No, no, no. We all want a Model1200, and fully digital, please! We don’t pay more than 899,-! Hear me, Tascam?

Yea, that is steep. And I'm not saying that it's overpriced, but it might just be overkill for a lot of people. Apart from live bands wanting all these channels and sub routing or peeps with tons of outboard gear, preamps, effect racks and such, I think most home studio users would be just fine with the $599 Model 12. I know I am and I'm not about to spend two grand in this mothership right now. But to each his own.

That's the big question... do you really need 12 inserts, five aux and 8 subs? I know that I certainly don't, but I record and mix alone, and I mostly do overdubs. When I run out of tracks, I just mix them down and reimport the mix in a new project as needed.

Of course, there's the master compressor and the so-called "analog flavor". I don't know about these two features in that price range. Audacity has a compressor too. So does my Roland Verselab. That part can matter to you or not.

In other words, I would think about it. Do you really need the 2400 or would you be just fine with a 12? If you buy a 12, you have enough money left to buy yourself a brand new Oberheim TEO. Speaking of analog flavor... Although, personally, I'd go for a used Digitone and a used System 8.

Surely there's too much money to be made for your cries to go unheard. And then if there's a 1200 the line really needs a 1600 or it doesn't make sense.

What they need to do is team up with Akai and meld the Force with one of these for the greatest portastudio ever.

I've got the 12 and a 500 Chassis with preamps and a compressor. I just need to add an EQ and I'm set. I've built two preamps and a compressor. So, I'm in for about the same price as a 2400 by building my own.

They could name it the Taskai M-Force!!

M-Forcer. Sounds threatening and beatdown-y the way gear should.

Congratulations, that bespoke set-up sounds great. So, out of curiosity... would you consider trading your custom set-up for a Model 2400?

The Taskai Mforcer sounds like a winner!

I like the 2400, they did good on it. I just don't have the room to fit it in. Then of course I would have to price equipment I built at the regular price not kit price. I got my API box for $400 used. If you shop around you can find some nice gear, or if you can use a soldering iron some kits are fairly easy to build. I do have one preamp I didn't build, a Cranborne Camden 500, best $350 I ever spent outside of kits.

Love the idea of having a bespoke set-up like yours where you pick the preamp, EQ and compressor you like. Or even better, build them to specs like you did. That's definitely next level and I'm not there yet by a long shot, but it sounds awesome.

I think the 2400 is great too if you have the dough, the room and the purpose for it. I love the fact that they included the Model 12 master MIDI clock feature in their flagship unit. If I was still playing in a live band, I'd be shaking down my bandmates to buy it as we speak.

Can you explain this a little deeper?

I cannot attach screenshots from the material we process at the office (for various reasons), but from the few hundred multitrack transfers I've been involved with, typically a multitrack log contains pages of tables like this mockup (of, say, some sort of imaginary jazz recording)

Now, you might also have other notes (such as in the case of classical music recordings, the song positions, ie. "Part 3, From bar 15 to bar 34") but these documents always follow this type of formula more or less. In the cases where instrumentation between takes does not change, the track labeling of instruments might be omitted, in these cases it is always assumed track contents have stayed the same as in the previous "take"

You might have any number of pages in such a mtk log document, depending on the lenght of the recordings. Sometimes, a single mtk log document outlines the contents of several tapes, which are all from the same session, as typically a 2" cake holds less than an hour of music (and half as much if recorded as 30IPS)

I think that it is a fair price for the package it offers. 24 tracks, analog eq and compressor both for tracking and mixing, master bus effects, digital effects, midi sync, control surface...
It is the closest thing to the 24 track tape multitracks of yesteryear minus the tape. Of course, at that price it should also have reasonably good audio quality, at least comparable to a mid to upper tier audio interface, something that troubles me since the technical specs provided by tascam are not detailed at all.

I dont think it can sound any worse than the existing Model series mixers.. so certainly on par with consumer interfaces, pres probably better than on those even

I'm afraid we won't see it among the Thomann's Anniversary August special offers :-)

The preamps on the mono channels are great, all recent converters are great. Remains the question, if the comps and eqs, the master bus effects and the digital effects (reverbs etc.) are comparable to plugins. My routine with the M12 always was: nice to have eqs, channel comps and reverb etc. for PA/live sound and rough mixes. For serious mixing and producing I would take the dry mixes and use a Daw.
Will the M2400 be good enough to remain there for mixing and mastering?

22 tracks
plus L/R stereo master

The stereo master can also be used for USB class compliant audio, so its (up to) 24 tracks when tethered with a USB cc sound source

I always set up my USB cc audio to use the master channel with my Model 12, saves 2 channels for hardware. This means I wont have any controls for USB audio, but thats ok since you can control everything on the digital end

Is anyone planning to buy this console?

I am not. Sticking to my Model 12 as I just don't need the extra inputs, inserts, sub groups and AUX outs. The master compressor feels fairly anecdotical to me although it would be cool to have it when you just want to master a demo on the fly.

Analog always sounds cooler on paper, but does it really make a significant life-changing difference in the Model series? Je ne sais pas. Most of my source gear is digital to start with. For me, that ship has sailed long time ago. I'd love to record my final mixes on one-inch tape though. In my android dreams.

