Taperssection.com
Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: leehookem on March 12, 2015, 09:47:46 AM
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Here's Part 1 (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=170230.0)
Tom Duffy from TASCAM (http://taperssection.com/index.php?action=profile;u=53688), "site rep"
And thanks to voltronic, for putting together a FAQ page with recommended settings (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172550.0).
http://tascam.com/product/dr-70d/overview/
-Compact, professional-grade audio recorder designed to be used in combination with a DSLR camera
-Uses an SD/SDHC/SDXC card as recording medium (up to 128 GB)
-High-quality recording inputs through Tascam original High Definition Discrete Architecture (HDDA) microphone preamps
-NE5532 operational amplifiers for even higher audio performance (also used on DA-3000)
-In addition to ordinary stereo recording, simultaneous recording of up to four channels is possible
-Four channels can be mixed down to a stereo signal
-Recording levels can be adjusted independently for inputs 1–4
-Dual recording function allows two files to be recorded simultaneously at different levels
-Recording at 44.1/48/96 kHz, 16/24-bit, linear PCM (WAV format)
-Broadcast Wave Format (BWF) supported as WAV recording format
-Two built-in omnidirectional microphones
-Four XLR/TRS combo inputs can provide phantom power (+24V/+48V)
-+24 dBu maximum input level (20 dB headroom)
-Additional unbalanced input for channels 1 and 2 (stereo mini jack) supports mics that require plug-in power, allowing the input of video mics and other high-output mics
-Switchable low-cut filter conveniently reduces low-frequency noise (40 Hz, 80 Hz, 120 Hz)
-Switchable limiter to prevent clipping
-High-quality audio can be output to a DSLR camera for recording
-Camera input enables convenient monitoring of audio from a DSLR camera
-Selectable mid-side decoding for use with MS microphone setups
-Slate tone functions (automatic/manual) to simplify synchronization of video files when editing
-Pre-recording function allows the unit to record the two seconds of sound before recording is activated
-Auto recording function to start start and stop recording by input level
-A new file can be created during recording (manually or by file size)
-Self-timer function to start recording after a set period of time
-Jump-back function allows the last several seconds of the currently played file to be replayed again by simply pressing a button
-Selectable delay to eliminate time lags caused by differences in the distances of two input sources
-QUICK button allows easy access to various functions
-Mark function convenient for moving to specific locations
-Equalizers for playback, and level alignment function to enhance the perceived overall sound pressure
-File name format can be set to use a user-defined word or the date
-Resume function to memorize the playback position before the unit is turned off
-Line output and headphones output with individual level controls (3.5-mm jack)
-Dedicated remote control jack for use with RC-10 and RC-3F (sold separately)
-Hold switch to prevent accidental operation
-Low-noise buttons
-128 x 64 pixel LC display with backlight
-USB 2.0 port
-Stand adapter (¼ inch) on bottom side to attach the unit to a tripod
-DSLR bracket for easy camera attachment and removal
-Hot shoe mount (accessible when not using the DSLR bracket)
-Handles on the front left and right sides protect the screen and can be used to attach a shoulder belt
-Operates on four AA batteries, an AC adapter (sold separately: TASCAM PS-P515U), external battery pack (sold separately: TASCAM BP-6AA) or USB bus power
(http://tascam.com/content/images/universal/product_detail/867/medium/dr-70d_p_user.jpg)
(http://tascam.com/content/images/universal/product_detail/867/medium/dr-70d_p_rear.jpg)
(http://tascam.com/content/images/universal/product_detail/867/medium/dr-70d_p_left.jpg)
(http://tascam.com/content/images/universal/product_detail/867/medium/dr-70d_p_right.jpg)
(http://tascam.com/content/images/universal/product_detail/867/medium/dr-70d_p_front.jpg)
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I've only found two options for gear specific bags for this unit. The Strut Field Case (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1118963-REG/tascam_str_dr70d_field_case_for_the.html) and the Porta Brace AR-DR70D (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1112788-REG/porta_brace_ar_dr70d_custom_case.html).
(http://static.bhphoto.com/images/multiple_images/images500x500/IMG_471780.jpg)
(http://static.bhphoto.com/images/images500x500/1112788.jpg)
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Thanks for getting the new thread up and running!
Just dropped of my deck for the mod. Should have it back by Monday morning. The tech I have doing the mod also said the upgraded chips will make huge difference in noise floor and top end detail after going through the deck with me this morning. This was after inspecting the deck itself as well as specs on the chips selected.
I am having the mod done by a PCB engineering firm familiar with audio circuits so I think they know what they are talking about ;D
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Thanks for getting the new thread up and running!
Just dropped of my deck for the mod. Should have it back by Monday morning. The tech I have doing the mod also said the upgraded chips will make huge difference in noise floor and top end detail after going through the deck with me this morning. This was after inspecting the deck itself as well as specs on the chips selected.
I am having the mod done by a PCB engineering firm familiar with audio circuits so I think they know what they are talking about ;D
I'm curious - how much are they charging you to swap out the chips?
Will be interested to hear your impressions after the mod. The comparison Ozpeter described should be easily done if you can get your hands on a stock deck or can get your modded deck to someone else for a day or two.
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Anxiously awaiting a knock on my door for a UPS delivery.
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Damn this thing is tiny. I'm pretty sure I have everything set up the way I need to. I do have one question though. The 2 second pre-record is automatic correct? Didn't see anything in the reference manual or menu settings.
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I've seen several mentions of swapping the preamps out for lower noise. Spec sheets are one thing.........Has anyone measured the 70D in stock form and compared it to anything else?? I've not seen even any practical noise floor comparison tests, either, but maybe I missed them? By practical, I mean something like the method that Ozpeter used to compare several pocket recorder/mic combos in another recent thread (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=171987 (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=171987)). One could do something similar by using the same mic and setting recorder gains to match -16 dB or so by a test tone played through a loudspeaker (same mic/speaker distance/volume/etc, obviously) and compare the files of multiple decks. Anyone?
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Re tests and so forth, this was discussed right at the end of the previous thread - http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=170230.msg2131620#msg2131620
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So, yes, no one has actually tested and posted data... JW included, I'm inferring. He's posted an opinion, but...
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Damnit, I want one of these BADLY :( I can't sell my second m10 until next month, when I can afford the rest of the $$$ out-of-pocket. I don't really have a lot of stuff/accessories Id consider selling right now to help me get the $150 extra Id need to get the 70D. I basically need/use everything else in my gear bags. Maybe a small Manfrotto 001B FOB stand, that would get me up to $200[$150 for the m10 + $45 for the FOB stand]. But I just don't have an extra $100 this month after my vape needs :(
Anyway, keep the pics and info coming! It might just make me do something stupid lol ;D
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Reminds me of the Revox advert from 20 years ago - "The recorder you will eventually own" (if I remember the slogan correctly).
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Brand new for $260 shipped - 3 available
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Tascam-DR-70D-4-Channel-Linear-PCM-Audio-Recorder-for-DSLR-and-Video-Cameras-/331497828609?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4d2ecf7101
Another new single unit for $258.99
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tascam-DR-70D-4-Ch-Linear-PCM-Audio-Recorder-Nikon-Canon-T3-T5-DSLR-Cameras-NEW-/371280904045?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item567210ff6d
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In.
First softening of the retail price I've seen.
The body of the listing for only one appears to indicate that the seller has other units to sell, too.
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Mod is complete. So far it sounds good just recording my home stereo. I will try to get out to a show soon and give it the real once over. Maybe post some samples at that time.
Here are a couple pics of the completed mod with the new chipset and caps in place.
Realistically, I'm probably not going to be doing a lot of testing aside from recording shows with it. Just don't have a ton of extra time and I'm happy with the unit so far. If in the future I am not happy with it, I can always try different chips now that I know it can be done.
I, for one, do believe that if a chipset has better specs that it will likely perform better. For me specifically, I did the mod to increase top end detail and lower self noise substantially. Aside from that, the "flavor" I get comes from my pre.
The deck sounds great stock so leave it that way if you like. I, personally, have always been impressed with Jim Williams' mods on pres and mics for their detail and clarity. When I saw that he had a mod for this thing I decided to try it. To each their own I guess. Just because I attempted the mod doesn't mean anyone else has to. I just wanted to add some info here for those that may want to tinker around a bit.
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to PM me about them.
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Guess the red and green caps in first pic are added to board w/o desoldering anything?
Can't tell what was changed in second pic?
Any more specifics worth mentioning in case someone else is game to try the mod?
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Red and green capacitors are soldered in. Nothing was desoldered there. They (both red and green) are Wima MKP-2 .01uf/250v 5% poly caps that give better top end detail around 20khz. The second pic just shows the LME op amps soldered in place (2 are visible, one is under copper shield. Those replaced the NJM4580s. The flip side of PCB also had the NE5532s replaced (no pic of that one though), forgot to take one and am not taking apart again now that everything is put back together.
Hopefully this helps if anyone else attempts it.
As far as specifics, the copper shield is placed loosely in there. Extra tape was applied to keep in place to avoid shorting out anything. Unit is somewhat difficult to get everything disassembled. Very tight components make for difficult soldering workspace. Complete mod uses 5 op amps and 8 poly caps. It reworks both input and output stages. I think that's it.
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To each their own I guess.
Indeed - and different people have varying sensitivity to subtle changes in sound (for instance, some people couldn't begin to tell the difference between wave and low bitrate mp3, while others have no difficulty at all in picking wave from high bitrate mp3).
But I do maintain that there's a law of diminishing returns operating here, and that such mods are likely to provide subtle improvements (or differences) compared to stock, which would only be demonstrable on quite rigorous testing - and any such test would have to demonstrate greater accuracy in the recording, not just a different sound, for me (personally, ymmv etc) to be convinced.
But it's great for the craft of recording when people strive to get the very best result they can, and share their methods with the community.
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Do the legs of the caps or op amps have to be soldered in some particular way or does polarity not matter?
Haven't seen 70d case up close. Does it simply unscrew for access or what do you do to get it open?
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No polarity of caps so you can go either way. 7 screws on bottom of case and it's open.
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Ok, a few tests, for what they're worth. Pay no attention if you don't care about graphs and numbers. I bought both the 70D and a used 702 and I decided I would keep the one the one that had better "quiet room" measurement of noise using a high quality pair of mics (I do some nature ambiences), having just got the 702 delivered today, I had to do the test, of course. I was asking for the data anyway, so... :)
Three recorders:
Sony PCM-M10 with internal mics, Tascam DR-70D fed by an M/S pair (Sennheiser MKH40/30), and a Sound Devices 702, fed by the same M/S pair.
Arrangement:
In the quietest room that I have at my disposal (which isn't anechoic by any means :-\), a 440 Hz sine wave tone was played at a fixed volume through a loudspeaker and this tone was used to set all gain settings for all recorders to a steady -20 dB readout on the level meters. Then, the tone was turned off, all lights/HVAC/etc was turned off and I hit record and walked away while 44.1/96 files were recorded for about 1 minute. I dumped all of the files in SoundForge Pro 11 and selected the quietest 20 seconds of each file and displayed the statistics. I also screen captured the power spectra for the 20-20,000 region and a more detailed region from 2-10 kHz, where the most obvious difference was. Take the information for what it is, an imperfect measurement.
Data:
Here is an Excel file to grab: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-o5v-jZ9NUjVDkzMy1IUzViVW8/view?usp=sharing (This is an Excel spreadsheet. Once the file opens in the viewer, if you are using Chrome, that is, you should hit 'open in Google Sheets'. Hopefully that allows you to look at the file if you don't have Excel.)
My take:
I interpret it as under these conditions, the DR-70D holds it's own quite well against the SD702 and both are noticeably (even audibly, hiss-wise, when played through loudspeakers at my normal listening volume) than the Sony recorder/internal mic combo (uh, no surprise??).
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Nice one!
I dumped all of the files in SoundForge Pro 11 and selected the quietest 20 seconds of each file and displayed the statistics.
Does this mean that you chose a different time period from each file - in other words, it's not the same bit of noise that we're seeing? If that's the case it's a slight weakness in the test, even though the outcome looks very much as expected. Maybe you could clarify.
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Nice one!
I dumped all of the files in SoundForge Pro 11 and selected the quietest 20 seconds of each file and displayed the statistics.
Does this mean that you chose a different time period from each file - in other words, it's not the same bit of noise that we're seeing? If that's the case it's a slight weakness in the test, even though the outcome looks very much as expected. Maybe you could clarify.
Each file was recorded separately in time (first one recorder, then second, etc.), so the sections that I selected are from different absolute times, yes. The quiet sections of the file were "settled" enough for a minute or two so grabbing a representative 20 seconds was pretty easy. Yes, I agree, it would have been nice to have the three recordings going all simultaneously, recording the same silence, and then analyzing the same file segments for each recorder.
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A really big thank you for posting this.
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Each file was recorded separately in time
Yeah, sorry, I realised that a few minutes after posting and have only now been able to get back to acknowledge that my post was one of my dumbest...
Very interesting test - one might speculate that with the mod, if it does lower noise, the 70D would approach the SD702's noise performance, which is pretty impressive. I wish I had the excuse to buy one of these...
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One excuse is the 70d is less expensive than the 702 or the 744T.
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If I recorded music, where crowd murmur made up the noise floor, I would by two 70Ds: one for recording and one for backup, and then use the extra cash I saved by not buying a SD7XX for more cool mics. The 70D is pretty darn good as far as noise floor and that is not even taking it's price tag into account. I would be shocked if Tascam didn't sell a bunch of these units... Given the fact that I like to push gain pretty hard both in recording and post for a good bit of what I like to record, I want a Really Quiet recorder... One thing that I didn't test is how each unit performed at max input gain settings, which would be interesting as well. Maybe one day. Depends on how long I keep both of these recorders. $omething has to give! Then again, maybe I'll keep the 70D as a backup.....I can talk myself into anything, apparently. :facepalm: :laugh:
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Sample track from my first outing with the 70D. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6hXEZZFMb7fMDI0R2wtcUZlcWc/view?usp=sharing
Walker Lukens
AKG ck63 > NBob Actives > Naiant PFA > Tascam DR-70D
About 20' from stage, DFC
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Sounds great Lee! Thanks for that. I ran 480s a long time, and I know what they sound like! That said, the 70D sounds amazing with them IMO 8)
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Thanks Bean. I can't wait to get this rig in a proper room. The show last night was at the Continental Club. Sound is never great (vocals too hot last night), and always super chatty.
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So I ordered the Strut bag a couple of days ago. Should be here on Tuesday. I was cleaning my gear closet today and found my Portabrace RM-Multi. It's still just a little big, but with a foam wedge under the Tascam, this could definitely be a great option for people. It you ever want to run four channels you would have to have right angle XLRs.
My AKGs are in the container in the accessory pouch. RAVPower Element 10400mAh external rests in pouch on top of DR-70D to help fill the space.
I also bought a couple of power cables from Amazon. They are both one foot long. Left angle (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YKX6W2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and Right angle (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YKX6WC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). Great for any configuration and both have clearance over the XLR connector on channel 4.
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8679/16630301719_a2ffe1bdda.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/rkyDiZ)photo 1 (https://flic.kr/p/rkyDiZ) by leehookem21 (https://www.flickr.com/people/7524886@N07/), on Flickr
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8593/16194073744_5712b92cd4.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/qF1RW1)photo 2 (https://flic.kr/p/qF1RW1) by leehookem21 (https://www.flickr.com/people/7524886@N07/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7636/16629046700_f0852a6a1c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/rksdeJ)photo 3 (https://flic.kr/p/rksdeJ) by leehookem21 (https://www.flickr.com/people/7524886@N07/), on Flickr
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The Lowepro Nova 5 fits all my gear nicely. Love this bag.
Oh...by the way, I meant to mention this earlier but in a recent email exchange with Tom Duffy at Tascam he let me know that there is no MKII version of the DR-70D...FWIW
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in a recent email exchange with Tom Duffy at Tascam he let me know that there is no MKII version of the DR-70D...FWIW
Apparently they just can't decide which colour to use for the handles for that model, so they've shelved it for the time being... ;D
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The Lowepro Nova 5 fits all my gear nicely. Love this bag.
Oh...by the way, I meant to mention this earlier but in a recent email exchange with Tom Duffy at Tascam he let me know that there is no MKII version of the DR-70D...FWIW
Where did you get those cool yellow covers for your XLRs?
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The Lowepro Nova 5 fits all my gear nicely. Love this bag.
Oh...by the way, I meant to mention this earlier but in a recent email exchange with Tom Duffy at Tascam he let me know that there is no MKII version of the DR-70D...FWIW
Where did you get those cool yellow covers for your XLRs?
Mine came with the cables years ago from The Great Gumbino here on TS.com. I think you can get them from Mouser Electronics though?
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The Lowepro Nova 5 fits all my gear nicely. Love this bag.
Oh...by the way, I meant to mention this earlier but in a recent email exchange with Tom Duffy at Tascam he let me know that there is no MKII version of the DR-70D...FWIW
Where did you get those cool yellow covers for your XLRs?
Mine came with the cables years ago from The Great Gumbino here on TS.com. I think you can get them from Mouser Electronics though?
markertek
Link added http://www.markertek.com/product/xlrcap-10/10pk-of-yellow-plastic-caps-bust-boots-for-xlr-connectors
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Red and green capacitors are soldered in. Nothing was desoldered there. They (both red and green) are Wima MKP-2 .01uf/250v 5% poly caps that give better top end detail around 20khz. The second pic just shows the LME op amps soldered in place (2 are visible, one is under copper shield. Those replaced the NJM4580s. The flip side of PCB also had the NE5532s replaced (no pic of that one though), forgot to take one and am not taking apart again now that everything is put back together.
Hopefully this helps if anyone else attempts it.
As far as specifics, the copper shield is placed loosely in there. Extra tape was applied to keep in place to avoid shorting out anything. Unit is somewhat difficult to get everything disassembled. Very tight components make for difficult soldering workspace. Complete mod uses 5 op amps and 8 poly caps. It reworks both input and output stages. I think that's it.
Since the Jim Williams commentary only inspired this mod (sounds like you swapped a different set of op-amps) - shouldn't this be dubbed the "Cheese-mod" ;D
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Red and green capacitors are soldered in. Nothing was desoldered there. They (both red and green) are Wima MKP-2 .01uf/250v 5% poly caps that give better top end detail around 20khz. The second pic just shows the LME op amps soldered in place (2 are visible, one is under copper shield. Those replaced the NJM4580s. The flip side of PCB also had the NE5532s replaced (no pic of that one though), forgot to take one and am not taking apart again now that everything is put back together.
Hopefully this helps if anyone else attempts it.
As far as specifics, the copper shield is placed loosely in there. Extra tape was applied to keep in place to avoid shorting out anything. Unit is somewhat difficult to get everything disassembled. Very tight components make for difficult soldering workspace. Complete mod uses 5 op amps and 8 poly caps. It reworks both input and output stages. I think that's it.
Since the Jim Williams commentary only inspired this mod (sounds like you swapped a different set of op-amps) - shouldn't this be dubbed the "Cheese-mod" ;D
I had extensive communication with Jim Williams through this process. He initially modded his unit and only did the 3 chips and capacitors. All I did was make him aware of the additional two NE5532 chips on the flip side of the PCB. Once he was aware of those he modded them as well on his deck. Only after he did the complete mod, and let me know it further improved the sound, did I get the detailed instruction from him so I could mod my unit. Definitely a JWmod...not a cheese mod. I wish I could take credit for it but I am a newb when it come to electronics.
I did record some of my church worship band this morning and to my ears there is definitely a clarity and detail to the recordings that's seems more pronounced to these ears. It wasn't the best representation though since I was not in the best location and the system lacks a lot of low end. Next time out with the deck will likely be this weekend where I can get a proper recording made.
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The Lowepro Nova 5 fits all my gear nicely. Love this bag.
Oh...by the way, I meant to mention this earlier but in a recent email exchange with Tom Duffy at Tascam he let me know that there is no MKII version of the DR-70D...FWIW
Where did you get those cool yellow covers for your XLRs?
Mine came with the cables years ago from The Great Gumbino here on TS.com. I think you can get them from Mouser Electronics though?
markertek
Link added http://www.markertek.com/product/xlrcap-10/10pk-of-yellow-plastic-caps-bust-boots-for-xlr-connectors
Thanks for that link! The shipping is more than the item though, so I'll look around to see if other sellers have them.
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Since the Jim Williams commentary only inspired this mod (sounds like you swapped a different set of op-amps) - shouldn't this be dubbed the "Cheese-mod" ;D
[/quote]
And change the handles to which cheese color? ;D
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Yea I was thinking that too. Tascam always changes their mkii models to the red handles, and the 70D already have red handles, so I kinda thought JW was mistaken ;D 8)
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Since the Jim Williams commentary only inspired this mod (sounds like you swapped a different set of op-amps) - shouldn't this be dubbed the "Cheese-mod" ;D
And change the handles to which cheese color? ;D
[/quote]
Blue cheese mod with iridescent blue handles :o Ha! I think JWmod will suffice tho
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The Strut bag came in today. It's not going to work unfortunately. Not a great design. The 70D fits perfectly inside the bag, but getting to the inputs are very difficult. To get to the 4th XLR input, you would essentially have to take the recorder out of the bag.
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The Strut bag came in today. It's not going to work unfortunately. Not a great design. The 70D fits perfectly inside the bag, but getting to the inputs are very difficult. To get to the 4th XLR input, you would essentially have to take the recorder out of the bag.
Well that's a shitty design. Id just keep it in a bigger bag so that you can easily get to the inputs/outputs
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Yep. Looks like my RM-Multi, that I already had, would have to be it for now. Just need a couple of slight mods to make it work. Need some perfectly cut, super dense foam for under the recorder.
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markertek
Link added http://www.markertek.com/product/xlrcap-10/10pk-of-yellow-plastic-caps-bust-boots-for-xlr-connectors
That's where I purchased Dummy Plugs for Female XLR Receptacles. Shipping is a bit steep if you are only getting one item, but if you can make your order large enough with other product, it will offset that cost.
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Yep. Looks like my RM-Multi, that I already had, would have to be it for now. Just need a couple of slight mods to make it work. Need some perfectly cut, super dense foam for under the recorder.
I saw a nice tactical bag at WalMart the other day, that SHOULD fit my 2 Schoeps setups plus the 70D and an m10 as backup, for only $45. I'll probably go that route when I grab the 70D 8) I don't see justifying a PB or Petrol bag thaqt costs at least $100 just for a $300 deck. I'm not knocking anyone who does though, but lets be honest, I kept my old 722 in the PB AR-7 bag its entire life, but that's because I paid over $2,500/new for the 722 lol ;) I think the 70D will be just fine in a well padded bag. I also like the LowePro Fastback 350 for running both of my rigs. The VMS and LB and 70D would go on the bottom camera lens part, while the cables and actives would sit in the top part of the Fastback 350. And its only $76/Shipped :)
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/531365-REG/Lowepro_LP35197_PEU_Fastpack_350_Backpack_Black.html
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I think the Amazon Basics bag I use would also work just fine. Note in Cheesecadet's pics where he's got an FP24 in there - compared that with my picture showing an FP24 in this bag:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=169994.msg2110322#msg2110322 (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=169994.msg2110322#msg2110322)
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Sending my DR-70D back to TEAC/TASCAM due to a feedback issue of which sounds like a white noise when the volume knobs are adjusted during a recording. Lasts for only a second and it happens only with the volume knob for the particular channel being adjusted upon contact. There is no bleed over to any other track, but each channels has the same issue during recording.
