TASCAM MidiStudio 688

You need to look through the manual, this recorder is probably the most serious cassette-based multitrack ever made. But compared to my digital Boss recorder or Cakewalk Sonar, the ease of use is that I just reach out and turn up the bass on a channel. Much more natural than going through menus or using a mouse. When you really get into it, you can even do basic kind of automated mixdown by recording scene changes on the sync track. You can record all 8 tracks at once, something only the more expensive digital recorders can do. And with 8 tracks, I almost never need to bounce tracks down.

I record acoustic and electric instruments and singing on this 688 and for that, the quality is very good. It has DBX noise reduction which doesn't lose highs like the Dolby on Fostex did. Dropouts are a problem with TDK SA-X and Maxell tape, but someone recommended TDK AR-X and it's like day and night. No more dropouts and the lows are better, too. Not easy to find, but I got a box full now.

I have had no problems, but it's mechanical, so things can go wrong. A bit big to gig with, it's for home studios really.

This year (2007) I got a full set of new rubber belts and wheels for my Tascam 244 (a VERY old machine!) from Tascam direct and the prices were absolutely normal, so I guess parts for this 688 should be no problem either.

I like to let a whole band play together live to get a natural feel and groove out of them. For this, being able to record 8 tracks at once (7 really) is great. Small mistakes I punch-in correct so as not to spoil the feel. After that I use the built-in midi sync on track 8 to slave a sequencer and do stuff like strings, choir sounds and harmonizer, so they never need to go on tape. Then I mix down and record into the audio input on my PC with Audacity and burn the result on CD. For the prices these are going on ebay, this is really a lot of studio.

I bought this from new in the UK and it was a big investment at the time, so I really did my research. It does a reasonably high learning curve but not significantly more than any other multi-mode mixer with lots of bells and whistles. It's just like anything the more things a system can perform the more complicated it inevitably becomes. Te manual is very comprehensive if a bit wordy.

Sound quality was always superb, considering we are talking about 8-track tape and the use of DBX noise reduction and I've really given it a hammering over the years. I did notice that it developed a slight flutter effect, which was only noticable on vocals and clear instruments like single piano notes. Interestingly, it only happened with TDK tapes. When I got hold of the Maxell tapes recommended in the manual the sound quality was perfect again!

I've never encountered any problems except for the flutter problem mentioned above.

I contacted them about the flutter problam and they were very responsive and helpful.

Overall superb and highly recommended. I have had a PC recording system which is obviously far more capable overall but I still use the 688 for recording my band. Although I transfer all the tracks across to the PC for mixing.

It is simple,
this board is a anolog dream
it is older but good gear is good gear age aint nothin but a number
I was living in l.a. about 97/98 i had a cheap gtr and alot of untaped ideas. A guy heard me pickin and came over to see what was up.
I told him i had bein playing for a few years and had never gone any farther wit it. He went to his house grabed the tascam 688 midi porta studio and came back with it.
he told me he liked my sound and he wanted the recorder to go to a good home.see he was moving and had no room for it.
so i set it on the floor and never used it.
well it sat there for a year. I bought a vw van and started traviling with this gear in the back window coverd with a blanket. I stayed on the road for a few years with this monster of a 8 track in the way.
I had no idea that the thing worked i was under the impression that it was junked.so my vw broke down in portland oregon and i had a lot of time on my hands so i went down to the collage and enrolled in the recording program at pcc. after takeing recording classes for five years i found my old tascam 688 in a back closet. yanked it out and powered up routed the signal and away we went. it is ease after you get to know the recording process. the manual is a little beat up but i hang on to that thing like its gold.my unit has never had an upgrade ill be looking in to it for sure.

I run my mic's from the amps into the 688. Then i use mics for the drums through the 688. let me tell ya.
the 688 is routed from its monitor outs to two lines on my korg d3200
then i run a boss br8 into the d3200 for a sampler
then a rout a korg ea1mk2 for synth and samples.
its noisy but its good noise. the warm anaolg noise you'd exspect from a tape. I have yet to find a tape deck with all the goodies like 688.tape not digital. i have a 32 track digital board as well. but dang they just started throwing stuff at this board and its a monster.

yes i have never had a problem with mine. it is hard as rock.
I have used it on the road many times with that many ins you could use it just for live sound and then press record.
Its great for live sound. everyone complains its to heavy. well thats a good thing. who cares about that aspect.

