Simple tape-to-mixer-to-Mac problem b...

I wish there was a shorter way to go from point A to point B for me - but I am so lost it's ridiculous! This is a very thorough post - really bad manners on my part, but otherwise I know there would be 20 different questions asked of me, with no way for me to answer them.

The short post would be "Anyone have the number to the suicide hotline?

Anyway -

FWIW in the past I have recorded in large studios, small studios and at home but all on tape (my only digital recording has been in studios where I never got inside the control room).

Hardware/software: I'm on a MacBook Pro (2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, 360GBHD; MAudio MobilePreUSB, Alesis Multimix 4 USB, MAudio Oxygen8 V2, Samson CCm opti, Yamaha Pocketrax CX for "scratchpad" or live work, and both a Tascam Porta02 and Teac 3340S and ION turntable I'll use to transfer old recordings into digital form); for DAW purposes I'm TRYING to use Cubase AI4; also have Reason Adapted, Garageband '09, Reaper, Tracktion, Ardour, PodFarm/PodXT, Amplitube 3, some version of Live and Hydrogen (for drum programming only).

I'm not going to USE all of those - my oldest son was an engineer at NRG in Hollywood and dumped many of these on me to try out (Reason primarily for the Redrum function).

My final choices are Cubase AI4 and Garageband - GR mainly because I CAN make obnoxious sound with it and a Mic no matter how inept I am; Cubase for the power and plugin versatility.

(OK, hopefully that's a synopsis of info many OP's leave out, wasting half the thread with "you have this, right?" questions.)

I have been completely unable to record a single instrument (or old cassettes or reel-to-reel tapes, which I wan to move to the Mac) track with anything. I can get signal (by playing the Oxygen or playing a tape on the Porta02 running through the Alesis mixer); I can SEE the VU's (LED's really) moving on the Alesis Mixer and in Cubase.

But I can't find 1/100th of the buttons, drop-down menus and other items in the first few chapters of the manual (I've read through "quick start” blogs/book introductions but I'm still baffled, and I think it's primarily 4 things - "culture shock" due to a totally different environment, Jargon that is not familiar and seems to have or 3 (or 8...) meanings, “sensory overload” – there is SO much stuff on the screen my eyes start spinning) and "preferences” that need to be set...and that I can't find, or the options described are not the same as the ones on the screen.

Right now I'm trying what SEEMS like the most bonehead-simple thing one could possibly do – run the output of 2 tracks on the Porta02 into the 1&2 stereo channels of the Alesis mixer; run the USB cable from the mixer to the Mac (the entire reason for buying a USB mixer was to streamline this process and be able to record jams with a few friends.

I have all the cables I’ll need (all tested and OK), tons of newer and classic mics, hardware and software that are compatible - I’m the problem.

In the manual I reviewed the "recording" section (after ensuring my setup was correct: it mentions two stereo busses and (4?) mono busses. After several years of reading 1,000’s of pages I STILL don't get the "buss" thing; somehow I stumbled into the VST preferences in Cubase (I thought VST-things were some sort of plug-in effects or samples, like a snare drum hit or a tremolo pedal emulation...but I need to apparently set VST preferences for inputs or outputs.

I can't find what to "adjust", don't know what the “VST preferences” do - and worst of all, can't find anything but ONE choice for input - "USB Audio Codec” and the same for output.

"USB Audio Codec" (another thing that might as well be Sanskrit to me – the words “USB” and “Audio” are thankfully familiar; “codec” I’ve heard but even after reading pages of definitons is a term I don’t “get”.

Do I hook a cable up to use a "codec", or is it some software I'm missing, or. Apparently I figured out (or my hardware/software knew each other) the INPUT part - having plugged the mixer into one USB slot the "VU's" began to move when I played the tape.

Which is the first problem – VU’s (really LED strips) are moving for channels on and two in Cubase at the master output level sliders – but in the channel window are two identical sets of TWO waveforms. I have the Tascam’s output panned full left and full right, but Cubase is showing me NO signal separation - except visually.

So for some dumb reason Stereo track 1 and Stereo track 2 give me exactly the same thing - instead of "left" on "1" and "right" on "2". WTF? I'm also asked for names of tracks - I don't know what they should be, and there's no further information I can find about it.