Called to discuss with tech support and they stropped me short and had me call a different phone number and extension, along with a contact name for all future communication on my DR-70D. TASCAM has a solo contact person singled out for all issues in regards to the DR-70D and warranty-return work. I am not sure if that's good or bad since tech support would not even listen to my question regarding my problem?
Somewhat annoyed that it has taken a dive so early in the game, as I had taken extreme care of the recorder since the day I received it. I have only used the recorder 3 times since my purchase in Jan. As much as I like the ergo factor of using this recorder in my bag-setup, I have lost a bit of faith in it's workmanship. Happy I have my ZoomH6 on hand! Good reasons to have more than 1 recorder running at a show.
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That's a pity. Presumably it was ok to begin with?
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Worked like a charm for the Ed Palermo Big Band. Loved it! Was used the day after it was delivered for that show and has been in a padded Petrol since. Just an odd occurrence? Under warranty still, so that's a plus!!! Just glad I had the H6 to back me up.
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Which channel went bad?
At least it failed early enough that it's plainly covered by the warranty.
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Which channel went bad?
At least it failed early enough that it's plainly covered by the warranty.
feedback issue of which sounds like a white noise when the volume knobs are adjusted during a recording. Lasts for only a second and it happens only with the volume knob for the particular channel being adjusted upon contact. There is no bleed over to any other track, but each channels has the same issue during recording.
And Yes, at least it is still covered under warranty
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Another sample track. Starting to like this little box. Finally got to record a showcase with a decent PA.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6hXEZZFMb7fRlVRQjlYXzJza1U/view?usp=sharing
Rain Plans, by Israel Nash
2015-03-18
South By San Jose
Austin, TX
AKG ck61 > NBob Actives > Naiant PFA > Tascam DR-70
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Received a message on FB from the SD page to check out these modular Sunhoods . Not bad and may be perfect for a Tascam DR-70D?
LPC, Inc is the company name.
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=378489812334439" (https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=378489812334439")
Can always make a custom sunhood, but it looked promising.
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Another sample track. Starting to like this little box. Finally got to record a showcase with a decent PA.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6hXEZZFMb7fRlVRQjlYXzJza1U/view?usp=sharing
Rain Plans, by Israel Nash
2015-03-18
South By San Jose
Austin, TX
AKG ck61 > NBob Actives > Naiant PFA > Tascam DR-70
Sounds great Lee 8) :headphones:
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Where did you get those cool yellow covers for your XLRs?
Mine came with the cables years ago from The Great Gumbino here on TS.com. I think you can get them from Mouser Electronics though?
markertek
Link added http://www.markertek.com/product/xlrcap-10/10pk-of-yellow-plastic-caps-bust-boots-for-xlr-connectors
Thanks for that link! The shipping is more than the item though, so I'll look around to see if other sellers have them.
A few years back, Louie (NOLAfishwater) was producing and selling his version of them that, IMHO, were a little better as they had a tab so you could easily pull them off the connectors. The old retail thread is here. > http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=97607.0 (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=97607.0) Dunno if he still has any but it couldn't hurt to PM him if you're interested.
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I am running some power tests on the DR70-D.
The setup is :
-- Anker 2G E4 13000mAh Usb battery,
-- recording all four channels,
-- at 96/24,
-- with 4 Akg Blue Line mics with phantom power on.
Measured through a small Usb inline meter, the results are :
-- Voltage (average) 5.24V
-- Intensity (average) 0.63A
This translates into 3.30W power used.
Supposing that the Usb batteries specs are given for 3.5V rather than 5V, 13000mAh would give 13.8 hours theoretical run time. This seems more or less in line with the test running as I just lost the 3 diode (there are four of them) on the battery so half the diodes (power) left after 7 hours...
-- Only one diode left after 9 hours and 50 minutes...
-- After a little less than 11 hours the card (32GB) was full. The DR70-D did not like being stopped that way. Powered it down, changed the the card, formatted it but it would not restore phantom power to the mics. Powered it down and then up again, same result. I had to stop it and remove the power source for a minute before starting again and getting the phantom back...
-- After 13 hours and 30 minutes the one remaining diode began flashing...
-- The external battery last diode went off after 13 hours and 45 minutes and the recorder switched to internal batteries. This is 13.75 hours : very close to the 13.8 hours computed before starting !
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Another sample track. Starting to like this little box. Finally got to record a showcase with a decent PA.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6hXEZZFMb7fRlVRQjlYXzJza1U/view?usp=sharing
Rain Plans, by Israel Nash
2015-03-18
South By San Jose
Austin, TX
AKG ck61 > NBob Actives > Naiant PFA > Tascam DR-70
Yeehaw! Sound very nice!
where were you in the venue?
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Outside show, DFC, about 25 - 30' from the stage.
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Here's a couple more samples from same showcase:
The Eastern Sea
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6hXEZZFMb7faDhBY0tYTDZfLWc/view?usp=sharing
Golden Dawn Arkestra
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6hXEZZFMb7fX1hmclhvOHN5ekk/view?usp=sharing
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Sounds great, Lee. I don't need another recorder but may just grab one anyway.
Will you be posting the sets from Austin?
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Here are the complete sets:
Golden Dawn Arkestra
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6hXEZZFMb7fbW9DYWJ6SUZfQlE&usp=sharing
The Eastern Sea
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6hXEZZFMb7fTEZrcW1fNkdLLUE&usp=sharing
Israel Nash
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6hXEZZFMb7fdUIwNVNmVnNzWXc&usp=sharing
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The post above has been updated with the final results of my power use test : 13.75 hours (the computation gave 13.8 hours).
The 32GB SD card was full (at 96/24) before the power went down!
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Was able to take my modded (JWmod) deck out last night for a bit to the Payback in Denver. Unfortunately, I was only able to stay for the first set because these guys are all pros and the just plain smoke!!! I will hopefully be able to post link to a tune or two later today.
To my ears, I can definitely tell a difference.
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Now $249.99 with Sony Sound Forge Pro 11.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1086798&gclid=CLeJj9bVvMQCFSNk7AodZjsA8w&is=REG&Q=&A=details
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Now $249.99 with Sony Sound Forge Pro 11.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=1086798&gclid=CLeJj9bVvMQCFSNk7AodZjsA8w&is=REG&Q=&A=details
Smokin' deal! BTW, Sound Forge that comes with this package can be used on Macs as well...it is ProMac v2.5!!!
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Here are the complete sets:
Golden Dawn Arkestra
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6hXEZZFMb7fbW9DYWJ6SUZfQlE&usp=sharing
The Eastern Sea
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6hXEZZFMb7fTEZrcW1fNkdLLUE&usp=sharing
Israel Nash
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6hXEZZFMb7fdUIwNVNmVnNzWXc&usp=sharing
Holy SHIT Lee!!! Your Golden Dawn Arkestra is flippin SMOKIN bro ;D 8) That little $300 Tascam deck has some MAJOR potential IMO! That's a really excellent recording IMO, and I can't wait to run my mk4/mk41>KCY>Naiant PFA>DR70D and see how the Schoeps sound with the 70D preamp, because I am seriously majorly impressed folks ;D 8)
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Here is a sample from The Payback last night in Denver using my modded DR70D. Sample is 24-Bit/44.1 kHz. All I did in post was increase volume +1.5 dB from original source recording. The Payback is: Eddie Roberts, Zigaboo Modeliste, Oteil Burbridge, Gabe Mervine, Matt Pitts, Scott Messersmith, And Robert Walter.
http://we.tl/tia9twVoif
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Another member seems to have concluded that the 70d uses the same 5532 chips as the Hs-p82. http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=171565.msg2125629#msg2125629
I had a situation last week of having to go back and forth between classrooms recording various student competitions where it would have been nice to have had the 70d attached to my camera and just used the 70d internal mics. But I only got my unit a day or two too late.
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Another member seems to have concluded that the 70d uses the same 5532 chips as the Hs-p82. http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=171565.msg2125629#msg2125629
I had a situation last week of having to go back and forth between classrooms recording various student competitions where it would have been nice to have had the 70d attached to my camera and just used the 70d internal mics. But I only got my unit a day or two too late.
Yep, the front side of PCB has 3 - NJM4580 Op Amps For Channels 1/2 input and output stage. Flip side of PCB has 2 - NE5532 Op Amps on the XLR inputs.
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Here is a sample from The Payback last night in Denver using my modded DR70D. Sample is 24-Bit/44.1 kHz. All I did in post was increase volume +1.5 dB from original source recording. The Payback is: Eddie Roberts, Zigaboo Modeliste, Oteil Burbridge, Gabe Mervine, Matt Pitts, Scott Messersmith, And Robert Walter.
http://we.tl/tia9twVoif
I've been wanted to see those guys. Great recording. Nice full sound. Love the bottom end. What's the lineage?
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Here is a sample from The Payback last night in Denver using my modded DR70D. Sample is 24-Bit/44.1 kHz. All I did in post was increase volume +1.5 dB from original source recording. The Payback is: Eddie Roberts, Zigaboo Modeliste, Oteil Burbridge, Gabe Mervine, Matt Pitts, Scott Messersmith, And Robert Walter.
http://we.tl/tia9twVoif
I've been wanted to see those guys. Great recording. Nice full sound. Love the bottom end. What's the lineage?
Peluso CEMC6 Cards (DIN - BOB - 9.5' High - Center) > Hi Ho Silvers > JWmod Tascam DR-70D (Low Gain) @ 24-Bit/44.1 kHz > Master .WAV
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just now listening to IsraelNash and am totally impressed. Is it AKG ck61 > NBob Actives > Naiant PFA > Tascam DR-70?
the op amps used in the JWmod of the 70d----could the same ones be used to replace the BA4580 op amps in the original DR680? Or should they only replace the 5532 op amps in the 70d?
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just now listening to IsraelNash and am totally impressed. Is it AKG ck61 > NBob Actives > Naiant PFA > Tascam DR-70?
correct
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just now listening to IsraelNash and am totally impressed. Is it AKG ck61 > NBob Actives > Naiant PFA > Tascam DR-70?
the op amps used in the JWmod of the 70d----could the same ones be used to replace the BA4580 op amps in the original DR680? Or should they only replace the 5532 op amps in the 70d?
I replaced both the 4580s and the NE5532s on the DR70D.
Not sure about the 680 as I don't have one. I imagine it could be done but I don't know for sure as Jim is the one who is the electronics guy. The tricky part is removing and replacing in such tight quarters...at least on the DR70D. Has anyone taken apart the 680 to see how the components are laid out?
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Here is a sample from The Payback last night in Denver using my modded DR70D. Sample is 24-Bit/44.1 kHz. All I did in post was increase volume +1.5 dB from original source recording. The Payback is: Eddie Roberts, Zigaboo Modeliste, Oteil Burbridge, Gabe Mervine, Matt Pitts, Scott Messersmith, And Robert Walter.
http://we.tl/tia9twVoif
Sounds great, thanks Cheese 8)
I'm really excited to run my mk4/mk41>NBob KCY>PFA>70D and see how the Schoeps sound straight into the 70D. Because damn near every HQ mic I've heard straight into the 70D has sounded great ;D 8) I'm REALLY trying to make it happen and get one in a few days 8) Just waiting to hear back from Justin Marinoff at Pro Sound ;D This lil $300 deck has LOADS of potential IMO! Now as long as they are RELIABLE, then I think Tascam really hit one out of the park on this one ;D
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B& H bumped the price to $288 or so, but apparently has some used ones for $219. If you're gonna do the mod and void the warranty, might as well go with a used one.
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Thanks everyone for the music samples for the DR-70. They are impressive.
Bought one last week off ebay. Organized a new bag and bought the battery you all recommended with the left and right connectors also. Did some test with the stereo. Running mics with little box into DR70 then just mics straight into the Dr70 to see what it sounds like with no preamp in front. Also ran the internal mics to see how they do. Did tests with the camera running output from Dr-70 and it did not come out very well. Did not have my levels set right.
Quite impressed overall.
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Bag is complete.
Mics are kept in a Pelican 1040 Micro
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7585/16724817668_a948d554c8.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/rtV4Bj)image (https://flic.kr/p/rtV4Bj) by leehookem21 (https://www.flickr.com/people/7524886@N07/), on Flickr
which fits perfectly in the accessory pouch
(https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8733/16725089660_127b253aeb.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/rtWssQ)image (https://flic.kr/p/rtWssQ) by leehookem21 (https://www.flickr.com/people/7524886@N07/), on Flickr
(https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7636/16629046700_f0852a6a1c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/rksdeJ)photo 3 (https://flic.kr/p/rksdeJ) by leehookem21 (https://www.flickr.com/people/7524886@N07/), on Flickr
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Very nice Lee 8)
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Which recording mode have yinz all been using on the 70D? Mono or Stereo? What does the m10 do? Mono or stereo files ???
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And I just looked on the Tascam site, and new 70D firmware came out one month ago. Is that what everyone is using? Its fw v102. Is that what everyone is using, or are you just using the firmware that came on it?
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I've only recorded stereo files. Version 1.01
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I record stereo BWF files on the original firmware that came with the unit. The firmware upgrade didn't seem to address anything I thought I needed.
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Cool, thanks guys! And MIC GAIN on LOW? Plan on running my mk41>02ib on 1/2 and my mk4>pfa>70D on 3/4 to try out the 70D preamps first time I run it. Should be really cool to hear the difference, if any lol :)
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If any of you DR70 owners also own(ed) or used an R-44, which do you prefer and why do you prefer it?
Feel free to comment on ergonomics, feature set, powering options, pre-amps, outputs, ease of navigating menus to find the option you're looking for, etc.
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Cool, thanks guys! And MIC GAIN on LOW? Plan on running my mk41>02ib on 1/2 and my mk4>pfa>70D on 3/4 to try out the 70D preamps first time I run it. Should be really cool to hear the difference, if any lol :)
LOW
I've run both stereo and mono settings.
I set it to mono last time out because I only had a mono XLR board feed (the pass thru from a powered speaker)
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Thanks 8)
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Hey guys, quick question. When HOLD is ENGAGED, do ANY buttons function? Or is it like a complete lockout like the m10? Or does something stupid like stop actually stop the recording when on HOLD? You never know lol!
TIA
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Cheese, did you ever figure out the weird spikes you had back in the first thread with the FP24? Read thru the whole thread and didn't see where you figured it out. Pardon me if you did and I missed it.
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Cheese, did you ever figure out the weird spikes you had back in the first thread with the FP24? Read thru the whole thread and didn't see where you figured it out. Pardon me if you did and I missed it.
Was wondering that too!
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Cheese, did you ever figure out the weird spikes you had back in the first thread with the FP24? Read thru the whole thread and didn't see where you figured it out. Pardon me if you did and I missed it.
Was wondering that too!
I have an FP24 and always use the tape out into small handheld recorders and never had an issue. Was wondering if the fact that he was using the XLR out was part of the problem.
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Cheese, did you ever figure out the weird spikes you had back in the first thread with the FP24? Read thru the whole thread and didn't see where you figured it out. Pardon me if you did and I missed it.
All fixed. I didn't have the unit correctly calibrated to the fp24.
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Do you think you will run your fp24 now that you modified your 70d?
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Do you think you will run your fp24 now that you modified your 70d?
I will likely continue to run the fp24 in front as I like they way it pairs with my mics. I'm sure I will run it from time to time directly into the Tascam too though. The main reason I did the mod was to lower noise and have more top end detail which, in my opinion, the mod provides.
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Cheese, did you ever figure out the weird spikes you had back in the first thread with the FP24? Read thru the whole thread and didn't see where you figured it out. Pardon me if you did and I missed it.
All fixed. I didn't have the unit correctly calibrated to the fp24.
Could you summarize exactly what you did to calibrate? I have the same setup and I would like to avoid this. Thanks!
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Cheese, did you ever figure out the weird spikes you had back in the first thread with the FP24? Read thru the whole thread and didn't see where you figured it out. Pardon me if you did and I missed it.
All fixed. I didn't have the unit correctly calibrated to the fp24.
Could you summarize exactly what you did to calibrate? I have the same setup and I would like to avoid this. Thanks!
Use the 1kHz Tone Generator on FP24...Calibrate levels on DR70D to -20dbfs. This puts my levels on my Tascam at about 8 O'clock-ish.
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Does HOLD actually lock EVERYTHING? Or does something stupid like STOP actually stop it? Thanks!
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With the FP24, are you using the 1/8" tape out into the 1/8" input of the DR-70D, or are you using the XLR line outs of the FP24 to XLR inputs? I am wondering if the XLR inputs handle the hot (+4) line outputs of pro gear like the FP24. The manual has no info on things like this, and none of the reviews I've read have any sort of thorough measurements. If I get one of these, I would probably keep using my FP24 as well.
Also wondering if phantom power is an all-or-nothing affair or it is switchable per input, as the screen image in the manual seems to imply, but again I cannot find anywhere where this is stated explicitly.
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Phantom is selectable for each input. I run mine out of FP24 1/8" tape out to channels 1/2 1/8" In. The XLR Out of FP24 I run as a backup to my M10.
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Phantom is selectable for each input. I run mine out of FP24 1/8" tape out to channels 1/2 1/8" In. The XLR Out of FP24 I run as a backup to my M10.
That's good to know. The all-or-nothing phantom was what steered me away from an H6. EDIT: I just found where you answered this exact question back in November in the first iteration of the thread. Sorry for not thoroughly reading first!
I'm curious if you could try your connections from the FP24 to the two recorders the reverse of the way you do it now and compare the results. When I bought the FP24 and started a thread asking for advice, several people whose opinion I respect advised me very strongly against connecting the FP24 XLR out > M10 since it would be a +4dBu line out going to a consumer-level line input. I guess if you're keeping your levels reasonable you haven't gotten into any trouble, and/or the M10 line input is more robust than other products of its type.
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backup to my M10.
I'll be doing this as well, for at least one of my rigs, pretty much ALL the time. But I hope this thing is as reliable as the m10. Already heard of two problems. But I have faith that it'll be a contender, because it has everything else going for it!
Fellas, does HOLD actually stop every button?
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I calibrated my M10 to -20dbfs with the fp24 and have no issue. Running XLR out of fp24 into dr70 did not play nice for me but I didn't extensively test that route since I got everything working they way I want it.
Bean, I can try and take a look at the hold button later tonight
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I calibrated my M10 to -20dbfs with the fp24 and have no issue. Running XLR out of fp24 into dr70 did not play nice for me but I didn't extensively test that route since I got everything working they way I want it.
Bean, I can try and take a look at the hold button later tonight
Thanks Cheese 8)
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 8) Thanks a lot man!
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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 8) Figured other tapers would want to know too!
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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.
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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
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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...
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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.
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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?
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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.
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I have not come across any liniter noise
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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.
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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.
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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 :)
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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.
Good to know for when I take this out during marching band season. Most of my year is choir season though, so I'll be getting a lot of use out of high gain. ;D
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Well, I'm sorry to report that the limiters do raise the noise floor about 12dB (according to Sound Forge Pro) :o It's most noticeable by ear at the High and Hi+Plus gain settings but the noise is still there on the Low setting. Whats weird is that the noise is present even when the gain pots are turned all the way down. This isn't a huge issue for me because I'll rarely use the limiters but it's still bothersome. Can someone else check their deck to see if they hear the same thing?
On the "Write Timeout" front, I'm still getting the errors recording at 24/96 BWF but when I drop down to 24/48 it's rock solid. I suspect that my SD card doesn't have a high enough write speed to record (4) 24/96 files at once. Next step is to see if recording standard WAV at 24/96 has the same issue. If any of you record at 24/96 I'd stay away from the SanDisk Ultra cards for now.
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Well, I'm sorry to report that the limiters do raise the noise floor about 12dB (according to Sound Forge Pro) :o It's most noticeable by ear at the High and Hi+Plus gain settings but the noise is still there on the Low setting. Whats weird is that the noise is present even when the gain pots are turned all the way down. This isn't a huge issue for me because I'll rarely use the limiters but it's still bothersome. Can someone else check their deck to see if they hear the same thing?
Can you describe exactly how you performed your noise floor test?
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Well, I'm sorry to report that the limiters do raise the noise floor about 12dB (according to Sound Forge Pro) :o It's most noticeable by ear at the High and Hi+Plus gain settings but the noise is still there on the Low setting. Whats weird is that the noise is present even when the gain pots are turned all the way down. This isn't a huge issue for me because I'll rarely use the limiters but it's still bothersome. Can someone else check their deck to see if they hear the same thing?
On the "Write Timeout" front, I'm still getting the errors recording at 24/96 BWF but when I drop down to 24/48 it's rock solid. I suspect that my SD card doesn't have a high enough write speed to record (4) 24/96 files at once. Next step is to see if recording standard WAV at 24/96 has the same issue. If any of you record at 24/96 I'd stay away from the SanDisk Ultra cards for now.
Thanks for checking that out! And that's a bummer about it not being able to handle all four channels at 24/96. I hope its just card specific or the regular wavs work at 24/96, because I planned on running at 24/96 at non-festie shows.I was going to use Sandisk ultra microsdhc cards as well, but in a micro>SD card adapter
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Well, I'm sorry to report that the limiters do raise the noise floor about 12dB (according to Sound Forge Pro) :o It's most noticeable by ear at the High and Hi+Plus gain settings but the noise is still there on the Low setting. Whats weird is that the noise is present even when the gain pots are turned all the way down. This isn't a huge issue for me because I'll rarely use the limiters but it's still bothersome. Can someone else check their deck to see if they hear the same thing?
On the "Write Timeout" front, I'm still getting the errors recording at 24/96 BWF but when I drop down to 24/48 it's rock solid. I suspect that my SD card doesn't have a high enough write speed to record (4) 24/96 files at once. Next step is to see if recording standard WAV at 24/96 has the same issue. If any of you record at 24/96 I'd stay away from the SanDisk Ultra cards for now.
Forgot to ask what class card you're using? A class 10 card should be able to handle four channels at 24/96
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Well, I'm sorry to report that the limiters do raise the noise floor about 12dB (according to Sound Forge Pro) :o It's most noticeable by ear at the High and Hi+Plus gain settings but the noise is still there on the Low setting. Whats weird is that the noise is present even when the gain pots are turned all the way down. This isn't a huge issue for me because I'll rarely use the limiters but it's still bothersome. Can someone else check their deck to see if they hear the same thing?
Can you describe exactly how you performed your noise floor test?
I loaded two clips in to Sound Forge, one with limiters off and one with limiters on, both recorded with all 4 mic gain pots at 0. Then I did and dB level scan of each file. The clip with limiters off had an Average value of -90dB, the clip with limiters on had an Average value of -78dB.
