Topic: Tascam DR-70D 4-channel audio recorder (Part 7)

[lsd2525]

Volt, didn't you have someone's ear at Tascam regarding firmware update suggestions?

No being able to select which source to send to the monitor/cam outputs and being stuck with a mix is beyond ridiculous. Worked just fine on the 60; why they would limit this on the 70 is beyond me. I went to the 70 for the 4 channel XLRs, but only being able to get the mix to cam out is really starting to piss me off, and I'm sure it is with a lot of other people too. Recorded Unknown Hinson Friday night using two sets of cards; individually, both sources sound great but the mix that got sent to the camera sounds like ass.

[voltronic]

Nope.  I can't even get a response at all from customer service, after about 6 or 7 emails.  I haven't tried for a few months though, so maybe I'll give it another shot.

I think you've done a great job of describing a major flaw with a feature that directly affects the target market for this recorder of DSLR users.  It's been on my issues list for a long time, but like I said no one at Tascam responds to any emails from me.

[F.O.Bean]

Volt, didn't you have someone's ear at Tascam regarding firmware update suggestions?

No being able to select which source to send to the monitor/cam outputs and being stuck with a mix is beyond ridiculous. Worked just fine on the 60; why they would limit this on the 70 is beyond me. I went to the 70 for the 4 channel XLRs, but only being able to get the mix to cam out is really starting to piss me off, and I'm sure it is with a lot of other people too. Recorded Unknown Hinson Friday night using two sets of cards; individually, both sources sound great but the mix that got sent to the camera sounds like ass.

Hmm, weird! I kinda had a similar incident recently! I just taped Dumpstaphunk/Turkuaz last weekend[8.6.16], and separately, my two sources sound great [mk4>vms02ib>70d[3/4] & mk41>pfa>70d[1/2]. But matrixed together 50/50, the mix sounded like ass IMO[just opening as an Audio Montage in WaveLab v6.11 like Ive done a million times before], so I scraped mixing the two sources together and left them separate!

BUT, I am not sure if it's because my mics weren't aligned vertically to the sound source[probably phasing issues from that], or because the 70D has a delay or phasing issue somewhere? I have everything set fine in the settings, but it seems when I mix my 2 DAUD sources from the 70D, they have that same weird phasing/cancellation issue it seems? And its not WaveLab v6.11 doing it!

I just got that new SRS Dina/DIN combo mount, which keeps all 4 of my caps aligned vertically to the sound source, so I'll definitely report back once I tape something new and try to matrix those 2 sources together! I'm HOPING that its just the phasing issues because of running one of my rigs about 4"-5" farther back from the front rig on my Vark Bar, and NOT the 70D reversing phase or something I'm going to re-check my settings too, but I know for a fact that I don't have phase/delay/limiter/etc ON. That stuff is ALWAYS OFF in my settings!

[lsd2525]

I think it's just the fact that running two different sets of mics with a 50/50 split just cancels some stuff out. Might work better if I was running a set of omnis and a set of cards instead of 2 sets of cards, but whatever, it's still kind of defeating the purpose. Maybe Tascam thinks everyone is just sending a scratch track to the cam that they are going to replace in post, but I never do that if I get a clean audio track to begin with.

Very weird that there are a hundred combinations for output on the 60 but no options on the 70. Bastards. Lol

[noahbickart]

we might want to start a coordinated e-mail campaign. If 100 people write the same e-mail, perhaps they'll listen.

I too would love to have control of the analogue output. It would be so easy to do an on the fly matrix to an outboard m10 in addition to the 4 individual tracks on the 70d.

[Ronmac]

I'm all for new firmware upgrades (I own two units), but let us not forget this is a $200 deck. We can hope.

[lsd2525]

I'm all for new firmware upgrades (I own two units), but let us not forget this is a $200 deck. We can hope.

This should be pretty simple.....as I said before, the DR60 does this out of the box and the 70 should be the next step up. Besides, attaching this to a camera is it's intended use. Not having this functionally more or less cripples this

[lsd2525]

we might want to start a coordinated e-mail campaign. If 100 people write the same e-mail, perhaps they'll listen.

