Topic: TASCAM DR-680 portable 8-track - announced at NAMM

[sunjan]

Chris Carfagno at SP just mailed me:
This item is in stock and shipping now.

There's also another retailer with units in stock since 3/29, offering a 5% discount with the code posted here:
http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/all-things-audio/475599-new-8-ch-field-recorder-tascam-dr-680-a-2.html

Interesting to read about the speculations of a Oade mod too...

[TNJazz]

Mine will be here tomorrow.  Looking forward to checking this thing out!

[soundpro]

Hello:

These just arrived! I am holding back a few for Taperssection members with an additional $100 off the normal $999 street price. If anyone is interested, please email sales@soundprofessionals.com

They go up for grabs tomorrow for everyone else!

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Best Regards,

Chris Carfagno
sales@soundprofessionals.com
www.soundprofessionals.com
The Sound Professionals, Inc.
3444 Sylon Blvd
Hainesport NJ, 08036
800-213-3021
609-267-4400
609-267-0054 fax

[bugg100]

Mine will be here tomorrow.  Looking forward to checking this thing out!

sweet!, need to know if this is a real step up for 6 channels, 8 if you have a digital output preamp...

Not that I don't really dig my r-44, sometimes more than 4 could be great

[kirk97132]

Just the ability to have the clocks sync with another deck makes it a step up.  I think the stock tascm pres are a touch better than the stock edirol pres.  Not that there any big difference.    I've got an ETA in three days.................

[MattH]

Mine arrived today but I'm out of town and won't get to play until tomorrow. I plan to do a comp between the V2 and the internal mic pres possibly as soon as tomorrow. I like the fact that this unit accepts a hot line level signal (+24dbu). Perfect for a V2/V3.

[TNJazz]

Wow, this is one cool box!  Haven't done much with it yet, but we're doing band interviews for an upcoming TV series next Sunday so it will get a good workout then.

Just FYI - I am running it on my 8000maH 9V DVD batt at the moment - so it WILL run off the standard batts like the P2 - no telling for how long though.

I hope to run a time test with a couple sets of mics this weekend.

[kirk97132]

[quote author=TNJazz link=topic=131128.msg1752963#msg1752963 date=1270310574
Just FYI - I am running it on my 8000maH 9V DVD batt at the moment - so it WILL run off the standard batts like the P2 - no telling for how long though.
[/quote]

Oh fuck yeah!!!  Running time HAS to be longer than AA's.  Can't stand it I have to wait till sometime monday for the new toy.  I'm so glad I did order when I did or else it would not be happening now for me.  I think there will soon be a glut of R-44's for sale.  I mean why not when you can sell the R-44 for what one of these cost ya.  Get Chris to tune up my BM2p+ for the digi input and have two other pre's which will leave one set of channels for the sbd feed.  I'm like a sixteen year old school girl all giddy.......

[willndmb]

[quote author=TNJazz link=topic=131128.msg1752963#msg1752963 date=1270310574
Just FYI - I am running it on my 8000maH 9V DVD batt at the moment - so it WILL run off the standard batts like the P2 - no telling for how long though.

Oh fuck yeah!!!  Running time HAS to be longer than AA's.  Can't stand it I have to wait till sometime monday for the new toy.  I'm so glad I did order when I did or else it would not be happening now for me.  I think there will soon be a glut of R-44's for sale.  I mean why not when you can sell the R-44 for what one of these cost ya.  Get Chris to tune up my BM2p+ for the digi input and have two other pre's which will leave one set of channels for the sbd feed.  I'm like a sixteen year old school girl all giddy.......
[/quote]you think the r44 will hold its value if people can get this for the same price? assuming it sounds good too

[kirk97132]

I do think the R-44 will hold their value.  Not everyone wants 8 track recorders.  Look how many people are still running 2 track recorders.  And the R-44 is a rock solid 4 track recorder.  I do think this will hurt some of the 788 sales.  And as long as the preamps are as good as the HD-P2 this box will be awesome. 

[MattH]

Did my first preamp comp between the internal pre's and a V2. While the V2 is certainly a better preamp, the differences were not nearly as large as I was expecting and seem more like the sound of the 722 pre's than any other all in one box pre's I have heard from Edirol, Tascam, Marantz, Korg, etc. I did not compare 48V phantom as I used Stewart BPS-1's and xlr splitters to the two different preamps. Source material was played fairly loud through my meyer playback system and only needed 40 db gain from the V2 and +14 gain on the tascam with the low gain setting selected. This leads me to believe that the tascam mic pre's should handle loud shows without need for mods or fear of overloading the inputs. Nice!

Was also glad to learn the gain on each channel can be adjusted quickly on the fly without need to hit the channel solo button for 2 seconds first. Only need to do that if you want to monitor one particular channel.

Liking this thing so far. More impressions to come....

[BayTaynt3d]

And the R-44 is a rock solid 4 track recorder.

That is soooo true, my R44 has proven itself bulletproof. I can ALWAYS count on it, period, never one glitch ever in over a hundred concert recordings now...

[yltfan]

Thanks for the early reports! Sounds good so far...

Can you record in 2, 4, or 6 tracks with ease?

[MattH]

Did my first preamp comp between the internal pre's and a V2. While the V2 is certainly a better preamp, the differences were not nearly as large as I was expecting and seem more like the sound of the 722 pre's than any other all in one box pre's I have heard from Edirol, Tascam, Marantz, Korg, etc. I did not compare 48V phantom as I used Stewart BPS-1's and xlr splitters to the two different preamps. Source material was played fairly loud through my meyer playback system and only needed 40 db gain from the V2 and +12 gain on the tascam with the low gain setting selected. This leads me to believe that the tascam mic pre's should handle loud shows without need for mods or fear of overloading the inputs. Nice!

Was also glad to learn the gain on each channel can be adjusted quickly on the fly without need to hit the channel solo button for 2 seconds first. Only need to do that if you want to monitor one particular channel.

Liking this thing so far. More impressions to come....

I am liking this even a whole lot more now that I realized the better sounding pre to my ears is NOT the V2!!!!!!  I just assumed the better sounding of the two was the V2. Double checked the cables and wow I can't believe my eyes. I am in total shock over this This Tascam is tighter sounding with larger soundstage, more detail and much clearer overall than the V2. A really noticeable difference at all volume levels.

[Ozpeter]

Someone said that the ability to record mp3 seemed to be missing in the menus.  I notice that "The DR-680 records up to four channels of MP3 audio for web-ready recordings." Maybe you don't get the mp3 option if you have more than four channels enabled??