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Well, I'm sorry to report that the limiters do raise the noise floor about 12dB (according to Sound Forge Pro) :o It's most noticeable by ear at the High and Hi+Plus gain settings but the noise is still there on the Low setting. Whats weird is that the noise is present even when the gain pots are turned all the way down. This isn't a huge issue for me because I'll rarely use the limiters but it's still bothersome. Can someone else check their deck to see if they hear the same thing?
On the "Write Timeout" front, I'm still getting the errors recording at 24/96 BWF but when I drop down to 24/48 it's rock solid. I suspect that my SD card doesn't have a high enough write speed to record (4) 24/96 files at once. Next step is to see if recording standard WAV at 24/96 has the same issue. If any of you record at 24/96 I'd stay away from the SanDisk Ultra cards for now.
Forgot to ask what class card you're using? A class 10 card should be able to handle four channels at 24/96
It's a class 10, SanDisk's newest version of the Ultra. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M562LOK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I went with SanDisk because they seem to be universally approved by Tascam, at least according to the tested media list for the DR-680.
This is the first time I've gone multi channel to SDXC so maybe I'm doing it wrong. :) I formatted it directly on the 70D like I've done with all my other cards on the DR-100mkII. Is it necessary or recommended to reformat from exFAT to a different file system like FAT32?
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Speaking of the 680, I found this thread on GS about the same error message:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/558184-dr680-write-timeout-error-massage.html (https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/558184-dr680-write-timeout-error-massage.html)
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Well, I'm sorry to report that the limiters do raise the noise floor about 12dB (according to Sound Forge Pro) :o It's most noticeable by ear at the High and Hi+Plus gain settings but the noise is still there on the Low setting. Whats weird is that the noise is present even when the gain pots are turned all the way down. This isn't a huge issue for me because I'll rarely use the limiters but it's still bothersome. Can someone else check their deck to see if they hear the same thing?
On the "Write Timeout" front, I'm still getting the errors recording at 24/96 BWF but when I drop down to 24/48 it's rock solid. I suspect that my SD card doesn't have a high enough write speed to record (4) 24/96 files at once. Next step is to see if recording standard WAV at 24/96 has the same issue. If any of you record at 24/96 I'd stay away from the SanDisk Ultra cards for now.
Forgot to ask what class card you're using? A class 10 card should be able to handle four channels at 24/96
It's a class 10, SanDisk's newest version of the Ultra. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M562LOK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I went with SanDisk because they seem to be universally approved by Tascam, at least according to the tested media list for the DR-680.
This is the first time I've gone multi channel to SDXC so maybe I'm doing it wrong. :) I formatted it directly on the 70D like I've done with all my other cards on the DR-100mkII. Is it necessary or recommended to reformat from exFAT to a different file system like FAT32?
Many devices like these recorders want cards to be FAT32, but card manufacturers might be using ExFAT out of the box. Theoretically if you're formatting the card in the recorder than it should be formatting properly to the correct filesystem, but I've sometimes found this to not work if the card is already in the "wrong" filesystem or there were errors on the card - I ran into this issue specifically with high-capacity microSD cards used in my phone. Sometimes you need to format it to FAT32 first on your computer for it to work properly. It's not intuitive that step is necessary, but that's been my experience.
The problem is you can't format FAT32 with higher capacities in Windows natively - you need a third-party program. I've had success with both of these in formatting high-capacity cards to FAT32:
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm (http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm)
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ (https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/)
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Yea I agree! Maybe you just need to format the card in your computer so that its a FAT32 format ??? I'm HOPING that's all it is. So, don't use limiters, check. Thankfully I will NEVER do that anyway lol. And always run the mic/line inputs on LOW gain! And format from the computer to get the file form at to FAT32 instead ExFAT!
Id love it if someone would keep testing this card error thing going on, because I was planning on using a 32gb Sandisk Ultra micrdosdhc card in an sd adapter until I can save up and get a nice 32gb Sony Class 10 SD card :)
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I loaded two clips in to Sound Forge, one with limiters off and one with limiters on, both recorded with all 4 mic gain pots at 0. Then I did and dB level scan of each file. The clip with limiters off had an Average value of -90dB, the clip with limiters on had an Average value of -78dB.
An average of a series of low amplitude, zero-crossing data points may simply be reflective of how much DC offset the trace has. The value that is of interest here is RMS level, not average level... This way, DC offset doesn't "contaminate" the calculation. To get this in SoundForge, select several seconds of waveform and then view the statistics using a menu command (or the statistics button on one of the optional menu bars).
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About extra noise when the limiter is used -
Mention of 12dB rang bells here, and the following is a quote from Edirol in relation to the R-44.
" The R-44's limiter is analog and digital mixed like the R-4Pro. When you turn on the limiter, analog gain goes automatically -12dB down for prevention of digital distortion and after that passes through the digital limiter. After that the signal level goes +12dB back up again for matching total signal level."
It seems highly likely to me that the DR-70D is using a similar scheme and without having thought it fully through, I could imagine that the manipulation of the signal as described could impact signal to noise, by the amount of the manipulation (12dB).
I have commented in the past that this method of limiting is a bit pointless - you might as well record with the level set 12dB below what it might have been, and then apply digital limiting to taste in your DAW during post production. The end result should be the same, except you have full control of the limiter settings rather than accepting what the device happens to offer.
Some guesswork here, as I am assuming that the Tascam and Edirol devices work similarly, but I bet I'm right.
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It's a class 10, SanDisk's newest version of the Ultra. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M562LOK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I went with SanDisk because they seem to be universally approved by Tascam, at least according to the tested media list for the DR-680.
Be careful of cards bought from non-authorized dealers. Some can be outright fakes, others can be the real card but with a lower capacity than what the label shows. I believe tonedeaf had a recent exprience with the latter. If Amazon sold the card you should be okay (if not Amazon will probably give you a refund), if it was a third-party seller you may have experienced the same thing tonedeaf (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=171674.0) did.
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About extra noise when the limiter is used -
Mention of 12dB rang bells here, and the following is a quote from Edirol in relation to the R-44.
" The R-44's limiter is analog and digital mixed like the R-4Pro. When you turn on the limiter, analog gain goes automatically -12dB down for prevention of digital distortion and after that passes through the digital limiter. After that the signal level goes +12dB back up again for matching total signal level."
It seems highly likely to me that the DR-70D is using a similar scheme and without having thought it fully through, I could imagine that the manipulation of the signal as described could impact signal to noise, by the amount of the manipulation (12dB).
I have commented in the past that this method of limiting is a bit pointless - you might as well record with the level set 12dB below what it might have been, and then apply digital limiting to taste in your DAW during post production. The end result should be the same, except you have full control of the limiter settings rather than accepting what the device happens to offer.
Some guesswork here, as I am assuming that the Tascam and Edirol devices work similarly, but I bet I'm right.
I was just about to post that this is most likely what is going on with the limiter function.
Nice recorder. Saw one first hand a couple weeks ago at Suwannee Springfest. Very compact. Controls seem straight forward.
I really like that it has individual channel delay and EQ functions, selectable for playback only if desired I presume. Those functions were absent on the DR-680 and I don't think they've been added to the new DR-680II, unfortunately. Many here will never use those funcitons, but they are very important for me. I'd also really like it to have and a polarity invert switch per channel on both these machines as well.
Hey Tascam, put those things on your firmware update lists.
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Speaking of the 680, I found this thread on GS about the same error message:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/558184-dr680-write-timeout-error-massage.html (https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/558184-dr680-write-timeout-error-massage.html)
Great find voltronic! I have another identical card and a pile of different ones that I'll try out. After reading a couple of the comments, I highly doubt the write speed of my card has anything to do with the "Write Timeout" error. In fact, last night I was able to replicate the error a couple times by clapping in front of my mics and getting all 4 channels to peak at the same time while recording at 24/96. ???
Many devices like these recorders want cards to be FAT32, but card manufacturers might be using ExFAT out of the box. Theoretically if you're formatting the card in the recorder than it should be formatting properly to the correct filesystem, but I've sometimes found this to not work if the card is already in the "wrong" filesystem or there were errors on the card - I ran into this issue specifically with high-capacity microSD cards used in my phone. Sometimes you need to format it to FAT32 first on your computer for it to work properly. It's not intuitive that step is necessary, but that's been my experience.
The problem is you can't format FAT32 with higher capacities in Windows natively - you need a third-party program. I've had success with both of these in formatting high-capacity cards to FAT32:
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm (http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm)
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ (https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/)
I reformatted the card to FAT32. The 70D couldn't recognize the card after that so I had to roll back to exFAT.
@F.O.Bean - I'll keep playing with this until I figure out what's going on. This is a huge problem because when it happens, the files it's recording disappear... all 4 channels!!!
An average of a series of low amplitude, zero-crossing data points may simply be reflective of how much DC offset the trace has. The value that is of interest here is RMS level, not average level... This way, DC offset doesn't "contaminate" the calculation. To get this in SoundForge, select several seconds of waveform and then view the statistics using a menu command (or the statistics button on one of the optional menu bars).
Here are a couple screen shots of the statistics with limiters on and off. These were both 15 second clips. I have screenshots of the 2 high gain settings, as well as sound clips if you're interested.
Low Mic Gain - Limiters Off
(http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k287/05wrxsti1/Low%20Gain%20-%20Limiters%20Off.jpg)
Low Mic Gain - Limiters On
(http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k287/05wrxsti1/Low%20Gain%20-%20Limiters%20On.jpg)
Be careful of cards bought from non-authorized dealers. Some can be outright fakes, others can be the real card but with a lower capacity than what the label shows. I believe tonedeaf had a recent exprience with the latter. If Amazon sold the card you should be okay (if not Amazon will probably give you a refund), if it was a third-party seller you may have experienced the same thing tonedeaf (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=171674.0) did.
Both cards I bought are genuine SanDisk, thanks for the warning though. I ran one through a chkdsk like program for mac, called F3, it had full capacity and zero corrupted sectors.
Nice recorder. Saw one first hand a couple weeks ago at Suwannee Springfest. Very compact. Controls seem straight forward.
I really like that it has individual channel delay and EQ functions, selectable for playback only if desired I presume. Those functions were absent on the DR-680 and I don't think they've been added to the new DR-680II, unfortunately. Many here will never use those funcitons, but they are very important for me. I'd also really like it to have and a polarity invert switch per channel on both these machines as well.
I totally agree, the amount of features Tascam crammed in to this tiny little thing is astounding, especially for under $300. I know it'll be great in the field, just need to figure out what's going on with this "Write Timeout" issue. :-\
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Hmm. Well, on one hand I guess it's a nice surprise to see that ExFAT is now being used in these devices instead of the rather antiquated FAT32. My apologies for sending you on a wild goose chase with that one.
I completely agree that the write speed of that card should not be an issue at all even with 4 channels of 24/96. Data rate of a 2-channel 24/96 recording is 4.39Mbit/s - that's megabit, and your card is rated 40 megabyte / s so it shouldn't be an issue at all. I'm beginning to think you have a bad card. I have had genuine SanDisk cards go bad before. If you have this issue with other cards though, it could be an issue with the unit.
The only SD cards I have right now are Transcend class 10s, which are definitely not "approved", but I have perfect performance with them for photo and video.
The approved card list for the 70D is extremely short so far - I'm hoping they get around to testing more cards (scroll to the bottom): http://tascam.com/product/dr-70d/specifications/ (http://tascam.com/product/dr-70d/specifications/)
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Personally I would format in the tascam and go with that
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I do show a 12 dB variance when running the limiters as well.
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I have yet to use a limiter on any recorder I've owned.
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Here are a couple screen shots of the statistics with limiters on and off. These were both 15 second clips. I have screenshots of the 2 high gain settings, as well as sound clips if you're interested.
Thanks. Definitely a higher noise floor with limiters engaged... Most likely as per the description earlier... Thanks for the screen shots!
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Speaking of the 680, I found this thread on GS about the same error message:
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/558184-dr680-write-timeout-error-massage.html (https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/558184-dr680-write-timeout-error-massage.html)
Great find voltronic! I have another identical card and a pile of different ones that I'll try out. After reading a couple of the comments, I highly doubt the write speed of my card has anything to do with the "Write Timeout" error. In fact, last night I was able to replicate the error a couple times by clapping in front of my mics and getting all 4 channels to peak at the same time while recording at 24/96. ???
Many devices like these recorders want cards to be FAT32, but card manufacturers might be using ExFAT out of the box. Theoretically if you're formatting the card in the recorder than it should be formatting properly to the correct filesystem, but I've sometimes found this to not work if the card is already in the "wrong" filesystem or there were errors on the card - I ran into this issue specifically with high-capacity microSD cards used in my phone. Sometimes you need to format it to FAT32 first on your computer for it to work properly. It's not intuitive that step is necessary, but that's been my experience.
The problem is you can't format FAT32 with higher capacities in Windows natively - you need a third-party program. I've had success with both of these in formatting high-capacity cards to FAT32:
http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm (http://www.ridgecrop.demon.co.uk/index.htm?guiformat.htm)
https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ (https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/)
I reformatted the card to FAT32. The 70D couldn't recognize the card after that so I had to roll back to exFAT.
@F.O.Bean - I'll keep playing with this until I figure out what's going on. This is a huge problem because when it happens, the files it's recording disappear... all 4 channels!!!
An average of a series of low amplitude, zero-crossing data points may simply be reflective of how much DC offset the trace has. The value that is of interest here is RMS level, not average level... This way, DC offset doesn't "contaminate" the calculation. To get this in SoundForge, select several seconds of waveform and then view the statistics using a menu command (or the statistics button on one of the optional menu bars).
Here are a couple screen shots of the statistics with limiters on and off. These were both 15 second clips. I have screenshots of the 2 high gain settings, as well as sound clips if you're interested.
Low Mic Gain - Limiters Off
(http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k287/05wrxsti1/Low%20Gain%20-%20Limiters%20Off.jpg)
Low Mic Gain - Limiters On
(http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k287/05wrxsti1/Low%20Gain%20-%20Limiters%20On.jpg)
Be careful of cards bought from non-authorized dealers. Some can be outright fakes, others can be the real card but with a lower capacity than what the label shows. I believe tonedeaf had a recent exprience with the latter. If Amazon sold the card you should be okay (if not Amazon will probably give you a refund), if it was a third-party seller you may have experienced the same thing tonedeaf (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=171674.0) did.
Both cards I bought are genuine SanDisk, thanks for the warning though. I ran one through a chkdsk like program for mac, called F3, it had full capacity and zero corrupted sectors.
Nice recorder. Saw one first hand a couple weeks ago at Suwannee Springfest. Very compact. Controls seem straight forward.
I really like that it has individual channel delay and EQ functions, selectable for playback only if desired I presume. Those functions were absent on the DR-680 and I don't think they've been added to the new DR-680II, unfortunately. Many here will never use those funcitons, but they are very important for me. I'd also really like it to have and a polarity invert switch per channel on both these machines as well.
I totally agree, the amount of features Tascam crammed in to this tiny little thing is astounding, especially for under $300. I know it'll be great in the field, just need to figure out what's going on with this "Write Timeout" issue. :-\
What size card are you using again? I plan on using 32gb cards MAX, so I shouldn't have to use the exfat format. Maybe using up to 32gb cards is all the 70d can handle right now with four channels at 24/96 until a firmware update comes out?!?!?! Where's tomu when we need his expertise 8)
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I have a Sandisk Class 10 64gb MicroSDXC Ultra Plus card ( I believe it is 80 mbps) in an SD adapter and it has worked great thus far.
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I'm using 128GB cards and getting the "Write Timeout" failure with both. They're going back to Amazon tomorrow. I'm testing an older 32GB SanDisk Ultra class 10 now, it better not have the same issue. :-\
Stay away from the new SanDisk SDXC Ultra's people! At least the 128GB cards if you plan to record at 24/96.
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I have a Sandisk Class 10 64gb MicroSDXC Ultra Plus card ( I believe it is 80 mbps) in an SD adapter and it has worked great thus far.
Thanks! Have you done all 4 channels at 24/96 yet though?
I plan on using all 4 channels at 24/96 except at festies, so this is pretty important to me! Hopefully its just an issue with the 128gb cards and can be easily addressed in a firmware update :(
I'm using 128GB cards and getting the "Write Timeout" failure with both. They're going back to Amazon tomorrow. I'm testing an older 32GB SanDisk Ultra class 10 now, it better not have the same issue. :-\
Stay away from the new SanDisk SDXC Ultra's people! At least the 128GB cards if you plan to record at 24/96.
Yeah I'm hoping and praying that your 32gb plays nicely at 24/96 as well 8) Keep us updated and thanks for taking the time to do this ;D
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What size card are you using again? I plan on using 32gb cards MAX, so I shouldn't have to use the exfat format. Maybe using up to 32gb cards is all the 70d can handle right now with four channels at 24/96 until a firmware update comes out?!?!?! Where's tomu when we need his expertise 8)
Regardless of card size, you probably don't really have a choice of filesystem - either you format in the recorder and it writes the filesystem it wants (FAT32 or ExFAT), or you format in your computer and if after you put in in the recorder it's the "wrong" filesystem, the recorder tells you it needs to reformat. Based on Rally_AK's account, it sounds like ExFAT is the 70D's filesystem of choice, although given the problems he's had it may be too soon to call that one.
ExFAT is the standard factory format for SDXC cards now, but you can and sometimes need to have FAT32 on high-capacity devices, like an older 500GB Samsung portable hard drive I own, or older iPod hard drives. Windows removed the ability to format FAT32 natively a couple versions ago, so to make that filesystem you now need something like the third-party utilities I linked.
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Gotcha, thanks for the explanation ;) Hopefully a firmware update will fix these card issues, because I would call the "Write Timeout" kind of a big deal IMO! If it says it should be able to do 24/96 on all four channels, then it should be ABLE to do it lol 8) Not a HUGE downer for me if I can only run up to 24/48[I run 24/44.1 because I don't see the advantage and added quality running 24/48 but anyway], I'll just run 24/44.1 if I HAVE to just to avoid the Write Timeout issue when doing four channels
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Yeah I'm hoping and praying that your 32gb plays nicely at 24/96 as well 8) Keep us updated and thanks for taking the time to do this ;D
My 32GB card worked great, recorded all (4) channels at 24/96 BWF until the card filled up (7h40m). The "Write Timeout" issue appears to be isolated to the higher capacity SDXC's.
@ Cheesecadet - I'm really interested to hear if your 64GB Ultra Plus card has any issues at 24/96. It's sounds weird but I could easily replicate the issue within a couple minutes by making all 4 channels peak at the same time (Clap, sneeze, fart, etc...) ;D
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Yeah I'm hoping and praying that your 32gb plays nicely at 24/96 as well 8) Keep us updated and thanks for taking the time to do this ;D
My 32GB card worked great, recorded all (4) channels at 24/96 BWF until the card filled up (7h40m). The "Write Timeout" issue appears to be isolated to the higher capacity SDXC's.
@ Cheesecadet - I'm really interested to hear if your 64GB Ultra Plus card has any issues at 24/96. It's sounds weird but I could easily replicate the issue within a couple minutes by making all 4 channels peak at the same time (Clap, sneeze, fart, etc...) ;D
I will try to replicate your issue later tonight if time permits and let ya know. I don't often record @ 24/96 because of file sizes unless it is jazz.
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Thanks guys, I really appreciate it 8)
Is everyone using the 1.02 firmware ??? If not, it might correct the larger card issues
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Thanks guys, I really appreciate it 8)
Is everyone using the 1.02 firmware ??? If not, it might correct the larger card issues
I'm still using the OG firmware. I will check for the timeout issue at 24/96 tomorrow sometime and report back.
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I'm using the latest firmware. I'm trying to get my hands on a couple different 128GB cards to test out.
I wish Tascam would update their approved cards list, at least with some SDXC cards since they're supposedly supported.
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Do those manufacturer tested/approved cards lists ever get updated? I've never seen it happen for any Tascam or Edirol/Roland recorder.
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While having some work done by Chris at Busman Audio he had this to say:
"I have modded a few of the DR70s with great success. The mod gives better sound less noise and more headroom.
It also allows the signal to run a bit hotter.
I think this is a better alternative than the DR680 if you don’t need the 6-8 channels of the DR680.
I will do a tapers section special for $150. Normally $175. I will be posting about that as well."
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^ Sounds very interesting. I wonder how similar this would be to the Jim Williams mod.
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^ Sounds very interesting. I wonder how similar this would be to the Jim Williams mod.
Chris said he would have the info up on his site shortly and would be posting here once he did.
I'm sure he would share what caps/chips he was swapping out.
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Cool, definitely interested to hear what he's got in store for the 70D.
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Has anyone here run a SBD matrix with the 70D yet? I plan to for Keller Williams tonight and I'm wondering what the SBD levels should be set at.
After reading a few pages back that the 70D brickwalled with the Line Out levels from the FP-24 I'm thinking that setting the SBD at -5dB is a good place to start. Any thoughts?
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The 70D had no problem running line levels from the board last night, worked like a champ and tapes turned out great! Love having a couple extra channels, running matrix's on the UA-5 was always hit or miss.
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The 70D had no problem running line levels from the board last night, worked like a champ and tapes turned out great! Love having a couple extra channels, running matrix's on the UA-5 was always hit or miss.
Did you use the delay on the deck for your mics?
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Yep, set them as close as I could by pacing off the distance to the PA but had to make a minor correction in post to line everything up.
Also ran my DR100 as backup off the line out of the 70D. It's nice having an adjustable slate tone generator, makes it easy to calibrate the levels between the two units.
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The 70D had no problem running line levels from the board last night, worked like a champ and tapes turned out great! Love having a couple extra channels, running matrix's on the UA-5 was always hit or miss.
Did you use the 70D's XLR inputs or the 3.5mm stereo mini jack? Also, do you know if you were getting straight line level from the board or they had the output padded down for you?
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My 70D arrived yesterday and I just got to play with it today. Some things I noticed about it that others haven't mentioned yet:
1. While monitoring through headphones, there seems to be a slight delay between adjusting a channel level knob and that level change taking place. It has already been established that the gain is controlled digitally, but I wonder if the delay I'm noticing is in the processing of the gain adjustment or in the processing of the 4 > 2 channel monitor mixdown.
2. Disappointed that channels 1/2 or 3/4 cannot be monitored separately, but this is a pretty minor thing. Add it to the firmware update wishlist I guess.
3. Upon connecting to my computer (running Windows 7) to transfer the sample tracks I recorded, it would show up for a few seconds and then would be inaccessible, and the unit would power down. I found that it was the cable that was the issue - but this was a new, quality Monoprice USB 2.0 cable. A cheap $2 microUSB cable I had on hand worked fine.
4. Someone mentioned the lack of a per-channel phase invert, but this is in fact an option if you hunt through the menus.
Because of the difficulty Rally_AK experienced with his SD card, I decided to try recording 4 channels of 24/96 straight away. No problems whatsoever, and I did gain adjustments, clapped, snapped, etc. The card I am using is a cheap 16GB Class 10 Transcend that is several years old.
