Tascam no longer makes reliable equipment?

J

jeff woodruff

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dp 24, dp 32, dp 8
I have been using Tascam recorders for an extremely long time. For the last 4 years I have been using the Tascam DP-24 and the Tascam DP-08....

I decided to go ahead and buy the Tascam DP-32SD...what a mistake and what a piece of garbage. The unit never works correctly. When I mix songs down I get file errors and then can no longer access the song. And now when I turn the unit on it freezes with the opening screen. I have owned this unit for 2 weeks. I am now faced with sending it back...and my time as a Tascam fan is over. I really want this unit to work. I even want to order another unit and hope it works better but I have lost all faith in this company. I have done some online research and it seems I am not alone in being dissatisfied with the latest Tascam unit. Apparently Tascam knows it has bugs and does not care....Well guess what Tascam....You just lost a very loyal user.

Is there any reason I should get another unit and treat this as a glitch?
I have serious doubts....this is so frustrating. What a shitty thing for a company to do.
 
Lockup issues are mainly caused by incompatible/faulty SD cards or old firmware. I'm not aware of known bugs with this unit. Not sure what else you would get as there's not much choice for free-standing multi-track recorders nowadays. Just my 2 cents.
 
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It would be nice if Tascam would update their list of compatible SD cards since it is nearly impossible to find any that are on the list.
 
Agreed. I think the code nos. are country-specific but not all vendors state the code anyway so it's not easy. The ones I went with (SanSisk Extreme 32GB, SDHC UHS-I, U3, Class 10, 90MB/s) were probably an overkill but they've been as solid as a rock so far. I set up a test song with a steady tone on all 32 tracks, then tried recording tones onto the max of 8 tracks while playing back the others, and had no glitches. The card which came with it was a 4GB micro SD + adaptor, SDHC class 10 with no other markings and seems fine for general mucking about with simple recordings and checking out issues on this forum... but haven't run the same stress test on it. Have just found this site which may help: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-mistakes-avoid-buying-next-microsd-card.
Maybe you could start a post (if there's not one already) with a list of cards known to work by various users?
 
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I was using a:
SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB SDHC UHS-I Card (SDSDXXG-032G-GN4IN)
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(I have used the above cards in both dp 24 and dp 08 without a problem.)When I experienced all the problems. ( the first problem was when I was mixing a session down, after I mixed it I clicked the mixdown button to go back to the main screen and I got a file error and then was no longer able to open the session anymore.) After multiple attempts to get the file to open I decided to reload the session from my computer and start over. Once I had the new session on the card and I began editing etc. Everything seemed great, then it locked up and froze. At this point, the machine will only freeze when you turn it on with this card. It will not even boot up to the regular page it just gets stuck half way through start up.

Today I decided to try using the card that came with the machine ( the 4Gig you speak of)...

For my test I transferred a session from my DP-24. It appeared to work fine.
I listened to it numerous times without any problems. Then I began editing the information. I created in and out points and began some general editing. Things appeared fine. I turned the machine off and on and I thought maybe you guys are right about the cards...Alas I went back to editing and the machine got stuck in play mode. I had no choice but to turn the machine off. Now I can't fully boot up the machine with this card at all just like the other card. It just freezes half way through.

I think these problems are beyond just cards. I am 2 weeks into owning this machine and I can no longer open the original card that came with it or the other card mentioned above. In the beginning it acted just fine. In fact I used the machine for about a week and a half before all the problems began. I recorded for several hours, several days in a row before the problems began. I also think it is possible to load another card into this machine and be fine for a week or so without any issues but when the issues begin it is a nightmare. All of the problems have started while either trying to edit or mix and master. General recording of tracks etc. seemed to be fine.

A customer should never have to go through all this just to try to get a product to preform as it should. I am sending this thing back to Musiciansfriend and I am going to go back to using my DP-24. I really hate going back to my other machine because I was very excited about the extra tracks and the ability to turn stereo tracks into mono tracks on this unit. I want to love this machine but I hate it. Just completely unreliable.

I also updated the firmware!

The only lingering thought I have is that the DP32 can not truly support sessions made on the DP24. However, they claim to be able to play DP24 session without a problem. I also wonder if the device can not handle imported tracks. Once again this should not be a problem. If I had an infinite amount of time ( before I lose my window for sending this machine back) I would like to pop another card in and not use any imported tracks or DP 24 sessions and just record a ton of tracks, do a ton of editing and mix downs and see if it fails.....I have to wonder if the machine is just unreliable while using DP24 sessions and imported tracks. However, I can't even open the 2 cards laying in front of me to try another experiment.

I also wrote Tascam 4 days ago about this and still have not heard anything at all.
 
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I am trying one more experiment. I just reformatted the card using my computer and now I am re-formatting card on the unit the long method. I am not going to open a dp 24 session this time. Instead I am going to import in a few tracks through audio depot and then preform the same editing procedures etc...and see if it fails.

#Tascam you suck
 
Ok I have re-formatted and I re-formatted the long way on the Tascam.

I have begun testing it.

