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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: sos on May 03, 2015, 01:52:23 PM
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Tascam DR-680 Firmware v. 1.30 released on Mar. 16, 2015 (first one in almost 4.5 years). ;D
http://tascam.com/content/downloads/products/43/e_dr-680_rn_vd.pdf
Sorry if this was posted elsewhere (I haven't seen reference anywhere to it).
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Thanks was not aware
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Yes indeed, thank you for the heads up. I had given up hope for a firmware update op the mark 1.
Regards, Christine
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hmm
"The battery monitoring method has been changed. Now,
if the level momentarily goes below that which could
cause misoperation (for example, when the level could
cause power to analog circuits to fail), the unit now
immediately executes shutdown procedure"
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hmm
"The battery monitoring method has been changed. Now,
if the level momentarily goes below that which could
cause misoperation (for example, when the level could
cause power to analog circuits to fail), the unit now
immediately executes shutdown procedure"
I didn't see this in the release notes or manual addendum. Where did you find it? Although in my case not an issue since I don't use the internal batteries. The DR680 sees my external Li-Ion battery as an AC power source.
Regards, Christine
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This is great news. Did not expect this since the mkII just came out. Thanks for sharing the info. Looks like some decent updates.
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I didn't see this in the release notes or manual addendum. Where did you find it?
It's there. 2nd page, 3rd bullet under "Note"
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I didn't see this in the release notes or manual addendum. Where did you find it?
It's there. 2nd page, 3rd bullet under "Note"
Yep, found it.
Regards, Christine
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"The battery monitoring method has been changed. Now,
if the level momentarily goes below that which could
cause misoperation (for example, when the level could
cause power to analog circuits to fail), the unit now
immediately executes shutdown procedure"
I didn't see this in the release notes or manual addendum. Where did you find it? Although in my case not an issue since I don't use the internal batteries. The DR680 sees my external Li-Ion battery as an AC power source.
^^^
That's from the section outlining the changes for previous updates. V1.10 in that particular case. So that particular change was implemented long ago.
Here's the bits relevant to this (V1.3) update:
New Features:
- A file number initialization function (Take No Init) has been added that allows the take numbering to be reset.
- An erase format function has been added.
- A speaker switch function has been added.
- Playback of multitrack recordings is now supported.
Maintenance items: - During AES/EBU input, when the Cbit sampling frequency information was "Not Indicate" the unit would become unlocked and unable to receive. This has been fixed. However, proper operation cannot be guaranteed when the input signal sampling frequency differs from the setting of this unit.
- The remaining recording time display has been changed from the time for each file to the time for the entire media.
- Operation stability has been improved.
Here's the user manual addendum for V1.30 which discusses use of the new features (not the maintenance items) in more detail- http://tascam.com/content/downloads/products/43/e_dr%E2%88%92680_add_v130_va.pdf
Woohoo! multitrack playback is a huge improvement I've wanted for years! Previously, multichannel files could not be played back from the recorder if transferred off the SD card then back again. I've had to leave all files on the original cards which I'd like to play directly from the recorder for mulitchannel output, treating the SD media for that material like write-once tape masters.
Switching to displaying time remaining on the card instead of the file is welcome, as is operation stability. The digital input update may be welcome news to some users who've had troubles connecting some digital inputs.[/list]
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The features I'd still like to see added, which are simple but perhaps not be possible, are output level and polarity switching for each channel output. I'd really like EQ and delay for each channel as well, but those require more DSP, and are more of a stretch.
[edit- if not possible for the original DR-680, I'm hoping those features can be added to the mkii version by firmware update]
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Woohoo! multitrack playback is a huge improvement I've wanted for years! Previously, multichannel files could not be played back from the recorder if transferred off the SD card then back again. I've had to leave all files on the original cards which I'd like to play directly from the recorder for mulitchannel output, treating the SD media for that material like write-once tape masters.
You have to rename the files to do this. But the benefit of releasing all those SD cards will be worth the trouble for sure.
