Thanks Michael - I have tried that as well with no luck.

We're going to do some more tests today with other devices - (DVD Player etc.) to try to get a digital signal to communicate with the DR-680. I've done several things to try to get the SPDIF to lock via suggestions from MIO Mailing list (Metric Halo - B.J., and others).

John (johnsound) is going to contact me and help me run some tests today. (thanks John!!) I'll update later today with results, hopefully. I think we're thinking that if I can't get digital signal from any other device than this DR-680 that I have is faulty, then I'll have to decide if I want a new one sent to try this all over again.

Any other suggestions are welcome. Thanks,

Jay

Hi Michael,

Once the Stereo Rec in the Record menu has been set to DIN (Digital In for those of you following along) the Input Select Digital/Analog setting in the I/O menu has no effect: inputs 5 & 6 will be analog. Only when the Stereo Rec setting is Mix does the I/O setting allow you to switch between analog and digital on inputs 5 & 6. One of the many rather confusing aspects of this machine!

Regards

John

I wish I could be of more help but we no longer own the Tascam deck so I don't have one handy to offer any further suggestions beyond what John and Michael have already provided.

All I can say is good luck! Best thing to do is feed it a variety of digital sources to test. My guess is that some will work and some won't. I doubt the Tascam itself is faulty though. Just how they are handling the digital stream from various sources...

Dirk

Jay and I did some work over the weekend and made progress. He'll no doubt fill you in later.

Thanks,

John

EDIT: John beat me to this post.

Thanks Dirk. We've had some breakthroughs - and plenty of oddities - just this morning. I was going to post a lengthy, detailed update later or tomorrow. I wanted to make sure what we've figured out is working consistently for a couple days.

You've all been VERY helpful. Incredibly so! Thanks! Especially johnsound, and his delightful English accent, who spent yesterday morning on Skype phone with me from London, testing, configuring and explaining things.

Long story short: It's locking at 44.1k now and I've found a workaround to get the sample rate to lock at 48k too. I can't switch back and forth at will between the two sample rates without powering down, unplugging, switching around the SPDIF cable and back again etc. but it's manageable and I'm ok with it. I have the process all typed out in an email. I'll post soon. 96k is not locking between the two devices however - and doesn't sound like it ever will be for some reason? But, I have my ULN-2 Snapshot States set up to monitor through the ULN-2, without having to use the Macbook, which I'm happy about etc. so it looks like I'll be keeping it as it will do what I want.

So, Thanks again! As I told John, and he agrees, the behavior between the two devices is very odd, but, if it's a consistent odd and one that I know and can manage, I'll keep it and deal with it. Like I said, I'm very happy with the fact that I won't have to use my Macbook on location (or in same room in small studio) and I still can use the ULN-2's A/D and preamps -into a small, (easy to use, once you know how!) quiet, flash recorder. - And I'll also be able to record 4-6 more tracks if/when needed.

Also, John has the Busman mod and seems to be happy with it. I may look into getting this done too, down the road, if I find I'll be using the other channels a lot or want to use it without my ULN-2. I haven't done much testing with the stock preamps but I will with SDC's. I did actually try them with my Beyer M160 Ribbons and as I figured, they were too noisy - this was on a quiet source - classical guitar. The ULN-2 pres have gotten me very spoiled with these Ribbons.

I got the carry case, a Sandisk 32GB Class 4 Ultra SDHC card that's working fine with it, and I'll be able to get the same quality sound as I would be getting with my ULN-2/Macbook setup - so I'm pretty happy now. A strange trip it's been getting here - but I've learned a lot about both devices doing it!

Thanks,


Jay

UPDATE! I've got 44.1k, 48k, AND 96K working no problems now! I'm VERY excited about this! I can also switch sample rates at will without being hooked up to my macbook or powering down either device etc. All I have to do now is have two SPDIF cables hooked up - so that, I guess, each device is communicating each way with each other. I want to have both cables hooked up anyway because I've routed and made my Snapshot States in the MIO Console- one for each sample rate - so that I can monitor and playback through my ULN-2 (or both devices at the same time, if I want, for a total of two headphone outs on location - sans MacBook). DELIGHTFUL!

