Topic: TASCAM DR-680 portable 8-track #3

[dactylus]

Man, reading this thread is not good publicity for Tascam.    Just confirms why I will never part with my 744.

[kirk97132]

Man, reading this thread is not good publicity for Tascam.    Just confirms why I will never part with my 744.

OK so let me get this right.  A total of three people have had an issue.  And now you are will to condemn the piece and only go with a Sound Devices unit?  so if I follow that logic then because Sound Devices USBPre2 had problems then it must be bad too?  what's to say that there were not some issues when the first 744's hit the streets just like the Usbpre'2?  Man that is snap judgment on a tiny percentage of the market.  Yeah for the interweb.  I personally LOVE my 680.  Have never had a problem and would buy another in a heartbeat

[darby]

actually if you read the reviews on B&H (I know that's not a true indicator) alot of folks are having problems with the 680
myself, I grew tired of the battery problems and having to carry so much extra weight for the amount of multichannel recording I do
if in the future I need to do alot more multichannel recording, I'll just save up for a SD unit

[kirk97132]

darby, I don't mean to put ya down but there is only ONE review that is about a unit not working right.  So I wouldn't call that " a lot of people".  There is another about the M/S not working but that could easily be operator trouble.   Of the thirteen reviews there, the most common complaint is about the plastic case and some complaints about how the functions work which are personal preferences about design issues not about decks having actual problems.   

this is a perfect example of how one problem listed on another website now becomes  "a lot of people having problems"  And then someone reads it here and then it becomes "everyone is having problems with those units" type of thing.   I just think people are way too quick to pass a judgement about a piece of gear based on one persons post.  Like you said yourself B&H is not true indicator.  And I'd still cite a similar situation...since the Sound Devices preamp that came out had a problem is that now a good reason to not ever buy one? 

To each their own.  Everyone like different gear for different reasons. These reviews are helpful.  But only to the point where it should lead you to do your own research and check facts rather than a blanket statement to not buy something just because you read it on that there interweb


Oh and I'll give you the argument about AA battery life, but since I only have used external Li-Ion I cannot relate to those problems.  A single DVD battery runs this thing longer than I have ever needed it to run and the weight of that is about the same as eight AA battereis. 

[Chadfish]

I use my 680 without issue, and the thing sounds frickin' amazing. If I could get an equivalent from SD I would, but then we're at a bit of a higher price point aren't we? Also you are not getting much (if any ) bump in sound quality, only functionality and robustness. You must remember that people who buy stuff that works - don't usually go on forums and write anything. It's people with issues that go search out forums. These forums consist of geeks that just love gear and people with questions, and most of the problems are user error. Also you'll need a big battery to run an SD recorder just like one should be using with the 680 (rather than stupid AA's). And finally, I bet if you scour SD forums, you will also find issues with different devises mentioned on forums from users just like here.

[darby]

out of 13 reviews on B&H I counted 3 that had 3 stars or less... not exactly what I would call rave reviews

the battery life of "AA"s is pathetic at best and I even had trouble with the Initials when I needed over 4 hours
I also had trouble with the Tekkeon before buying the extended pack
so with a V3 I was carrying what I felt was WAY TOO MUCH weight in batteries
I was running 2 preamps as well with it because I preferred the sound to the the stock preamps on the 680
some folks don't mind carrying that much, but I definitely felt a huge weight off my back (shoulder) when I ditched the 680 & V3

what soured me on the 680 was the wallwart was DOA when I received the unit and it took almost 2 months to get a new one
then, just after the 90 day warranty ran out the MAIN BOARD took a SHIT and I had to wait 2 more months before getting a replacement

as far as the 744... you don't need an external battery with it, the largest battery for it last quite awhile
but I can't really afford one at the moment, so I'll leave that subject alone 

[Chuck]

my $.02 worth on this.

