Actually that is for WHEN the monitor on the DM3200/4800 either goes out, or gets those dreaded lines in it. Otherwise it really does not give you anything. Until then I have bookmarked the site that sells the hack, and engrained it in my brain for that very reason of screen replacement.

Jim

Yeah, differences in A/D and D/A should really be very minimal, unless you are talking a prism or a lavry, or similar, even then it really is not a night and and day, except for maybe the difference in the stereo field.

I really wanted the SSL alpha link with a delta link, for the changes that you get with going HD in pro tools, like the 192 tracks and some of the other things like that, that HD brings to the table, not really for the converters changing the sound (they should be relitilvely transparent). I really was not a fan of the AVID/DIGI 192 I/O units, that is why I sold mine in 2011, and went another route in the converter space. I personally went back with my trusty 001 at home for a while, and I got the two DM4800s for the pro facility, it was not that the 192 I/Os were bad, just that they had a sterile thing going for them, and they had a bump at 12K-15K. Now I have recently played with the HDX units and they did not have any of the issues that I had with the 192 I/Os. I also went with a Liquid Saffire 56 at home, and I love that for my home use as well.

I am still planning on getting the SSL alpha link with a delta link and an AVID native core card for the pro facility next year, to go with the DM4800s.

Jim

That's going to be some system, Jim!

I'll be the first to admit I think I "over did it". But, I can always sell some of the stuff, when I'm sure it makes little or no impact to my workflow. Right now, I know that one DM 3200 and the Sebatron preamp is good. I believe out of any "extras" I did buy the Sebatron preamp made the biggest impact.

Hi Jim, first of all thanks for giving so much info, impressing!

First this is my gear:
I run an set up with Radar 24 Classic (with 24 Adat I/O) and one Radar S-Nyqvist 192KHz (with 24 Tdif I/O) , but only one system at a time. All outboard during recording going into Radar with great AD conversion. And DA from Radar to the console for monitoring.

I use all my gear in a analog set up so to speak.
(I don' t use my Mac G5 with Logic for anything else than file transfers when someone want's a CD with all the tracks from a session.)

I have fantastic preamps, Eq and compressors (API, Avalon, Gyraf, Summit, DBX) and an Toft ATB32 console.

I am using an Alesis Masterlink after talking the final mix stereo out from Toft going AD to Radar on ch 23 &24. I use AES digital from Radar to Masterlink and burn the final stereo- mix CD there.

Here is what lead me to this thread (and I did read the whole thing and learnt a lot from it):
I miss having automation (had an Yamaha 02R some years ago) thats what started all this.
Somehow think the ATB console is missing headroom and bring to much color to the mix.
I want a more SSL kind og transparent sound (I am guessing, never worked on those consoles but tried one at Oxford and at musicfair and have listened to work done on them, but really need a more high end mixer. Cant afford the Neve, SSL and API league....)

I will sell one Radar system and my Toft Atb32 and will have about 7000 dollars to spend, I assume....

I decided on getting a used Yamaha 02R96 but ended up on this thread.

I decided to go for the DM-4800 after reading all your input, Jim.

My questions to get the most out of my mix and recording set up are:
1. What are your suggestion for set up, what I/O cards do I need to get the best out of my 12 hardware compressors during mixdown. Should I use the Sub-D 25 pin in your qoute?

2. Can I connect my main reverbs TC M3000 and Lexicon PCM-70 digitally to get better sonic quality than going in analog? (Got this tip from Berno Studio - a great studio in Malmö Town, Sweden were I live)

3. Today I run 16 direct out from the Toft console into my headphone "mymix" system. Couldn't find any direct outs on the console? (signal before mix) do I need 2 more Sub-D cards for that? Have to make sure that those 16 channels work during a live band recording, but not needed during mix.

4. Anything else important that I missed you could think of?

I basically really need to know if I will make all this work with the DM-4800 and also make sure that I buy the correct I/O cards. Also great to know if I will get a better sound (of course subjective) or lets say higher quality, more headroom etc. (Maybe a more polished sound, dare I say pop.)

Really thankful to anyone else that want to give input on this as well!

(I will of course read the manual and make all the routing and sort that out if I buy the console)

great forum, great people - thanks a lot in advance!

Wow, where to start.

Ok, the DB25 cards are analog ONLY cards, they are 8 analog I/O per card, you can have 4 card slots in the DM-4800.

It sounds like you also want to use ADAT light pipe, and it sounds like you have 16 tracks of RADAR, so the DM4800 has 1 ADAT I/O on board, so you would need 2 cards just for the RADAR ADAT light pipe connections,and for the TC M3000.

You have 2 card slots open for the Analog I/O slots, and that can be used for your compressors and the headphone mixes I assume, but not at the same time.

You also have TDIF on the console iteslf and that can give you more I/O options as well, those are also DB25 connections. Ther are 2 TDIF DB25 connections giving you another 16 channels of digital I/O, but you may need to get some converters to connect the ADAT light pipe connectors, and you could substitute 2 of the ADAT cards for 2 analog cards if you can do that.