I too would love to have control of the analogue output. It would be so easy to do an on the fly matrix to an outboard m10 in addition to the 4 individual tracks on the 70d.

Next question: who do we write to?

[lsd2525]

we might want to start a coordinated e-mail campaign. If 100 people write the same e-mail, perhaps they'll listen.

I too would love to have control of the analogue output. It would be so easy to do an on the fly matrix to an outboard m10 in addition to the 4 individual tracks on the 70d.

Next question: who do we write to?

http://tascam.com/contact/support/
I just sent an email to operational support. Fire away folks.

[lsd2525]

we might want to start a coordinated e-mail campaign. If 100 people write the same e-mail, perhaps they'll listen.

I too would love to have control of the analogue output. It would be so easy to do an on the fly matrix to an outboard m10 in addition to the 4 individual tracks on the 70d.

Next question: who do we write to?

http://tascam.com/contact/support/
I just sent an email to operational support. Fire away folks.

Did I word this correctly? Feel free to copy and paste:

Support Reference Code: 76X3NFCB
Support Request Type: Operational Support
Product: DR70
Your Question:
Not so much of a question as a request. On the DR60, you can choose which source you send to the output (1-2, 3-4, mix, etc). On the 70 however, all you get is mix. Can the firmware be updated to allow you to choose which source you can assign to the outputs? Thanks, Dan

[voltronic]

If we're sending coordinated emails, may I suggest that we all add the other things that are on the FAQ issues list?  I'm not fluffing my FAQ page here; that's a list of the top annoyances I've compiled from everyone here, with maybe just 1 or 2 if my own.

[lsd2525]

If we're sending coordinated emails, may I suggest that we all add the other things that are on the FAQ issues list?  I'm not fluffing my FAQ page here; that's a list of the top annoyances I've compiled from everyone here, with maybe just 1 or 2 if my own.

Great idea! Squeaky wheel grease and all......

[F.O.Bean]

If we're sending coordinated emails, may I suggest that we all add the other things that are on the FAQ issues list?  I'm not fluffing my FAQ page here; that's a list of the top annoyances I've compiled from everyone here, with maybe just 1 or 2 if my own.

Yeah, great idea Volt! Id just be happy if they changed the Channel=OFF counter-clockwise issue!

[voltronic]

I'm out of town for a few days and it's a PITA doing it on my phone, but what I plan on doing when I'm back is copy-pasting the Known Issues and Firmware Update Requests into emails to Tascam customer service and tech support.  That's what I did several times before with no response from anyone.  If others start doing something similar, maybe they start to take notice.  Otherwise it seems like I'm this one annoying guy who find a bunch of problems and likes to complain.

Honestly I really like the 70D and it's a reliable workhorse for me.  Everything on the list short of the crappy limiter could theoretically be fixed with firmware updates, particularly given the Blackfin DSP chip that runs the unit.  They just have to see that it's worth their time and money to assign engineers and programmers to make it happen.  That's why we need to be many wheels intelligently squeaking together.

[lsd2525]

I'm out of town for a few days and it's a PITA doing it on my phone, but what I plan on doing when I'm back is copy-pasting the Known Issues and Firmware Update Requests into emails to Tascam customer service and tech support.  That's what I did several times before with no response from anyone.  If others start doing something similar, maybe they start to take notice.  Otherwise it seems like I'm this one annoying guy who find a bunch of problems and likes to complain.

Honestly I really like the 70D and it's a reliable workhorse for me.  Everything on the list short of the crappy limiter could theoretically be fixed with firmware updates, particularly given the Blackfin DSP chip that runs the unit.  They just have to see that it's worth their time and money to assign engineers and programmers to make it happen.  That's why we need to be many wheels intelligently squeaking together.

I really like the thing too. The metering is much better than the 60, and the form factor is much better also. I feel a little better about the menu-controlled phantom power off/off deal once I realized that once they are on, the unit prompts you to confirm rather than having to turn them on individually. Really, the non-selectable output is the biggest problem I got, and frankly I'm surprised it's like this given the target market and the fact that it is selectable in it 60.