The manual says to drop down the VST preferences to direct the "input and output signal busses (or similar)" – it took 30 minutes to locate the “drop-down”, which is hidden in hieroglyphics Steinberg doesn’t describe, but doing that I seemingly have FOUR busses (or apple carts, or wheelbarrows or something) that can't be separated into left and right "tracks". ALL I WANT is the tape’s left track on track one in Cubase, and the other tape track on “track 2”.

FWIW I’ve mixed from 4 to 16 tracks of tape with no problem – plug the cables in the right jacks, hit “record” on one machine and “play” on the other and ride the control (i.e. “mixdown”.

But this digital stuff doesn’t DO that. At last as far as I can tell (I also tried shutting down tracks 1 and 2 and using 3 & 4 – that got me single waveforms on each channel – but of the same thing.

It gets worse.

Also - while the needles move and I have my MobilePre plugged into the other USB port, the "output" drop-down lists only the same "USB Audio Codec" as for input. Nothing else, and when I select the USB Codec it STILL says "not connected” There are no other choices, and selecting the USB Codec for output gets me...NO output. The little needles still move, though I have NO idea what waveform is what, because I can only monitor from the tape machine – plugging headphones into the Mac or my outboard system I get ZERO signal (so the waves I see could be the software saying “hi sucker – sure have you fooled! HA!)

But I can SEE that something is recorded. But after 4 hours trying to make it audible I was ready to get my 3340S out of the garage and a vinyl LP of drum tracks.

I HAVE to get past this quickly - a buddy is coming into town TOMORROW and we'd like to record basic tracks that I can add other parts to later.

But I also want to burn copies of some of our old live stuff for him as well, and I am yanking out my hair - I can SEE the recording. I KNOW it's there (even though that idiotic stereo thing looks like each channel is recorded twice on the same buss...or channel…or something like that).

Because of back problems I rarely play "out" anymore (and after 45 years of doing so I'd rather play 1-2 gigs a week and just record at home.). But I can’t achieve the simplest recording, following exact, page-by-page instructions.

Caveat - this is not a situation limited to Cubase - I've not been able to get anything to "take" using Garageband (or anything else off that list at the beginning of the post)

Despite all the marketing babble, NOTHING is intuitive about any of these DAW’s (and I didn’t know what “DAW” meant until a few months ago; and it seems companies supposedly producing them don’t either – I’d been told Reason” was a good DAW – but now they have “Record”, their “DAW”. Huh? “Live” was never a DAW; it was for live performances (duh?) – except the last thing I read described it as a DAW.

I can’t even imagine one of those “checkerboard-looking” things with all white squares on them – what in the world would I do with 48 buttons that don’t move – have 48 doorbells?

Sorry – back to (hopefully simple) reality.

If anyone can tell me initially how to simply get a stereo recording from a tape machine-to USB mixer-to Cubase I would be eternally grateful. If I can’t use the same gear to record live-in-the-studio I’ll either string up 4 mics and the 3340S or set my little Akai stereo digital recorder in the middle of the room and hole for the best.

Recording "live" in the studio and be able to create drums other than using "a robot-in-a-box" playing the same part for 5 minutes would be a miracle - making my own drum tracks with my Oxygen would be a Godsend, but of no use at all until I can get something…ANYTHING…recorded AND heard.

Please pardon the (I assume) very stupid questions. I'm sure plenty of folks will either think I'm kidding, that the post is a joke or feel I have no *right* to be recording if I can't learn the software basics.

But I'm completely serious. I have NO idea where to start and no one to work me through it (my son's employer bumped him out of the business, he has heavy school commitments and his whole rig is based on Protools (HD?) – which looks to be even MORE complicated. I'm not exactly sure, but he has no time anyway.

A thousand thanks in advance for any information that will even get me partway there (but PLEASE don't bother with suggestions for classes, seminars or send me back to the Cubase manual - I have zero time/money for classes and the manual (while it might be great for programmers or folks with experience) jumps right in with stuff WAY over my head (like the seemingly simple term "buss", or my not understanding what THEY mean by “stereo track “.

Thanks – especially to anyone who actually read this whole mess!

Simple tape-to-mixer-to-Mac problem but LONG post with basic questions