Tascam DM-4800 questions

[radiationroom]

Are there any Tascam DM-4800 users here?

http://www.sweetwater.com/images/items/750/DM4800-large.jpg

I'm curious as to how much latency there is from the time an analog signal enters the board and goes through the 4800's mix core before getting spit back out as analog headed for the monitors. I'm thinking now that a digital console would be suitable replacement for the Mackie 8 bus except for latency concerns. Needing an outboard monitor mix during recording would kind of defeat the purpose of choosing a digital console over a control surface, and both my budget and space are limited.

Also, what does this board sound like? Is the conversion up to snuff or will I need a set of Benchmark's in addition to it?

http://www.sweetwater.com/images/items/750/DAC1-large.jpg

I would love to audition one of these but there is no dealer who stocks it within an easy drive (and NO I don't feel like driving the whole way to Fort Wayne). And no I really don't feel like building a whole console like this from scratch either, although I am still mulling over the analog summing box among other DIY ideas.

Thanks in advance - Peter Carli

[Billy_B]

I don't have DM4800 but I do have a DM24. In short, it has no noticeable latency. I have personally measured 42 samples of latency from digital in to digital out when printing mixes versus bouncing. Since no ADDA conversion is totally efficient I would guess a few more samples are added to that count from A in to A out.

I use outboard AD.

I will go on to say that I have recently abandoned doing final mixes on my DM24. I'm fully ITB (even tho I was always fully digital) and my mixes are much better sounding by a long shot. Wider, better separation and generally having more depth.

I don't know what the 24 and 4800 have in common beyond the interface similarities but if it doesn't have a massively updated DSP technology then I wouldn't consider it a meaningful update.

One thing that really bothered me over time is the fact that the DM24 increments gain on the fader in .4db intervals. There were times when this was too coarse for me.

For all the criticism I have given I love what I can do with my dm24 during tracking. I'm fast as hell and can get a great cue mix in a snap.

[MacGregor]

Are there any Tascam DM-4800 users here?


Not yet, but next weekend one of those will show up in my studio, so if by next weekend you should still have some questions just let me know.

Mac
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[radiationroom]

Not yet, but next weekend one of those will show up in my studio, so if by next weekend you should still have some questions just let me know.

Thanks. Keep me posted on how it works for you.

[Brendo]

i hated the dm24 with a passion. i wonder how similar this unit really is?

dm24 = lack of headroom, it starts getting ugly way before the meters say it should be.

[MacGregor]

i hated the dm24 with a passion. i wonder how similar this unit really is?

dm24 = lack of headroom, it starts getting ugly way before the meters say it should be.

From my investigations so far it seems that the DM-4800 is a completely different beast.

That doesn't necessarily mean that it's headroom-wise better, though.
We'll see...

Mac
.