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

[lukpac]

ok so my 680, when i put in record pause with a formatted memory card (32bg) says -1:02:06 time left.  when i record past this it just starts over.  what am i missing here?

The time is how much is left for the current file(s), not how much time is left on the card.

[yltfan]

aloha

ok so my 680, when i put in record pause with a formatted memory card (32bg) says -1:02:06 time left.  when i record past this it just starts over.  what am i missing here?

thanks

You are recording at 24/96, right? With a 2gb limit, you get an hour at 24/96 - 2 hours at 24/48.

[tubems]

yah thanks everyone.

what i figured but wanted to confirm.  so just need to accept that every hour it starts over the running time when doing 24/96 i guess. 

thanks!!

[tubems]

so regardless of file size limit, if I'm running 8 tracks 24/96 the counter will reset every 20min??  there isn't a way to have the deck just keep a running time for whole project?

that is pretty weak if so and defiantly adds to the stomach acid content when doing important stuff.

anyways
thanks!!

[fsulloway]

so regardless of file size limit, if I'm running 8 tracks 24/96 the counter will reset every 20min??  there isn't a way to have the deck just keep a running time for whole project?

that is pretty weak if so and defiantly adds to the stomach acid content when doing important stuff.

anyways
thanks!!

it's 2 g per file. If you record in stereo pairs you'd have 4 files each containing 1 hr of material and 2 g in size. You could run in mono.

[hi and lo]

so regardless of file size limit, if I'm running 8 tracks 24/96 the counter will reset every 20min??  there isn't a way to have the deck just keep a running time for whole project?

that is pretty weak if so and defiantly adds to the stomach acid content when doing important stuff.

anyways
thanks!!

Using the DR-680 for "important stuff" is a terrible idea. If you need a feature rich recorder with reliable operation, there far better options.

[lukpac]

Using the DR-680 for "important stuff" is a terrible idea.

Says...you?

[hi and lo]

Using the DR-680 for "important stuff" is a terrible idea.

Says...you?

Yes. I was one of the first adopters of the 680 on this forum and have experienced virtually every known issue regarding the 680, including two DOA units. Acidjack once said to me "I feel like if I even look at that thing the wrong way it will shatter to pieces."

It's a decent deck for what we do, but I would never recommend someone use it for important (i.e. professional) work.

[lukpac]

Yes. I was one of the first adopters of the 680 on this forum and have experienced virtually every known issue regarding the 680, including two DOA units. Acidjack once said to me "I feel like if I even look at that thing the wrong way it will shatter to pieces."

It's a decent deck for what we do, but I would never recommend someone use it for important (i.e. professional) work.

But yet plenty of other people haven't had issues. It's unfortunate that you've had problems, but saying that they shouldn't be used for important work is a bit over the top.

[hi and lo]

You should really read through these threads. Most people have had one issue or another.

[lukpac]

You should really read through these threads. Most people have had one issue or another.

I've read through the threads and have been using my own unit for several months. I stand by my statement.

[hi and lo]

Famous last words!

[tubems]

thanks for the suggestion.

all i want is to be able to run it for a few hours running 6-8 tracks and see that it has been running a few hours not starting time over every 20 min. 

good thing this was a "here can you use this thing" deal for me.  oh well thanks again for the suggestions and comments.

so regardless of file size limit, if I'm running 8 tracks 24/96 the counter will reset every 20min??  there isn't a way to have the deck just keep a running time for whole project?

that is pretty weak if so and defiantly adds to the stomach acid content when doing important stuff.

anyways
thanks!!

it's 2 g per file. If you record in stereo pairs you'd have 4 files each containing 1 hr of material and 2 g in size. You could run in mono.

[Gutbucket]

Once started recording, the machine will continue to record until the memory card is full.  If recording at 24/96 it will start new files approximatley every hour or every two hours depending on how it is set.  Starting new files more frequently is one hedge against file loss in the case power is lost or some other problem occurs.  In that situation only the current file(s) being writen would be likely to have problems.

How long the machine will record to a file before starting a new one is determined by three factors: the bit-depth/sample-rate at which you are recording, how many channels are encoded in the file, and the file size limitation. 

Here's each of those factors-
1) Recording at 24bit/96Khz produces 16.5 MB/min per channel.  That's just under 1GB of data per hour.
2) The DR-680 can be set to write either single channel mono files (1 channel per file) or 2-channel interleaved-stereo files (2 channels per file) for the six analog input channels.  2-channel stereo interleaved files contain twice as much data as single channel mono files. (Note that the 'extra' digital-input or monitor-mix stereo channel is always a 2-channel stereo-interleaved file)
3) The file size limitation is 2GB.  Once a file reaches this size, a new one is started by the recorder.  This happens "seamlessly" meaning that there is no gap in recording, or in playback once the files are rejoined or played sequentially.

So if you are recording at 24bit/96Khz, and have the machine set to record single channel mono files, the machine will start a new file for each channel approximately every two hours.

If you set the machine to record 2-channel stereo files (which are always channel pairs- ch1&2, ch3&4, ch5&6), the machine will start new files for each channel pair approximately every hour

Either way, the stereo digital-input / monitor-mix file will always be a 2-channel stereo file and will start a new file approximately every hour.

If recording at 24/48 the data rate is half that of 24/96, so the file slits happen at just over 2 or 4 hour intervals instead of 1 or 2 hour intervals.

[edited to correct the data rates]

[tubems]

thanks, great explanation!!

yah ive understood "how" it all works i was just hoping to find a way to have a cumulative "recording time" shown regardless of how i setup the recorder, and if it does or does not do a seamless new file start/creation while it is running. 

it just seems logical that it should still give me a running total of the time it has been recording even if it does a background process like starting a new file.  It appears that this is not possible with this unit.
.

thanks again for all the info

Once started recording, the machine will continue to record until the memory card is full.  If recording at 24/96 it will start new files approximatley every hour or every two hours depending on how it is set.  Starting new files more frequently is one hedge against file loss in the case power is lost or some other problem occurs.  In that situation only the current file(s) being writen would be likely to have problems.

How long the machine will record to a file before starting a new one is determined by three factors: the bit-depth/sample-rate at which you are recording, how many channels are encoded in the file, and the file size limitation. 

Here's each of those factors-
1) Recording at 24bit/96Khz produces 16.5 MB/min per channel.  That's just under 1GB of data per hour.
2) The DR-680 can be set to write either single channel mono files (1 channel per file) or 2-channel interleaved-stereo files (2 channels per file) for the six analog input channels.  2-channel stereo interleaved files contain twice as much data as single channel mono files. (Note that the 'extra' digital-input or monitor-mix stereo channel is always a 2-channel stereo-interleaved file)
3) The file size limitation is 2GB.  Once a file reaches this size, a new one is started by the recorder.  This happens "seamlessly" meaning that there is no gap in recording, or in playback once the files are rejoined or played sequentially.

So if you are recording at 24bit/96Khz, and have the machine set to record single channel mono files, the machine will start a new file for each channel approximately every two hours.

If you set the machine to record 2-channel stereo files (which are always channel pairs- ch1&2, ch3&4, ch5&6), the machine will start new files for each channel pair approximately every hour

Either way, the stereo digital-input / monitor-mix file will always be a 2-channel stereo file and will start a new file approximately every hour.

If recording at 24/48 the data rate is half that of 24/96, so the file slits happen at just over 2 or 4 hour intervals instead of 1 or 2 hour intervals.

[edited to correct the data rates]