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To clarify, the original files may be copied off the card and later returned to the recorder and the take containing them rebuilt, without any need to rename the files. This was not possible previously. The take could be rebuilt, but the files would only play sequentially as individual mono or stereo files, rather than all channels of the multichannel take playing simultaneously.
Alternately the files may be renamed before being returned to the machine for rebuilding and playback, as long as the naming scheme accommodates these Tascam file name requirements:
DR-680 file naming rules-
Mono file: XXX_monoY.wav
Stereo file: XXX_stY.wav
(XXX) = Take name part (no more than 10 half-width alphanumeric characters)
(mono) or (st) = file type
(Y) = Track number (1 to 6 for mono, 12, 34, or 56 for stereo)
file extension = .wav or .bwf
Just bought two more 32GB cards prior to a fest last a couple weeks ago due to this previous limitation. The last time I'll need to do that in the foreseeable future. Looking forward to updating and trying this out.
As a feature which was supposed to be there but was previously non-functional, his was long due for correction, so big thanks for this continued support for a now discontinued product, Tascam!
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Operation stability has been improved.
so what does this mean?
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Dunno. Less likely to leap of the chair and crash onto the floor?
Good question though. Wonder if it somehow addresses the occasional overheating drop-out issue? That would be great!
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Operation stability has been improved.
so what does this mean?
The only "Operation Stability" issue I've ever had was "File Write Error" at the end of a set...the first time on the second set of Col. Bruce at Isis back in Feb. and a local show for BS in March...
Two different SD Cards so that was not common...I was using the "Create New Track on Pause" and at end of set would pause the recording and then hit "Stop"...I've since changed settings to "Record to Same Track after Pause" .
I'm almost convinced that in the dark I hit the Pause to hard and bounced my finger on the button twice...
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- The remaining recording time display has been changed from the time for each file to the time for the entire media.
this makes me happy. this was always an unnecessary PITA at festivals.
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Yeah, no need to check remaining space via the card info menu anymore.
Wonder what it displays if set to write only one stereo low bit-rate mp3, using a high capacity card. The available time remaining would surely exceed the number of digits available on the display. All nines maybe.
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- The remaining recording time display has been changed from the time for each file to the time for the entire media.
this makes me happy. this was always an unnecessary PITA at festivals.
Big improvement
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Just updated mine. Now I just need the chance to record something to see if i even notice the difference.
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I updated last night.
Multichannel playback for files copied back to the card works! Rebuilding a take for a fileset is super quick. One quirk, which is inconsequential as far as I can tell: If the file set contains the extra stereo file (say dig-in, or a live mix from the other channels), after a rebuild that file remains separate from the multichannel set. The machine will playback the files included in the multichannel take simultaneously, and once the end of the multichannel file is reached, the stereo file will play after it, sequentially, from the 1/2 RCA outputs and digital out.
This behavior is different than playing back files without (removing and) rebuilding the take. In that case the stereo file will not play sequentially after the multichannel files, but is accessed via the stereo/multi button on top of the machine. Switch back and forth between the multichannel set and the stereo file by pressing that button. Behaving like two parallel playlists rather than one playing the files in series.
In either case, the stereo file cannot be played simultaneously with the multichannel files, so this doesn't really matter. However once should be able to rename the stereo file 'st12, st34, or st56' to take the place of a stereo pair from the multichannel take, allowing it to be played back simultaneously with the others that way.
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couple of liklely dumb questions. I just updated. I assuming nothing has changed in the way i set up to record. also where is the recording time left on the card, I ammissing that? Is it the line below the time? i have never looked at that so...
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couple of liklely dumb questions. I just updated. I assuming nothing has changed in the way i set up to record. also where is the recording time left on the card, I ammissing that? Is it the line below the time? i have never looked at that so...
if you hit display while recording, it changes to time left and the clock counts down. not as obvious to see as say the R44, but still fairly easy.