Topic: Tascam DR-70D - modification discussion

[voltronic]

Disengaging hold is a downward motion, toward off, which is my point about risking shutting down the deck.

The good news is that you have to hold power for quite a while to get it to turn off, so I still don't think there's much risk of this happening accidentally.

I counted about a two-second delay before powering down.

Compare this to approx 3.5 seconds to get the display to light up when powering up!?!

Ain't that weird? I don't blame VWMULE for being a bit worried, but as long as you feel it click off of hold and then you let it go, you'll be fine.

Emphasis on that key point above.  Trust the tactile feedback.  Trust your feelings, Luke.   That's how I do it on the M10, and the hold/power switch has far less travel than the 70D. 

[F.O.Bean]

Never been an issue for me either!

[2manyrocks]

Unless you must have four channels, does the mkiii dr100 undercut the mod? Tascam is promoting the new dr100 mkiii as their flagship at $399, you get their factory warranty, and the display looks like it would be much better for monitoring levels.

[voltronic]

Unless you must have four channels, does the mkiii dr100 undercut the mod? Tascam is promoting the new dr100 mkiii as their flagship at $399, you get their factory warranty, and the display looks like it would be much better for monitoring levels.

It very well might.  Tascam is telling us nothing about the preamps in the 100 other than it uses "HDDA" preamps, which is just the same marketing BS used with the 70D and 701D.  In the case of those two units, they did at least mention which opamps were being used, and those in the 701D are much better than those in the 70D, almost as good as the TI chips used in the JWMod.  Not to say the opamp by itself tells you everything about the preamp section.

For the 100 they appear to be pushing the quality of the ADC as a big selling point; no details on the preamps.

It's worth noting that EIN, distortion and S/N of the DR-100mkIII look excellent, almost equal that of the DR-701D so we might assume they use the same preamps.

Long story short, if I definitely only needed 2 channels I'd probably by the 100mkIII.  If you need 4 P48 inputs, I think the 70D with or without the mod is still an excellent value.

[F.O.Bean]

A taper friend of mine just bought and already got a 701D a few days ago Said it has a nice solid feel[magnesium alloy chassis vs plastic], and it basically has every feature that we wanted for the 70D in future FW updates lol and a cooler blue screen I wish I had more on my taping schedule, because I'd borrow it[he did offer] and give it a test run right next to a stock 70D and split my PFA OUTS

And as far as just doing 2 channel, the 100mkiii def looks like a cool & solid deck for the $$! But for around at least $100 less, you can get a 70D with 4 XLR INS, so its really up to your individual needs and wants!

[2manyrocks]

I'd be curious whether the mod and firmware requests for the 70d influenced tascam in the development of the 701d. 

The continuation of the dr100mkiii surprised me.  I would have expected tascam to drop it given the offering of the 701d.  It also surprises me to see them continue to use the menu wheel and to continue the internal lit ion batteries instead of just as batteries and an external 5v battery.  But I suppose they've got to have lit ion batteries to attain a reasonable run time. 

 

[jbell]

Voltronic where did you buy 5 of these??  LME49720MA op amp the link in the fact page only allows you to buy 90 at a time. 

[voltronic]

Voltronic where did you buy 5 of these??  LME49720MA op amp the link in the fact page only allows you to buy 90 at a time.

I bought everything from Mouser.  There was no quantity minimum when I purchased.

[malow]

Hi guys. I'm new here. i intent to buy this recorder to record church events.

but i have one problem: i was thinking in using as a "in the middle" device, like connecting up to 4 mic's on it, and EACH mic output of the 70D in the mixer, so they can adjust independently each input, and i record "mine" in the middle without messing their audio setup (mics > 70D > mixer line-in for each channel)

but as you know, the 70D does not have independent outputs for each mic, only a line-out (i believe it mixes the 4 channels to 2 channels).

so, as i have a basic knowledge on op-amps and electronics, my question: technically, i can add extra op-amps to get the output from the mic pre-amps and make 4 outputs using the op-amps in "voltage follower" mode? (just to get an "extra" output for each channel)

or i can use the internal line-out op-amps (i assume it uses extra op-amps to mix the outputs) to get 4 outs instead of 2 mixed outs?

another thing: anyone knows the power section of this device? what voltages it uses internally? i may mod to use li-ion instead of AA's

thanks in advance!!!

