Topic: TASCAM DR-680 portable 8-track Part 2

[groovon]

If anyone is interested when some new gear shows up I am going to unload my Dmod UA-5.  I will sell the box for $80 and for another $10 I will throw in a Gak DVD power cable.

Please PM me when you're ready to sell it. Thanks. I was looking at an M-Audio Duo, but I've got a feeling the UA-5 is a better option.

[jbell]

Will do!  Hopefully sooner than later.

If anyone is interested when some new gear shows up I am going to unload my Dmod UA-5.  I will sell the box for $80 and for another $10 I will throw in a Gak DVD power cable.

Please PM me when you're ready to sell it. Thanks. I was looking at an M-Audio Duo, but I've got a feeling the UA-5 is a better option.

[kirk97132]

But that is just a digi mod UA-5 which allows it to run as standalone, it does not have any input mods like the Oade/Busman boxes have.   For twice that you can get a completely modded box with digi cable and DVD battery & cord combo.  Yes a shameless promotion for the Busman UA-5 I have for sale. 

I don't know the Graham Patten unit but the 680 will lock on the 48Hz signal if it is spdif or AES via RCA jack.  680 does not have optical input

[Chuck]

Any idea what would happen if you used a Deneke AD-20 to feed channels 7 & 8?  It's 20 bit, so I wonder if the Dr-680 would add 4 blank bits to the signal, or if everything syncs to the AD-20 and everything ends up 20 bit?

-jay

Curious bystander (read non 680 owner) wondering what would happen if someone with a 48k version of a GP DMIC-20 used it instead of the AD-20 to feed channels 7&8? Or am I missing something obvious?

I don't like recording at 48kHz, so I had to swap the 48kHz crystal for a 44.1kHz crystal in my DMIC-20 to make it work that way for me.
Then a found a UA-5 and haven't used the DMIC-20 since.

[groovon]

But that is just a digi mod UA-5 which allows it to run as standalone, it does not have any input mods like the Oade/Busman boxes have.   For twice that you can get a completely modded box with digi cable and DVD battery & cord combo.  Yes a shameless promotion for the Busman UA-5 I have for sale. 

As long as it works as stand-alone D/A, I can probably (and might rather) mod the analog inputs OK myself, but thanks(!) Have you heard how well the M-Audio Duo might work in this regard, BTW?

[kirk97132]

Regarding the M-audio products in general, I have not really heard anyone rave about them or have anything great to say.  Other than that I dunno.  I'd suggest s simple LMA search and see if anyone is even using them for field recording, that would give you an idea of what the general feeling is on them.   

[jbell]

       LOL

But that is just a digi mod UA-5 which allows it to run as standalone, it does not have any input mods like the Oade/Busman boxes have.   For twice that you can get a completely modded box with digi cable and DVD battery & cord combo.  Yes a shameless promotion for the Busman UA-5 I have for sale. 

I don't know the Graham Patten unit but the 680 will lock on the 48Hz signal if it is spdif or AES via RCA jack.  680 does not have optical input

[groovon]

Regarding the M-audio products in general, I have not really heard anyone rave about them or have anything great to say.  Other than that I dunno.  I'd suggest s simple LMA search and see if anyone is even using them for field recording, that would give you an idea of what the general feeling is on them.

One thing I just realised is that like other M-Audio products the Duo uses 9V AC. The AC input powers a transformer-to-DC/multiplier internal supply to provide phantom and +/- 18VDC to the op-amps, and it's not that easy to mod for battery operation.

Otherwise it looks like it might have made a pretty good alternative.

[Marcoscine]

First I'm apologize my poor English, I'm from Brazil.
I'm bouth my DR-680 in BH, and after two months arrived.
I'm opened the box with a great expectation. Then i put my SD card( San DisK Ultra 16Gb Class 4), and turn on the Tascam. For my surprise a figure of a wheel was turning for many time, then a take of the card, and the unit advanced to menu. The result of this is that my unit dont recognize any type of card, i tried other cards, including a card that works in dr-680 of my friend. When i put the card, a wheel starts to spinning for 3 min and then show the massage: " Ivalid Card Change the Card".  Has anyone had this problem? If I have to activate the warranty, it will take more than two months to return to Brazil I apreciate any help. Thanks

[groovon]

Hi there, and welcome. Your English seems good enough to me, BTW!

In the menu, can you get to where you format the card (MENU > CARD > FORMAT), or won't it allow that? What about the 'Initialize' function (MENU > SYSTEM > INITIALIZE)? Try those if you can.

It's good that your friend also has a unit, so you can at least compare what works and what doesn't. In the manual on page 48 it describes all the various error messages, so check that out (actually, I do see the one you describe listed there).

I'm not an expert on this by any means, but I had some early difficulties with my 680 and cleared them up OK in the end. I'm sure you'll get more help here soon, too, likely better than my attempt. Also you could try emailing Tascam technical services.

Good luck
Dave

[Chuck]

One more thing to consider is that the original SD card might be bad. Did you buy the card brand new from a trusted retail outlet, or did you buy a used card or a card on eBay from China or Hong Kong? My experience has been that if you put in a viable card the DR-680 will either accept it and bring up the record screen or it will bring up a box that asks if you want to format the card.

But, it sounds like your recorder may be faulty.

[kirk97132]

Also try putting your card in while the deck is off.  Then power it up with the card already in after that format your card and you should be good to go.

[darby]

I had a formatted Transcend 32 gb card that I had been using for months not work last night 
Sys Rom Error
my Verbatim 32 gb card still worked after switching them out

I put the Transcend in my card reader this morning and the computer read it
then I deleted the audio folder and put it back in the 680 and it read it
I formatted the card again and plan on running some tests today before using it tonite

[kirk97132]

Had a similiar type hiccup and powering up with card in deck solved the problem and had no issues running it.  Not sure why it happened or why this method works.

[Chuck]

Thanks for the heads up everybody. I have always carried a second SD card "just in case..."
Apparently, that's a very good thing to do.