Tascam Digital Portastudio 788 Owners Manual

2 – Getting started–DISK menu
 TASCAM 788 Digital PortaStudio 31
DISK menu
These functions all deal with the use of disks (inter-
nal and external) with the 788. Note that a CD-R or 
CD-RW drive is not counted as a disk in this case 
(even though it is connected via SCSI in the same way), but it has its own menu, as described in a sepa-
rate section of this manual (“Mastering and backup 
(CD-R)” on page 72.
Formatting a disk
Before you start working with a new disk on the 788 
for the first time, you...

2 – Getting started–DISK menu
32 TASCAM 788 Digital PortaStudio
NOTE
You cannot undo a disk format.
You only need to format a disk for the 788 under the follow-
ing circumstances: you are using a new removable disk 
(zip®, jaz®, etc.), or have connected a new external hard 
disk. The other time when you may want to format a disk is 
when a disk has become full and you want to re-use it. However, it is probably safer to delete songs one by one, 
rather than formatting the whole disk.
Disks in the list are...

2 – Getting started–The OPTION menu
 TASCAM 788 Digital PortaStudio 33
The OPTION menu
The OPTION menu allows you to set various sys-
tem-wide options affecting the operation of the 788. 
There are four sub-menus here: 
GLOBAL options, 
affecting the whole of the unit, 
MIXER parameters 
which affect the mixer, 
RECORDER parameters which affect the recording part of the 788, and the 
USER WORD settings. The USER WORD 
settings are described in “Setting and editing preset 
words” on page 27, and are not...

34 TASCAM 788 Digital PortaStudio
3 – Before recording
We have already looked at how to connect instru-
ments to the 788 (“Connecting other equipment to 
your 788” on page 22). Now we look at how the sig-
nals are passed from the input connectors on the back 
of the 788 to the recording tracks.
This process is known as assigning. There are two 
ways to assign signals to channels on the 788: the Quick Setup, described immediately below, and the 
manual assignment method (“Assignment on the 
788” on page...

3 – Before recording–Quick Setup
 TASCAM 788 Digital PortaStudio 35
MIX DOWN
When MIX DOWN is selected, the following assign-
ment is set up:In this assignment pattern, all eight recorded tracks 
are assigned to the correspondingly-numbered chan-
nels, ready for mixdown.
TIP
If you are adding MIDI-synchronized instruments to the 
final mix, you can assign inputs 
A through D and the AUX  
INPUTS
 to the software sub-mixer (“Assigning inputs to 
the sub-mixer” on page 37). This provides you with a total...

3 – Before recording–Assignment on the 788
36 TASCAM 788 Digital PortaStudio
Assignment on the 788
This section explains how to use the 788’s internal 
patchbay for your own settings. 
Assigning sources to mixer channels.
To assign an input source (INPUTs A through D, the 
AUX INPUTS, the recorded TRACKs, the STEREO 
mix or the 
SUB MIX) to a mixer channel:
1Choose the 
SOURCE that you are going to feed 
into the mixer and press and hold down the 
SOURCE key of that source. The indicator 
flashes.
If the...

3 – Before recording–Assignment on the 788
 TASCAM 788 Digital PortaStudio 37
Viewing assignments
1Press the SHIFT + QUICK SETUP (ASSIGN 
MAP
) key to make the assign map appear on 
the display.
The eight tracks and the sub-mixer are shown 
along the top of the screen.The inputs (sources) are shown down the left 
side of the screen.
When a source is assigned to a channel, a rect-
angle appears where the row and channel meet 
(an arrow shows when the sub-mixer is 
assigned to the stereo bus).
2While you...

3 – Before recording–Monitoring
38 TASCAM 788 Digital PortaStudio
Monitoring
To make sure that everything is connected properly, 
you will need to listen to the signal sources feeding 
the inputs, as well as what you have already 
recorded.
1Make sure all the equipment is connected and 
powered up.
2With the source connected to one of the four 
inputs of the 788 (
A through D), assign the 
input to a mixer channel (“Assignment on the 
788” on page 36). If you’re using an electric 
guitar as the signal...

3 – Before recording–Monitoring
 TASCAM 788 Digital PortaStudio 39
Monitoring the recorded sounds (TRACK CUE)
When you have done some recording, you will need 
to listen to what you have recorded previously (other-
wise you will be unable to synchronize overdubs, 
etc.). To do this, you will need to use the track cue 
facility.
This is a small software mixer which provides a ste-
reo output and is fed by the eight recording tracks. 
This output is from the 
MONITOR OUTPUT and 
PHONES connectors only—it...

3 – Before recording–Monitoring
40 TASCAM 788 Digital PortaStudio
More monitoring options
The monitor SELECT key below the MONITOR 
LEVEL
 control allows you to select what signals you 
will hear through the 
MONITOR OUTPUT and 
PHONES connections.
In addition to the track cue, which can be indepen-
dently switched, the following monitor sources are 
available:
To select the monitor source, press the monitor 
SELECT key. The indicators for the monitor sources listed above light in sequence as you...