If I did need all the extra inputs and outputs however, I would most certainly go for the Model 2400. I think it's totally worth it if you need all the extra routing IMHO.

I was all initially gushing with excitement but have cooled down a little.

I am more than considering the Montage M 88 x as with my Fantom 8 it would give me a massive soundscape with decent convertors and lots of connectivity.

I have a decent amount of outboard and drum machines and pads.

Midi them up for 32 channels of sonic bliss.

I think it also depends on what kind of music one is into.

Cheers

Hi community,

I’ve been using my trusty Tascam M-2600 (24 channels) since I bought it back in 1993. It’s been a reliable workhorse in my studio, but now I’m curious about the new Tascam Model 2400 and whether it’s worth considering an upgrade.

For those of you who have experience with both older and newer Tascam gear, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Here are a few questions I’m thinking about:

In terms of construction and materials is the build quality of modern Tascam gear superior or have they cut corners compared to the 90s era?

Have the internal components (preamps, faders, etc.) significantly improved or are they comparable to what was used in the M-2600? Is there a noticeable difference in sound quality, noise floor, or headroom?

Thanks in advance!

is the unit able to be a slave to a midi sequencer and have song position data locked for transport midi sync? ...the model 12 can't do this.

No immediate plans due to the cost, but it’s very appealing for my needs. I have a Model 24 that I use for live recording and (sometimes) PA. All of these upgrades would be useful at one time or another:

- Dedicated talkback.

- 4 subgroups, with AFL (lack of AFL on the 24 really bugged me).

- 2 more monitor sends.

- Ability to use compression live without recording it.

- Ability to use compression on playback.

- Still no mic input, but 21/22 appears to be slightly more useful for something other than Bluetooth/iPod/etc.

I just wish I had a smaller/better solution for mic inputs on the stereo channels. I use those for drum overheads, keyboards, room/audience, etc. Right now I use a small Soundcraft mixer for its mic pres and send those to the 24 via the insert jacks and a snake. Technically it works great but it’s just clunky to haul around and set up.

The split phantom groups are nice in theory, but it’s never been a problem for me. I saw ribbon mics mentioned; what ribbon mics actually have issues with phantom?

Apparently, phantom power can damage and even destroy ribbon mics. So if you plug in a couple condenser mics and a couple ribbon mics at the same time, being able to send phantom power to the condenser group and not to the ribbon group is safer.

I say "apparently" because that's what I read online. I actually don't own any ribbon mic. I've heard this from reliable sources though, so I think it's true. Doesn't mean that every ribbon mic would be automatically damaged by phantom power, but it's probably a good idea to be cautious. And it's probably the reason why the 2400 offer split phantom groups. AFAIK, phantom power is specifically tailored for condenser mics. Apparently, it can even damage dynamic mics in some situations.

The reason it's called phantom power is balanced mics that don't need it don't even see it. 48V is sent on both the "hot" and "cold" pins, and return is on the ground pin, which is almost never connected to the mic element or transformer winding.

https://www.tangible-technology.com/...r_connect.html

It's only an issue if 1) you're using a TRS patch bay and plugging/unplugging while phantom is on, 2) the mic is miswired, or 3) the transformer has a center tap connected to ground.

"Under normal circumstances 48-volts is applied to both pin-2 and pin-3 (with respect to ground) and not across the coil or ribbon, both of which are typically isolated from the outside world via transformer. Since there is no potential difference, Phantom Power is invisible to dynamic and ribbon mics. However, if pin-1 and pin-2 (or pin-1 and pin-3) are reversed — as would happen with a mis-wired cable — either 48-volts would be applied across the mic’s transformer or across the capsule itself. Turning a dynamic mic into a tweeter is not a good thing. I’ve seen a bad cable trash a perfectly good Sennheiser MD-409 (that is not transformer isolated)."

https://www.tangible-technology.com/...ntom_aug02.htm

That said, if you are using a TRS patch bay for connecting your mics, having phantom off when plugging/unplugging is a good idea, and having split phantom groups could make life easier.

But for the most part, phantom+ribbon=bad is just an old wives' tale.

"It is considered good practice to disable phantom power to devices that don't require it." Last sentence of the Wikipedia paragraph you just reposted.

So, there you go, in doubt, disable phantom power if the device don't require it. Hence the phantom groups in the Tascam 2400. I don't know what else to tell you. You ask a question on a forum, people try to answer it. No need to get on your high horse because you need to stand taller than someone else to have a good day.

The point is there's a difference between "phantom kills ribbon mics" and "I don't know enough so I'm just going to assume it's bad".

Right. Well... this is my original reply to you down below. I think I was pretty clear and put an emphasis on "apparently":

"Apparently, phantom power can damage and even destroy ribbon mics. So if you plug in a couple condenser mics and a couple ribbon mics at the same time, being able to send phantom power to the condenser group and not to the ribbon group is safer.

I say "apparently" because that's what I read online. I actually don't own any ribbon mic. I've heard this from reliable sources though, so I think it's true. Doesn't mean that every ribbon mic would be automatically damaged by phantom power, but it's probably a good idea to be cautious."