Anyway, it wasn't always like this for some reason. I guess each device just had to get to know each other better - and me them. Now we all know and like each other just fine and are getting along wonderfully!!

Thanks everyone for all their AMAZING help here, there and everywhere! What a wonderful world - and forum this is!! heh

Does DR-680's digital input lock to external samplerate only or can it be the master clock?

EDIT: checked with metric halo 2882 and looks like the external hardware has to be the master clock. It also does not sample-convert the upcoming digital signal if it's different than what the tascam is set to, but does not show appropriate message so you have to be careful. Everything has to be on the same clock.

I just chime in, because I encounter the same problem with Audient Mico to DR-680 GOING DIGITALLY TO CHANNEL#7-8

How did you solve the problem? I'd really like to have these extra two channels!

best wishes
Robert

A friend sent me this link to a Youtube instruction he made showing how to record 8 tracks with the DR-680.

TASCAM DR-680 - How To Record 8 Audio Tracks Simultaneously - YouTube

I tried that out and when connected to a dvd player's audio digital out it worked exactly as described. With Audient Mico at 44,1kHz, same DR-680 settings - nope ...

thanks for help anyway ...

Is the Mico AES output also connected to something? That'll keep SPDIF output from working. It's a Mico limitation.

No, it isn't. Here's what I found on their FAQ page:

"
When using SPDIF to connect an Audient Mico and a Tascam recorder you will get a DIN Unlock error. This is because the Tascam units do not currently support incoming 'Professional' SPDIF signals. As this Professional Bit is hardwired on a Mico, and the tascam units do not have a setting to allow a professional SPDIF signal to be recieved, the units are incompatible.

Connecting Mico's AES output to AES inputs on Tascam units should work perfectly."

Any work-around?

It's typical for manufacturers to blame the other guy. Tascam has been making digital pro audio gear for many years and they have to interface with lots of other pieces to survive in the world of field production. Make sure your DR-680 has firmware version 1.2. Tascam says this about the digital input:

DIGITAL/SYNC IN jack
The signal input through this jack can be recorded to tracks 5 and 6 or the stereo track. The unit automatically determines whether the input signal is S/PDIF (IEC60958-3) or AES3-2003/IEC60958-4 (AES/EBU), which are both supported.

I can't guarantee this will work, but it should:

You need a transformer to go from the Mico's 110 ohm XLR AES/EBU to 75 ohm BNC:
Canare BCJ-XJ-TRB 110 Ohm to 75 Ohm Digital Audio BCJ-XJ-TRC B&H

You can connect the transformer to your DR-680 with one of these cables (BNC to RCA):
Pearstone Gold Series BNC Male to RCA Male Video Cable VRBC-306

or you can adapt the transformer to your own RCA SPDIF cable with one of these:
Watec RCA-BNC RCA-to-BNC Adapter RCA-BNC B&H Photo Video

Good luck!

Thanks for advice. Do you know a source for the Canare transformer in Europe?

Most pro audio dealers will have impedance transformers (110 ohm balanced to 75 ohm coaxial).
Any of these will work:

Canare BCJ-XJ-TRB
Neutrik NADITBNC-FX
Switchcraft 366

These two are inline adapters, so you also need a short standard balanced 110 ohm digital audio cable with XLR-F and XLR-M ends:
Switchcraft 366R
Sescom SES-AES-EBU-1

This list may be helpful to find a dealer: Pro Audio Dealers - DE - proaudioguide.com | connect-access and select Germany or another country where you want to buy.

The Neutrik is easily available, so I will try that ...
thanks again

I tried the Neutrik transformer, it didn't work, unfortunately.
I got a reply from Audient, they say they have no way to remove that problem in the current model, they try to change it in future editions ... so here we are ...

Has anybody any other ideas? They say, there is a bit in the digital stream that is apparently incomprehensible to the tascam input.I wonder if one could filter out that bad bit?

Sorry to hear it
:(

Have you tried setting the DR-680 DIN to AES, instead of SPDIF?

DG

There is only the posibility to set the DR-680's digital output to AES, which I tried with no sucess ...
For the digital Input there are no options apart from being on or off. At least non I'd be aware of...

