Topic: TASCAM DR-680 portable 8-track #6

[Cobiwan]

My question is, will there be a firmware update for the DR-680? Seems like most of the upgrades on the mkII  are firmware related, but then again, what do I know?

[florian.ardelean]

DR-680mkii = lipstick on a pig

You're the unlucky one who had 2 or 3 units malfunction, right?

The <<lipstick pig>> might not be so bad though, bot only If they keep the street price at the current level (as low as 400$).

The truth is that, according to their own statements, they only really upgraded 3 things:

Improved audio quality - probably similar to Busman mod - and they also fixed the underspecified capacitors for phantom power. I wonder if they chose the same op-amp as Busman? That would be funny.

SDXC support, along with the <<readily available>> SD and SDHC cards probably means we won't see an updated supported media list, which could also translate to better reliability and less problems with lost recordings, especially coupled with the next upgrade

Improved battery life - which, among other things, translates to a new power supply design that could fix many of the problems they had with overheating units, freezing units, power issues leading to lost recordings and 0 KB files.

Another three upgrades are firmware related and could have easily been added to the mkI:

Dual level recording - the only real software upgrade

Reset file take no. (really? This shouldn't even be mentioned as an improvement, it was supposed to be there in the first place)

Playback of multitrack files (the same, it should have been there from the start, especially considering that mkI wouldn't even play back its own recordings once copied to the PC and back to SD again)

Another one is a faux point:
lithium battery support - lithium AA's work everywhere - and they cost 20$ for an 8-pack. Who wants to pay 20$ for a one-time usage?!

And finally there's the 'internal clock oscillator' improvement which nobody even complained about afaik.

[2manyrocks]

Of course this comes out 2 weeks after I bought my 680. 

If bought new, are you still in the return period?

You guys have already spotted the improvements in the 680.  It just seems to me that Tascam has extended the life of their existing tooling by upgrading some of the features in the 680 sort of like they did with the DR60d.  Like another poster, I had been thinking Tascam might come out with an entirely new 6-8 track unit on the lines of the 70d, but now that I see what they've done with the 680mkii,  I think they are trying to get more sales with an upgrade to the existing product before bringing an entirely new unit to market. 

[H₂O]

My question is, will there be a firmware update for the DR-680? Seems like most of the upgrades on the mkII  are firmware related, but then again, what do I know?

The entire power topology had to have been redesigned to increase run times by 150% - and probably many of the components on the logic board where replaced with newer more efficient versions (or consolidated down)

So it is highly improbable a firmware update will come out to add mk ii like features to the older 680

Look at the Marantz updates - they did MINIMAL changes (most if not all apparently software related)  to the 661 mk ii from the orig 661 and never came out with an update firmware for the 661 to add these features

[Gutbucket]

The entire power topology had to have been redesigned to increase run times by 150% - and probably many of the components on the logic board where replaced with newer more efficient versions (or consolidated down)

An firmware update increased the run time of the DR2d by something like 4 times!

Who knows at this point if the topology or PCB was changed or not, components have been changed at least, and I agree that firmware updates for the original mki version are unlikely.  Tascam will be focusing on moving the new units.

[Scooter123]

The new model is great news.  Everyone everywhere please buy the new unit.

Then sell me your old minty unit in the yard sale. 

Seriously, the upgrades were a big so what for me. 

[hi and lo]

Seriously, the upgrades were a big so what for me.

I agree that the added features are fairly lackluster, but the biggest upgrade might have been as simple as fixing defects. That's probably not something they're willing to fess up to in their marketing.

If they did indeed fix the many known, serious defects of the original 680, then I would never settle for an older v1 version.

[JimmieC]

It would be pretty cool if someone would add post-processing (multi-band compression, eq, etc) on playback.

[Ultfris101]

Seriously, the upgrades were a big so what for me.

I agree that the added features are fairly lackluster, but the biggest upgrade might have been as simple as fixing defects. That's probably not something they're willing to fess up to in their marketing.