I can also report the RAVPower 12000mAh battery works seamlessly with the 70D. I also picked up a little right-angle microUSB cable which works nicely in the bag.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0SC-000Y-00068 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0SC-000Y-00068)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200860&cm_re=right_angle_micro_usb-_-12-200-860-_-Product (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200860&cm_re=right_angle_micro_usb-_-12-200-860-_-Product)
Speaking of, I spent some time reconfiguring my gear bag, which is this cheap but excellent Amazon bag (see pics below):
http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Large-Gadget-Orange-interior/dp/B00CF5OHZ2/ref=pd_cp_p_0/177-0194371-0303366 (http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Large-Gadget-Orange-interior/dp/B00CF5OHZ2/ref=pd_cp_p_0/177-0194371-0303366).
After some consultation with Ted on new cables, I went with chopped but straight-out connectors because I didn't want the cables to be specific to one device. The channel 3/4 cable I asked to be made with an 18" fanout instead of the normal 12" and that was the right call - everything works out perfectly and nothing is being stressed. ;D My only issue is that now I have two pairs of 25' cable which do not fit in the bag, so I'll have to haul the cables separately. No biggie.
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The 70D had no problem running line levels from the board last night, worked like a champ and tapes turned out great! Love having a couple extra channels, running matrix's on the UA-5 was always hit or miss.
Did you use the 70D's XLR inputs or the 3.5mm stereo mini jack? Also, do you know if you were getting straight line level from the board or they had the output padded down for you?
I was using the XLR ins. The board outputs were set at around -5dB. I ran my knobs at 1 o'clock leaving me about 5dB of headroom. No inline pads/attenuators were used.
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Voltronic, how do you plan to use the 70d for choir recording? Figure you have something in mind to move up from your m10.
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Voltronic, thanks for the pics. Now I have everything I need for the 70D, BUT the 70D and the USB batteries ;D I just got a new bag Thursday myself for running both rigs. And I already ordered custom cables for all 4 XLR ins from Darktrain 8) I might just keep my 2nd M10 and buy the 70D out of pocket in a couple weeks 8)
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I went with straight chopped XLRs from Darktrain as well. They are perfect.
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Voltronic, how do you plan to use the 70d for choir recording? Figure you have something in mind to move up from your m10.
Great question - you've got me pegged. I really want to try out the Tony Faulkner 4-mic phased array that uses a center pair of subcards (my CM3s obviously) with omnis spaced a bit further out and with all 4 capsules aligned horizontally. I've been following these two threads on GS as well as a few others, and I think that might be a good starting point for me. You'll see that in the "Three Mixes" thread I just posted a couple questions to Tony because his recommended spacings (47cm subcards; 67cm omnis) seem confusing to me like they would leave a bit of a hole in the center image just by going from the SRA of each array, but clearly there is more going on here and Tony's results speak for themselves.
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/997189-tony-faulkner-lso-abbey-rd-shostakovich.html (https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/997189-tony-faulkner-lso-abbey-rd-shostakovich.html)
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/930912-three-mixes-boojum-jnorman-case-study.html#post10948090 (https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/930912-three-mixes-boojum-jnorman-case-study.html#post10948090)
If the 70D preamps wind up being low-noise enough for my purposes, at some point I may sell the FP24 which will give me the cash to upgrade to a pair of Line Audio OM1s, but for now I'm quite happy with my little Naiant omnis that just keep on truckin'.
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Hmm…had briefly thought about the same array but may try dpa 4061s. Thought they could also be low profile and would also be use able as under lid piano spots. Definitely interested in your thoughts on keeping the fp24 once you see how the 70d works out.
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Shameless plug for the matrix I ran Friday night. https://archive.org/details/kw2015-04-03.matrix.flac16 (https://archive.org/details/kw2015-04-03.matrix.flac16)
I had to keep my mics down in the mix because the crowd was more interested in BS'ing then listening to the show. :facepalm: Saturday night was a little better...
This was the first voyage with the 70D, like voltronic I really wish there was a way to monitor the 1/2 & 3/4 channels independently, fingers crossed Tascam adds that in a future firmware update. It'd also be great to have access to the advanced settings while recording, as the only thing you can adjust while recording are the gain knobs.
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I can also report the RAVPower 12000mAh battery works seamlessly with the 70D. I also picked up a little right-angle microUSB cable which works nicely in the bag.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0SC-000Y-00068 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0SC-000Y-00068)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200860&cm_re=right_angle_micro_usb-_-12-200-860-_-Product (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200860&cm_re=right_angle_micro_usb-_-12-200-860-_-Product)
So I just ordered a dr 70r and one of these batterys too. What output do you use 1 amp or 2.1 amp? thanks, excited to have this for Jazzfest.
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I can also report the RAVPower 12000mAh battery works seamlessly with the 70D. I also picked up a little right-angle microUSB cable which works nicely in the bag.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0SC-000Y-00068 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0SC-000Y-00068)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200860&cm_re=right_angle_micro_usb-_-12-200-860-_-Product (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200860&cm_re=right_angle_micro_usb-_-12-200-860-_-Product)
So I just ordered a dr 70r and one of these batterys too. What output do you use 1 amp or 2.1 amp? thanks, excited to have this for Jazzfest.
I haven't used this particular battery but a 1A iPhone charger works just fine powering the 70D under full load.
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Shameless plug for the matrix I ran Friday night. https://archive.org/details/kw2015-04-03.matrix.flac16 (https://archive.org/details/kw2015-04-03.matrix.flac16)
I had to keep my mics down in the mix because the crowd was more interested in BS'ing then listening to the show. :facepalm: Saturday night was a little better...
This was the first voyage with the 70D, like voltronic I really wish there was a way to monitor the 1/2 & 3/4 channels independently, fingers crossed Tascam adds that in a future firmware update. It'd also be great to have access to the advanced settings while recording, as the only thing you can adjust while recording are the gain knobs.
Sounds great thanks for the link 8)
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Did I miss if 404 Not Found ever got his 70D repaired and returned? Or is he still waiting to get it repaired and back to him? And whats up with the noise when adding gain issue?
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And when the "DUAL" light is ON, what does that exactly mean? I cant find anything specific about it in the online manual ??? I understand I want Stereo files, but what does the "DUAL" light mean? Is that when you actually do the reduced level file[-6?] on channels 3/4?
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And when the "DUAL" light is ON, what does that exactly mean? I cant find anything specific about it in the online manual ??? I understand I want Stereo files, but what does the "DUAL" light mean? Is that when you actually do the reduced level file[-6?] on channels 3/4?
Yep, when DUAL is lit you're recording a second stereo file to channels 3/4 at reduced level. You can adjust the level between -1 and -12dB. Check page 25 of the reference manual.
http://tascam.com/content/downloads/products/867/e_dr-70d_rm_va.pdf (http://tascam.com/content/downloads/products/867/e_dr-70d_rm_va.pdf)
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I can also report the RAVPower 12000mAh battery works seamlessly with the 70D. I also picked up a little right-angle microUSB cable which works nicely in the bag.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0SC-000Y-00068 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=0SC-000Y-00068)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200860&cm_re=right_angle_micro_usb-_-12-200-860-_-Product (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200860&cm_re=right_angle_micro_usb-_-12-200-860-_-Product)
So I just ordered a dr 70r and one of these batterys too. What output do you use 1 amp or 2.1 amp? thanks, excited to have this for Jazzfest.
I've only tried the 1A output so far and it worked fine with 48V going to 4 mics. As I posted in the thread about the similar 10400mAh battery, I'm not sure if the higher amp output on batteries like this is useful for these kind of things, or if it's only of benefit for "fast charging" things like phones and tablets.
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Ran this with my camera. You can not set the output level for the camera once you start recording. So you need to do this before the show starts or hope you get the right setting. Also I would get static from the recording going from the camera out to the video camera input. I tried multiple setting and could not get rid of the static. Think it is the camera. Bummer!!! This is one thing I bought the recorder for.
I tried setting of -30 DB all the way to 0 DB and then the same setting on the camera and no difference- still a lot of static. Unless I can figure this out I would not record to the camera this way...and you can not adjust output volume when you hit the record button.
Could tascam do a firmware update where you could you select either the the headphone dial for headphone or for the camera output?
PS: All the screens are not covered in the manual. arg...
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.......thanks for the warning. Not being able to adjust the camera out during a recording is a negative. It's no problem on the 60d.
Might try another cable and see if it clears up the static.
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.......thanks for the warning. Not being able to adjust the camera out during a recording is a negative. It's no problem on the 60d.
How is it different on the 60D? just curious...
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Someone mentioned the lack of a per-channel phase invert, but this is in fact an option if you hunt through the menus.
Good. I was hoping for that, a function along with EQ and delay I really wish the new DR-680mkII had been given as well.
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Voltronic, how do you plan to use the 70d for choir recording? Figure you have something in mind to move up from your m10.
Great question - you've got me pegged. I really want to try out the Tony Faulkner 4-mic phased array that uses a center pair of subcards (my CM3s obviously) with omnis spaced a bit further out and with all 4 capsules aligned horizontally. I've been following these two threads on GS as well as a few others, and I think that might be a good starting point for me. You'll see that in the "Three Mixes" thread I just posted a couple questions to Tony because his recommended spacings (47cm subcards; 67cm omnis) seem confusing to me like they would leave a bit of a hole in the center image just by going from the SRA of each array, but clearly there is more going on here and Tony's results speak for themselves.
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/997189-tony-faulkner-lso-abbey-rd-shostakovich.html (https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/997189-tony-faulkner-lso-abbey-rd-shostakovich.html)
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/930912-three-mixes-boojum-jnorman-case-study.html#post10948090 (https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/930912-three-mixes-boojum-jnorman-case-study.html#post10948090)
Very interested in that. Please start a new thread for it when you do so. I'd love to discuss it. In addition to Decca tree setups and Günther Theile's OCT (Optimum Cardioid Triangle) intended for 3-channels, Faulkner's description of his 4-mic "phased array" was a significant influence on the evolution of the outdoor setup I'm currently using. I've come to find the antenna array aspect of it with 'forward gain' and the improved phase-imaging he talks about is fundamental.
I always relate to Mr. Falkner's statements in what I've read of his and in the interviews with him I've heard. He thinks not in terms of standard mic configurations, but in terms of what he wants to achieve and how to make that happen given the tools he has within practical constraints. His answers to the problems are usually more applicable to what we are doing here than the working methods of most other professional recording engineers, classical, pop, or otherwise.
Two quote's of his from your links above-
[snip] The spacings I quoted are for me starting points and different engineers will fine-tune their spacings to suit their tastes.
What I want to avoid is that sound of in-phase near-mono ambience from using a pair of coincident or near-coincident cardioids. It comes from the omni component in a cardioid pattern, and I do not like to listen to ambience derived from coincident omnis pulling the room-tone to the centre of the image when it should remain diffuse and as incoherent as our ears would hear. These are personal tastes. [snip]
-------
[snip] All small diameter capacitor cardioid microphones have a particular sound quality character which should be used sparingly, and although the Rodes SDC's are better than many (to my ears) they are still not flattering to orchestral massed strings on their own without omnis to fatten the low end, to add weight and to add depth. The Schoeps CCM21 subcardioids are warmer sounding than typical cardioids which is helpful, but they do not reach quite so far into the back of the orchestra.
Both of these arrays have logic which is based in science and works in action. The problem with many minimalist mic systems used on their own in typical performance spaces is that they can have one fatal flaw from musicians' point of view - they end up sounding a bit distant and a bit unfocussed. Using arrays gives you forward gain so you find more presence and detail than say three omnis on separate stands or a single Blumlein crossed fig8. For me the objective (or game as some prefer) is to come up with a main array which paints a canvas of what sounds like a plausible live sound. [snip]
^^
spot on!
Apologizes for the OT swerve, now back to the regularly scheduled program..
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.......thanks for the warning. Not being able to adjust the camera out during a recording is a negative. It's no problem on the 60d.
How is it different on the 60D? just curious...
Do not own a 60D though by looking at the pictures it has 2 separate dials for headphone and camera output on the outside of the unit. Looks like all you do on the 60D is turn the dial to adjust volume for EITHER of the headphone/camera output.
On the DR70 there is ONLY ONE DIAL and it is to adjust the headphones volume. There is no corresponding volume knob on the outside of the dr70 like the 60D to adjust camera volume. You have to use the menu system and once you start recording all you can adjust is gain on the 4 channels NOT ANY SELECTION FROM THE MENU.
After you start recording you CAN NOT adjust the camera output gain to decrease it if you are overdriving the volume levels on your camera. I asked about this earlier in the thread and did not understand correctly what someone said about this feature. I do not like how big the DR60 is and really liked the idea of feeding my camera an audio source from this very small 4 channel recorder. So sort of disappointed this has to be set correctly first to have it really work...then there is the camera ability to handle that signal properly and sound good. Have not had good results with my camera so far...
Hope I made that clear.
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Yep.
60d has a manual control wheel to adjust the gain out to the camera. I sort of wish Tascam had made the 70d case a little deeper and kept some of the manual controls from the 60d.
It would be great to discuss possible mic arrays for choral recording with the 70d in another thread.
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The combined out on the 70 vs separate on the 60 has kept me from even entertaining the 70
The 60 allows for camera, line, and headphones all at once
I did have hiss issues at first with the 60 going to a mic in on my camcorder. I never had an issue running line out via attenuator with multi other devices, just the 60 gave me issues both attenuator and without attenuator. Turned out the camcorder needed to be dialed down a lot and since, everything has been great
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Ran this with my camera. You can not set the output level for the camera once you start recording. So you need to do this before the show starts or hope you get the right setting. Also I would get static from the recording going from the camera out to the video camera input. I tried multiple setting and could not get rid of the static. Think it is the camera. Bummer!!! This is one thing I bought the recorder for.
I tried setting of -30 DB all the way to 0 DB and then the same setting on the camera and no difference- still a lot of static. Unless I can figure this out I would not record to the camera this way...and you can not adjust output volume when you hit the record button.
Could tascam do a firmware update where you could you select either the the headphone dial for headphone or for the camera output?
PS: All the screens are not covered in the manual. arg...
Did you try changing the Line Out output gain from LINE to CAM? There's a 30dB difference between the two.
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Quick update on the "Write Timeout" failures I was having recording (4) channels at 24/96.
I'm testing out a new PNY Elite Performance 128GB card and it seams to be working just fine. It recorded all night without any issue and I'm letting it go all day today to be double sure. It appears that the problems I was having were attributed to the 128GB SanDisk Ultra cards I was using.
Again, stay away from the SanDisk Ultra SDXC cards if you plan on recording 24/96!
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FWIW, I use a Sandisck Ultra Plus SDXC card 64gb with no issues going 2496 on all channels.
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Quick update on the "Write Timeout" failures I was having recording (4) channels at 24/96.
I'm testing out a new PNY Elite Performance 128GB card and it seams to be working just fine. It recorded all night without any issue and I'm letting it go all day today to be double sure. It appears that the problems I was having were attributed to the 128GB SanDisk Ultra cards I was using.
Again, stay away from the SanDisk Ultra SDXC cards if you plan on recording 24/96!
It figures that the preferred brand is the one that gave you problems! I wonder if you got a dud or this is a problematic model?
Since Tascam probably isn't going to test many more cards (if any), we here can maintain a list of "known good" or "potentially problematic" cards. This child go on an FAQ / Recommended Settings thread as I mentioned earlier. Speaking of which, I'll volunteer to get that going unless someone else would prefer to. I'm a new user and don't want to step on toes of those with more experience here.
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On a different note from what is being talked about in re. to SD cards. TASCAM finally got back to me on my "returned for warranty repair DR-70D issues" and have messaged me that they could not fix the problem. A new 70D is being shipped out to replace the original unit.
Not all that bad of a turn around from TASCAM, 3 weeks +/- with a new replacement deck.
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Quick update on the "Write Timeout" failures I was having recording (4) channels at 24/96.
I'm testing out a new PNY Elite Performance 128GB card and it seams to be working just fine. It recorded all night without any issue and I'm letting it go all day today to be double sure. It appears that the problems I was having were attributed to the 128GB SanDisk Ultra cards I was using.
Again, stay away from the SanDisk Ultra SDXC cards if you plan on recording 24/96!
It figures that the preferred brand is the one that gave you problems! I wonder if you got a dud or this is a problematic model?
Since Tascam probably isn't going to test many more cards (if any), we here can maintain a list of "known good" or "potentially problematic" cards. This child go on an FAQ / Recommended Settings thread as I mentioned earlier. Speaking of which, I'll volunteer to get that going unless someone else would prefer to. I'm a new user and don't want to step on toes of those with more experience here.
I know, I went with SanDisk because they're considered to be the best/most reliable cards in many circles. I don't think my cards were duds, both were brand new from Amazon and passed F3's (http://oss.digirati.com.br/f3/ (http://oss.digirati.com.br/f3/)) read/write tests with zero corrupted sectors.
I think it would be cool if you started a FAQ thread. I'll PM you my suggestions...
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Quick update on the "Write Timeout" failures I was having recording (4) channels at 24/96.
I'm testing out a new PNY Elite Performance 128GB card and it seams to be working just fine. It recorded all night without any issue and I'm letting it go all day today to be double sure. It appears that the problems I was having were attributed to the 128GB SanDisk Ultra cards I was using.
Again, stay away from the SanDisk Ultra SDXC cards if you plan on recording 24/96!
It figures that the preferred brand is the one that gave you problems! I wonder if you got a dud or this is a problematic model?
Since Tascam probably isn't going to test many more cards (if any), we here can maintain a list of "known good" or "potentially problematic" cards. This child go on an FAQ / Recommended Settings thread as I mentioned earlier. Speaking of which, I'll volunteer to get that going unless someone else would prefer to. I'm a new user and don't want to step on toes of those with more experience here.
I know, I went with SanDisk because they're considered to be the best/most reliable cards in many circles. I don't think my cards were duds, both were brand new from Amazon and passed F3's (http://oss.digirati.com.br/f3/ (http://oss.digirati.com.br/f3/)) read/write tests with zero corrupted sectors.
I think it would be cool if you started a FAQ thread. I'll PM you my suggestions...
Thanks for the link to that test utility! I'll add that to my bag of tricks.
I had a SanDisk card go bad recently: http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Memory-Adapter-SDSDQUAN-064G-G4A-Version/dp/B00M55C1I2/ref=pd_sim_pc_3/186-6285474-7444546?ie=UTF8&refRID=03TX8ENTV9292Q27W302 (http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Memory-Adapter-SDSDQUAN-064G-G4A-Version/dp/B00M55C1I2/ref=pd_sim_pc_3/186-6285474-7444546?ie=UTF8&refRID=03TX8ENTV9292Q27W302)
I had it in my phone to hold my music, and after about 6 months I was able to read from it just fine but was no longer able to write to it or format it. The data that was there did not appear to be corrupted, and there was no write-protect flag enabled, but it refused to allow any new data to be written or anything to be erased. I even tried low-level formatting with a couple different tools - nothing doing. I bought another of the same exact card and it's been working perfectly. Never had this issue with any other cards of different brands or types.
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Re: card failures. While Sandisk is one of the reputable and quality card suppliers out there, they do fail... I've used about a dozen brands over the past 10 years including Ridata, Kingston, Sandisk, Transcend, Patriot, PNY, Wintech, etc. Interestingly the only 2 cards that have ever failed on me (not due to user error) were Sandisk cards. Go figure. Statistics. Anecdotes. I'll still buy them, though - I usually try to buy on price and high review count and medium to medium high speeds for a given era of cards. No sensible reason to write off a specific brand or type based on N=1 samples. Now, if there is a trend, that's another story...
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Voltronic, how do you plan to use the 70d for choir recording? Figure you have something in mind to move up from your m10.
Great question - you've got me pegged. I really want to try out the Tony Faulkner 4-mic phased array that uses a center pair of subcards (my CM3s obviously) with omnis spaced a bit further out and with all 4 capsules aligned horizontally. I've been following these two threads on GS as well as a few others, and I think that might be a good starting point for me. You'll see that in the "Three Mixes" thread I just posted a couple questions to Tony because his recommended spacings (47cm subcards; 67cm omnis) seem confusing to me like they would leave a bit of a hole in the center image just by going from the SRA of each array, but clearly there is more going on here and Tony's results speak for themselves.
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/997189-tony-faulkner-lso-abbey-rd-shostakovich.html (https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/997189-tony-faulkner-lso-abbey-rd-shostakovich.html)
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/930912-three-mixes-boojum-jnorman-case-study.html#post10948090 (https://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/930912-three-mixes-boojum-jnorman-case-study.html#post10948090)
Very interested in that. Please start a new thread for it when you do so. I'd love to discuss it. In addition to Decca tree setups and Günther Theile's OCT (Optimum Cardioid Triangle) intended for 3-channels, Faulkner's description of his 4-mic "phased array" was a significant influence on the evolution of the outdoor setup I'm currently using. I've come to find the antenna array aspect of it with 'forward gain' and the improved phase-imaging he talks about is fundamental.
I always relate to Mr. Falkner's statements in what I've read of his and in the interviews with him I've heard. He thinks not in terms of standard mic configurations, but in terms of what he wants to achieve and how to make that happen given the tools he has within practical constraints. His answers to the problems are usually more applicable to what we are doing here than the working methods of most other professional recording engineers, classical, pop, or otherwise.
Two quote's of his from your links above-
[snip] The spacings I quoted are for me starting points and different engineers will fine-tune their spacings to suit their tastes.
What I want to avoid is that sound of in-phase near-mono ambience from using a pair of coincident or near-coincident cardioids. It comes from the omni component in a cardioid pattern, and I do not like to listen to ambience derived from coincident omnis pulling the room-tone to the centre of the image when it should remain diffuse and as incoherent as our ears would hear. These are personal tastes. [snip]
-------
[snip] All small diameter capacitor cardioid microphones have a particular sound quality character which should be used sparingly, and although the Rodes SDC's are better than many (to my ears) they are still not flattering to orchestral massed strings on their own without omnis to fatten the low end, to add weight and to add depth. The Schoeps CCM21 subcardioids are warmer sounding than typical cardioids which is helpful, but they do not reach quite so far into the back of the orchestra.
Both of these arrays have logic which is based in science and works in action. The problem with many minimalist mic systems used on their own in typical performance spaces is that they can have one fatal flaw from musicians' point of view - they end up sounding a bit distant and a bit unfocussed. Using arrays gives you forward gain so you find more presence and detail than say three omnis on separate stands or a single Blumlein crossed fig8. For me the objective (or game as some prefer) is to come up with a main array which paints a canvas of what sounds like a plausible live sound. [snip]
^^
spot on!
Apologizes for the OT swerve, now back to the regularly scheduled program..
I definitely will. I won't have any material to post until mid-to-late May unfortunately. And yes, I've gained a lot of insight from Tony through his interviews I've watched. I really love the whole minimalist approach to recording an orchestra - I never really like the recordings that use a thousand spot mics, as it never sounds natural. His the the philosophy that makes the most sense to me so far.
