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Teac 3440 connections.


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Where can I find the correct RCA cord to connect this reel to reel to my mackie onyx 1640. Im having a extremely hard time locating a cord with 4 tips on each side. The back of the reel to reel has an input with four RCA connections. Then the Mackie onyx 1640 also has four RCA connections. Except the first two say input and the last two say output. There for do I need a cord with four tips for the reel to reel and then two tips on the other end to be plugged into the mixer? Thanks.

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Well the 3440 is a four track machine but I don't remember if it has 4 inputs or 2 inputs the need to move the heads to record the additional tracks.

The Mackie's RCAs are input and output.

So, if the RCAs in the 3440 are all input you'll need to, if the Mackie allows it, run from the line outs on 4 channels to the line ins or inputs of the recorder. That will take a 1/4" to rca adapter. Your local Rat Shack should have them if your music store doesn't.

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TwinPhase, you really, really need to do a lot more homework before you do one single thing more...

 

 

 

Hint: To do what you THINK you want to do -- which would NOT be what you SHOULD do -- you could use 4 single RCA cables (not common, of course, except those designed for video or S/PDIF), two "stereo" (2x) cables, OR, as you are looking for, a single 4x cable. Since you will likely want to service both the inputs and outputs of your 3440 (a machine I've had a couple of) you may want to get a single 8x (assuming they'll be going back and forth to the same piece of gear, your Mackie).

 

 

Hint 2: Not to be a dick (but I'll go ahead, anyway): The way to hook up gear is NOT to just look for "matching" connectors but to actually first KNOW something about signal flow and what you're trying to accomplish.

 

Looking at the back of an Onyx 1640, I can see that you were apparently drawn to the RCA ins and outs, which are utility stereo i/o that, on this family of boards, Mackie has marked "tape." They are NOT for the returns from a multitrack tape recorder but rather you should consider them as a utility stereo input and stereo outpout.

 

What you REALLY want to do is patch 1/4" plugs from the jacks marked INSERT on four channels of the Mackie (first click leaves the signal flow to the selected bus, full insertion interrupts signal flow; you'll likely want interruption, since you'll be monitoring via your tape decks' outputs) to the INPUT RCAs on your 3440. Even though these are marked as INSERTs (and can be used with TRS cabling as an insert loop), in this usage they will function as DIRECT OUTs (a common approach using many boards).

 

From the 3440's OUTPUTs you'll route 4 RCAs to 4 1/4" connectors going into four different channels on the 1640. (IOW, if the INSERTs [which we are using as direct outs, here] from CH 1-4 are routed to your 3440's inputs, you'll typically route the 3440's outputs to CH 5-8 -- or whatever is convenient given any other gear you're folding into your mix (synched MIDI gear, etc.)

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There are many options. If you just want to track the stereo out of the 1640 via the 2 RCA's then just get a cord to do so. These are available everywhere. If however you want to do 4 track recording and be able to route items to different tracks, etc. then there are numerous ways to do it. One method is as mentioned by blue, another is to use the 4 subgroups 1/4" out to rca in on the 3440. Then return the 4 from the deck to 4 channels on the 1640. Or you use a combination of a few inserts with subgroups. Subgroups would be good for combining multiple channels, such as drum mics into a stereo pair, say subs 3 and 4. You can also use aux's as send to the deck. You can also get the TDIF cord that connects to the direct outs if you don't want to use up your inserts. You can also return to the Aux returns if you don't have 4 spare channels. As you can see there are many ways to accomplish the task, each with their own benefits. You have a nice baord and decent recorder so experiment and find what works for you. Most manuals show methods of hooking up recorders and many books also explain the methodogy. Or get a friend to help you out.

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I thought I would mention for cords you can buy at;

 

Radio Shack - cheap ones

Guitar Center

Sam Ash

Sweetwater or Musicians Friend online, etc. etc.

 

Another thought. If I had a 1640 I would be buying the Firewire card and hooking to computer unless you have tapes you already recorded or really like to thread the reels, wait for rewinding, and hear the hiss without DBX.

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Props to BrainChild on his generous and detailed suggestions -- it really helps fill in -- but I'm thinkin' he didn't mean a TDIF cable, there (which is a digital cable). But the rest all looks straight up (at least skimming it before coffee).

 

I say go ahead and use the 3440, though, fifty years from now you'll be able to say, "Yup... I reckon as t' how I been recordin' so long we used to use long ribbons of plastic with metal oxides glued to 'em and record actual waveforms on 'em... Wull, actually, I recko they were biased waveforms but what I'm gettin' at is that they wasn't ones and zeroes, donchya know?"

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I just walked thru a setup that addresses the Onyx and tape connections at another site. To avoid the need to be inserting/pulling the 'insert' jack at the back os the board, I suggested a patchbay that would allow inserting a shorted 1/4" TRS jack on the bay to allow signal thru when not using the tape deck. One of these bays should be a part of the recorders' configuration anyway.. regardless of what make of board and recorder are used. The dialog and schematic might prove helpful.

 

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/geekslutz-forum/122429-patchbay-onyx-1640-mixer-tape-machine-help.html

 

Best, Paul

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Blue caught me on that one. It should be just a DB25 connector. I call it Tdif as they are also the same type of connector and on the back of my DA88 but it is the balanced analog signal connection I was referring to not the digital. The Mackie DB25 does use the same analog pin out as the Tascam DB25 and cables are available to break it out to 1/4" which you would need a converter to RCA if you use the 3440.

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I know I really dont know what im talking about. Im just a kid with a good sum of money spending it on whatever seems ideal. I apologize for my lack of experience but I know that once I get a basic setup I can start experimenting and figuring things out myself, at the moment all my gear is in a storage unit waiting to be used. And I just wanted to say you've all been very helpfull. Sometimes when I come to this board to post another question about some random peice of gear I hesitate thinking im starting to piss people off, but so far I havent had a question ignored. Thank you everybody.

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Good on you, TwinPhase! Sorry if I got all schoomarm on you but... well, you know.

 

My advice is to pull that stuff out of storage as soon as you can and get to work. The way to get good is to do it... a lot.

 

Just like sex.

 

 

 

;)

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