This time I am only importing tracks through the Audio Depot - Wav files that were previously exported from the DP-24.

I have now imported the tracks into a DP-32SD Session. I have made some some track editing and have made 2 mix downs. So far no problems...However, I don't have much faith in the unit. I will attempt to record tons of nonsense tracks over the next few days and make numerous mix downs as well as preform numerous editing operations to see if the device will once again fail on me.

I have at least a week or two before I have to send the device back and still be within the return time that musicianfriend offers.

If the device continues to be stable I will report it on this thread...if the device fails on me again...I will not try anymore and return the item.
 
Sounds like you've already done enough experiments to prove there's an underlying problem. The card seems well up to the job, and if it all worked on the dp24 then it can't be a dodgy fake (or operator error!), so maybe you've just been unlucky in getting a duff unit. Even if you can't get it to break again, you'll still have that nagging doubt it's going to fall over at a critical time - maybe when it's out of warranty. So if it were me I'd do it now and either get a refund if you're going to look elsewhere or get it replaced if I wanted to give them another chance - sh*t happens :) ... I've just bought a synth from Moog - supposedly very reputable with a lot of hype about them being 'hand made', and guess what, I'm on my 3rd unit as the first 2 were faulty. I had a moan at MoogMusic but had no reply, but the vendor was excellent and replaced it no hassle - even got the courier to pick up the old one when they delivered the new one. I was tempted to get something else, but decided to stick with it and so far this one has been perfect (shameless video plug: www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9dNO0Ga-sk).
 
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I got my shipping label from musicians friend it is on its way back to them now. I was going to get an exchange but they don't have anymore and the item is discontinued so I am just getting a refund. I really hope Tascam puts out a new model this year.
 
From my research it's not discontinued. It seems that Musican's Friend stopped selling them. It's still being sold online by the largest of the music stores. I can't believe Tascam would kill this line. They've cornered the market on portable recording units for decades.
 
The guy at musicians friend said it was discontinued.

I also noticed that ones that are for sale at places like sweetwater are clearance
 
Then I would expect a 2017 model coming if that were the case however, the Tascam website does not say it's discontinued.
 
I don't work on these as the card changers will. But I have had many complaints from people that call me about their Open Reels that do remain reliable. It seems that this product is designed too quickly to get too market and then made probably in China where all poor crap comes from and that is how the company is making a profit. IF you all send them back it won't be long before they have to take on a different mindset and stop selling junk. You should also post your experience on the internet so that others can avoid such equipment. There was a time when Teac made great products and I work on them all the time. Now Gibson gets involved and the company at least in the USA all but disappears.
 
I have repaired a few DP-24's and DP-32's (original non-SD models) that had SD-card read/write issues. In each case, the problem was a faulty Main PCB assembly which I replaced with a E95439310A. Could find no obvious faults with the original PCB's though the soldering on each left a lot to be desired (China? :)). Since re-flowing (SMT board) had no affect, I opted to round-file the boards and replace them. At almost $150 per board that is a tad on the expensive side but normal for TASCAM/TEAC parts - when you are lucky enough to get your hands on them. Other than that, I have not heard of a lot of other system failures except for maybe a PSU that went bad/got damaged or a bad slider. If TASCAM comes out with a new model for '17/18, I sure hope they listened to their users as well as their techs and roll out a truly updated model. Right now, both my DP-24 and DP-32 are purring like new and hopefully remain so for well into the future. I prefer their feature set when compared to the newer "SD" models.
 
Personally these SD card recorders are like a flash in the Pan type devices and nothing made for long term. There are Open reel and cassette deck that have lasted 30-40 years and still work when gotten to the right person for adjustment. Tascam is probably already looking at the next product to release such as an upgraded model of what you have probably with no corrections in design- they are all market driven for profit now and do not even own the building in Montebello that they did for years. It would not be a far guess that they can close down at any time due to Gibson's involvement.
In Radio I had some involvement with SD card devices from Marantz and there were problems there too. No device is perfected until a matter of years after they release it and in this case of quickly evolving electronic devices may never be corrected as they are always puching you towards the next great experiment. You all are Gunnie pigs in this Digital world. It is sad that it has come to this- it will only be corrected when the consumers say enough is enough.
 
'flash in the pan' :) - nice pun.
I wouldn't be quite so 'glass half empty' but I don't know the industry as you do. My maybe naive view is that the dp series has had a no. of years to be perfected, or at least improved - the earlier models still used sd cards, and they resorted to a cumbersome partitioning system - I've come across models still working. Yamaha used even older smart media cards for some of the QY sequencers - I've got one, no problems with it. Same for the Zoom palm studio.
When you say 'gotten to the right person for adjustment', this could apply to lots of gear... if you can keep it serviced it could last forever, but unless there's a specialist person like yourself handy, it can be cheaper just to write it off. These dp24/32 models appear to have a weak spot around the sd card mounting, but we've only had a couple of failure reports on the forum, so it's maybe not conclusive... and even if it is, then a regular service in this area would keep it ticking along. Just my thoughts.
 
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