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Ran this with my camera. You can not set the output level for the camera once you start recording. So you need to do this before the show starts or hope you get the right setting. Also I would get static from the recording going from the camera out to the video camera input. I tried multiple setting and could not get rid of the static. Think it is the camera. Bummer!!! This is one thing I bought the recorder for.
I tried setting of -30 DB all the way to 0 DB and then the same setting on the camera and no difference- still a lot of static. Unless I can figure this out I would not record to the camera this way...and you can not adjust output volume when you hit the record button.
Could tascam do a firmware update where you could you select either the the headphone dial for headphone or for the camera output?
PS: All the screens are not covered in the manual. arg...
Did you try changing the Line Out output gain from LINE to CAM? There's a 30dB difference between the two.
Thank you rally_AK for your suggestion.
Have tried it with both CAM and LINE. With CAM I do get music though the noise is very apparent. When I use Line in it is better though had the camera at -12 DB and the monitor output gain level for the DR70 at -42 DB and if it is really loud music you do not hear the noise though it is still there. Tried other setting too and the noise does not go away. Using a brand new cable that I have used recently and did not have any problems.
Could be wrong here and I know you guys will correct me. Thought about this product over night and it seems to me that this is promoted as a AUDIO/VIDEO recorder. You can adjust gain for all audio channels during recording though not video gain once you hit record. Think of it this way - most of us probably adjust gain on our preamp and recorder after hitting the "record button". What if we could not adjust mic gain after we hit record.
My camera and the Dr70 will not let you change gain after you hit record. If you have too high of levels on the camera there is not way to correct it without stopping the recorder and adjusting the gain. Seems tascam promoted this recorder as a audio/video and without the ability to change camera gain on the fly should of this been really be promoter as a audio recorder with video options.
I will restate this here:
"Could tascam do a firmware update and add a screen where you could you select either the the headphone dial for the headphone or for the camera output before you start recording?"
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Ran this with my camera. You can not set the output level for the camera once you start recording. So you need to do this before the show starts or hope you get the right setting. Also I would get static from the recording going from the camera out to the video camera input. I tried multiple setting and could not get rid of the static. Think it is the camera. Bummer!!! This is one thing I bought the recorder for.
I tried setting of -30 DB all the way to 0 DB and then the same setting on the camera and no difference- still a lot of static. Unless I can figure this out I would not record to the camera this way...and you can not adjust output volume when you hit the record button.
Could tascam do a firmware update where you could you select either the the headphone dial for headphone or for the camera output?
PS: All the screens are not covered in the manual. arg...
Did you try changing the Line Out output gain from LINE to CAM? There's a 30dB difference between the two.
Thank you rally_AK for your suggestion.
Have tried it with both CAM and LINE. With CAM I do get music though the noise is very apparent. When I use Line in it is better though had the camera at -12 DB and the monitor output gain level for the DR70 at -42 DB and if it is really loud music you do not hear the noise though it is still there. Tried other setting too and the noise does not go away. Using a brand new cable that I have used recently and did not have any problems.
Could be wrong here and I know you guys will correct me. Thought about this product over night and it seems to me that this is promoted as a AUDIO/VIDEO recorder. You can adjust gain for all audio channels during recording though not video gain once you hit record. Think of it this way - most of us probably adjust gain on our preamp and recorder after hitting the "record button". What if we could not adjust mic gain after we hit record.
My camera and the Dr70 will not let you change gain after you hit record. If you have too high of levels on the camera there is not way to correct it without stopping the recorder and adjusting the gain. Seems tascam promoted this recorder as a audio/video and without the ability to change camera gain on the fly should of this been really be promoter as a audio recorder with video options.
I will restate this here:
"Could tascam do a firmware update and add a screen where you could you select either the the headphone dial for the headphone or for the camera output before you start recording?"
That wouldn't work because the CAM / LINE out is controlled digitally, wheras the headphone wheel is just an analog pot not connected to anything in the software-controlled levels. Unless there was a digital encoder attached to that wheel there would be no way for it to input data to the software.
What they could possibly do in a firmware update instead is allow some limited menu functions while recording, maybe using the DATA rotary control to adjust the CAM level. That's one of the things I'm listing in the FAQ thread under Firmware Requests.
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Whenever the FAQ comes together, I'll include it in the first post.
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@phil_er_up - It bugs me too that the line out settings are locked but is it really necessary to adjust them after you start recording? Assuming you have meters on your camera, you should be able to match it's levels with the 70D by using the slate tone function. That way all the gain adjustment would happen on the front of 70D, which is the way it's supposed to be... I think. ;)
I did this running a backup recorder the other night and it worked great, the only disadvantage is that the camera/line out mixes channels 1/2 and 3/4 to stereo so your levels have to be set just right for the stereo mix to sound good.
Here's how I use slate to match levels.
- Go to Monitor settings - Set Monitor Sel. to MIX, Output Level to 0dB and Output Gain to LINE (or CAM in your case)
- Go to Slate - Set Tone Volume to -18dB (or which ever you prefer)
- Start recording on 70D and hold down the SLATE button
- Now raise the gain on the camera until the levels reach -18dB
Now that the camera levels are synced with the 70D all level adjustments can be made with the gain pots. If you want the camera to record a couple dB above or below the 70D adjust the Output Level in Monitor settings menu before you start recording.
Hope I'm not stating the obvious here. :)
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@phil_er_up - It bugs me too that the line out settings are locked but is it really necessary to adjust them after you start recording? Assuming you have meters on your camera, you should be able to match it's levels with the 70D by using the slate tone function. That way all the gain adjustment would happen on the front of 70D, which is the way it's supposed to be... I think. ;)
I did this running a backup recorder the other night and it worked great, the only disadvantage is that the camera/line out mixes channels 1/2 and 3/4 to stereo so your levels have to be set just right for the stereo mix to sound good.
Here's how I use slate to match levels.
- Go to Monitor settings - Set Monitor Sel. to MIX, Output Level to 0dB and Output Gain to LINE (or CAM in your case)
- Go to Slate - Set Tone Volume to -18dB (or which ever you prefer)
- Start recording on 70D and hold down the SLATE button
- Now raise the gain on the camera until the levels reach -18dB
Now that the camera levels are synced with the 70D all level adjustments can be made with the gain pots. If you want the camera to record a couple dB above or below the 70D adjust the Output Level in Monitor settings menu before you start recording.
Hope I'm not stating the obvious here. :)
Thanks again Rally_AK. Also, thanks for the answers about adding this feature to the DR70 in a FAQ. It is appreciated.
I did "use slate to match levels". Do have meters on my camera and it matched exactly with the the level the SLATE was putting out say -12 or -18 DB.
I set it at -18, -12 and 0 DB and then turned down the DR70 camera output from -40 DB to -54 DB and other setting too. The camera audio is very sensitive and can overload very easy.
Agree with Rally_Ak that sometimes you can set the level correctly. Though if there are multiple bands or venue increases DB at the show or I almost always play with my pre-amp and recorder levels for first 5 minutes of shows to try and get them "exactly right" and can not do the same for the camera once I hit the record button.
Well the way I look at this would any of us buy a recorder/preamp that did not have accessible gain controls while its recording. You need to have the ability to change the recorder and camera in tandem for this to be effective.
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Don't get me wrong I still like this recorder. It is very small has 4 channels, updated pre's and other nice features...
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I don't understand why you're changing the line out level on the 70D to anything besides 0dB. If you match your camera's levels to a -12 or -18dB slate tone, the camera should see the same levels as the 70D and only peak if the 70D does. What kind of camera are you running?
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The DR-70D FAQ / Recommended Settings has now been posted. Thanks especially to Rally_AK, leehookem, and Cheesecadet as well as everyone else here for providing so much useful information. If I have made errors or you have suggestions for additions or changes, please post in that thread or send me a PM.
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172550.0 (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172550.0)
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On a different note from what is being talked about in re. to SD cards. TASCAM finally got back to me on my "returned for warranty repair DR-70D issues" and have messaged me that they could not fix the problem. A new 70D is being shipped out to replace the original unit.
Not all that bad of a turn around from TASCAM, 3 weeks +/- with a new replacement deck.
What was wrong with yours again? Static while messing with the gain knobs? I honestly forget :)
Thanks!
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And does the M10 produce Mono or Stereo files? Id like to set the 70D the exact same as my M10s are 8) And I NEVER plan on using the 2MIX feature. I just want to know what the M10 does [mono or stsreo?], so that I can set the 70D to the same thing ;D
Thanks!
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And does the M10 produce Mono or Stereo files? Id like to set the 70D the exact same as my M10s are 8) And I NEVER plan on using the 2MIX feature. I just want to know what the M10 does [mono or stsreo?], so that I can set the 70D to the same thing ;D
Thanks!
It can do either (stereo tracks are default), but like I wrote in the FAQ, if you change to MONO tracks, the channel pan assignments do not automatically change on their own. So for instance, you would normally have 1 and 3 panned hard left and 2 and 4 hard right for recording stereo tracks. If you then change to recording MONO tracks, you're still getting hard-panned left/right but on separate tracks unless you go into BASIC and change each channel's panning to center (or whatever you want). Not really a big deal, but something to be aware of. This is perhaps more of a potential problem if you were recording mono, center-panned tracks for a while and then you decided to start recording stereo tracks but forgot to change your pan assignments back. You'd listen to your recording later and wonder why you got dual-mono until you realized you forgot to set the panning.
Typically you'd see a pan knob staring you in the face so you wouldn't make this mistake, but software controls are much cheaper than making physical switches. It's a tradeoff we have to accept for getting a unit with these features at this price. On the other hand, the DSP that runs the 70D is supposedly quite powerful, and nearly every function on this unit is controlled by it. If so inclined by the user community, Tascam potentially has the ability to change a whole lot of things with firmware updates. Does anyone know the Tascam rep's forum handle so I can point him toward our Firmware Update Request list?
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And does the M10 produce Mono or Stereo files? Id like to set the 70D the exact same as my M10s are 8) And I NEVER plan on using the 2MIX feature. I just want to know what the M10 does [mono or stsreo?], so that I can set the 70D to the same thing ;D
Thanks!
It can do either (stereo tracks are default), but like I wrote in the FAQ, if you change to MONO tracks, the channel pan assignments do not automatically change on their own. So for instance, you would normally have 1 and 3 panned hard left and 2 and 4 hard right for recording stereo tracks. If you then change to recording MONO tracks, you're still getting hard-panned left/right but on separate tracks unless you go into BASIC and change each channel's panning to center (or whatever you want). Not really a big deal, but something to be aware of. This is perhaps more of a potential problem if you were recording mono, center-panned tracks for a while and then you decided to start recording stereo tracks but forgot to change your pan assignments back. You'd listen to your recording later and wonder why you got dual-mono until you realized you forgot to set the panning.
Typically you'd see a pan knob staring you in the face so you wouldn't make this mistake, but software controls are much cheaper than making physical switches. It's a tradeoff we have to accept for getting a unit with these features at this price. On the other hand, the DSP that runs the 70D is supposedly quite powerful, and nearly every function on this unit is controlled by it. If so inclined by the user community, Tascam potentially has the ability to change a whole lot of things with firmware updates. Does anyone know the Tascam rep's forum handle so I can point him toward our Firmware Update Request list?
I dont think the PAN settings have any effect when recording in MONO. I think you leave them at the stock hard/left-right settings. Recording in mono produces 4 files...recording in stereo produces 2 files (each with 2 channels)
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On a different note from what is being talked about in re. to SD cards. TASCAM finally got back to me on my "returned for warranty repair DR-70D issues" and have messaged me that they could not fix the problem. A new 70D is being shipped out to replace the original unit.
Not all that bad of a turn around from TASCAM, 3 weeks +/- with a new replacement deck.
What was wrong with yours again? Static while messing with the gain knobs? I honestly forget :)
Thanks!
Was a problem with the volume knobs. Didn't matter if I ran it thru a pre or mic/line feed direct. Anytime I would adjust the volume for the particular channel, it would leave a marked feedback at the spot on the channel I adjusted for the moment my finger made contact with the volume knob. I could deal with it when I ran my pre, as I could adjust my volume without touching the DR-70D's volume knob once I discovered the problem itself.
Worked like a charm when I fist used it! Pulled a great recording of the Ed Palermo Big Band (Zappa Big Band music) with it on it's 1st recording and then after that night it just started to get worse with each following recording.
Not that it matters, but I was damn happy to have my Zoom H6. Love the DR-70D's shape but that is about all so far due to my issue. I will try the DR-70D again, as I have been aching to record after reading all the posts here. I have never experienced any problems with the H6, I was in a good situation to have a backup, although it is now back in the starting rotation!
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If so inclined by the user community, Tascam potentially has the ability to change a whole lot of things with firmware updates. Does anyone know the Tascam rep's forum handle so I can point him toward our Firmware Update Request list?
tumuo is the Tascam rep on the forum. He chimed in on Part 1 a couple times and various threads regarding the DR-680.
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Maybe I am just getting old, but I would love a firmware yograde to allow us to make numerical gain numbers larger so I can see them easier...and maybe make that triangle indicator at -12dB instead of -16db. Prolly just nitpicking now though.
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Maybe I am just getting old, but I would love a firmware yograde to allow us to make numerical gain numbers larger so I can see them easier...and maybe make that triangle indicator at -12dB instead of -16db. Prolly just nitpicking now though.
There's probably a limit to what they can do with such a low-resolution screen, and it's likely we'll never get per-channel numerical gain all on one screen. But I think they could definitely make the one peak level indicator larger.
What I really want to see is that when you move a gain knob, a large readout of the gain setting pops up sort of like on the newer SD 6xx series recorders. I feel like this is especially important with knobs that are this small, have no indicator marks, and are just digital encoders anyway.
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And does the M10 produce Mono or Stereo files? Id like to set the 70D the exact same as my M10s are 8) And I NEVER plan on using the 2MIX feature. I just want to know what the M10 does [mono or stsreo?], so that I can set the 70D to the same thing ;D
Thanks!
It can do either (stereo tracks are default), but like I wrote in the FAQ, if you change to MONO tracks, the channel pan assignments do not automatically change on their own. So for instance, you would normally have 1 and 3 panned hard left and 2 and 4 hard right for recording stereo tracks. If you then change to recording MONO tracks, you're still getting hard-panned left/right but on separate tracks unless you go into BASIC and change each channel's panning to center (or whatever you want). Not really a big deal, but something to be aware of. This is perhaps more of a potential problem if you were recording mono, center-panned tracks for a while and then you decided to start recording stereo tracks but forgot to change your pan assignments back. You'd listen to your recording later and wonder why you got dual-mono until you realized you forgot to set the panning.
Typically you'd see a pan knob staring you in the face so you wouldn't make this mistake, but software controls are much cheaper than making physical switches. It's a tradeoff we have to accept for getting a unit with these features at this price. On the other hand, the DSP that runs the 70D is supposedly quite powerful, and nearly every function on this unit is controlled by it. If so inclined by the user community, Tascam potentially has the ability to change a whole lot of things with firmware updates. Does anyone know the Tascam rep's forum handle so I can point him toward our Firmware Update Request list?
I dont think the PAN settings have any effect when recording in MONO. I think you leave them at the stock hard/left-right settings. Recording in mono produces 4 files...recording in stereo produces 2 files (each with 2 channels)
Thank you very much. That answered my question exactly 8)
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And does the M10 produce Mono or Stereo files? Id like to set the 70D the exact same as my M10s are 8) And I NEVER plan on using the 2MIX feature. I just want to know what the M10 does [mono or stsreo?], so that I can set the 70D to the same thing ;D
Thanks!
It can do either (stereo tracks are default), but like I wrote in the FAQ, if you change to MONO tracks, the channel pan assignments do not automatically change on their own. So for instance, you would normally have 1 and 3 panned hard left and 2 and 4 hard right for recording stereo tracks. If you then change to recording MONO tracks, you're still getting hard-panned left/right but on separate tracks unless you go into BASIC and change each channel's panning to center (or whatever you want). Not really a big deal, but something to be aware of. This is perhaps more of a potential problem if you were recording mono, center-panned tracks for a while and then you decided to start recording stereo tracks but forgot to change your pan assignments back. You'd listen to your recording later and wonder why you got dual-mono until you realized you forgot to set the panning.
Typically you'd see a pan knob staring you in the face so you wouldn't make this mistake, but software controls are much cheaper than making physical switches. It's a tradeoff we have to accept for getting a unit with these features at this price. On the other hand, the DSP that runs the 70D is supposedly quite powerful, and nearly every function on this unit is controlled by it. If so inclined by the user community, Tascam potentially has the ability to change a whole lot of things with firmware updates. Does anyone know the Tascam rep's forum handle so I can point him toward our Firmware Update Request list?
I dont think the PAN settings have any effect when recording in MONO. I think you leave them at the stock hard/left-right settings. Recording in mono produces 4 files...recording in stereo produces 2 files (each with 2 channels)
Hmm. Well I confess that I didn't actually try recording any mono tracks - I just noticed that the pan settings never change on their own but it would be much more logical if they recorded center-panned as you suggest. I'll have to test it with actual recordings at some point.
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If so inclined by the user community, Tascam potentially has the ability to change a whole lot of things with firmware updates. Does anyone know the Tascam rep's forum handle so I can point him toward our Firmware Update Request list?
tumuo is the Tascam rep on the forum. He chimed in on Part 1 a couple times and various threads regarding the DR-680.
Thanks - I was looking in Part 2 which is why I wasn't finding him.
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I pretty much stopped taping 15 years ago, I sold all my equipment except my DPA 4061s and Sony M1. Now that I'm divorced and my kids are older I'm getting back in! I needed new equipment because I don't know where I could even find a blank DAT if I wanted, so I went with the DR-70D, for mics I went with Neumann KM184, these mics to me just most accurately capture what it sounded like at the show, so it was a no brainer. My first time back in the OTS since I think it was an Other Ones show in Hartford was the Phil Lesh show at the Cap 3/19, I clamped off an old buddies stand in the front of the OTS. I purchase up some of Scotts mounts, I used the ORTF for the first set and the DIN for the second, XLR cables are Darktrains.
This was the first time I used this deck and I was very impressed with it's ease of use, I think it's a keeper!
Here's the link to my first LMA upload:
https://archive.org/details/phil2015-03-19.km184.flac16 (https://archive.org/details/phil2015-03-19.km184.flac16)
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Got a chance to run the DR-70D for the first time on Friday night and I'm really happy with the results. Once my new Nbob active cables come in I'll be able to run 4 channels, but Friday I just used the CK61's > actives/pfa > DR-70D
Some samples...
https://soundcloud.com/ryan-stearns-3/north-mississippi-allstars-up-over-yonder
https://soundcloud.com/ryan-stearns-3/anders-osborne-echoes-of-my-sins
https://soundcloud.com/ryan-stearns-3/north-mississippi-osborne-brush-up-against-you
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Hello, I'm new to this board, greetings everyone!
I noticed that there are a bunch of sales going for the DR-70D:
1)Massdrop for $269 or $259 or $249 depending on how many sign up: https://www.massdrop.com/buy/tascam-dr-70d?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Community%20-%20Pro%20Audio%20-%20MAU%20%28Active%29&utm_campaign=Pro%20Audio%20Active%20Product%20Announcement%202015-04-09&mode=guest_open
2)B&H for about $270 and also bundled deals of various kinds: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=tascam+dr-70d&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ps
Has anyone used the fuzzy windscreen for the 70D? Here from B&H: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1126276-REG/tascam_ak_dr70c_dr_70d_accessory_kit.html
I have the 70D, but never used the internal speakers, but I wonder how useful that windscreen would be.
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https://archive.org/details/yarn2015-04-11
First time I've been able to re-visit a place (and band!) that I've recorded before I had the DR70.
Not disappointed at all! ;)
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Just wanted to mention that I saw the 70D for sale from Adorama on Ebay, bundled with some AT ATH-M50x headphones for $299.
This seems like a great deal, seeing as though the headphones are worth about $100-140 themselves.
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Wow, lots of good deals to be had. I picked mine up at B&H bundled with sound forge pro for $249, excellent deal if you're a sound forge user. IMO anything under $299 is a steal for this little guy.
So I had something weird happen over the weekend, well maybe not weird but new to me. I was running a matrix at Mother Hips, with mics on stage, and during the first set the peak lights lit up a few times but levels were only hitting -5 or -4 max. I turned on the 10dB mic pads during set break, adjusted levels and no more peak lights. I checked the waveforms after the show and didn't notice any brickwalling but assume it was close to overloading the analog stage without actually doing so. Has anyone else had this happen?
It didn't seem like a super loud show but I'm thinking the mic pre's are sensitive enough to require padding at high SPL's.
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Wow, lots of good deals to be had. I picked mine up at B&H bundled with sound forge pro for $249, excellent deal if you're a sound forge user. IMO anything under $299 is a steal for this little guy.
So I had something weird happen over the weekend, well maybe not weird but new to me. I was running a matrix at Mother Hips, with mics on stage, and during the first set the peak lights lit up a few times but levels were only hitting -5 or -4 max. I turned on the 10dB mic pads during set break, adjusted levels and no more peak lights. I checked the waveforms after the show and didn't notice any brickwalling but assume it was close to overloading the analog stage without actually doing so. Has anyone else had this happen?
It didn't seem like a super loud show but I'm thinking the mic pre's are sensitive enough to require padding at high SPL's.
I believe the peak lights come on around -3dB on Tascam deck. It does not mean you are overloading the deck. I run my levels hot often and since correctly calibrating my pre with the deck I have peak lights come on all the time but never overload the deck FWIW.
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Thanks Cheesecadete, good to know!
@voltronic - Can you please add this to the FAQ page?
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I see B&H has this for $199 bundle with
Varta High-Energy 1.5V AA LR6 Alkaline Battery (4-Pack)
Beachtek SC35 Replacement Cable
SanDisk 8GB microSDHC Memory Card Ultra Class 10 UHS-I with microSD Adapter
Sony Sound Forge Pro 11 Audio Waveform Editor for Windows or Mac
My question. How would this compare to the DR-100mkII? I know the 70d is 4 channels. I've been looking for a 4 channel recorder. I already have the DR-100mkII and really like it. Was thinking of replacing it with this DR-70D so I'd have the flexibility of 4 channels. Can this 70D handle a line level signal off a soundboard with out any problems? Are the pre-amps in the 70D any good?
Thanks
KC
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I see B&H has this for $199 bundle with
Varta High-Energy 1.5V AA LR6 Alkaline Battery (4-Pack)
Beachtek SC35 Replacement Cable
SanDisk 8GB microSDHC Memory Card Ultra Class 10 UHS-I with microSD Adapter
Sony Sound Forge Pro 11 Audio Waveform Editor for Windows or Mac
My question. How would this compare to the DR-100mkII? I know the 70d is 4 channels. I've been looking for a 4 channel recorder. I already have the DR-100mkII and really like it. Was thinking of replacing it with this DR-70D so I'd have the flexibility of 4 channels. Can this 70D handle a line level signal off a soundboard with out any problems? Are the pre-amps in the 70D any good?
