Overview

The Tascam TM-D8000 recording console is Tascam’s offering in the low-cost digital console sweepstakes. It is in direct competition with Yamaha’s 02R ($8.9K) and Mackie’s soon-to-be-shipped Digital 8•bus ($10K?). It is somewhat larger and more comprehensive than the consoles such as Panasonic’s WR-DA7 ($5K) and Yamaha’s 03D ($3.7K) and 01V ($2K). At an MSRP of $9999 (estimated street price of under $9K), it represents a competitive value with the other low-cost digital consoles, which is to say that, in traditional analog terms, its price/performance ratio is stunning.

Deadline constraints made it impossible for me to do more than study the console and roughly verify its performance. Therefore, in this write-up we’ll go over its capabilities and feature set, describing both what seems to be good and not so good. Also, I’d like to briefly compare it with the Yamaha 02R, because the feature set of that console has become a de facto sort of standard, and it is very useful to see where how the Tascam compares. This is not a contest, simply a way to look at various approaches to digital console design using a known reference.

Basic Configuration

The TM-D8000 comes with 52 inputs, 8 multitrack buses, 6 mono aux buses and a decent array of support features. 16 conventional mic/line analog inputs and inserts are provided (with provision for use as additional digital multitrack inputs), along with 6 stereo returns (analog or digital). 24 digital tape returns fill out the input array. This is nicely and cleanly laid out following the Big Fader/Small Fader convention, including channel flip in a mimicry of an analog I/O board. Because all the signal processing, aux mixing and other stuff is handled via the “Control Center,” the input sections are clean and uncluttered, with only basic mic trim controls, a “select” button, plus solo and mute buttons. Although the console is automated, it does not have moving faders, instead relying on read/write/update LEDs and an outboard Macintosh (7300/180 or later) computer.

In additional to the forty digital multitrack inputs (all TDIF, by the way – you are gonna have some adventures trying to hook up your rack of ADATs), there are four stereo digital inputs that are patched to both channels 9-16 and 17-24, and to the monitor section. There is one additional digital stereo input pair. These are mostly S/PDIF, but some are also AES/EBU. Outputs are via the five TDIF I/Os and the master section’s various digital and analog outputs. Aux sends are analog (Aux 3&4 also has digital outputs). Finally, we have an array of ports on the back to allow us to talk to computers, MIDI, an oscilloscope, as well as send and receive timecode and word clock.

There is a lot here.

Control Surface

The Tascam is laid out in a fairly expansive manner, with increasingly steep slopes of three control surfaces making everything nicely visible and comparatively easy to reach. The I/Os are on the left side, while the control center, monitor stuff and groups, plus time readout and status lights are on the right. The meter bridge is integral, and it is quite a nice one, with excellent stereo meters and great flexibility (in automation work, the meters can be used to show fader positions, for instance). My only quibble is that the size and layout of the console will make it comparatively difficult to install in many pre-existing small or project studio situations (my studio, for instance), and there is no convenient way to perch near-field monitors on the meter bridge. For any fresh installation, none of this is a problem, and the resulting layout will LOOK impressive as well as be quite functional.

By writing so many of the console’s functions into the control center the physical control surface has effectively been simplified, reducing the number of physical controls to about one third of what would be required for an equivalent analog control. The control center is the software center of the console, consisting of a small display screen and its associated set of 20 PODs (I have no idea what POD stands for, but it consists of a continuous pot and a pair of switches) serve as the manual interface to the control center, in a fairly nicely executed ergonomic solution to the control surface problem. While parts of it may feel clumsy at first, and I’m not completely thrilled by some of the switch placement, with familiarity one should become blazingly fast at navigating and controlling the console through this center.

Feature Set

The TM-D8000 features 4-band parametric EQ and about 180 ms. of delay on each channel, plus EQ on the stereo master. There are eight channels of dynamics (compressor/limiter/gate) that can be assigned to any channel, along with four analog insert points that can also be assigned. There are four fader groups and four mute groups. There is a remote control section for operating Tascam MDMs, including autolocation, looping, track arming, etc.

And, of course, there is automation, both by snapshots (internally) and by dynamic control (through an external computer). This latter seems a little tentative right now, with no section on it in the manual (although it is referred to), and hardly any discussion of its actual functions in the literature. Stay tuned, I guess.

About Word Clock

Tascam suggests a “house” clock to drive everything (could be the console itself, or the MDMs, a “house clock,” or an external digital feed), and they have a detailed discussion of the setups they recommend. The manual goes over the use of an external AES/EBU “non-syncable” source, but does not deal with the problem of two external digital devices with no word clock input. Sadly, some parts of the manual discussing word clock issues were not included.