereo wav or the entire session as 12 separate tracks if you want. The Model 12 uses an SD card. In my experience, recording on the Model 12 is exactly like recording to a 4-track, but with an SD card in place of the cassette. Any recording where you'd be using a mixer to record to a recording format, to me it feels like the same workflow as that. Cheers and thanks for watching. I hope this helps and happy recording!

Could be a good option. But the effects are global so you'll only get to use one at a time per project unless you record the effects to a track

Thanks for watching! Idk how the routing is on the MPC one but the Digitakt has stereo out. You can also mix the individual samples hard right and hard left on the Digitakt. I then recorded the right and left out of the Digitakt to separate tracks

@@424Recording how did you record it to separate tracks? The MPC also has stereo outs. Everything comes over under one channel though.

@@romantin81 Can you pan on the MPC? I panned the snare/kick hard left and hihat hard right on the Digitakt which isolated the sounds from each other. Then I recorded the Digitakt left channel to track 1 and the Digitakt right channel to track 2

There's a couple settings for the faders. One is "Post EQ" which is the one I have mine set to. It maintains the sound of the channel settings. I think you have to mix down for the effects though

I mean you could loop them on this, but a dedicated looper would probably be easier from a functionality standpoint. Those units are built to be loopers, this is more of a multitrack recorder/DAW interface/DAW controller

Yeah, you'll need one. Mine is a 32GB and I still haven't filled it up!

Good timing. I'm going to be bouncing a track out soon. I need to figure out the best way to do it. I hooked up the outs to an interface and bounced it that way, but I wasn't too happy with the outcome. I'm going to try doing an internal bounce and load that from the SD next. How many tracks do you normally use? I kind of wish I had gotten the 16 or 24 for that reason! But I'm making it work. You can always bounce down and keep adding to the stereo mix, too

I know a lot of PC users like Reaper. I believe this will work as a control surface in that software. Pro Tools is also very popular. If you want to grab a Model 12 through my site, that would help out a lot! If not, no worries. Happy recording and I hope this information is helpful! 424recording.com/tascam-model-12

Try it out! The monitors were at +4db

I believe it will work without the SD card. The main issue is that the headphone routing is not intuitive. I've been meaning to make a video on this. I was just watching this video the other day from Tascam. It explains the headphone routing: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jrZsBmH5Igk.html

I think that sounds right, Dean! That sounds fun! Cheers!

My understanding is that the effects are global. You can record them to a track and then move on to another effect for another track but you'll have to commit to your sounds (like 4-track recording) as you go. I believe there is two inserts. I'm not sure if they can be used in conjunction. I'm hoping to do a video on the effects soon. Cheers and happy recording!

That's a great question and I can't say for sure. There's a line on the screen that you want to aim for when recording. I've had varying results on volume depending on what I've been working on; it depends how many tracks are on the final mix and what those sum to. I haven't had any digital distortion problems

Hi, Dylan, do you mean when used with the computer? It's awesome! It's great for so many uses. It solves a lot of routing issues I used to run into, you can use it like any other interface, you can use it like a DAW controller (something I've never done and need to explore more). I'm going to use if for live streaming at some point and podcasting as well (if I get the podcast going again). Cheers! If you're going to grab one and want to help out the channel, check out the link in the description to my website 😎

Probably!

Yup, I've got a pair of Yamaha HS5s hooked up to the main outs. But you will need headphones if you plan to do any sort of vocal recording (unless you don't mind the bleed)

@@424Recording Thanks for the reply.. I'll have to try it and see .. Do you notice any feedback issues when plugged into the studio speakers ? Do you have to turn the speakers any particular way?

I use headphones for tracking. There's a mute button on the master fader. You can always kill the signal. I haven't had any feedback issues but I also haven't turned the speakers up too loud and they get loud!

Check out section "Swapping Tracks," page 47 of the manual here: tascam.com/downloads/products/tascam/model_12/efs_model12_om_vb.pdf

Hi Jacobo, I believe they are always on. As you turn the knob up, the green light will start to flicker, indicating that the signal is starting to get compressed

Hi, Istvan. Unfortunately, I have never used the Zoom so I would not be able to give a fair assessment. My understanding is that these two units do have almost the same feature set, so I think your decision may come down to brand loyalty (which brand you like better). Good luck and happy recording

@@424RecordingThank you for your help and your answer.

I went with the Model 12 over the Zoom because it has MIDI for syncing my external synths for live jamming. I also like the dedicated buttons for each channel, main EQ section (great for live performance), compressor on each channel, a sub out, and I love teh 2 headphone outs. The Zoom seems more for podcasters in my opinion or if you don't need MIDI. I used to have a Zoom R16. It was fantastic and so easy to work with but I sold it because it didn't have MIDI.

@@ownedbymykitty270 Thank you for your help and your answer.

I'm not sure how you would go about that. I have my PC main out going into channel 7/8 which you could do but the Model 12 is not hooked up to the PC via USB

Koala sampler (app)

Hey I'm not really sure. I have to look a bit deeper into it. Sounds like it would make a good video idea. Cheers!

@@424Recording yes no one adressed it so far. But its not possible via the given inserts only via the inputs (this means you will lose a channel or 2)

Yeah, it seems like it would be either/or

I believe the bit depth settings are only project wide

Might be the gain staging. I have my monitors set for +4 db and most of the time, the lights on the meter aren't lighting up all the way. Maybe try setting the main fader at 0; just be careful raising faders of channels. It might get loud

Thanks! I believe they are post recording, yeah. There might be a way to print them to a track or record them to a track with some creative routing... I'll have to look into it. Cheers and thanks for watching!