You might also make inquiry over at taperssection.

Regards,

DG

Which is exactly where?
Thanks

Recording Gear

They have several threads dedicated specifically to the DR-680. They start a new one when they reach 25 pages. Currently on #5.

DG

Firstly, if you have a quick look at the Wikipedia entry for S/PDIF it defines very nicely the ways in which S/PDIF is similar and DIFFERENT from the Bit-format and Voltages used in AES3. So an impedance converter won't necessarily help if it is trying to deliver to an SPDIF input a peak 1.2V unbalanced AES signal and even less so a 7V balanced AES signal.

Secondly, the very first bit of the digital signal says if the format is "Professional" or "Consumer" and thereby determines how the following bits are interpreted. This originally used to be noticed because the format has copy-protection bits for SCMS (Serial Copy Management System) which was created so that a DAT recorder would be allowed to make an original copy of a digital recording (in which the SCMS bits would be set) but not to make another copy of the copy (because the SCMS bits were set) - see SCMS on Wikipedia.

Consequently, in the hey-dey of the DAT recorder it became possible to buy a little bit-stripper box with one S/PDIF-in and one S/PDIF-out whose sole purpose was to reset the SCMS option back to its "Copy allowed" value ie. the copy could then be copied an number of times without needing the bit-stripper box any more.

Both SCMS and the difference in Professional and Consumer bit-formats were a cause of problems connecting digital stereo interfaces together and lead pro-audio users generally to buy Professional-format gear and use AES3.

Today it is possible to buy digital interfaces like the Behringer Ultramatch Pro 2496 which are designed to allow routing and sample-rate conversion of digital signals including the facility to go between S/PDIF and AES (format and voltage) and set the status bits as you need (otherwise it wouldn't connect!)

So the different digital formats are probably the reason for the digital signal not to be recognised and hence not lock and the solution is either to have a signal in the expected format or to be able to convert it into the expected format.

For someone using a Tascam DR-680 for portability, a 1U digital format converter plus a stereo mic preamp for the sake of 2 extra channels might be too much but if there is a small high-quality 2-channel mic preamp with a compatible 24/96 S/PDIF output it would be ideal. And yes the now discontinued Grace Lunatec v3 stereo preamp & A-to-D (S/PDIF & AES3) does look good - I guess you would have to try it to see if they work together?

Why is the audio world always plagued by "standards" that aren't?

One possible way to have a mic preamp and A-to-D would be something like a MOTU Firewire/USB audio interface - if you choose one that can be set up to operate as a freestanding audio device without needing the Firewire/USB connection. I believe several MOTU interfaces do this.

Essentially you set up the sample rate and routing either when the interface is connected to your computer or using the menus on the front panel:
Mic input 1 panned Left to S/PDIF1 Out and Mic input 2 panned Right to S/PDIF Out at 24/96
and then it can be a freestanding 2-channel mic preamp and A-to-D converter.

And you can use it with your computer when you are not using it with a portable recorder.

The DR-680 auto senses SPDIF and AES input. RUn straight AES input into the spdif in JACK of the 680, WITHOUT transformer. The deck accepts both type of signals on that jack. The 680 with not work on some preamps SPDIF signals due to the way it reads incoming data. Mico is one of those preamps, but I think it will accept the AES input.

How about matching the impedance with a purely Ohm R network? Not necessary?

Hi. I posted the same question in another thread. Have you tried to use the toslink optical output of the mico with an optical-to-spdif converter? I believe these kind of adapters must re-generate the spdif data stream, and so have a better chance to be compatible with the Tascam recorder.

Also, I have a 2488 neo. Have someone tried the mico's spdif out in one of these? Thanks and sorry for the somewhat off-topic question.

posting in an old thread: But I am using a Grace Lunatec V3 > Tascam DR-100 mkii and I was getting the DIN unlock message. The V3's sample rate should match the DR-100's sample rate setting. If the DR-100 is 96khz and the V3 is 48khz you will see the DIN unlock message. If the DR-100 is 48kHZ and V3 48khz you should get a signal.