OBS: I'm Brazilian, sorry for the poor english! 

[voltronic]

Hi guys. I'm new here. i intent to buy this recorder to record church events.

but i have one problem: i was thinking in using as a "in the middle" device, like connecting up to 4 mic's on it, and EACH mic output of the 70D in the mixer, so they can adjust independently each input, and i record "mine" in the middle without messing their audio setup (mics > 70D > mixer line-in for each channel)

but as you know, the 70D does not have independent outputs for each mic, only a line-out (i believe it mixes the 4 channels to 2 channels).

so, as i have a basic knowledge on op-amps and electronics, my question: technically, i can add extra op-amps to get the output from the mic pre-amps and make 4 outputs using the op-amps in "voltage follower" mode? (just to get an "extra" output for each channel)

or i can use the internal line-out op-amps (i assume it uses extra op-amps to mix the outputs) to get 4 outs instead of 2 mixed outs?

another thing: anyone knows the power section of this device? what voltages it uses internally? i may mod to use li-ion instead of AA's

thanks in advance!!!

OBS: I'm Brazilian, sorry for the poor english! 

So, you want to be able to record 4 channels, but then also have 4 independent line outputs?  I have no idea if the modification you're proposing is possible or not.  But either way, it seems that what you want to do would be so much easier with a good analog mixer, where you can easily route any channel to any subgroup or aux output.

I don't understand why you'd want to do something like this with the 70D.

[malow]

So, you want to be able to record 4 channels, but then also have 4 independent line outputs?  I have no idea if the modification you're proposing is possible or not.  But either way, it seems that what you want to do would be so much easier with a good analog mixer, where you can easily route any channel to any subgroup or aux output.

I don't understand why you'd want to do something like this with the 70D.

cause i want separated audio tracks for easy editing and flexibility. and because events already have a mixer. also i tested a few mixers, and i found them very noisy.

also, one device that do all is better and cheaper than two

i was about to get a behringer umc404hd (usb audio interface, 4 input that have 4 outputs, one for each mic) for this purpose. but a device like the 70D now seems much more complete, just missing this feature

[dogmusic]

So, you want to be able to record 4 channels, but then also have 4 independent line outputs?  I have no idea if the modification you're proposing is possible or not.  But either way, it seems that what you want to do would be so much easier with a good analog mixer, where you can easily route any channel to any subgroup or aux output.

I don't understand why you'd want to do something like this with the 70D.

cause i want separated audio tracks for easy editing and flexibility. and because events already have a mixer. also i tested a few mixers, and i found them very noisy.

also, one device that do all is better and cheaper than two

i was about to get a behringer umc404hd (usb audio interface, 4 input that have 4 outputs, one for each mic) for this purpose. but a device like the 70D now seems much more complete, just missing this feature

Why not just get a used Tascam DR680? It has dedicated outputs and there might be quite a few on the market since the intro of the SD MixPre-6.

[malow]

Why not just get a used Tascam DR680? It has dedicated outputs and there might be quite a few on the market since the intro of the SD MixPre-6.

looks like would be nice for what i want. but used cost more than twice the 70D... 

[dogmusic]

Why not just get a used Tascam DR680? It has dedicated outputs and there might be quite a few on the market since the intro of the SD MixPre-6.

looks like would be nice for what i want. but used cost more than twice the 70D... 

Here you go:

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=181808.msg0#new

Terrific deal! (No affiliation.)

[malow]

Here you go:

http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=181808.msg0#new

Terrific deal! (No affiliation.)

it would be nice... if i were an american... 

in brazil US$ to BR$ is 3.5x the value, plus 60% to 100% import taxes (over the price with shipping), so in the end will cost a kidney. i can only buy locally.