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

[Chuck]

The heat is localized about two inches from the back and two inches from the right side. It's definitely not over the whole back of the recorder,

[H₂O]

I bet if you cut away the casing you'll find a chip that you could drop a heatsync on to remedy this issue - you need direct contact with the chip for this to work

[btemple]

I was recording um last night and during the recording the 1st channel started flashing from black to empty circle the level never dropped and the flashing continued throughout the show randomly (I think)  any ideas?  thanks in advance  Bryan

[Gutbucket]

Remember there are three points of gain control on the way out the headphone jack, if any one of them is too low, no umph- channel level, mix level, phones level.  Is your mix level at 100? In the past that caused the same problem for me until I realized what was going on.

[2manyrocks]

9V

Not to rehash the whole thing again, but the consensus is that this problem is heat-realted, not 9V related. 

My lingering thought is that a higher volatage supply such as 12VDC might postpone onset though not prevent the manifestation.  I simply want to manage the issue in a practical way to prevent it's occurance when likely and wonder if a bit more voltage might reduce current demands and make a difference.  It may not make any difference, or it may make it better or worse.  It's nothing more than speculation.

The known preventive measure to is to better ventilate the deck, and to stop recording and preferably power down between sets to let the deck cool and to stop the problem and reset things if it does happen.

Mine has been fed nothing but a steady diet of 9VDC DVD-battery power backed up with the internal AA's since birth.  I think I used the AC supply once.  The AA's in the deck were dead by that afternoon but I didn't get a chance to change them out.  I checked to make sure and after that was simply careful to make sure I did not need to hot-swap DVD batteries during a set.

I picked up a couple of Tekken MP3300 battery packs that have a switchable power output from 3v-14v.   Reading here I understand the auto voltage sensing units have wrecked a few DR680s and shoudn't be used at all, but would I be safe to run my DR 680 using the MP3300 and if so, should I set it at 9v or 12v?

If you carry your 680 in a cooler bag, guess you could put one of those cooler ice packs in there, too, or would that cause condensation?

[Gutbucket]

Glad that was it Chuck.

Never used a Tekken myself.  That seems to be the consensus though.  I'd guess you'd be fine at either the 9V or 12V switchable setting.  I'd probably use 12V as that's more comfortably in it's range, unless you find that makes it run hotter.



Rocks- The cooler bag makes for a functional, inexpensive gear bag.  Pockets on the outside, good shoulder strap, and the internal plastic tub is water-tight up to the zippered lid and retains its shape making it easy to arrange and manage gear.  Haven't used a cold pack in there, it would condense water out of the air here, and probably warm up before it was really needed.  I leave the lid open and put the small umbrella on top or something to shade it an let heat out.  It's soft sided which works better as bump protection than cooler insulation.

[GLouie]

Just noting that B&H has the 680 price back down to $440, although they're closed for the holiday for a week. Free shipping!

[Carlos E. Martinez]

The multi-voltage battery I bought from China has not yet arrived.

When it does I will comment about it here.

[carlbeck]

So the level meters absolutely suck on this deck, the last show I ran with my Aerco was brick walled & I had absolutely no idea. Besides running really low where should I see my peaks on this turd?

[lukpac]

So the level meters absolutely suck on this deck, the last show I ran with my Aerco was brick walled & I had absolutely no idea. Besides running really low where should I see my peaks on this turd?

Brick walled? What did the meters look like when recording? I've had mine for close to a year and have never had that problem.

I generally try to aim for around the reference line (although I'm forgetting the value at the moment). Also, from the manual:

"When recording, if a signal is distorted at the input stage, the area beneath its meter is highlighted.
If a recording level exceeds 2.0 dB below the maximum level, a mark appears at the top of its meter, indicating an overload."

[Chuck]

I find the meters to be pretty good too. If I get an over (which I think is actually -2dB from actual clipping) every ten minutes or so I figure I got the levels just right.

[carlbeck]

Yep no indicator on the channels but the mix levels were high, I was expecting some sort of warning. After the fact I found the the gain was too high on my preamp but to not see an over indicator of any kind on the deck was a major disappointment, at that point why bother with level indicators?

[danny3]

Yep no indicator on the channels but the mix levels were high, I was expecting some sort of warning. After the fact I found the the gain was too high on my preamp but to not see an over indicator of any kind on the deck was a major disappointment, at that point why bother with level indicators?

I have never experienced any 'brickwall' results with my deck, other than times when it was clearly apparent on the display, as referenced by lukpac above.
I always record 16/44.1, aim to get the peaks @ the line on the display, almost always amplify tracks in post, and never have any issue with noise from the units preamps.

Curious about your dilemma, and wondering what 'mix levels' you are referring to. All I can think of is that your brickwalled track might be a saved mix file, (which is labeled as ...000_st) but I guess that can't be it because I don't think you can record a mix file if you are using 7/8 as DIN. I'm not much help, but also wonder if this was the first time you ran the Aerco with the deck?

[achalsey]

Your mix level doesn't have any effect on your recording.  Unless you're recording your mix track as well, but still that's separate from your 'main' recorded channels.  Your mix level just governs your headphone out, mix track (if you're recording that) and your outputs (if your output is set to send your stereo mix to each set of outs rather than individual channels).

I guess it's anecdotal, but I've never experienced this issue either.  So far I've found some slightly frustrating errors all to ultimately be user error.  Not using fresh batteries, not formatting the SD card, not having the right adapters, ect...

[drewloo]

The 680 has alerts for going over zero and for overloading the mic inputs.  See page 16 of the owner's manual for what they look like, but if you're overloading the input stage it shows it underneath the level meter of the channel that's overloading by putting a box around the circle at the bottom.  It's pretty easy to miss if you're not looking for it.

http://tascam.com/content/downloads/products/43/E_DR-680_OM_vA.pdf