Never id like to have it cleaned and tuned just to see if it would work out. But id say that about my new new gear too if they have an upgrade get it if your not a tech guy/gal get it looked at clean recordings come from clean gear. I use magic video head cleaner on all new projects. for the heads

I play rock and roll. blues jazz funk soul jungle hip hop anything you pay me to record.ive bein playing for 12 years i have a digital 32 track korg3200 and a 8\8 boss br8 with a few mods. I have a korg ea1mk2 synth and 10 diffrent mics miles of cable and 4 gtrs.now
if someone stole it id find another if it was clean like mine.
I love that there are tons of ins and outs thats a big deal. If anything use it on you pc for a fat mixer.also midi had just came out and tascam attached it to the 688.four band eq. aux ins effects sends
it loaded. someone else was saying its only 400.00 doller so thats a fat mixer for so cheap they just dont understand it. yes there are better recorders out there but if you had one and had a rock drumer to track youd know why its so great. analog tone analog people did we forget about real warm sounds with a little dirt. It a work of art.
power from a diffrent time. its not a kiddie toy its a hard workhorse.
so its old,heavy,analog,midi,20 ins,effects returns, 2 headphone jacks,dolby suround,cool lights and packed with complex goodies.
I took me six years of lugging it around and a degree in sound it start using it. just start. I'll never master sound i like that.
if you come in contact with on and it sounds clean grab it up. with all the a\d converters out there you can have it all. this is a good part to own i highly highly recomend it. but get digital to have both analog and digi. enjoy the warm heat of the tascam 688

The Tascam 688 is a little difficult to understand because I had been using Cakewalk Home Studio on my PC. I'm still trying to adjust

It does have a warmer sound than a computer based digital system.

If you need a manual, I bought one at www.w7fg.com called Vintage manuals....$25 good response.

I play Texas country/roots rock....songwriting stuff. I appriiciate all sorts of music though.

It's very simple to get a good basic recording. It's a little more difficult to loop in the effects returns and things like that. If I don't record for a significant amount of time, I sometimes have to re-learn bits and pieces.

Great sound, I was told when I bought it new that it spec'd out as a reel-to-reel but I don't know any reports like that. I know it sounds good to me. The dbx is very clean and the variable-pitch makes it good to overdub things originally recorded elsewhere. It's also double-speed which improves the quality although a 15-min. jam is about all you can get before having to switch tapes.

It's never failed to do what I've asked it to, although there have been one or two instances when I couldn't figure out why it wasn't coming through the speakers or some such - a quick reset or switch to a different patch configuration usually fixed it.

N/A

I play rock-blues-jazz-jam things through it and have been very satisfied with it. I record using 5 mikes and 2 DI instruments with no perceptible cross-talk and lots of EQ room to stretch. It's a beautiful thing to mix with as the faders are sweet and smooth. I never used 1/10 of the programmable patches, though it'd be handy if I toured with it. I stick to the same 3 or 4 configurations and go from there. It's been a true joy to use.

It's easy to use this unit if you practice while reading the manual. It'll take you about 2-3 hours to get the basics down... but that's it. After that, you'll know what you're doing. The electronic routing display is kinda' annoying if you're in a low lit environment, but it's nothing too bad. Extremely nice smooth faders and knobs.

The sound is great. It's not noisy at all. I mix down to a stand alone CD recorder (Pioneer 555), and it sounds great. I use mics that have phantom power courtousy of AA batteries. I've done most of my recordings with acoustic guitars, bass, vox's. The effect sends are clean and sound good. I use guitar foot pedals for effects with no problem.

I can't depend on this unit because the electronic routing display keeps resetting itself and changing it's setting. It happens after the unit has been on for about 30 minutes. It takes itself out of record mode and does all kinds of weird things. When it's reset, it'll last anywhere between 10 seconds to 5 minutes. This SUCKS.

I need to contact Tascam about my problem, but I don't know if it's worth my time and energy to send this very heavy unit wherever it needs to go. The unit works, but it's not consistant.

It's a fun unit, all in all. I've heard that there's a battery that might need to be changed in it, and maybe that will fix the display/reset problem I'm having. There's no mention of this in the manual however.

I bought this unit new and have recorded NUMEROUS bands singers and sessions on it.
It truly emulates all the functions of a recording studio and does things NO OTHER will do.
I must have bought it about 1988 or 89/
Still works GREAT.

ok 8 tracks on cassete you need to know what you are doing.
USE a BBE sonic maximaizer in the output inserts and the treble will become apparent. Mix to Dat nobody will know it was a cassette.
The routing and switching options make this a great mixer despite the sometimes dodgy quality and the strange preamps.

HERE IS THE DEAL: I got a Digi001. The 688 is the PEFECT mixer to feed the digi001.
Record your band all at once. Real monitoring.
Real track sharing. Real faders. What a joy to put these two together.

Very reliable and easy to use.
Strangely I have never had a problem with the switching Matrix.

Tascam was very good about answering questions on this complex unit.

