Topic: Tascam DR-70D 4-channel audio recorder (Part 2)

[voltronic]

Just finished reading through all the pages of the old thread and noticed several people noting the lack of a per-channel numeric gain indicator and hoping a future firmware upgrade might address this.  I also with it had better metering.  Until a potential future update fixes this, I was wondering if one could use the following workaround to match channel levels:

1. Set levels by eye/ear as close to matching as you can.
2. Temporarily disconnect all mics.
3. Use a cheap XLR tone generator on each channel separately in turn and adjust levels to match.  The ubiquitous Behringer unit comes to mind as it allows you to select the level of the tone.

Does this sound like it would work?  I've considered trying the same thing with the FP24 since it's a bit of a guessing game on its analog gain pots.

[Cheesecadet]

Does HOLD actually lock EVERYTHING? Or does something stupid like STOP actually stop it? Thanks!

I just tested whether or not HOLD locks down everything and......IT DOES, including the gain settings!  Hitting stop or any other key or any other knob just throws a message to the display telling you that HOLD is on.  Nice!

Beat me to it.  Thanks for taking the time.

[Cheesecadet]

Just finished reading through all the pages of the old thread and noticed several people noting the lack of a per-channel numeric gain indicator and hoping a future firmware upgrade might address this.  I also with it had better metering.  Until a potential future update fixes this, I was wondering if one could use the following workaround to match channel levels:

1. Set levels by eye/ear as close to matching as you can.
2. Temporarily disconnect all mics.
3. Use a cheap XLR tone generator on each channel separately in turn and adjust levels to match.  The ubiquitous Behringer unit comes to mind as it allows you to select the level of the tone.

Does this sound like it would work?  I've considered trying the same thing with the FP24 since it's a bit of a guessing game on its analog gain pots.

This is another reason I run the M10 as a backup out of my FP24.  Since the Tascam and M10 are both calibrated with the FP24 I get a numerical gain setting from the M10 that also applies to the Tascam.  At least for two of the channels, then I eyeball the other two channels to be close to the aforementioned.  Hopefully that makes sense.

[F.O.Bean]

Does HOLD actually lock EVERYTHING? Or does something stupid like STOP actually stop it? Thanks!

I just tested whether or not HOLD locks down everything and......IT DOES, including the gain settings!  Hitting stop or any other key or any other knob just throws a message to the display telling you that HOLD is on.  Nice!

That's AWESOME Thanks a lot man!

[F.O.Bean]

Does HOLD actually lock EVERYTHING? Or does something stupid like STOP actually stop it? Thanks!

I just tested whether or not HOLD locks down everything and......IT DOES, including the gain settings!  Hitting stop or any other key or any other knob just throws a message to the display telling you that HOLD is on.  Nice!

Beat me to it.  Thanks for taking the time.

No, thank YOU for doing the HOLD test for me too Figured other tapers would want to know too!

[voltronic]

Just finished reading through all the pages of the old thread and noticed several people noting the lack of a per-channel numeric gain indicator and hoping a future firmware upgrade might address this.  I also with it had better metering.  Until a potential future update fixes this, I was wondering if one could use the following workaround to match channel levels:

1. Set levels by eye/ear as close to matching as you can.
2. Temporarily disconnect all mics.
3. Use a cheap XLR tone generator on each channel separately in turn and adjust levels to match.  The ubiquitous Behringer unit comes to mind as it allows you to select the level of the tone.

Does this sound like it would work?  I've considered trying the same thing with the FP24 since it's a bit of a guessing game on its analog gain pots.

This is another reason I run the M10 as a backup out of my FP24.  Since the Tascam and M10 are both calibrated with the FP24 I get a numerical gain setting from the M10 that also applies to the Tascam.  At least for two of the channels, then I eyeball the other two channels to be close to the aforementioned.  Hopefully that makes sense.

Yes, it does - thanks.