Thanks
KC
I think you mean $399...not $199
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I see B&H has this for $199 bundle with
Varta High-Energy 1.5V AA LR6 Alkaline Battery (4-Pack)
Beachtek SC35 Replacement Cable
SanDisk 8GB microSDHC Memory Card Ultra Class 10 UHS-I with microSD Adapter
Sony Sound Forge Pro 11 Audio Waveform Editor for Windows or Mac
My question. How would this compare to the DR-100mkII? I know the 70d is 4 channels. I've been looking for a 4 channel recorder. I already have the DR-100mkII and really like it. Was thinking of replacing it with this DR-70D so I'd have the flexibility of 4 channels. Can this 70D handle a line level signal off a soundboard with out any problems? Are the pre-amps in the 70D any good?
Thanks
KC
The 70D can handle line levels off a board, you just need to make sure the inputs are set to LINE not MIC. I ran a board feed last weekend with the board outs set to 0 (Unity) and didn't have any issues overloading the 70D.
I have a DR100mkII but haven't had a chance to do an in depth comparison between the two. I can attest that the 70D's mic pres are very good, and quite, but can't say if they're better then the DR100's. I will say that having the extra two channels is a must if you plan on doing any matrix's. I've done quite a few on the DR100 and the results were always hit or miss.
I can run specific tests between the two if you'd like, just let me know.
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Yes it is 199$
Add to cart and 74.99 discount is added to the bundle
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Tascam-Recorders/ci/27533/N/3806301825/ap/Y/pd/BHNAB2015
Or use promo code
BHNAB2015
Thinking about picking one up myself.
If so keep an eye out for a dr2d in the ys
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Holy crap, that's the best deal yet!
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Yes it is 199$
Add to cart and 74.99 discount is added to the bundle
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Tascam-Recorders/ci/27533/N/3806301825/ap/Y/pd/BHNAB2015
Or use promo code
BHNAB2015
Thinking about picking one up myself.
If so keep an eye out for a dr2d in the ys
Holy cow.
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I just picked up one of these at that $199 price, plus it comes with Sound Forge, an 8GB SD card and free shipping. Insane price. What batteries and cards are y'all using successfully with these? Pumped. I still have my R-44, any thoughts on how the internal preamps compare?
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Wow, that's a killer deal. I picked up a couple Ravpower 10400 mAh 5V batts. Ran one for NMO on Friday. Had it on for maybe 4 hrs and I think I still had 3 lights on.
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where does the promo code come from?? email list??
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I just picked up one of these at that $199 price, plus it comes with Sound Forge, an 8GB SD card and free shipping. Insane price. What batteries and cards are y'all using successfully with these? Pumped. I still have my R-44, any thoughts on how the internal preamps compare?
Good score!... Check the FAQ thread for recommendations. ;)
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172550.0 (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172550.0)
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^^thanks! I just picked up a PNY 128gig card and a pair of the USB batteries. pretty nifty little setup.
Trying to get smaller for Jazzfest
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Aaaaannnd, casually strolling onto this thread just cost me $199. :)
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Gasp...
You picked the right time to stroll in.
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Aaaaannnd, casually strolling onto this thread just cost me $199. :)
Ditto
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Almost cost me $199. I have held off, saying my 60D does just fine... Hmmm... phantom power on two more channels.
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Damn it, I couldn't resist!! I'm in as well thanks for the link
Yes, I forgot to thank those involved for sharing this link. B&H must be wondering where all of these people are coming from.
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I posted it in the retail section to give it more exposure!
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Almost cost me $199. I have held off, saying my 60D does just fine... Hmmm... phantom power on two more channels.
same
Almost jumped but do t need it and have no need for the extra xlr at this point
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Damn it, I couldn't resist!! I'm in as well thanks for the link
Yes, I forgot to thank those involved for sharing this link. B&H must be wondering where all of these people are coming from.
I think TS members deserve some free swag or something for the all the business they get from here... Although we are probably insignificant dollar-wise compared to their big customers. Just wishful thinking.
And that link almost cost me $199, and I already own one! I had a second on trying to rationalize that now I'm committing to 4 channel recording that I should have a backup unit...
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Damn it, I couldn't resist!! I'm in as well thanks for the link
Yes, I forgot to thank those involved for sharing this link. B&H must be wondering where all of these people are coming from.
I think TS members deserve some free swag or something for the all the business they get from here... Although we are probably insignificant dollar-wise compared to their big customers. Just wishful thinking.
And that link almost cost me $199, and I already own one! I had a second on trying to rationalize that now I'm committing to 4 channel recording that I should have a backup unit...
Not to weaken your resolve, but having multiple recorders, especially at this price being discussed is (ahem sorry for the pun) priceless when the need arises. This will be my sixth, which is ridiculous, but I rationalized the purchase because none of my others are 4 channel and I'm going to sell the D50 for a little more than I bought this for.
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Maybe I am just getting old, but I would love a firmware yograde to allow us to make numerical gain numbers larger so I can see them easier...and maybe make that triangle indicator at -12dB instead of -16db. Prolly just nitpicking now though.
There's probably a limit to what they can do with such a low-resolution screen, and it's likely we'll never get per-channel numerical gain all on one screen. But I think they could definitely make the one peak level indicator larger.
What I really want to see is that when you move a gain knob, a large readout of the gain setting pops up sort of like on the newer SD 6xx series recorders. I feel like this is especially important with knobs that are this small, have no indicator marks, and are just digital encoders anyway.
I'd love to see a solo feature. Like put it in Hold
..and hit the 1234 buttons to solo a channel. Solo mode should show numeric levels... And more details
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Lord knows I don't need another recorder - but . . . .
I'm such a slut for this. This is a such a great deal for a 4 channel recorder that it is almost criminal not to add one.
Sigh.
Time to revise the sig.
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I used the 70d sort of for its intended purpose as an audio recorder for DSLR for the first time last night to record one particular speaker. I had to cut the gain on my camera all the way down to its lowest setting to avoid clipping. Fortunately, I was able to use some other speakers to set my levels before recording the speaker I was interested in. I would have been hosed if the speaker I was interested in was the first one up to speak.
Coming from the 60d that has the ability to adjust the camera level going out on the fly, the 60d still has the 70d beat by a long shot in this aspect, IMO. 70d fits more easily in the camera bag and I used the internal mics on the 70d which offers some convenience, but being omnis, that convenience drops off if you have to run an external mic to someone speaking anyway or need to use cards or hypercards.
60d users shouldn't dump their 60ds, IMO.
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Ordered today and should be here Friday 8) Hopefully I get to test it out Friday night ;D Now I need to re-read some posts and Im good to go!!! And thanks for the lowdown on the promo code. $200 for all of that? Ridiculously insane pricing :)
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Ordered today and should be here Friday 8) Hopefully I get to test it out Friday night ;D Now I need to re-read some posts and Im good to go!!! And thanks for the lowdown on the promo code. $200 for all of that? Ridiculously insane pricing :)
Same here. Though, I don't need another recorder...
But, I could find reasons to use it. Like my kid's Jazz band in school with my Lumix GH2.
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Ordered today and should be here Friday 8) Hopefully I get to test it out Friday night ;D Now I need to re-read some posts and Im good to go!!! And thanks for the lowdown on the promo code. $200 for all of that? Ridiculously insane pricing :)
Same here. Though, I don't need another recorder...
But, I could find reasons to use it. Like my kid's Jazz band in school with my Lumix GH2.
I don't NEED it, but I WANT it ;D It'll sure be nice being able to take a SBD feed easier and having the ability to make just ONE cue sheet after tracking is done, versus [2] cue sheets when I use two different m10s :) And having everything sycnhed up for the post work! I just hope this little guy is as reliable as the m10 has been to us!
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How does this thing do with a hot line level +25dbu like a V2?
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Whats the promo code folks? Need it for a friend really quick ;)
TIA,
Bean
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http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172648.0
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How does this thing do with a hot line level +25dbu like a V2?
Max line level in is +20dBu, I've run line levels off a SBD without overloading.
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Thanks John!
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A lot of boards and preamps will output quite a bit hotter than +20, so would be essential to carry a pair of -10 pads. +28 is that hottest signal you would ever encounter. Most would max out around +24.
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I wonder how hot my vms02ib output is? I guess I can get a pad as well, but Id need it in RCAs, which I dont think they make. Im praying I dont need any pads or anything, because I already have the cables I need to go from my preamps>70D. Id hate to add more to the chain as it is!
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Order placed! Surprised the deal is still up. I couldn't really pass this one up. Likely selling a DR-2d here shortly to fund this, so check the YS soon if anyone wants one.
What's everyone running with these? I use Naks and Church Audio mics. Can you do a 4 channel mix of XLR + miniplug inputs and get 4 separate files? I'm a little confused about if I can do that or not. The big selling point here for me is the ability to have control over all the channels. The Naks aren't balanced so I'll be able to get the output to better levels.
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Order placed! Surprised the deal is still up. I couldn't really pass this one up. Likely selling a DR-2d here shortly to fund this, so check the YS soon if anyone wants one.
What's everyone running with these? I use Naks and Church Audio mics. Can you do a 4 channel mix of XLR + miniplug inputs and get 4 separate files? I'm a little confused about if I can do that or not. The big selling point here for me is the ability to have control over all the channels. The Naks aren't balanced so I'll be able to get the output to better levels.
Yes
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Yeah, you can run an input to the EXT 1/2 mini input, and then run XLRs on channel 3/4 to do a 4 mic matrix ;) You can make the files mono and have 4 different files, or you can do stereo, and have 2 files, each with 2 channels. Or you can do a 2MIX, which takes all 4 channels and mixes them down to a 2 channel mixdown ;)
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60d users shouldn't dump their 60ds, IMO.
agreed
The pros for me are the camera/line/headphone all active at once and adjustable
The con is two xlr
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Maiden voyage of the 70D tonight at a high school small ensembles concert. Also the first try at the 4-mic phased array I learned from Tony Faulkner and others over at GS. With no external preamps, I am seriously impressed with how this recording came out. Variety of ensembles, mostly very quiet stuff and I was recording on HIGH gain and so far the only significant noise I'm getting is the school auditorium HVAC. Once I get a chance to export some samples I'll post them here, along with a request for feedback on how to balance the omnis and subcards. I may do that in a separate thread though as Gutbucket suggested, but wanted to post here about the great results I got with this little guy right away. If you're on the fence - do it!
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Bean, the output of the VMS 02 is likely the same as the newer VMS-5U, +18.
So you should be able to run it as hot as you want and not clip your converter.
That said, you can always dial back the VMS a bit (or any preamp) to prevent any possible overs into the converter.
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Bean, the output of the VMS 02 is likely the same as the newer VMS-5U, +18.
So you should be able to run it as hot as you want and not clip your converter.
That said, you can always dial back the VMS a bit (or any preamp) to prevent any possible overs into the converter.
Thanks a lot PH 8) +T! The vms02ib only has one gain knob though. Some have 20/30/40db gain knobs, but mine just has 20/40db settings[same for both channels, so no separate gain knobs for each channel], so I will only ever use the 20db for mostly what I do :)
Thanks for the info. I feel a lot safer now that the 70D wont clip! And my Littlebox has variable gain on both channels, so its no problem. I'm excited that I'll have a little control of each channel with regards to the vms02ib, since it only has the one gain knob 8) That said, both channels have been almost dead even running two different mk41s[one from 1980 and the other from 1992]. Just goes to show Schoeps quality control 8) Mine should be here Friday! Lets hope, because I'm hitting a show Friday night! Hopefully I get all of the settings right for the first show with it!
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OK, been checking out external batteries for the 70D, and looks like I'm going with the RavPower Element 10,400mah!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009V5X1CE?ie=UTF8&ref_=de_a_smtd&showDetailTechData=1#technical-data
Just one question(yes I'm serious :P) but how do you charge it? With just another USB like my computer? Or an adapter that I have that can plug USB cables into the wall? Or does it come with an AC adapter? Because there's no mention of one in the sales page for it! I've never owned a USB battery before, and I honestly have no clue how to charge the RavPower batteries :( But I'm guessing its just another USB port like my computer or the adapter I just mentioned!
Thanks,
Bean
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Bean, both ways you mentioned will work. Any USB outlet or USB Wall Wart should work fine. I've been using a 5000mA one for my iPhone for a while and I can get two full charges on that before the USB pack needs a recharge.
The 102000mA should be roughly twice that. I'm guessing it will power the 70D for 8-12 hours plus give your iPhone a charge. Ha!
My 70D arrives tomorrow, and the batteries and card next week.
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OK, been checking out external batteries for the 70D, and looks like I'm going with the RavPower Element 10,400mah!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009V5X1CE?ie=UTF8&ref_=de_a_smtd&showDetailTechData=1#technical-data
Just one question(yes I'm serious :P) but how do you charge it? With just another USB like my computer? Or an adapter that I have that can plug USB cables into the wall? Or does it come with an AC adapter? Because there's no mention of one in the sales page for it! I've never owned a USB battery before, and I honestly have no clue how to charge the RavPower batteries :( But I'm guessing its just another USB port like my computer or the adapter I just mentioned!
Thanks,
Bean
FYI it takes 12+ hrs to charge so plan ahead
I use an iphone wall plug and the charge cables comes with it I believe
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^ yep.
You'll like the Ravpower.
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How many hours of runtime (4ch) are you guys getting on a full charge with the 10200 or 12000?
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I have the slightly larger capacity RavPower battery listed on the FAQ page, and mine came fully charged, which was a pleasant surprise.
After running the 70D with 4 channels with 48V phantom for just over 2 hours, the indicator still shows full bars, whatever that means.
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Full bars means 75-100% power remaining.
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Full bars means 75-100% power remaining.
Very roughly yeah, but not really. What you don't want to do is assume that, say, if there are four bars that each bar correlates to 1/4 of the battery energy.
Look at the discharge curve of any battery and you'll understand why. The curve shows how the voltage decreases over time. The number of bars is actually an indication of the battery voltage. Although I suppose a manufacturer might go to special lengths to put a chip into their batteries to correlate to the non-linear discharge curve, I really doubt any of them do.
So the battery discharge curve is typically steep at the start, flat in the middle and steep at the end. What that means is that when the battey is fully charged, you see all the bars, but shortly after you start apply a load, the first bar goes out because the voltage curve is steep as the voltage drops fairly quickly. Then for the majority of the time, the indicator stays on either three or two bars because the battery voltage settles out at a nominal voltage and drops really slowly. Towards the end of the battery discharge cycle, the voltage might still be fairly close to the nominal voltage, but the battery is getting close to being spent. At the end of the cycle, the curve drops off steeply, so that means that you'll go from say two bars to zero quickly. Most of my devices go from two bars to zero in ten minutes or less.
So you shouldn't rely on those bars as anything but a really rough indicator. It's best to do run time tests AND understand the above relationship between number of bars and the run-time so that you'll have a pretty good feeling of how much time you have left on your battery.
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So for my first 2 channel run with this deck I had the settings on stereo, instead of mono, resulting in one file that included both channels. I also realized after that I had channels 3/4 set to record even though there were no mics plugged in. The result was an extra file for channel 3/4 that was the same size as the one for 1/2. Thought that was interesting.
My question is what would be the advantage, if any, to have it set for mono? Seems like it would be just a lot of extra work to merge the L and R files in post. Unless there is a sonic difference I'm not aware of.
Also noticed since I was running 24/96 the end result was more files than I used to have with the HD-P2 running 24/48. I think it created 4-5 files for channels 1/2 on a 3 hr 15 min recording.
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Full bars means 75-100% power remaining.
Very roughly yeah, but not really. What you don't want to do is assume that, say, if there are four bars that each bar correlates to 1/4 of the battery energy.
Look at the discharge curve of any battery and you'll understand why. The curve shows how the voltage decreases over time. The number of bars is actually an indication of the battery voltage. Although I suppose a manufacturer might go to special lengths to put a chip into their batteries to correlate to the non-linear discharge curve, I really doubt any of them do.
So the battery discharge curve is typically steep at the start, flat in the middle and steep at the end. What that means is that when the battey is fully charged, you see all the bars, but shortly after you start apply a load, the first bar goes out because the voltage curve is steep as the voltage drops fairly quickly. Then for the majority of the time, the indicator stays on either three or two bars because the battery voltage settles out at a nominal voltage and drops really slowly. Towards the end of the battery discharge cycle, the voltage might still be fairly close to the nominal voltage, but the battery is getting close to being spent. At the end of the cycle, the curve drops off steeply, so that means that you'll go from say two bars to zero quickly. Most of my devices go from two bars to zero in ten minutes or less.
So you shouldn't rely on those bars as anything but a really rough indicator. It's best to do run time tests AND understand the above relationship between number of bars and the run-time so that you'll have a pretty good feeling of how much time you have left on your battery.
Yeah that's how cell phone batteries tend to behave also. Totally agree that each user should do a runtime test with their own mics, etc. to really have a good idea.
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Buried in part 1, one of our members reported running over 10 hours on the 10400 Ravpower without phantom power. I've lost track of how I came to think so, but my impression is runtimes of 6 hours with phantom power are no problem. Somebody probably needs to confirm the expected runtime on full phantom power for all 4 channels and then add it to the FAQ to settle this recurring question.
So for my first 2 channel run with this deck I had the settings on stereo, instead of mono, resulting in one file that included both channels. I also realized after that I had channels 3/4 set to record even though there were no mics plugged in. The result was an extra file for channel 3/4 that was the same size as the one for 1/2. Thought that was interesting.
My question is what would be the advantage, if any, to have it set for mono? Seems like it would be just a lot of extra work to merge the L and R files in post. Unless there is a sonic difference I'm not aware of. Shouldn't be any sonic difference. If you have static or some problem in one channel, I find it easier to edit it out of the one channel if I am dealing with one channel instead of two stereo channels, but of course you can split a stereo file anyway. Others are probably more knowledgeable of better answers.
Also noticed since I was running 24/96 the end result was more files than I used to have with the HD-P2 running 24/48. I think it created 4-5 files for channels 1/2 on a 3 hr 15 min recording. 24/96 should produce a larger file than 24/48. The recorder splits files at a certain file size. So you'd get more files at 24/96 than 24/48 all other things being equal. yes??
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Buried in part 1, one of our members reported running over 10 hours on the 10400 Ravpower without phantom power. I've lost track of how I came to think so, but my impression is runtimes of 6 hours with phantom power are no problem. Somebody probably needs to confirm the expected runtime on full phantom power for all 4 channels and then add it to the FAQ to settle this recurring question.
It's probably going to vary quite a bit depending on the current consumption of mics people are using, gain settings, etc.
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Buried in part 1, one of our members reported running over 10 hours on the 10400 Ravpower without phantom power. I've lost track of how I came to think so, but my impression is runtimes of 6 hours with phantom power are no problem. Somebody probably needs to confirm the expected runtime on full phantom power for all 4 channels and then add it to the FAQ to settle this recurring question.
It's probably going to vary quite a bit depending on the current consumption of mics people are using, gain settings, etc.
I ran my 184s with phantom set at 48, low mic gain and I got 7 1/2 hours.
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Here's a link to a thread I started on 4-mic phased array recording, with a link to some samples of the concert from last night:
http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172679.0 (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172679.0)
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Buried in part 1, one of our members reported running over 10 hours on the 10400 Ravpower without phantom power. I've lost track of how I came to think so, but my impression is runtimes of 6 hours with phantom power are no problem. Somebody probably needs to confirm the expected runtime on full phantom power for all 4 channels and then add it to the FAQ to settle this recurring question.
The data is here : http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172109.msg2133009#msg2133009 (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172109.msg2133009#msg2133009)
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Thank you.
Quoting: I am running some power tests on the DR70-D.
The setup is :
-- Anker 2G E4 13000mAh Usb battery,
-- recording all four channels,
-- at 96/24,
-- with 4 Akg Blue Line mics with phantom power on.
Measured through a small Usb inline meter, the results are :
-- Voltage (average) 5.24V
-- Intensity (average) 0.63A
This translates into 3.30W power used.
Supposing that the Usb batteries specs are given for 3.5V rather than 5V, 13000mAh would give 13.8 hours theoretical run time. This seems more or less in line with the test running as I just lost the 3 diode (there are four of them) on the battery so half the diodes (power) left after 7 hours...
-- Only one diode left after 9 hours and 50 minutes...
-- After a little less than 11 hours the card (32GB) was full. The DR70-D did not like being stopped that way. Powered it down, changed the the card, formatted it but it would not restore phantom power to the mics. Powered it down and then up again, same result. I had to stop it and remove the power source for a minute before starting again and getting the phantom back...
-- After 13 hours and 30 minutes the one remaining diode began flashing...
-- The external battery last diode went off after 13 hours and 45 minutes and the recorder switched to internal batteries. This is 13.75 hours : very close to the 13.8 hours computed before starting !
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How many hours of runtime (4ch) are you guys getting on a full charge with the 10200 or 12000?
The manual says that it gets 6:15 on eneloops at 2ch 16/44.1 and no phantom. Assuming 2000mah eneloops, that's a consumption rate of 325ma per hour at 6V, or 1.95W. The 12000 is a 60Whr battery (12000mah x 5v) so in theory the runtime from that battery would be a bit over 30 hours at these specifications.
The manual claims 5W maximum power draw. At that rate the battery would provide 60W-hr/ 5W = 12 hours of runtime.
As always, it's best practicee to conduct runtime tests yourself to confirm the numbers before mission critical work and/or have backup power ready in case something goes wrong (which it always does).
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Tiny! This thing is 8)
Who has run Schoeps directly into it using PFAs? Why do I need an Aerco or the VMS? Or an NBox?
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Tiny! This thing is 8)
Who has run Schoeps directly into it using PFAs? Why do I need an Aerco or the VMS? Or an NBox?
Just got mine today but don't have any confidence to use it tonite without spending more time with it. As far as running schoeps straight in i mean your mics will sound fine but don't expect a genie in a 200 - 300 box. I've used a bunch of tascam recorders and the preamps get the job done but they aren't gonna deliver over the top sound. You get what you pay for which is why you paid top dollar for your mics, no?
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I got mine today too. Smaller than I thought and impressive bit of ergonomics to fit all of this into such a tiny footprint.
As for using mics direct to recorder vs external preamp..... I land clearly on the side of no need for external preamp in 90% of my usage situations.
I want something small and easy in most cases. I've used my Schoeps direct to the R-44 for many years and found it to sound more than excellent.
The 70D actually has 20db better self noise specs than the R-44 and better SN ratio than virtually every other device of it's kind, including the much more expensive SD's.
When I still had my V2 & V3, I ran tests with both of those compared with running Schoeps direct, and found even when listening on my ADAM S3A's,
that I couldn't perceive enough of a difference to keep either. Another advantage of the 70D over the R-44 is that you have the LINE/MIC option, which I would assume would
bypass the preamp chip if you were using an external preamp. That always annoyed me about the R-44 and one of the reasons I sold the V2/V3.
I plan on running a battery of tests this coming week to compare it with R-44 with the Mics direct and with an external preamp.
I have four of the Forsell SMP-500's in a lunchbox and would be cool to take those out and use them at local gigs where I have power and a safe place to setup.