Get a digital PC or Mac system .
Put this on it and never worry abouut having enough mic inputs.

This is an excellent creative tool. I have used it exensively for years and then rejuvenated it by adding it to a digi001 system.

I bought mine in 1990 and it was used. it has a couple of issues but nothing that affects the sound quality.

I read the manual for months and never mastered the 688 completely. It was my third home studio. I still use it and still have not mastered it.

The greatest thing about this studio is that it have the meter bridge. Why newer studios fail to be equiped with those big LED meter bridges is beyond me.

With 20 input channels, Dolby, MIDI interface, two effects loops, automated and seamless punch in/punch out features, etc. the 688 is a handful. You are gonna sit for a couple hours and read the manual. It's a versatile and powerful device. Brain cells well be used.

I suppose Tascam could have made this thing easier to use.

It lacks an effect loop between the masters and the outputs, I always felt. I'd run a Alesis Quadroverb between the 688 and a cassette recorder, and usually just a chorus effect to make it all gell. Everyone does this. Tascam should have built it into the board.

I believe that Tascams attempt to make this board do it all made it a bit complicated.

Also, why no level meters for channel 9 and 10? I like to SEE how loud my drum machine is!

I find the Dolby to be too powerful and tend to kill some of the highs of my recordings. I often turned the dolby off and lived with the hiss. Other than that the 688 is recordes easily and clearly.

Still, with tape degradation I see the beauty of recording on to hard drives. Often times I would punch a singer in and out so many times that the tapes started to lose fidelity and I would have to rerecord everything.

But if you record a song on no more than 50 takes i'm sure you would have my experience.

With the dolby on I find the recording to be truly without tape hiss but I also tend to crank up the treble a little.

Only the mids of the eq is parameteric.

As far as tape machines go's I think it sounded pretty darn good...but, digital really is so much cleaner.

Actually, I have quite a few problems with my 688. Maybe 10 little bugs I work around. Inputs that are fried, Monitor buss switch that does select anymore, channels I can't hear thru the monitors, etc.

I called these guys concerning my problems but I couldn't get a straight answer what it would cost to fix my 688. "Just send it in and for $80 will tell you what it'll cost to fix it".

Screw dat! I'm too cheap!

I still use it but the fact that on eBay you can buy a nice one for $400 tells you that digital is where it's at. It's hard to believe these listed for $3600 and 10 years later they aren't worth but $400. It tells you something.

I must have put 1000 hours on my 688 however. That's a lot of use for a tape machine. There is nothing wrong with Tascams ability to make a tape machine. The mechanics are fine. Just the switches and electronics are a bit unreliable.

OK, firstly, I know this is an analog 8-track cassette multitracker from the early 1990's. But, it was/is the ultimate cassette multitracker ever made. It is still a fantastic machine with a lot of capabilities. It has onboard MIDI and it's mixer section is well laid out and provides great sonic flexibility. The manual is excellent and details the 688's operation in great, concise detail. The learning curve is somewhat steep at first, as there is a 99 scene LCD-based menu for tracking and mixing, but once you figure this out it's a very intuitive system to use.

Yes, it's analog. Yes, it's cassette. But don't let that stop you from picking one of these up on eBay for about $500 Bear in mind, when this machine was in production from 1989 to 1994 it was over $3,000. It has incredible sound quality. It is very quiet and the CDs I have created and released using this machine sound like pristine all-digital recordings, in terms of sonic clarity. Plus, being analog it has analog warmth, something lacking with all digital systems.

My 688 was made in September 1992. Nearly 12 years later it's still in great shape and going strong. Enough said.

Tascam has a great website for support issues. Being an older machine it will no longer be covered under any warranty, but servicing is usually not a problem. I have used mine regularly for years and it's never needed any service thus far.

I play Rolling Stones/Black Crowes-style Roots Rock, so the analog vibe of the 688 is a perfect match for that. I have a dozen guitars, including Fender Teles, Strats, an Ampeg Dan Armstrong, etc.. My amps consist of a Marshall half-stack, a Music Man 2x12 combo and a Fender Pro Jr.. My effects are a CryBaby Wah, Marshall Vibratrem, DOD Dimension 3, DOD Classic Tube, DigiTech RP50 Modeler. I like a vintage vibe and sound, but I also like using my Macintosh computers for CD creation. With the 688, I have found a bridge between my vintage analog preferences and the modern digital audio format. The system works incredibly well for me, and my 688 is at the very heart of it. It's based on an older, fading format (cassettes), but it is still a remarkable piece of equipment. As I stated previously, it was the best analog multitracker of any kind ever made. I encourage anyone with an understanding of the values of analog recording and an open mind to pursue acquiring the still highly useful Tascam 688 MidiStudio.