The cards for the DM-4800 that you will need are:
(2) IF-AD/DM (ADAT light pipe I/O cards)
(2) IF-AN/DM (DB25 analog 8 channel I/O card)

Jim

Hi Jim!

Thanks for getting back.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough.
I will sell The Radar that has lightpipe and keep the Radar that has 24 channels of Tdif I/O.

I really like that the DM 4800 has 3 Tdif (8 I/O on each card) preinstalled cards, so that will take of the Radar digital 24 I/O to the mixer. I think 12 ch analog will be enough for headphone mix and 12 ch analog for compressors in the mixingstage.
Total of 24.

So I have to buy 3 analog I/O sub-D cards then? Or do you think the inserts are good enough?

Wouldnt the 2 stereo digital in and out (AES and spdif) be fine for connecting my digital reverbs or that will work better
using the preinstalled Adat I/O card?
Is the routing to independent channels better using the Adat in for reverbs compared to the AES stereo I/O?

So if I buy 3 analog cards do you think that all connections will run fine together or are there limitations?
(mixing with 8 hardware compressors, two digital reverbs, 24 Tdif digital from Radar alla at once in the final mixing).

And.... One last question that I do worry about, will the EQ be musical enough or should I buy some kind of DSP box to get
better EQ? (and an extra digital I/O card for that as well) Could be nice with for instance 8 good Eqs that could be inserted on the channels that need it the most. I think the Eq on my Toft ATB console is what makes it interesting...

Sorry for putting all the questions together like this.

Just model some eq settings from the toft in the Tascam. The tascam has 4 band parametric eq. On every channel... You can't top that... It's just that it is so powerfull. Messing up sound with this eq is possible. With the Toft you can't. Not in the way the Tascam can. But that is user error. Can't blame the Tascam.

When you take the time to mimic some eq settings in the Tascam you can be very fast... (Use them in presetmode).

The tascam can do 96khz over TDIF paired with a Tascam X48. I'm not sure if the Otari can do this aswell...

I'm considering an upgrade to the DM 4800 from the DM 3200. It's going to be about 1200.00 more. At a glance, it may be worth it! I was very curious about the "fat channel" feature. I'm wondering if it works a lot like the fat channel on the Presonus 16.4.2 board. If all I have to do is select a channel from one of the fader strips and then adjust the eq, that's a huge improvement in work flow. I was wondering if any DM 4800 users can enlighten me if this is the case and what other advantages they experienced with the DM 4800 over the DM 3200?

Thanks

Yes, the biggest improvement of the 4800 over the 3200 is the Fat channel. Your right, you select the channel and then the EQ has dedicated controls, as does the dynamics and aux sends. You don't need to look at the screen as these controls are dedicated. Comp and gate share thresh and ratio etc but still you can use EQ, dynamics and aux sends without needing the screen. Routing also has it's own buttons but I'm still using the screen for that

Thanks for that info! Now I just have to decide.

dont forget the nice c24 thats around 10000. id even take the tascam over that big ass mouse anyday. but what do i know, im just a lurker...

LOL! I'm no expert. But the C24 does seem a little overrated.

Wow - what a thread. Jim - you are THE man!

I've spent the last two years looking for a solution with motorized faders for recording, converting, and controlling. I must admit, the Tascam is looking better and better...

Please provide some actual experience/comments on a few aspects of the DM3200:
1. The quality of the Talkback mic
2. The ability to control plugins from the mixer
3. The ergonomics of mixing 32 recorded channels using faders/pages

Thanks!

Hi Guys,

Long time DM-3200 user here. I think the DM-3200 makes my studio looks more expensive

Anyways, here's a question to DM-3200 users, hope you can help me out.

My current Mixer version shows 1.50 (77049), ie. it is firmware 1.5 ya?

I just checked the Tascam product page, there is a firmware 1.7 for download (dated 2 years ago, 2010)

I am wondering, what's new in 1.7 vs 1.50?
Ok, I'm all happy with my DM-3200 except, I wished the screen "color" would stay ie. I always need to press ALT + FLIP to reverse the screen "color" whenever I power up my 3200. If only the setting could remain in EPROM

with the "Reversed color", i think it could "prolong the screen life" longer..

any idea if 1.7 added this ability to save screen settings?

ok, its been a long time since i flashed the firmware, i am also wondering, does flashing erase all settings and i need to redo all routings and everything again?

Thanks!

Hi again,

In case anybody is interested, I just went ahead and flashed my firmware to 1.7
All settings remained, nothing lost..

Just to add, I'm all happy with the DM-3200, except for the built-in talkback mic and LCD screen.

The talkback mic is unusable, with noise and all since day 1, and I just stick a mic (my SM58) into one of the channel to use as talkback..

LCD, i find that I need to keep tweaking the contrast pot everytime i restart the mixer, to prevent screen burn-out.

Other than that, it is really a value-for-money-and-looks-expensive-but-affordable-digital-mixer ! With 3 banks of TDIF / Light-pipe / AES, and the usual analog I/Os, and SOME HUI-emulation for my Pro Tools rig, it is really a good investment!