If they did indeed fix the many known, serious defects of the original 680, then I would never settle for an older v1 version.

This is what's on my mind. I'd like more than 4 channels and I'm not super picky regarding preamps but I don't want to lose recordings because my recorder overheated and crashed in my bag or whatever. I won't be an early adopter but I'm very interested in field reports once it's been out a while. The reality is I should probably just consolidate to an HS-P82 and be done with it, but haven't gotten there yet. I can't imagine this mkII would really compete with that, but you never know.

[florian.ardelean]

This is what's on my mind. I'd like more than 4 channels and I'm not super picky regarding preamps but I don't want to lose recordings because my recorder overheated and crashed in my bag or whatever. I won't be an early adopter but I'm very interested in field reports once it's been out a while. The reality is I should probably just consolidate to an HS-P82 and be done with it, but haven't gotten there yet. I can't imagine this mkII would really compete with that, but you never know.

Technically speaking, you're only an early adopter if it's a new product - the mkII is an updated version of an already established product (4 years old).

The HS-P82 is the flagship, Of course the 680 is a step-down, but it's the next best thing from TASCAM, and in my opinion, the cheapest high-quality multichannel recorder available at the moment. Noise floor is comparable to Sound Devices 7xx series, much better than Edirol R44, which is more expensive and only has 4 channels.

And unfortunately you're never 100% safe with a single recorder - I've seen cases of SD788's failing, and even an extreme case of an AATON CANTAR III (14000$) with lost recordings and hard drive sent for recovery in France, to recover feature film takes - every sound mixer's nightmare.

I'd keep the R44 and get the 680mkII as well. They can be synced via digital and you're sure to never lose a show, worst case scenario - one of the decks fails, and you lose some of the mics - either to the r44 or the 680. Or you could use the USBpre2 to get a full 8 channel analogue recording and try to sync the r44 to the 680... looking at your equipment list, there are lots of possible combinations to have fun with

[Gutbucket]

^^^
DR-680+R44 alone = 10 clock sync'd channels, you just need to align the files from both machines.  I've done that a number of times. Using the USBpre2 as well you get all 12 clock sync'd channels.

[florian.ardelean]

^^^
DR-680+R44 alone = 10 clock sync'd channels, you just need to align the files from both machines.  I've done that a number of times. Using the USBpre2 as well you get all 12 clock sync'd channels.

What if you had only two DR680's? Would it be possible to record 12 sync'd channels via analog-in only? They advertise that the DR680 can serve as a master transport, but there's no mention of digital clock sync...

[Chuck]

...a little red paint and I'll have a MKII. 

I actually think this is a good thing. It really is a good multi-track recorder. If they fixed the minor gripes people had with it it's even better.

[Gutbucket]

^^^
DR-680+R44 alone = 10 clock sync'd channels, you just need to align the files from both machines.  I've done that a number of times. Using the USBpre2 as well you get all 12 clock sync'd channels.

What if you had only two DR680's? Would it be possible to record 12 sync'd channels via analog-in only? They advertise that the DR680 can serve as a master transport, but there's no mention of digital clock sync...

That's the way it's supposed to work, master/slave sync is via the SPDIF ports.  Haven't tired it.  If so, it should do 14 with using an external ADC into the master machine.

[Ultfris101]

I actually find the red on the new ones quite a bit more appealing than the silver 

A 680 + my R-44 and USB Pre2 would give me a lot of options, channel capacity, and redundancy when I feel I need it. Likely what I'll do depending on the price of the mkII once it comes out and initial reports are positive.

There are two factors I'm considering which still weigh in HS-P82's favor:
 - I want to play with timecode between audio and video
 - I'm growing weary of the cabling and powering of multiple devices. I like running at least one camera most of the time so the amount of gear is getting more difficult to manage.

Now if they come out with a updated hs-p82 with the red handles, well.... the decision is basically made for me