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

[kirk97132]

$867 delivered around the end of March from FC 

OK so Full Compass says decks are back ordered till 3-31-10(ish).

Call 800-356-5844 ex1386 Talk to Adam and he'll give you a price of $828 including shipping.  Tell him Kirk sent you   Can't wait to get this sucker

[MattH]

As of today, Full Compass is expecting first units in mid-March. I find it very cool that the feature set of the DR-680 and general design is very similar to the Sonosax SX-R4 which is 5-6 times the price. Starting to get really excited now...

[headroom]

Any review arround about this box ?

[kirk97132]

I've only seen one and I think it was in SOS but it was kinda lame and the reviewer did not really know what he was doing.  Tascam has still not even published a manual yet. 

[dallman]

I've only ssen one and I think it was in SOS but it was kinda lame and the reviewer did not really know what he was doing.  Tascam has still not even published a manual yet.

The manual is on the Tascam website. Just click on the link at the beginning of the thread and scroll down and click the resources tab.

[stevetoney]

I've only ssen one and I think it was in SOS but it was kinda lame and the reviewer did not really know what he was doing.  Tascam has still not even published a manual yet.

The manual is on the Tascam website. Just click on the link at the beginning of the thread and scroll down and click the resources tab.

FWIW (nothing) the manual must have been put there either yesterday or the day before because I'd been checking daily since I pre-ordered mine.  Glad to see it up there, although in reviewing the manual I have to admit to being a little more lost than I thought I would be without having the deck in my hands to play with live as I'm reading along with the manual.

[headroom]

Hi folks itsd mid march and still no smoke signals like user manual, exact specs, previews
Wee need strong nerves here...

[stevetoney]

Hi folks itsd mid march and still no smoke signals like user manual, exact specs, previews
Wee need strong nerves here...

Headroom...did you visit the Tascam site yet?  The manual showed up earlier this week.

A couple of early disappointment for me from reviewing the manual...

1)  Looks like you lose data if the deck gets unplugged, so I assume that also means data is not retained when batteries go dead.  Major problem there.  (see the 'caution' on page 21)

2)  Looks to me like the standard mode of operation causes you to have be writing to either six or eight tracks.  IOW, you can't select 2 or 4 tracks for max SD card usage.  The exception is that 2 track operation is an option for 24/192 recording.  What this means is that the most you can get from a 16gb card is between 5 and 6 hours of recording in 24bit.

I hope that the manual is wrong or that I'm misreading, but I've re-read it several times now and I'm pretty sure both of these points is what it's saying.

I'm strongly considering canceling my pre-order. 

[headroom]

Hi folks itsd mid march and still no smoke signals like user manual, exact specs, previews
Wee need strong nerves here...

Headroom...did you visit the Tascam site yet?  The manual showed up earlier this week.

A couple of early disappointment for me from reviewing the manual...

1)  Looks like you lose data if the deck gets unplugged, so I assume that also means data is not retained when batteries go dead.  Major problem there.  (see the 'caution' on page 21)

2)  Looks to me like the standard mode of operation causes you to have be writing to either six or eight tracks.  IOW, you can't select 2 or 4 tracks for max SD card usage.  The exception is that 2 track operation is an option for 24/192 recording.  What this means is that the most you can get from a 16gb card is between 5 and 6 hours of recording in 24bit.

I hope that the manual is wrong or that I'm misreading, but I've re-read it several times now and I'm pretty sure both of these points is what it's saying.

I'm strongly considering canceling my pre-order. 

Oh my good how could someone build an interface like that
You lose data if the deck gets unplugged, so I assume that also means data is not retained when batteries go dead.  Major problem there.  (see the 'caution' on page 21)

[Will_S]

2)  Looks to me like the standard mode of operation causes you to have be writing to either six or eight tracks.  IOW, you can't select 2 or 4 tracks for max SD card usage.  The exception is that 2 track operation is an option for 24/192 recording.  What this means is that the most you can get from a 16gb card is between 5 and 6 hours of recording in 24bit.

I think that's just sloppy writing and the manual's (poor) way of telling you 192 kHz is only possible if recording in stereo.  The way I read it, you do only have your choice of recording 2 or 6 tracks in wav, but not 4.  It's also not clear if it will "mix" in the extra inputs to the stereo file even if you only have live inputs on channels 1 and 2, which I suppose could raise the noise floor. Reading p. 28, it looks like you can turn unwanted inputs off completely.  So it looks like you can record any number of tracks you want in wav format at 96 khz or less, although in the stereo file mode you can only turn tracks on/off in pairs.

Bummer about the inability to deal with interrupted power though...  But my guess is that when you get the "battery empty" error message, it enters standby automatically, so your recording will be safe.  Only one way to know for sure though.

[stevetoney]

Reading p. 28, it looks like you can turn unwanted inputs off completely.  So it looks like you can record any number of tracks you want in wav format at 96 khz or less, although in the stereo file mode you can only turn tracks on/off in pairs.

Right.  I saw that too and that kinda gave me the same thought, but the chart on page 35 threw me.  It seems to indicate that the only permutations of WAV recordings are either 6 or 8 track combination's.  I'm trying not to read too much between the lines, but it seems to me like they go into almost every permutation of 6 and 8 track combo's in the chart.  If they went to that level of detail for 6 and 8 tracks and it was possible to record in fewer tracks, it sure seems to me that they'd have at least put a couple of examples of what the recording times are with fewer tracks.  After all, that would be a huge plus to be able to show that you could record, say onto 4 tracks for 16 hours or whatever.  Anyway, like I said before, this isn't really the bigger of the two issues for me.

[Will_S]

Yeah, but I can't see what possible meaning turning a track "off" (p. 28) could have if you can't choose not to record it.

The chart on p.35 worries (or would worry, if buying another deck fit into my plans right now) me too, but I see 6 and 8 track as reasonable maximum needs for folks with and without a suitable digital source to mix in, so both could be of interest in terms of calculating minimum card sizes needed for a project.

The power off issue would be more worrying to me as well, but I know on the DR2D you get a low battery error long before the unit actually powers itself off, so it's hard to imagine it doesn't enter some sort of safe mode at that point.  So unless you batteries had an unexpectedly quick final discharge, it seems like you should be safe from that - at least when using AAs.  An external battery going dead would probably have the same effect as unplugging though....but as long as you have a high enough capacity battery, maybe that's not an issue.  I know the uncertainty is stressful, but really I can't remember the last time I actually had a battery go dead on me while recording.

Good luck if you keep your pre-order in effect!

[Jammin72]

It could be possible they allow you to turn off tracks to reduce unwanted noise on an open channel.  But it does seem to be a glaring omission to force the writing of non-collected information.

[ArchivalAudio]

^^^^^ likely you can turn off tracks so that - un needed data would be recorded.  Some recorded could function in this way
all 6 - or 8 channels will record data- obviously using media space - unless turned off or disabled.
1 gb per hour at 24/48 could add up if you were recording only 2 track or 4 track, but writing 6 - 8 track, instead of 2GB for an hour your media would be effectively writing 6-8 GB in an hour.  this of course is only my interpretation of what they would let you disable tracks, effectively not writing the data to the media if not needed.


Has anyone had an update, when do we expect these in hand really?

this looks like an awesome option for many including myself... in the near or distant future

peace
--Ian

[sunjan]

Has anyone had an update, when do we expect these in hand really?

For Europe:
"Availability of this item:shipment due to arrive on 05.04.2010" according to Thomann.de
That's April 5, if you're in doubt...