Topic: Tascam DR-680 MKii

[Gutbucket]

I found the MK1 preamps acceptable for most of the multichannel music recording stuff I was using it for.  The MK2 preamps are better, but by how much and if that will enough to satisfy you, I cannot say.  Will also be influenced by what and how you are recording, what microphones, etc.

[thomasdk7]

I have a 680 and am thinking about buying a 680MK2. Do you notice a big improvement in the mic preamps in the 680MK2?

Maybe think fast. I ordered a 680MKII yesterday from B&H and now it is listed as Discontinued on their website.
I didn't know what else to get in that price range that can do 6 channels.

[lukpac]

Maybe think fast. I ordered a 680MKII yesterday from B&H and now it is listed as Discontinued on their website.
I didn't know what else to get in that price range that can do 6 channels.

I sent an inquiry to Tascam. I'll post here if they respond.

Agreed about the price range. It appears current alternatives are the Zoom F8n at $999 or the Tascam HS-P82 at $1,999, which are quite a bit more money for not that much more functionality.

It looks like Adorama still has them for $399 at the moment:

https://www.adorama.com/tsdr680mk2.html

[dogmusic]

I found the MK1 preamps acceptable for most of the multichannel music recording stuff I was using it for.  The MK2 preamps are better, but by how much and if that will enough to satisfy you, I cannot say.  Will also be influenced by what and how you are recording, what microphones, etc.

For outdoor stuff, I use AT4022's, and for piano recordings it's Beyer MC930's and, recently, Senn MKH 8020's.

I wondered how much I would miss of the MP6 preamps if I bought the MK2 for the ease of its operation. There's so much hype around certain brands. But I may not in fact hear a lot of difference between those recorders.

[dogmusic]

I have a 680 and am thinking about buying a 680MK2. Do you notice a big improvement in the mic preamps in the 680MK2?

Maybe think fast. I ordered a 680MKII yesterday from B&H and now it is listed as Discontinued on their website.
I didn't know what else to get in that price range that can do 6 channels.

Yes, I missed a great deal at Amazon Canada yesterday.

[lukpac]

I sent an inquiry to Tascam. I'll post here if they respond.

Quote:

"Not sure why that is as the unit is available from a number of dealers...

Adorama:
https://www.adorama.com/tsdr680mk2.html

Full Compass:
https://www.fullcompass.com/prod/280185-tascam-dr-680mkii-8-channel-portable-digital-audio-recorder

Sam Ash:
https://www.samash.com/tascam-dr-680mkii-8-track-field-recorder--tdr680mk2-p"

It may be worth noting that Full Compass currently indicates "Please call for availability."

[3mdk5]

Question about the Talentcell batteries.  Can the stock cable they come with be used to power the DR-680 (original or MKii)?  Checking the handy "Equipment, External Battery, Voltage..." page here, if I'm reading it right they can be.  Anyone doing this? I have both the "old" 6000mAh version (http://www.talentcell.com/products/12v-battery/12v-battery-6000mah.html) and the multi-output 8300mAh version (http://www.talentcell.com/products/12v-battery/12v-battery-8300mah.html).  I do plan on getting GAKables built to replace my GAK DVD > Tascam cables, but in the meantime... Just want to triple-check so I don't fry the deck.

Thanks,
Matt

[dallman]

Question about the Talentcell batteries.  Can the stock cable they come with be used to power the DR-680 (original or MKii)?  Checking the handy "Equipment, External Battery, Voltage..." page here, if I'm reading it right they can be.  Anyone doing this? I have both the "old" 6000mAh version (http://www.talentcell.com/products/12v-battery/12v-battery-6000mah.html) and the multi-output 8300mAh version (http://www.talentcell.com/products/12v-battery/12v-battery-8300mah.html).  I do plan on getting GAKables built to replace my GAK DVD > Tascam cables, but in the meantime... Just want to triple-check so I don't fry the deck.

Thanks,
Matt

12 Volt Batteries work fine in the deck(s). It is worth noting that the actual power connector for the 2 decks are different sizes, but 12V is what I used when I had the original DR680 and what I use on my current DR680MKII.

Tascam DR-680 / 8-13v / Size M, 5.50mm OD × 2.10mm ID / Center pin (+)  Ring (-)
Tascam DR-680mkII / 12v / Size C, OD 4.75mm x ID 1.7mm Center Pin (+) Ring (-)

[3mdk5]

12 Volt Batteries work fine in the deck(s). It is worth noting that the actual power connector for the 2 decks are different sizes, but 12V is what I used when I had the original DR680 and what I use on my current DR680MKII.

Tascam DR-680 / 8-13v / Size M, 5.50mm OD × 2.10mm ID / Center pin (+)  Ring (-)
Tascam DR-680mkII / 12v / Size C, OD 4.75mm x ID 1.7mm Center Pin (+) Ring (-)

Right, 12V is the correct voltage.  Now I need to know, does the cable that comes with the Talentcell fit on either of the DR680 models?  I know this might be better served in the battery forum, but I figured this is the forum for the deck, so maybe other Tascam owners have these batteries and can comment on how they connect them.  In the old days, batteries would come with different tips.  I still have bags of tips that came with the Tekkeons.  The Talentcells come with nothing.

[Twenty8]

Fully satisfied with this deck.  Ran a few shows so far on it.  More this weekend with WSP.