[Rally_AK]

Question for other owners out there. Would you use an iPhone or iPad charger to power the 70D if you had access to AC at a show? I have a bunch of them laying around the house and would rather not buy Tascam's $30 power supply if I could make something else work.

DR-70D Requirement (Per manual) - 5V, 5W Max. (1A?)
Tascam Power Supply (PS-P515U) - 5V, 7.5W, 1.5A
iPhone Charger - 5V, 5W, 1A
iPad Charger - 5.1V, 12W, 2.1A

[Life In Rewind]

Question for other owners out there. Would you use an iPhone or iPad charger to power the 70D if you had access to AC at a show? I have a bunch of them laying around the house and would rather not buy Tascam's $30 power supply if I could make something else work.

DR-70D Requirement (Per manual) - 5V, 5W Max. (1A?)
Tascam Power Supply (PS-P515U) - 5V, 7.5W, 1.5A
iPhone Charger - 5V, 5W, 1A
iPad Charger - 5.1V, 12W, 2.1A

For sure...I think that's what most of us are doing. I've run mine off the 1A line with no issues.

I also have a 1.5 A model - and it works just fine too...

[Rally_AK]

Thanks LIR!

For my own sanity I'll do a stress test to make sure a standard iPhone charger will power the 70D at full load with 4 LD's cranked up, headphones at 10 and recording all channels at 24/96. I'll report back if the 70D has any hiccups.

[Rally_AK]

Well the 70D stayed on all night running 4 LD mics and both outputs (headphone/line out) using an iPhone charger but stopped recording about 5 hours in due to a "Write Timeout" error. The manual says "Writing to the SD card timed out" (...whatever that means) and to reformat the SD card.

I was using a brand new, freshly formatted, 128GB SanDisk Ultra SDXC so the card shouldn't be corrupted but I'm not ruling it out. I'll run chkdsk on it to make sure and try out a couple other cards to see if I can replicate the error.

Another weird issue I noticed is that when I had my headphones turned all the way up the limiters added a lot of noise to each channel, even with the mic gain turned all the way down. As soon as I turned the limiters off each channel was silent. I haven't had a chance to see if this noise transferred to the recording but will check tonight. Is it normal for limiters to raise the noise floor?

[voltronic]

My unit is now on it's way.  Could owners start compiling a list of recommended settings to be posted in this or a separate thread?  I remember how helpful that was with the Sony PCM-M10, and it can avoid new users like me having to ask the same basic questions that were answered but buried deep in a long thread. 

For example, if it is found by others that the limiter is noisy as Rally_AK has suggested, that can be placed on the "avoid" list.

I also would like to know if anyone with the means is willing to do some real measurements.  The manufacturer specs are really incomplete as several have noted.

[Cheesecadet]

I have not come across any liniter noise

[voltronic]

I have not come across any liniter noise

I was just using that as an example.  Maybe a better one could be the three different gain level settings - if one is shown to be significantly better than the other, in the way that LOW gain is the preferred setting on the M10.

[Cheesecadet]

I have not come across any liniter noise

I was just using that as an example.  Maybe a better one could be the three different gain level settings - if one is shown to be significantly better than the other, in the way that LOW gain is the preferred setting on the M10.

High Gain would likely be too loud for most rock shows in my experience.  I have always used low gain even when not running a pre in front.

[F.O.Bean]

My unit is now on it's way.  Could owners start compiling a list of recommended settings to be posted in this or a separate thread?  I remember how helpful that was with the Sony PCM-M10, and it can avoid new users like me having to ask the same basic questions that were answered but buried deep in a long thread. 

For example, if it is found by others that the limiter is noisy as Rally_AK has suggested, that can be placed on the "avoid" list.

I also would like to know if anyone with the means is willing to do some real measurements.  The manufacturer specs are really incomplete as several have noted.

Great idea. I'll be getting one soon too and was wondering if there was a list with preferred tapir settings so that we don't have to dig through a ton of pages or rehash the same questions a million times