Have A Nice Day!

Long time owner of a DM3200 (2007) and I just want to clarify that you can run Pro Tools HD10 with the DM3200/4800 and the firewire card.
It basically gives you 32 I/O and all the features of the Pro Tools CPTK, but without the $2000 price tag and no need for AVID hardware!!!

Now for my quick question, I have been thinking of buying a second DM3200 especially since they just dropped the price again, but from what I was reading, can I just cascade the mixers and utilize the 2 card slots in the second mixer??
So if I had the FireWire card and Analog card in one, then I could add 2 more analog cards in the second and send 24 external pres to Pro Tools 8 from DM # 1 and 16 from DM #2)???
All channels from both mixers will show up in the I/O setup screens??

If so that is awesome!!!!
And would I have access to all 32 faders using HUI protocol??

I've tried finding info out about this but no one at the Big Box stores seem to know much about these mixers.

Hi mate,

Thanks for the exciting info. However, I'm just wondering, if you were to hook up the DM3200/4800 to Pro Tools via firewire, do you mean to say that you are using the DM3200/4800 as a "sound card" with Pro Tools 10?

Wouldn't it make your Pro Tools 10 HD into "Native" instead?

Besides, our Mac Pros now are all firewire 800s, can we connect the DM3200/4800 firewire card to our new Macs via a 800-to-400 converter cable or something?

Thanks!
Regards,
[Charles]

"if you were to hook up the DM3200/4800 to Pro Tools via firewire, do you mean to say that you are using the DM3200/4800 as a "sound card" with Pro Tools 10?"

I'm doing this with DM4800 w/ surround card and PT9HD.

"Wouldn't it make your Pro Tools 10 HD into "Native" instead?"

PT9HD runs as PT9 + CPTK

"our Mac Pros now are all firewire 800s, can we connect the DM3200/4800 firewire card to our new Macs via a 800-to-400 converter cable or something?"

DM runs at f/w 400 and happily connects to a f/w 800 (or even thunderbolt) port using the standard f/w 400-800 cable


:-)

Hi there,
I've got a question about the DM 3200.

I have absolutely ZERO outboard gear, i only use an interface and computer with Pro Tools 10 at the moment. My main work is with virtual instruments (often up to 64 per session). I rarely record (not to say that i don't enjoy it, just the work that i do doesn't make it easy to do so in terms of timescale to finish a project).

Would buying this be a waste of money? I can't work out if my brain is telling me it's a good idea because it will genuinely help me, or whether its just telling me "it's a big desk with faders and lights... buy it now!"

Little help please?
Thanks

I'm in exactly the same scenario. I use mostly Virtual instruments and do "one shots" of vocals. I bought a desk primarily for "referencing". What I mean is sometimes I get "lost in the mix" and I need something "real" to hold onto. That would be a fader, a knob or button. Some have stated that a control surface would be better suited. The problem is that most of them that have more than 8 faders cost more than the DM 3200/4800.

I have definitely noticed this, even the cheapy 8 fader Behringer has gone up over the last few years. The Avid Artist series is just crazy overpriced, and there's something about the Mackie Control that just looks a little clunky... Not to mention that it's a little £1000 for faders and DAW movement...

I know that the audio world is expensive, but i think that sometimes it definitely overdoes it a little...

I couldn't agree with you more. Companies wanna give you less for A LOT more.

I think one thing that could seriously help me is by having a major cleanup of my desk (wooden table desk, not audio). Hopefully a desk with literally a computer, interface, monitors, keyboard and mouse will provide no distractions and i'll feel better when i work...? It's just starting the cleanup in the first place.......

What are you workin' with right now?

My equipment at the moment is my macbook pro running Pro Tools 10 (i will definitely be upgrading to 11, once the bugs have been ironed out), Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56, Adam A3Xs (i only have a small room) and then my keyboard and mouse.

I'd just love something to be able to control my DAW, but feel if i'm going to do that i might as well just get a desk, because controllers are so expensive.

That's what's up! .

Got the DM4800 today and it's working well, so far. It was much easier for me to setup this time than when I had the 3200. Probably because my mind is a lot more clear and I'm more familiar with the board. I set it up so that the first layer is my analog layer, the second layer is my Virtual instrument Layer and the remote layer controls what goes on in logic. I did a mic check and after watching a video on how to send audio to Logic Via the buss, I was really feeling this. Now I just have to figure out how to send the mix I got going on, back into logic for the final mix. I believe there's some plugin in Logic I'm supposed to use, but I'll read up on that later tonight. Overall, I'm really happy with it.

Did the cascaded 3200s not work for you? I'm interested in a second dm

I couldn't get it to work.

Hi Guys,
Thanks for a great thread.

I am looking at possibly trading in my Apollo for the Tascam board. Is there any significant gain or loss of sound quality between these two units? i.e. pres and convertors

All other differences aside how does the sound match up? Looking for anyone who has actually used both and can compare. Thanks!