I'm one of the people on this thread that had a problem with my recorder.
The night mine died, I used an Energizer energi to go battery pack that has separate 5v, 12v and 20v outputs. It was the first time I had used that battery with my DR-680.

When the recorder was not working properly that night, I started checking all the cables. I pulled out the power cable and plugged it back in. I don't know for sure what outlet on the battery pack I originally had it plugged into, as it was dark and the battery is black with small lettering on the outputs. So, I think there's a chance that I briefly sent it 20v rather than 12v. 

Mine was still covered by the Tascam labor warranty. So, I happily sent it to Tascam and paid the parts cost to get it fixed. I still love my DR-680. So, keep that in mind when assessing the reports of problems with the Tascam DR-680.

Now, I have taped off the 20v output on that battery pack. 

[Chadfish]

Hey Darby what multi-track recorder are you using instead of the 680 now?

[darby]

Hey Darby what multi-track recorder are you using instead of the 680 now?

I recently bought the Tascam DR-2d for the few times I run SBD/AUD and had battery trouble with it as well 
before that I was using 2 units (M10 & P2 or 2 M10s) and dealing with that nightmare in post

when I had the 680 I was running 2 pairs of mics and SBD (1 pair for MTX & 1 pair for AUD only)
but tired really quickly of all the weight in batteries/preamps and mics/caps
if I was doing real multichannel recording like others do I wouldn't screw around with the DR-2d
but it seems like a nice little unit for the few times I can run SBD as well... I just need to figure out a battery solution for it
my thing right now is... the smaller the better, and I wasn't getting that with the 680 plus 2 external pres and batteries

EDIT:
sorry for bringing up your problems Chuck
I guess with all the trouble I had... your problems just reinforced my feelings

[Chuck]

EDIT:
sorry for bringing up your problems Chuck & Ted
I guess with all the trouble I had... your problems just reinforced my feelings

No sweat Darby!
I just wanted to make it a bit clearer what happened in my case.

[Teen Wolf Blitzer]

Kirk, read Gearslutz.  Tapersection.com is not the market for this machine.  FYI  Not sure why yer jumping on me.  I had issues with my R4 from day 1.  I know of what I speak.  And I was one of those few who had issues apparently.  Doesn't matter.

[John Willett]

  I had issues with my R4 from day 1.

Yup - My R-4 had input #4 out of phase (reverse polarity) compared to the other three inputs. 

Same on all early machines, I think.

[kirk97132]

Kirk, read Gearslutz.  Tapersection.com is not the market for this machine.  FYI  Not sure why yer jumping on me.  I had issues with my R4 from day 1.  I know of what I speak.  And I was one of those few who had issues apparently.  Doesn't matter.

I had to go back and reread that reply and it does seem like I was addressing you personally.  Sorry I was really trying to make a general point about the comments being made.  It was not aimed at you personally.  But it is the things like I saw it had a three star rating...so an assumption was made that there were "a lot of people having problems" with the deck when in reality it wasn't that way

Screw gearslutz.  Don't even get me started on them.  I have almost no respect for what gets posted over there.  That place just more and more screwed up as time goes by.

R-4??  I'm confused 

[tgakidis]

Shipped my 680 to Chris at Busman today.  I was able to work around my issue by running that channel hotter with a stereo pair on 1&2 but typically I would just use that channel for a direct out from the SBD.  Figured I would go for all 6 channel mods from Chris since the difference between 2 & 6 channels was $125.  Regardless of the issue I had I have no regrets going from an R44 to a DR-680.  Me love 8 channles 

[Myco]

Shipped my 680 to Chris at Busman today.  I was able to work around my issue by running that channel hotter with a stereo pair on 1&2 but typically I would just use that channel for a direct out from the SBD.  Figured I would go for all 6 channel mods from Chris since the difference between 2 & 6 channels was $125.  Regardless of the issue I had I have no regrets going from an R44 to a DR-680.  Me love 8 channles 

Nice. Best of luck Ted!