Issue:
Anyone have any advice for setting the channel gain levels?
I am a little surprised as I process shows from last weekend.  I ran 4 channels: Beyer mc950 (-15 pad) in DINa and Line CM3 in NOS, indoor, really small room.  I thought I was being relatively conservative with levels hitting between 0 and -16db with only a couple peaks on one of the CM3s faced right at the stack.  I was in a weird position, ROC and basically stage lip.  As I process this show right now, I see only a +.3 over on said CM3 channel before edits.  The other 3 channels peak at 0.0.

The confusion comes with seeing a relative average of -3db peak in the files when I swear that I set it to run around -9db or so per channel on the recorder that night.

Do other users of this deck run conservative gain?
I feel like have to set the levels a little bit lower on the deck because they appear hotter in post.

[lukpac]

Anyone have any advice for setting the channel gain levels?
I am a little surprised as I process shows from last weekend.  I ran 4 channels: Beyer mc950 (-15 pad) in DINa and Line CM3 in NOS, indoor, really small room.  I thought I was being relatively conservative with levels hitting between 0 and -16db with only a couple peaks on one of the CM3s faced right at the stack.  I was in a weird position, ROC and basically stage lip.  As I process this show right now, I see only a +.3 over on said CM3 channel before edits.  The other 3 channels peak at 0.0.

The confusion comes with seeing a relative average of -3db peak in the files when I swear that I set it to run around -9db or so per channel on the recorder that night.

Do other users of this deck run conservative gain?
I feel like have to set the levels a little bit lower on the deck because they appear hotter in post.

Nothing like that comes to mind, although I don't think I've ever noticed anything of concern that would cause me to look into it. That is to say, it's possible I simply haven't noticed.

My advice would be to record some sort of constant level sound (pink noise, tones, etc), adjust the input gain so the sound peaks at a few difference reference points, and then compare in post. Start it around 0 dB and go down from there.

I think I've generally recorded with levels hovering around the reference line (is that -16dB?) giving enough headroom for peaks. The only time I can think of where I had any issues was once when I had a mic on a guitar amp, but the guitarist didn't play anything for the first song and I walked away not realizing I had the gain on that channel *way* too high. Fortunately it was so loud that somebody noticed how loud my headphones were during the second song and grabbed me.

[Gutbucket]

I've generally recorded with levels hovering around the reference line (is that -16dB?) giving enough headroom for peaks.

^ This works for most recording situations.  If on stage and close to a drum kit or some other other highly dynamic source, run a bit lower still to avoid clipping high errant peaks.. say levels hovering around -20dB.

[crackmc]

this thing is a POS
i've had mine for i dunno...4 or 5 years ago and it worked fine until about a year ago
froze up about 20 minutes into a 4-track 24/96 recording, gave me a PC Load Letter type message on the screen
next time i used it i was unable to remove my XLRs from it - like they're still stuck in there

i love my DR-40
and most (not all) of the other Tascam products i've had in the past have been great
but i think i'm done with Tascam

i used to LOL @ Zoom's product line, but they're dominating the field recorder game right now IMO

[TheBishop]

Santa brought me one of these for Christmas.  This is my first multi track recorder and I will be breaking it in tonight with a Toubab Krewe show. I'm coming from an HD-P2.

I haven't even really got a chance to play with it yet, but while reading the manual I got confused a bit by the DUAL REC function.

If I wanted to use that function would it be correct that I would need to have my mics plugged in to the 1 & 3 inputs rather than 1(L) & 2(R)?  And this would be the same if I wanted to run up to three mics (1/3/5)? Since it would record those tracks in mono witht he DUAL REC function I would then pan left, right, center, what have you, in post?

And as long as I had it set to record stereo vs mono, if I did record with just two mics in the 1 & 2 inputs it would record a stereo track with 1 being left and 2 being right, right?

Because I've been working with just two input recorders for 20 years or so, I've only got three complete mics so I was thinking about running a pair of Sennheiser Me40s (super cardioid) or ME80s (shotgun) with a single ME20 (omni) in the center.

If I don't like how those sound in that configuration I can just leave the ME20 out of the mix in post.

Edit: Well, the question is moot for tonight.  I don't have an XLR > TRS cable. Guess I'll just use two mics and get a feel for running the deck live.

[Gutbucket]

You are correct.  I'm well versed with this recorder but have never used the DUAL REC feature.

DUAL REC mode notes from the manual:
Stereo file and single 6ch file modes cannot be selected (Must write mono WAV files)
MS mode will be canceled
Gang settings will be canceled

^Not sure if that last note means channel ganging is not possible at all when in Dual Rec mode, or if switching the mode ON simply cancels whatever channel ganging is currently set.  For me loss of channel ganging is unacceptable because I value that feature more highly than dual rec protection - it retains the relative gain difference between all ganged channels and provides the ability to adjust input gain across them simultaneously with a single knob adjustment.  That not only makes input gain adjustment quick and easy while recording multiple channels, but makes transparent correction of any gain changes considerably easier in post because they will occur in synchrony across all channels with identical changes in value. I prefer that even when recording just two channels although it becomes increasingly valuable as I add additional recorded channels.

In comparison to other 6+ channel recorders this machine is quite easy and straightforward to operate, and its menu system is improved and faster to navigate than the MK1.  The main thing that is different than how other recorders operate and which I'd suggest familiarizing yourself is how to rapidly gang and ungang channel combinations using the channel buttons under the display.  That way you can deftly ungang a group to make an input gain adjustments on an individual channel as necessary, bringing it in line with the other channels in the group, and re-gang again to be ready to adjust the entire group together as a whole if necessary.