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Broke the 70D's cherry this afternoon with a nice 90 minute set by Rebirth Brass Band for Earth Day at Centennial Park in Nashville. It was outside on the band shell, perfect day for it. FOH sound was a bit loud and abrasive for the size of the crowd, but I was really happy with the way the recording turned out.
I didn't run a stand, just pulled the CCM5's out of the bag and put on top, using the ORTF bar at the right angle for the low stacks.
Hard to say, but I feel it most definitely pulled a better recording than I would have expected and likely better than my R-44 would do under same circumstances. I did notice a small issue when I was running on internal batteries and powered on, I plugged in the USB battery and it froze the 70D cold.
Had to do a hard restart by removing the internal battery connection for a second and powering back up, which erased all of the recording settings I had just set. But, it worked perfectly after that and it was long before music started. Ran on low mic setting since it was easily 105 db from my location.
It was fun and I love the size. I'm going to run some tests later this week, I'll post them here.
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OK, been checking out external batteries for the 70D, and looks like I'm going with the RavPower Element 10,400mah!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009V5X1CE?ie=UTF8&ref_=de_a_smtd&showDetailTechData=1#technical-data
Just one question(yes I'm serious :P) but how do you charge it? With just another USB like my computer? Or an adapter that I have that can plug USB cables into the wall? Or does it come with an AC adapter? Because there's no mention of one in the sales page for it! I've never owned a USB battery before, and I honestly have no clue how to charge the RavPower batteries :( But I'm guessing its just another USB port like my computer or the adapter I just mentioned!
Thanks,
Bean
FYI it takes 12+ hrs to charge so plan ahead
I use an iphone wall plug and the charge cables comes with it I believe
Thanks! I wasn't aware of that!
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OK, been checking out external batteries for the 70D, and looks like I'm going with the RavPower Element 10,400mah!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009V5X1CE?ie=UTF8&ref_=de_a_smtd&showDetailTechData=1#technical-data
Just one question(yes I'm serious :P) but how do you charge it? With just another USB like my computer? Or an adapter that I have that can plug USB cables into the wall? Or does it come with an AC adapter? Because there's no mention of one in the sales page for it! I've never owned a USB battery before, and I honestly have no clue how to charge the RavPower batteries :( But I'm guessing its just another USB port like my computer or the adapter I just mentioned!
Thanks,
Bean
FYI it takes 12+ hrs to charge so plan ahead
I use an iphone wall plug and the charge cables comes with it I believe
Thanks! I wasn't aware of that!
What's pretty cool is that this battery charges through a microUSB jack in between the two full-size USB jacks. The 70D uses a microUSB connector also, so you only ever need to carry one cable to charge the battery and then turn it around and power the 70D.
The included cables have snap-on removable connectors for different types of connections. I got a 1ft version of this though, which I really like since it stays out of the way of other cables connected to the unit:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YKX6WC/ref=twister_B0089W5Q1O?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YKX6WC/ref=twister_B0089W5Q1O?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1)
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Another advantage of the 70D over the R-44 is that you have the LINE/MIC option, which I would assume would
bypass the preamp chip if you were using an external preamp.
Haven't looked into it, but I doubt this is the way it works.
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I always start with USB battery already connected. Otherwise, I suspect it will bring up the bus power/storage screen. I guess that is where it froze.
With no mic/line switch, I also doubt the 70d preamps can be bypassed. But I have been wrong before.
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I see the only way to switch from line to mic is digitally, so that would seem to rule out a true bypass...not that it really matters anyway.
One would need to look at the schematics to see exactly how it applies the change.
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Brought the DR-70D to Tedeschi Trucks Band on 4/18 in Arrington, Va. Fun little device. Ran LSD2 straight in and it sounds nice.
http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=579381
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^I know you didn't comp them... but is it anywhere near a 744 killer?
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https://archive.org/details/um2015-04-18.flac16
Here's my rain shortened recording from Saturday. This unit is a fucking keeper. Love it.
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https://archive.org/details/um2015-04-18.flac16
Here's my rain shortened recording from Saturday. This unit is a fucking keeper. Love it.
Nice. Just what I was wondering about running PFAs directly into the 70d.
Thanks!
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So all of us with an FP24, have we decided that running line out of FP24 to 60/70d is a no go? Tape out is the only way to avoid overload? I guess I'll have to leave the FP24 home when running a SBD patch since I'll be using the 1/8 input on line 1/2 of 70d for the SBD and I'll run mics directly into 3/4 on the 70d. Or carry even more cables for SBD patching. :facepalm: Jon from Naiant mentions some possible solutions for a poster here but the poster does not specify if he was using tape out or line out: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=171991.30
I have run AKG>Naiant Actives>FP24(tape out)>M10 many times with no problems. The one time I ran FP24 line out>xlr in on the 60d was a disaster. I'm guessing the same thing will happen with the 70d.
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Cheesecadet is running that combo! I think you need to calibrate the 2 devices for them to work properly.
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Cheesecadet is running that combo! I think you need to calibrate the 2 devices for them to work properly.
I re read all of part one with Cheeses issues with the Fp24. Unless I'm reading it wrong he still had the same problem after calibrating. It's like someone is banging on your mic stand with a stick, but what it really is is the snare. I think the Fp24 line out is just to hot for the 60/70d.
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A quick google search on the FP24 maximum output level found me this:
From the FP24 user manual:
http://cdn.shure.com/user_guide/upload/860/us_pro_fp24_ug.pdf
Output Clipping Level:
Line: +22 dBu minimum with 100k ohm load
+20 dBu minimum with 600 ohm load
Tape: +11 dBu (2.75 V RMS) minimum with 100k ohm load
The 70D states that it can only take a maximum of +20 dBu via Line In
(unsure of if that's true for both the External Stereo 1/2 inputs and the XLR/TRS 1/2 inputs)
No idea why you would be getting volume spikes between the two.
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Cheesecadet is running that combo! I think you need to calibrate the 2 devices for them to work properly.
I re read all of part one with Cheeses issues with the Fp24. Unless I'm reading it wrong he still had the same problem after calibrating. It's like someone is banging on your mic stand with a stick, but what it really is is the snare. I think the Fp24 line out is just to hot for the 60/70d.
That was my impression also. I own the exact same gear but haven't had a chance to test them together yet - I'll try to get around to it when I get the chance. As I said somewhere much earlier in this thread, I was advised against using the XLR line out of the FP24 into the line in of the Sony PCM-M10, which can handle a fairly hot level but not that of the FP24.
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OK, been checking out external batteries for the 70D, and looks like I'm going with the RavPower Element 10,400mah!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009V5X1CE?ie=UTF8&ref_=de_a_smtd&showDetailTechData=1#technical-data
Just one question(yes I'm serious :P) but how do you charge it? With just another USB like my computer? Or an adapter that I have that can plug USB cables into the wall? Or does it come with an AC adapter? Because there's no mention of one in the sales page for it! I've never owned a USB battery before, and I honestly have no clue how to charge the RavPower batteries :( But I'm guessing its just another USB port like my computer or the adapter I just mentioned!
Thanks,
Bean
FYI it takes 12+ hrs to charge so plan ahead
I use an iphone wall plug and the charge cables comes with it I believe
Thanks! I wasn't aware of that!
What's pretty cool is that this battery charges through a microUSB jack in between the two full-size USB jacks. The 70D uses a microUSB connector also, so you only ever need to carry one cable to charge the battery and then turn it around and power the 70D.
The included cables have snap-on removable connectors for different types of connections. I got a 1ft version of this though, which I really like since it stays out of the way of other cables connected to the unit:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YKX6WC/ref=twister_B0089W5Q1O?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YKX6WC/ref=twister_B0089W5Q1O?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1)
I have a left angle micro USB>rt angle USB A cable I got on eBay for $1.20 that still fits with a rt angle stubby plugged into channel 4. Great little cable thats only 1' long as well! Finally got my 70D today[Monday] and have all of the settings the way I want them. I'm running runtimes with just alkaline AAs going mk4>NBob KCY>Naiant PFA>70D on 1/2 and mk41>vms02ib>70D on 3/4. Also running vms02ib>m10 as a backup right now. My first impressions are that its a nicely built, sturdy little unit. I LOVE it so far. Now hopefully its as reliable as the m10, and we'd have a real winner here! And for $200, its a no brainer 8)
Gormeghast, I'll be running mk4>KCY>PFA>70D the next show I tape, so that we can hear some Schoeps with the 70D preamps for the first time, since I don't know anyone who has run Schoeps straight in yet 8) Unfortunately, I don't know when my next show will be. Hopefully this Saturday :)
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And I have a question. What does auto power save do? It came on the highest setting, 30 minutes, as default but I don't know what it is and turned it OFF!
And are yinz keeping the backlight ON? If not, what setting? I'm thinking of keeping mine on always, unless it sucks a lot of power. Maybe 30 seconds instead of always?
TIA,
Bean
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And I have a question. What does auto power save do? It came on the highest setting, 30 minutes, as default but I don't know what it is and turned it OFF!
And are yinz keeping the backlight ON? If not, what setting? I'm thinking of keeping mine on always, unless it sucks a lot of power. Maybe 30 seconds instead of always?
TIA,
Bean
I haven't had it engage yet, but I'm pretty sure it powers down the the unit after a period of inactivity - in your case, 30 minutes.
The backlight timeout setting will be overridden when powering the 70D off an external battery - it will stay constant on. Actually, I had it set to timeout after a time when running of internal batteries, then I did some recording with the external battery, and then I went back into the settings with the external battery removed and found that the setting had been reset to Always On. Not sure if this is a weird thing mine did or if anyone else can verify this behavior.
In any case, if you're running external power I think the screen is drawing a very tiny amount of power in the grand scheme of things. I'd only worry about it if you're using internal batteries, and even then it might not matter much.
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Cheesecadet is running that combo! I think you need to calibrate the 2 devices for them to work properly.
I re read all of part one with Cheeses issues with the Fp24. Unless I'm reading it wrong he still had the same problem after calibrating. It's like someone is banging on your mic stand with a stick, but what it really is is the snare. I think the Fp24 line out is just to hot for the 60/70d.
That was my impression also. I own the exact same gear but haven't had a chance to test them together yet - I'll try to get around to it when I get the chance. As I said somewhere much earlier in this thread, I was advised against using the XLR line out of the FP24 into the line in of the Sony PCM-M10, which can handle a fairly hot level but not that of the FP24.
I'm guessing the easiest solution would be to run 1/8 in. on the FP24 tape out to XLR in on channels 3/4, leaving the 70d 1/8 in. input on line 1/2 open for board patches. Not really trusting the calibration method. If the line output on the FP24 is to hot for the 70d, how does calibrating lower it? I guess that's were I'm confused. :P
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Cheesecadet is running that combo! I think you need to calibrate the 2 devices for them to work properly.
I re read all of part one with Cheeses issues with the Fp24. Unless I'm reading it wrong he still had the same problem after calibrating. It's like someone is banging on your mic stand with a stick, but what it really is is the snare. I think the Fp24 line out is just to hot for the 60/70d.
That was my impression also. I own the exact same gear but haven't had a chance to test them together yet - I'll try to get around to it when I get the chance. As I said somewhere much earlier in this thread, I was advised against using the XLR line out of the FP24 into the line in of the Sony PCM-M10, which can handle a fairly hot level but not that of the FP24.
I'm guessing the easiest solution would be to run 1/8 in. on the FP24 tape out to XLR in on channels 3/4, leaving the 70d 1/8 in. input on line 1/2 open for board patches. Not really trusting the calibration method. If the line output on the FP24 is to hot for the 70d, how does calibrating lower it? I guess that's were I'm confused. :P
You can't adjust the output level of the FP24. You turn on the slate tone and adjust the input on the 70D or whatever recorder you're using to read -20 on that recorder.
The voltage level on the FP24 line out (XLR) is much hotter than the tape out, which is intended for connection to cameras and other devices with 1/8" inputs.
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I joined the club today. Hi folks!
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Just got my replacement DR-70D back today and signed for it. They supposedly replaced it for a new unit...NOT!
I open the outer box to find an already opened TASCAM box with only the recorder in it and the manual, nothing else. On top of that, the screen is covered with surface scratches and the bottom rubber pad looks like someone went at it with a pen knife.
All I can say is that if you need to have this unit repaired, just throw it out and buy a new one. You will get better satisfaction than dealing with their service center.
TASCAM service is 100% CRAP!
I know you all are very happy with your DR-70D's, however I wouldn't trust sending it back to them at all, as now I am looking at the refund of which B&H is backing me on.
TASCAM really didn't give a fuck about the fact that they sent a used recorder back to me after they told me it was being replaced with a 100% new model.
The screen is so scratched that you can't see the levels accurately if there is a glare on the screen from lighting in a room or the sun.
Uhg...I am the one and lonely Tascam DR-70D user that will never stand behind this product. Sorry to be a downer!
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Just got my replacement DR-70D back today and signed for it. They supposedly replaced it for a new unit...NOT!
I open the outer box to find an already opened TASCAM box with only the recorder in it and the manual, nothing else. On top of that, the screen is covered with surface scratches and the bottom rubber pad looks like someone went at it with a pen knife.
All I can say is that if you need to have this unit repaired, just throw it out and buy a new one. You will get better satisfaction than dealing with their service center.
TASCAM service is 100% CRAP!
I know you all are very happy with your DR-70D's, however I wouldn't trust sending it back to them at all, as now I am looking at the refund of which B&H is backing me on.
TASCAM really didn't give a fuck about the fact that they sent a used recorder back to me after they told me it was being replaced with a 100% new model.
The screen is so scratched that you can't see the levels accurately if there is a glare on the screen from lighting in a room or the sun.
Uhg...I am the one and lonely Tascam DR-70D user that will never stand behind this product. Sorry to be a downer!
Sorry you had a horrible experience. I hope you took pictures and immediately emailed them along with an account of what happened to someone at the USA corporate offices. They should be sending you a brand new unit along with a letter of apology.
FWIW, I once had to send a Sony PCM-M10 in for service for a channel imbalance issue with the built-in mics. It was handled very professionally by a service center in Teaneck, NJ and they immediately sent me a brand new one. Sorry to hear Tascam's service isn't at this level.
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Pics had been sent immediately with a full report! Hope I get some satisfaction from this ordeal.
They have a separate service center just for the DR-70D and a separate dept that sends them out after repair or warranty. To many cooks in the kitchen scenario.
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Post pic here. Make it public.
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Where is the record pause button? Thanks.
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Where is the record pause button? Thanks.
There isn't one. It shows the levels without hitting record, so no pause is needed
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Pics had been sent immediately with a full report! Hope I get some satisfaction from this ordeal.
They have a separate service center just for the DR-70D and a separate dept that sends them out after repair or warranty. To many cooks in the kitchen scenario.
I'm sorry you've had this experience with Tascam and the 70d. I just couldn't pass up on the $200 deal. I just hope Tascam takes full responsibility of the situation and send you a NEW unit ASAP, because that is bullshit!
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Go on Twitter and complain about it. I'm not on there but I've heard that gets a quick response.
So I got my DR-70d today. Similar initial reactions as some I've read on here. It's real small, but feels like quality build. The single XLR on the side is awkward. But I knew the size and specs when I got it so I'm happy so far. Can't wait to try it out, hopefully here very soon.
I plan on running my Naks and Teacs into the XLR/TRS inputs as well as my CA-14s into the ext in. Sounds like I could possibly run the CAs > Line in on the recorder's phantom power, but I'm used to using the STC preamp so I'll probably just keep using the pre to save battery. Also, the recorder can't typically be 5' from the mics. I like that the XLR inputs can take TRS 1/4" as well. Didn't think I would ever have a use for the XLRs > 1/4 that came with the Naks.
I've got it testing right now with my 3200 mAh charger. Been going 2h 34m so far with 4 channels. I won't report back with all the specifics because it sounds like that's already readily available. I'm a little confused though. Some have mentioned seeing bars. Is that on the batt or the recorder? Because my screen only shows the USB symbol in the upper right corner. I don't see how I can tell how much battery power is left. When turning the unit on on USB power, it asks me to select between USB BUS and STORAGE. I chose USB Bus.
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Where is the record pause button? Thanks.
There isn't one. It shows the levels without hitting record, so no pause is needed
Cool Beans! The record/pause on the M10 bit my ass more than once. ;D On my 702 I have it set to instantly start recording.
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Ravpower external battery and others display bars on the battery to show remaining power.
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Adorama also has a great deal on a Tascam DR-70D 4-Channel Audio Recorder for DSLR Cameras for $209 - $25 rebate = $184 + free shipping.
http://www.adorama.com/als.MVC/nspc/revisedProduct?sku=TSDR70D&emailprice=t&utm_term=weYTCNSwSU4rUc:ToV1rYTSMUkVTYSVBQTmaXY0&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Other&utm_source=rflaid62905&cvosrc=affiliate.62905
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Ravpower external battery and others display bars on the battery to show remaining power.
^ I see, thanks. I'll have to pick one up. My cheap battery seems to be working fine but I'd like something with a reading. It's at 3h 45m now, so it seems it will be sufficient for a single night at least.
So when I'm running Naks into this via XLR > TRS, I'm assuming I'll want the mic in option just like on the dr-2d. What about other settings? It sounded like someone earlier in the 50 pages (yeah I read it all today) mentioned that the HIGH setting was way too much. Usually the outputs are low on those mics, requiring a ton of amplification in post, so I'm wondering how this unit will compare to the DR-2d. The mics are operating on 12V each by the way. Guess it will be nice to have those adjustable levels.
Here's something that I don't think has been addressed in the threads - Can you adjust levels separately on the stereo ext in? Not sure I have a need for that but it seems like it would be good to know.
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Ravpower external battery and others display bars on the battery to show remaining power.
Here's something that I don't think has been addressed in the threads - Can you adjust levels separately on the stereo ext in? Not sure I have a need for that but it seems like it would be good to know.
Yes, channels 1/2 should be able to tweak levels on EXT Stereo IN. Its just another input!
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Ravpower external battery and others display bars on the battery to show remaining power.
Here's something that I don't think has been addressed in the threads - Can you adjust levels separately on the stereo ext in? Not sure I have a need for that but it seems like it would be good to know.
Yes, channels 1/2 should be able to tweak levels on EXT Stereo IN. Its just another input!
And personally I see this as a problem, since now it's tricky to get the two channels exactly balanced. That's why I put a request for ganged gain controls for stereo pairs in the Firmware Requests section of the FAQ. I don't think the Tascam rep is active here anymore though...
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Last Active:
April 19, 2015, 10:59:26 PM
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Ravpower external battery and others display bars on the battery to show remaining power.
Here's something that I don't think has been addressed in the threads - Can you adjust levels separately on the stereo ext in? Not sure I have a need for that but it seems like it would be good to know.
Yes, channels 1/2 should be able to tweak levels on EXT Stereo IN. Its just another input!
And personally I see this as a problem, since now it's tricky to get the two channels exactly balanced. That's why I put a request for ganged gain controls for stereo pairs in the Firmware Requests section of the FAQ. I don't think the Tascam rep is active here anymore though...
Im not sure what you mean by saying "its tricky" to get the 2 channels balanced? If you use the EXT Stereo 1/8" input, you just use the channel 1/2 gain knobs.
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Ive been running tests on the 70D the last 2 days. So far, running mk4>PFA>70D on 1/2 with Phantom ON, and mk41>vms02ib>70D on 3/4 Line IN, all 4 channels at 24/96, and I can barely get 2 hours with alkalines or NIMH batteries :(
I also found out that when the 70D completely runs out of power, that it DOES indeed SAVE from where the batteries died. So that makes me feel a little safer :) I'll be getting a USB Battery at WalMart tomorrow or Thursday for shows I'm doing this weekend, so thankfully I wont have to run just the alkalines :) And I'm going to order a few USB Batteries from Amazon here really soon, so I'll be all set on power after I grab those! Now I just need to decide which battery I'm going to use so that I can power my vms02ib externally. Changing the 8xAA in the vms, 4xAA in the 70D, and 4xAA to power both M10s, I'll be damn glad to be able to power the vms externally, because its a PITA to change out the AAs in it :(
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Ravpower external battery and others display bars on the battery to show remaining power.
Here's something that I don't think has been addressed in the threads - Can you adjust levels separately on the stereo ext in? Not sure I have a need for that but it seems like it would be good to know.
Yes, channels 1/2 should be able to tweak levels on EXT Stereo IN. Its just another input!
And personally I see this as a problem, since now it's tricky to get the two channels exactly balanced. That's why I put a request for ganged gain controls for stereo pairs in the Firmware Requests section of the FAQ. I don't think the Tascam rep is active here anymore though...
Im not sure what you mean by saying "its tricky" to get the 2 channels balanced? If you use the EXT Stereo 1/8" input, you just use the channel 1/2 gain knobs.
What I mean is it's tricky to set those two channels to exactly the same level. In most other recorders, it's one knob to control the stereo input pair. Here you have to use two, and the display only shows the current highest peak level from any channel (it doesn't tell you which one). It's easier if you're recording from an external pre that can output slate tones like the MixPre / FP24. You set one channel to -20, then you move the other until the peak level is higher than that, and slowly back it down to -20.
My point is, if there was an option to gang together a pair of channels for gain adjustments you wouldn't have to worry about the two channels being different levels. On the 70D, you do. Since it's all digitally controlled though, they could actually change this in firmware if they wanted to.
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My point is, if there was an option to gang together a pair of channels for gain adjustments you wouldn't have to worry about the two channels being different levels. On the 70D, you do. Since it's all digitally controlled though, they could actually change this in firmware if they wanted to.
No being able to gang all the inputs of the channels is the only reason I don't buy a DR-70D.
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Ravpower external battery and others display bars on the battery to show remaining power.
Here's something that I don't think has been addressed in the threads - Can you adjust levels separately on the stereo ext in? Not sure I have a need for that but it seems like it would be good to know.
Yes, channels 1/2 should be able to tweak levels on EXT Stereo IN. Its just another input!
And personally I see this as a problem, since now it's tricky to get the two channels exactly balanced. That's why I put a request for ganged gain controls for stereo pairs in the Firmware Requests section of the FAQ. I don't think the Tascam rep is active here anymore though...
Im not sure what you mean by saying "its tricky" to get the 2 channels balanced? If you use the EXT Stereo 1/8" input, you just use the channel 1/2 gain knobs.
What I mean is it's tricky to set those two channels to exactly the same level. In most other recorders, it's one knob to control the stereo input pair. Here you have to use two, and the display only shows the current highest peak level from any channel (it doesn't tell you which one). It's easier if you're recording from an external pre that can output slate tones like the MixPre / FP24. You set one channel to -20, then you move the other until the peak level is higher than that, and slowly back it down to -20.
My point is, if there was an option to gang together a pair of channels for gain adjustments you wouldn't have to worry about the two channels being different levels. On the 70D, you do. Since it's all digitally controlled though, they could actually change this in firmware if they wanted to.
