"new" DM4800 update :-)

[Drumstruck]

I have to tell someone - so indulge me gents..... finally sold most of my older gear over the last couple of months and just got a new Ta@#$% DM4800 desk

After stuffing around for a while to get it talking to DAW1 a TI firewire card solved the problem - now I can see 32 beautiful I/O tracks in Reaper and I'm grinning. Now to map the MIDI control - that should be fun - then start some recording - Into the digital world of mixing - never thought I'd go from analog .......

[Mazystar]

looking forward to hearing how your finding the Ta@#$% workflow and overall sound of the desk

[peterfitz]

Congratulations Mazystar, I have the Ta@#$% DM-3200, and I'm very happy with it
If there's any learning curve issues, I'd be happy to help. Also have you signed up
at the tascamforums.com there's a whole section just for the 3200/4800 with
lots of really good info. ~ pete

[Drumstruck]

Thanks guys - I'm sure I'll have some workflow questions. I got some good info from the Ta@#$% forum - esp. the TI firewire card tip that got me up and running.

My perceptions so far are:

Workflow:
- the routing section required a few reads of the manual and some playing in the routing screen but I've got the gist of it now
- the batch switch is excellent - setup 1 channel, press batch and bingo - it flows through to the remaining channels on that bank - a great time saver
- projects are another great idea - I'm setting up a number of templates so I can go from record mode to overdub mode to mixdown mode in an instant
- controls action (faders / buttons / knobs) is very smooth and the increments have fine granularity - very easy to control the mixer to within .1dB
- setting up the MIDI control surface in Reaper is fairly complex and causing a bit of grien - I got it working briefly on 8 channels but am having some trouble getting that working fully across 32 channels

Sound:
- initially it sounds very clean - not "coloured" like my previous (analog) mixer
- plenty of gain in the line in stage
- I have to crank the headphone gain up to about 75% but I assume some finer tuning of the upstream levels will let me reduce this a bit

Any

[Mazystar]

I haven't got one, just interested in seeing how they perform.....Have thought about it though

[AlCraig]

If you don't mind my asking, where did you buy it and what did you pay for it? Did you look at anything else?
Al Craig

[Drumstruck]

Hi Al,

Sent you a PM with some contact / $ details.

Yes - I did look at a lot of other mixers before deciding on this one but as a PT user I was limited to their own h/w for I/O. When PT9 came out with hardware independence that was the decision point.

I looked at:
- the Mackie f/w mixers but couldn't cascade 2 of them and 16 channels wasn't enough...
- the Presonus but they lacked a few features and were a bit small and fiddly to operate (and a bit too much "disco bling")....
- the A&H Zed but, same as Mackie it only had 16 channels...
- also looked at a Venue but didn't have the $s.... same story with the mixers at this $ level and above...

Prior to the DM-4800 I had a Mackie 24.8 + 24E + MCU and 3 Delta 1010s and they worked very well together providing 24 I/O + control surface etc but when I added up the power consumption it was around 700watts !! The DM-4800 consumes 90watts so maths told me that it would pay for itself within a few years.

I do miss analog but am using some outboard analog FX + tape now in lieu. When I make my fortune I'll get one of the new Neve analog desks that Tom designed (it's nice to dream).....

<edit> 2 months down the track and I'm really glad I went with this desk - a few nights of head scratching to get the routing happening - the digital routing is so different to analog patching and offers a lot more complexity - the DM's internal FX (verb and delay) imo are much nicer than the ITB options included with PT or Reaper. The EQ is also more nicer to use than ITB, but I'm a tactile sort of guy ;-). Love the meter bridge, but the TMCompanion s/w gives you onscreen metering for all channels too. Soundwise the desk is clear - the old Mackie sounded like it was at the end of a tunnel in comparison - so it's given my mics a whole new lease of life for positional variation.

hot news - I've got a copy of PT9 HD on the way now so I'll be able to report how they work together in a week or so.

[Drumstruck]

The PT9HD update:
- installed on my Vista32 DAW (in NT5 compatibility mode) and looks to be running well
- 32 I/O visible over firewire from the DM-4800
- a quick test saw input from condensor mics to PT
- surround settings all visible
- no errors or issues with preferences settings

No such luck with the W7 DAW - PT keeps quitting and it has scrambled some other settings so Reaper is outputting awful digital distortion..... WIP to sort this one.

[AlCraig]

Ian, can we get an update?
Al

[Drumstruck]

G'day Al,

Some pretty good progress and some headaches (ain't it always the way....).

The W7 box is now stable when running PT9 at 44.1KHz and Wavelab7 at anything up to 96KHz. I recorded / mixed drum tracks for 2 folk/rock songs for a guy in N.Y. over the last few weeks - ended up with 16 tracks of drums out from PT into the DM / mixed and tweaked then back to a stereo track in PT - all over firewire.

I'm really happy with the sound and manageability of this desk - it's clear and has great metering at all stages of the signal path. The internal compressor is a nice punchy surprise - the gain makeup stage provides lots of gain - I think I'll be inserting some pre-fader limiting in future. The control surface layer is also working really well.

I have an SSL 16 I/O TDIF card that I might install in this W7 box so I can use the firewire for my new MBP that arrived yesterday (replacement for a DOA) - and I'm setting it up now - DM driver and Wavelab7 are both in and running - will install PT9 next.

[Drumstruck]

Hi all,

It's nice to have something positive to talk about.... the more I use this desk the more I like it - the internal FX / Eq have turned out very nice - haven't touched a plug since I got it and have sold off quite a bit of outboard too (shock horror).

Just received a surround card this morning that will expand the mixer out to 6.1, and picked up an 8 channel analog I/O card on eBay that brings it up to 32 analog I/O. Also am now running it with a MBP i7 for 32 f/w I/O (had too many instability problems with W7 and f/w).

If anyone is considering a mid-sized / mid-priced mixer I'd recommend looking at one of these.

Unfortunately Ta@#$% dumped their forum so we DM users don't have anywhere to share info - but of a surprise for a co. that big......

[Drumstruck]

Some more bits of info on this console - in a nutshell, I can't believe how good this thing is for the price.

Just picked up a(nother bargain) TDIF card so now it's fully populated and has ridiculous amounts of I/O:
- 32 x TDIF@96KHz to the x48 (see HD recorder thread)
- 32 x firewire@96KHz to the MBP
- 32 x analog (flippable) for mics / lines / returns
- Surround + 2 pair of studio monitors
blah blah blah ..... (do I hear you say?)

Downsides? I'm searching .....
- the (24) pre's don't have as much gain as I would like - I've got a few ribbons cranked up to 10 on the input gain (yes, it does go to 11) but no discernable degradation so I'll call that my psychological barrier....
- the pre's are very clean so certain mics (eg. Rode NT1s) sound quite clinical - inserting some analog esp. tube is v. nice on this

perhaps more in a few months....

[gigpiglet]

i used a Ta@#$% D8000 (the big brother to yours) for years and years
before i bought my big analogue DDA
i loved it. i loved the sound. i loved the usability.
like you say - shame Ta@#$% didnt keep supporting these desks properly... but glad you are having a good time with yours.