That's funny, because I like the 70D because I CAN control each channel separately lol ;D Just goes to show different tapers like different things!!! My vms only has one gain knob for both channels[20/40db settings] and even though its usually dead even, it'll be nice to be able to tweak them if needed :)
So what you're saying is, if you run EXT Stereo IN on 1/2, you just wish you had ONE gain knob like the 60D does for channels 3/4 ???
And to be perfectly honest, I don't pay attention to the specs and slate tones[which I have never used even once], I just plug in what goes where and watch the levels until I'm comfortable and and just let it ride from there. Since its 24-Bit, I can run levels conservatively and not have to stress about a loud part or something during the music! And I have no real world experience yet, but the gain controls on the 70D seem very easy to use. I'm able to set levels pretty quick while I've been recording TV and music in my house. Guess I'll find out this weekend how easy they really are to adjust ;) I plan on just setting levels and putting hold ON once I'm satisfied ;D I think its rather easy to get all 4 channels pretty lined up gain-wise on the screen!
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Ok thanks for all the input on the ext in. It will probably be fine but I can see how it would bother someone that the levels are left to human error.
Ran the unit last night for about 6 hours with a Fremo Q-02 3200mAh battery, then charged my iPhone after. 3/4 had the internals running and I think I had 1/2 set to mic with nothing going in. I'm guessing that would be about the same draw as line in because phantom power was off(but please correct that if I'm wrong). Not sure how much juice was left but I charged the Fremo overnight, as I'm hoping to try out the DR-70d tonight. I'll still probably end up purchasing a higher mAh batt, but it seems like this will work for a single night. I'll of course have AAs on hand just in case, and will report back on how it goes.
A couple things...
I said earlier in the thread that CA mics could potentially be run with the phantom power. DO NOT DO THIS!! I should have thought before I posted, but those mics cannot be powered above 12V, and the phantom on the 70d is way higher.
What can be done that I've been needing is 4ch all with mic in. The Naks/Teacs have low output and cannot be run line in that I'm aware of, so it will be nice to try out a stereo pair of cards with center omni now.
Edit to add... Something I don't like. I really don't like how the battery compartment opens. It took me a minute to figure out, kept thinking it was to slide off, but it pops off at that little tiny notch. The DR-2d has a similar compartment for the SD card that I don't like. Doesn't the plastic that holds it on break eventually? Other than that the 70d seems to be pretty sturdy.
Here you have to use two, and the display only shows the current highest peak level from any channel (it doesn't tell you which one).
^ Maybe I'm missing something here, but when testing I seemed to show 4 channels. That said, I didn't actually plug in any miniplug devices to the ext in to see how they would appear on the screen. Are you saying you only have a single bar on the screen for a stereo pair, as if it were mono?
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Pics had been sent immediately with a full report! Hope I get some satisfaction from this ordeal.
They have a separate service center just for the DR-70D and a separate dept that sends them out after repair or warranty. To many cooks in the kitchen scenario.
I'm sorry you've had this experience with Tascam and the 70d. I just couldn't pass up on the $200 deal. I just hope Tascam takes full responsibility of the situation and send you a NEW unit ASAP, because that is bullshit!
Thanks F.O.Bean and I agree this is bullshit. I received an email later last night from Teac/TASCAM saying that the scratches all over the screen is a film that covers it....REALLY! They must think all consumers are dumb ass idiots, as there was no film and I clearly had taken pics of which show this. I am perplexed as to why they will not honor their warranty as well and specifically their mistake in sending a scratched re-furbed model to me with only the USB cable that comes with the unit? I do not use the camera foot attachment and would remove and place the rubber inserts into the holes...well they did not send these either, yet they are telling me it was a new model in an unopened box. The person that is telling me this is in a different office in a different location that does not see what goes out and yet assumes they can not make a mistake...uhg!!!
They really are not standing behind their product and do not want to take the unit back it seems, of which is so confusing for a new product and a company that will not stand behind their mistakes in house.
So I will use my Zoom H6 and wait for the Zoom F8 to come out.
What really pisses me off is that the emails they send you more or less talk down to the consumer and considers themselves not in any wrong while the consumer gets treated like a moron that never graduated 1st grade. Such bad bad bad customer service.. I hope none of you all have to deal with them!!! seriously!!!
Will post pics when I get home from the day job.
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Pics had been sent immediately with a full report! Hope I get some satisfaction from this ordeal.
They have a separate service center just for the DR-70D and a separate dept that sends them out after repair or warranty. To many cooks in the kitchen scenario.
I'm sorry you've had this experience with Tascam and the 70d. I just couldn't pass up on the $200 deal. I just hope Tascam takes full responsibility of the situation and send you a NEW unit ASAP, because that is bullshit!
Thanks F.O.Bean and I agree this is bullshit. I received an email later last night from Teac/TASCAM saying that the scratches all over the screen is a film that covers it....REALLY!
Did anyone get a DR-70D that actually had the packing film on the screen?
Got mine from BH - and it had no film - and I think another poster said his had no film either. (this was early in the first thread)
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Pics had been sent immediately with a full report! Hope I get some satisfaction from this ordeal.
They have a separate service center just for the DR-70D and a separate dept that sends them out after repair or warranty. To many cooks in the kitchen scenario.
I'm sorry you've had this experience with Tascam and the 70d. I just couldn't pass up on the $200 deal. I just hope Tascam takes full responsibility of the situation and send you a NEW unit ASAP, because that is bullshit!
Thanks F.O.Bean and I agree this is bullshit. I received an email later last night from Teac/TASCAM saying that the scratches all over the screen is a film that covers it....REALLY!
Did anyone get a DR-70D that actually had the packing film on the screen?
Got mine from BH - and it had no film - and I think another poster said his had no film either. (this was early in the first thread)
^ Mine didn't. Screen looked mint so it's not a big deal. But I thought it was odd, as I think all the other new tascam recorders I've had did have a film.
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My unit when I first received it from B&H did have the protective screen film/cover. The box also had a clear circle sticker over the tab of the box lid, of which was the "new" seal of an unopened box.
The replacement did not have this at all. The usb cable in the plastic package was rolled up and stuffed into the bag, of which the original was wrapped with a tie.
It is so obvious that I got a refurbed unit sent back to me. Sorry for my bitching, just really annoyed at the situation and how I am supposed to be the person in the wrong with them.
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My unit when I first received it from B&H did have the protective screen film/cover. The box also had a clear circle sticker over the tab of the box lid, of which was the "new" seal of an unopened box.
The replacement did not have this at all. The usb cable in the plastic package was rolled up and stuffed into the bag, of which the original was wrapped with a tie.
It is so obvious that I got a refurbed unit sent back to me. Sorry for my bitching, just really annoyed at the situation and how I am supposed to be the person in the wrong with them.
Mine had no clear circle "new seal" either...not a trace.
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Mine had no clear circle "new seal" either...not a trace.
At least yours is working and came in good condition without it looking like it was on tour for the past year+.
I would have settled for the replacement if the screen was not covered with scratches and came with everything it was supposed to have come with. This is what Grinds My Gears! LOL
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Mine did not have any cover on the screen or seal on box but it looked new. I took it out for a test run last night. I wanted to try recording the frogs in the pond behind my house. I first tried on high + gain and it was way too high. On high gain, the levels were at about 3 o'clock and the frogs sound awesome. I used Nevaton MCE400'S > DR70D with phantom power on and it worked out great. It was my first try at recording nature and I'm quite impressed. Now it needs a test run with some loud music and see how it performs.
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No protective film on mine.
Not sure what state you are in, but I don't believe they can legally stick you with a scratched up replacement unit. Send them a written demand for a proper replacement with a photograph of your unit by certified mail. If they don't respond in 20-30 days, there may be a consumer protection agency in your state that might be willing to assist you for free. Be very clear in your letter to say when you sent them the first unit, the problem, when they sent your replacement, what the problem is, and when you contacted them to make it good. It could be someone just goofed and mailed out a unit they didn't mean to mail out, but if they think they can stick you with a beater, let them spend their time answering to a consumer protection agency in your state.
I guess the plastic battery cover won't make it a year on most units.
Absence of ganged controls is a minus as is them not giving us the manual controls present on the 60d.
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I have it all documented with emails and pic's, as well as I have the saved messages on my phone from TASCAM's service center telling me on 2 different occasions that my "new" (LOL) recorder was shipping. Had to call them back after the 1st message a week later to see when I would receive the replacement and the answer was...they forgot to send it! I demanded that it be sent ASAP and that I get a tracking number, of which they did get to me on the 2nd call/message they left. They have been a total nightmare! I actually am laughing about this and honestly, I will sell the possible "new" replacement as soon as I get it.
I just want satisfaction at this point. I have no faith and or trust in Teac/TASCAM products after this, simply because they have proven to me that they do not stand behind their product!
Sorry for the mass venting here...am over it! Will play nice. :)
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I just called TASCAM to make sure they got the latest pics and to make sure they are working on resolving the problem.
TASCAM's service center tells me that she does not have the time to deal with my recorder and asks if I even used it to make sure it works. I tell her why would I do that when it is in banged up shape and obviously not new. Her response was I should just deal with it more or less and accept what they sent.
I am totally amazed by this company! I am LOL at this, as the moron they have working the phones should find a job elsewhere with such great customer support and service. Mind you I am being very polite, but they just do not want to deal with this. I am told that they will eventually get back to me and that I should just accept the used scratched missing part recorder and be happy with it.
Anyone want to buy this DR-70D from me? $100 and it's yours! Never used it :)
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I hope you're recording those phone calls so you can forward them to someone higher up the corporate ladder.
If the rep you've been talking to doesn't have the time to deal with your issue (which Tascam brought on themselves by not doing what they said they would) ask to speak to someone with the authority to address the issue. Don't be afraid to make those higher ups aware of the issues you are having.
US Headquarters Address
TEAC America, Inc.
1834 Gage Road
Montebello, CA 90640
Main Tel: 323-726-0303
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Wow.
Be interested to see pictures of what they sent you.
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I hope you're recording those phone calls so you can forward them to someone higher up the corporate ladder.
If the rep you've been talking to doesn't have the time to deal with your issue (which Tascam brought on themselves by not doing what they said they would) ask to speak to someone with the authority to address the issue. Don't be afraid to make those higher ups aware of the issues you are having.
US Headquarters Address
TEAC America, Inc.
1834 Gage Road
Montebello, CA 90640
Main Tel: 323-726-0303
I just contacted their legal dept. and yes I do have the recorded calls. It's all about customer satisfaction now. I have that phone number memorized at TASCAM/Teac btw, that same number. They only have one person dealing with the DR-70D and her name is May. This rep. has been nothing but useless in the entire ordeal. They do not allow you to contact anyone else when I ask to speak to other service reps and or div.
lets see what their legal dept does?
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The warranty says they will repair or replace the unit. Sending a "beater" to replace a new unit does not fulfill the warranty, IMO. UCC Section 2-316 in your state is the law typically governing warranties although some states have tougher consumer warranty laws. If they don't honor the warranty, it "fails of its essential purpose" and you may be due a refund. "Fails of its essential purpose" is a specific legal phrase--Tascam's legal department ought to understand what it means.
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Amazon.com today: $179.99 free shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/TASCAM-DR-70D-4-Channel-Audio-Recorder/dp/B00OY6718K/ref=wl_mb_wl_huc_clickstream_8_dp
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The warranty says they will repair or replace the unit. Sending a "beater" to replace a new unit does not fulfill the warranty, IMO. UCC Section 2-316 in your state is the law typically governing warranties although some states have tougher consumer warranty laws. If they don't honor the warranty, it "fails of its essential purpose" and you may be due a refund. "Fails of its essential purpose" is a specific legal phrase--Tascam's legal department ought to understand what it means.
Thanks for the info 2manyrocks!
Amazing how fast they now got back to me and I have a new name and contact. Neil Faison who is looking into things and I should hear back from him today!
I agree in regards to the term "Beater" being sent as a replacement, as that is exactly what it was.
Wheels are turning....let's see what happens next as my DR-70D saga continues.
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It seems as if Tascam is revealing the real costs of these "deals" they keep sharing with us.
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I am perplexed as to why they will not honor their warranty as well and specifically their mistake...
I'm sorry you're having a rough go at it, but you really shouldn't be so surprised.
Serious Problems w/ the Tascam DR-680 (and their customer service) (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=145206.0)
Here is the saga of when the DR-680 Acidjack and I bought brand new from B&H for $900 shit the bed no more than a month after we bought it. Long-story short, Tascam is a big corporation that specializes in selling disposable products and has shit customer service. They could care less that your brand new unit was a lemon and are probably only going to replace it with a refurbished unit.
In our case, we had to raise a complete shit-storm until we finally got in touch with the head of the Tascam USA's repair division. He was a nice guy, certainly a different experience than the standard customer service reps we had been dealing with, but even then it was difficult for him to grasp why we were upset that we're getting a new replacement for a unit that was effectively DOA.
Moreover, the first replacement he sent, which he claimed was a 'brand new unit,' was DOA. The replacement unit had to be returned which then required additional hassling to make Tascam to foot the bill to return the 2nd DOA unit via insured UPS shipping. No fucking way were we going to foot the bill twice to send back our DOA units.
The third unit we got claimed to have been personally tested and broken in by the head of the repair division, but in the end that unit was still no better than a typical 680 which was easily prone to overheating and didn't lock perfectly to a number of external A/Ds.
Do not expect this company to care about your $200 purchase.
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Wow....just in on the email!!!! I must have ruffled some feathers at TASCAM, especially leaving messages with the N. American Director of merch and service, The entire N. American TASCAM div. as I CC'd them all!!! not to leave out copying it all specifically to the TASCAM legal dept., as I have now been requested to send the recorder back to TEAC America to the Credit dept and I will get a refund check sent to me for the amount of my original purchase!
Woohoo!!!!!!
Good luck to my fellow TASCAM users here in the TS forum, but I honestly can not go back. Waiting for the Zoom F8 and in the meantime I still have my H6 for multi tracking and the Roland R-4 pro for emergencies!
Thanks for forum shoulder so to say!
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Nice!
but ask them to send a call tag for the "replacement" as you have already paid to get the faulty unit back to them; that or ask to be reimbursed for the sipping charges
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Got that covered as well. Thanks for the reminder!
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Here's the pics. The one with the screen looks like it has a film on it or it can be washed off. It's not and it can't. It is similar to a car headlight when it oxidizes and gets cloudy...that and a bunch of surface scratches as well. The bottom...I have no idea as to how a new recorder would get that scratch.
Said I would post pics, here they are.
(http://www.dimensionalproductions.com/images/screen scratch-cloudy.jpg)
(http://www.dimensionalproductions.com/images/DR70D-bottom.jpg)
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Looks to me as if someone wiped the screen with a paper towel and dulled the screen.
Here's a photo of mine for comparison.
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404 Not Found, did they even fix the gain/noise issues you were having? Probably not by the looks of it :(
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I'm just posting to confirm that Chris @ Bussman Audio is doing modifications to the DR-70D for $150 for TS.com members (saves you $20).
Mine should be on its way....
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I'm just posting to confirm that Chris @ Bussman Audio is doing modifications to the DR-70D for $150 for TS.com members (saves you $20).
Mine should be on its way....
What does the mod consist of?
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Looks to me as if someone wiped the screen with a paper towel and dulled the screen.
Someone at TASCAM or whoever the prior owner was that had this before it was sent back to TASCAM wiped the screen with something. When it's turned on it is somewhat foggy as to why I said it looks like a headlight on a car that the plastic had oxidized. Paper towel, Rubbing Alcohol or some combo of solvent and wipe did a job on it. On my original DR-70D, I had a screen protector that I put on as soon as I got it, just so I would not end up with a screen like on the replacement.
404 Not Found, did they even fix the gain/noise issues you were having? Probably not by the looks of it :(
No, They said that they could not resolve the issue, as to which I was informed in email and by voice mail that they where replacing it with a "New" DR-70D. If they had just done what they had said and stood behind that with a new unit, I would have been a very happy customer.
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Having looked at the pictures of the replacement they sent, I wouldn't call it a "beater" now that I see the pictures, but IMO it's fair to say you were sent a "blemished" unit to replace your new unit. Since they've opted to refund your money, presumably you're better off now that the price of the new units has fallen.
Now what about Pohaku's question --what exactly does Busman do to modify the 70d for $150?
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I asked Busman what the mod consisted of since I got the JWmod and wanted to know if they were somehow comparable or not and he said he prefers not to share that information because he was not a known as JW. That's cool I suppose. I'm sure Busman's mod would do the deck justice as well. Don't think anyone could really go wrong with either mod, although I have not heard Busman's as of yet. Remember the deck sounds mighty fine stock right out of the box too! :clapping:
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404 Not Found, did they even fix the gain/noise issues you were having? Probably not by the looks of it :(
No, They said that they could not resolve the issue, as to which I was informed in email and by voice mail that they where replacing it with a "New" DR-70D. If they had just done what they had said and stood behind that with a new unit, I would have been a very happy customer.
[/quote]
I know! That's all they had to do was send you the NEW replacement and it would've been a done deal! But they chose to do a 180* and send you a blemished unit! I don't think that makes any of us feel too great! But for the price and what I got with it, I had to take the chance!
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I asked Busman what the mod consisted of since I got the JWmod and wanted to know if they were somehow comparable or not and he said he prefers not to share that information because he was not a known as JW. That's cool I suppose. I'm sure Busman's mod would do the deck justice as well. Don't think anyone could really go wrong with either mod, although I have not heard Busman's as of yet. Remember the deck sounds mighty fine stock right out of the box too! :clapping:
I am working on last night JRAD show with a busmod DR70 and must say I think I like it. Of course it doesn't nearly have as smooth or nicely round sound that my Grace's has, but it will do. Links coming later.
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FYI, I moved the FAQ to a new, locked thread and locked the old one as well.
Don't update your bookmarks yet though - I'm having a problem where I cannot unlock either of those threads to edit them. It's been reported to the mods, but in the meantime I can't edit anything so please be patient. In the meantime if anyone knows what I did wrong and how to fix it, I'm all ears.
Never mind, I'm an idiot. New FAQ is here: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172795.0 (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172795.0)
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How about compared to the R-44 pres??
I asked Busman what the mod consisted of since I got the JWmod and wanted to know if they were somehow comparable or not and he said he prefers not to share that information because he was not a known as JW. That's cool I suppose. I'm sure Busman's mod would do the deck justice as well. Don't think anyone could really go wrong with either mod, although I have not heard Busman's as of yet. Remember the deck sounds mighty fine stock right out of the box too! :clapping:
I am working on last night JRAD show with a busmod DR70 and must say I think I like it. Of course it doesn't nearly have as smooth or nicely round sound that my Grace's has, but it will do. Links coming later.
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Ya, eventually. I think it is pretty comparable to the R-44 pres. I don't have an unmodded dr70, so I can't compare the difference there. I recently got a AKG 522 XY in addition to my AKG 522 MS and the new recorder and new kick ass Darktrain cables that I wanted to check first. I did bring the R-44. I just didn't switch. It only runs on AAs these days. So I went with the 522xy after I decoded the 522 MS. The XY was less roomy with better mids and a rounder bass. Uploading now.
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FYI, I moved the FAQ to a new, locked thread and locked the old one as well. Don't update your bookmarks yet though - I'm having a problem where I cannot unlock either of those threads to edit them. It's been reported to the mods, but in the meantime I can't edit anything so please be patient. In the meantime if anyone knows what I did wrong and how to fix it, I'm all ears.
Never mind, I'm an idiot. New FAQ is here: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172795.0 (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172795.0)
I never understood why there was a different thread to begin with.
Coming up in thread 3 now I see even less reason, just have the first post be the FAQ and continue on
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Ya, eventually. I think it is pretty comparable to the R-44 pres. I don't have an unmodded dr70, so I can't compare the difference there. I recently got a AKG 522 XY in addition to my AKG 522 MS and the new recorder and new kick ass Darktrain cables that I wanted to check first. I did bring the R-44. I just didn't switch. It only runs on AAs these days. So I went with the 522xy after I decoded the 522 MS. The XY was less roomy with better mids and a rounder bass. Uploading now.
https://archive.org/details/jrad2015-04-23.picklemic
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FYI, I moved the FAQ to a new, locked thread and locked the old one as well. Don't update your bookmarks yet though - I'm having a problem where I cannot unlock either of those threads to edit them. It's been reported to the mods, but in the meantime I can't edit anything so please be patient. In the meantime if anyone knows what I did wrong and how to fix it, I'm all ears.
Never mind, I'm an idiot. New FAQ is here: http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172795.0 (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172795.0)
I never understood why there was a different thread to begin with.
Coming up in thread 3 now I see even less reason, just have the first post be the FAQ and continue on
I hadn't considered that option. At the time we were discussing it here, it seemed people wanted a separate FAQ thread so I started one.
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Anyone having trouble with the USB connection? It seems to drop easily. It doesn't like a USB hub and it only seems to work with the supplied USB cable. But even then it's very touchy.
And even the supplied cable doesn't plug all the way in into the USB input. The plug is very loose and shaky in there.
They should have spent a few more pennies and at least put in a USB mini connection.
*Maybe this is why they're getting rid of a lot of the early units at bargain discounts.....
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Anyone having trouble with the USB connection? It seems to drop easily. It doesn't like a USB hub and it only seems to work with the supplied USB cable. But even then it's very touchy.
And even the supplied cable doesn't plug all the way in into the USB input. The plug is very loose and shaky in there.
They should have spent a few more pennies and at least put in a USB mini connection.
*Maybe this is why they're getting rid of a lot of the early units at bargain discounts.....
Yes, I've also found it to be picky with USB cables. I initially tried it with this Monoprice one, which is usually the best for charging and file transfer with my phone: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=5457&seq=1&format=2 (http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=5457&seq=1&format=2)
It kept failing as you describe - the file transfer would abruptly end and then unit would power down.
Then I tried it with this cable I bought to use with my USB battery, and the connection is solid every time: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YKX6WC/ref=twister_B0089W5Q1O?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YKX6WC/ref=twister_B0089W5Q1O?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1)
I have not found the plug to be loose though - mine is pretty tight.
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Anyone having trouble with the USB connection? It seems to drop easily. It doesn't like a USB hub and it only seems to work with the supplied USB cable. But even then it's very touchy.
And even the supplied cable doesn't plug all the way in into the USB input. The plug is very loose and shaky in there.
They should have spent a few more pennies and at least put in a USB mini connection.
*Maybe this is why they're getting rid of a lot of the early units at bargain discounts.....
Yes, I've also found it to be picky with USB cables. I initially tried it with this Monoprice one, which is usually the best for charging and file transfer with my phone: http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=5457&seq=1&format=2 (http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030307&p_id=5457&seq=1&format=2)
It kept failing as you describe - the file transfer would abruptly end and then unit would power down.
Then I tried it with this cable I bought to use with my USB battery, and the connection is solid every time: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YKX6WC/ref=twister_B0089W5Q1O?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YKX6WC/ref=twister_B0089W5Q1O?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1)
I have not found the plug to be loose though - mine is pretty tight.
Thanks, I'll check out that cable.
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Part 3 here... (http://taperssection.com/index.php?topic=172830.0)