Aging DP-32 Blues

[-mjk-]

Took my DP-32 out of the carry bag to use it today and found 1/2 of an input knob on the bottom of the bag. The knobs are all deteriorating, including the fader caps. It looks like I have a new set of everything in my future because once that starts happening it really can't be stopped. I use mine mainly as a field recorder these days and it's still such a fantastic unit (especially the original ones like mine, with MIDI). Taiwan is notorious for disintegrating plastics and the DP-32 has not escaped this inevitability.

 

[shredd]

How odd. I also have an O/G ‘32 w MIDI…plastics are fine. Must be the weather there - unless of course it’s a manufacturing conspiracy by china to break the morale of the Taiwanese by sabotaging the production of units for that country?!?

 

[-mjk-]

The latter. I bought the unit in The Netherlands but somehow Tascam knew.

The weather is sub-tropical with it being tropical below the Tropic of Cancer (which cuts across Taiwan). Most plastics degrade in a few years.

 

[shredd]

Thas’ a dragg alright. I never realized a tropical climate would do that to plastics. Or it is something else? Temps? Pollution?

 

[Mark Richards]

Sorry to hear that, mj. Humidity is a killer. Even where I am in TN, the humidity has been way above normal year round, and my DP-24's knobs have become sticky on top. I haven't yet found a solution. There may not be one. At least TASCAM should be able to provide replacements easily.

 

[shredd]

TASCAM should be able to provide replacements easily

I'mma gonna say that this is a major flaw of Tascam (and a lot of other co's that make MTR's and other gear): they make it painfully difficult to access/acquire even the simplest replacement parts.
I'm not talking circuit board parts and chips; I'm talking knobs, power supplies, etc. It's like you have to haveta have a replacement slider knob approved and designed by NASA, and then requisition funding through congress.

One of the reasons I've been on the MTR bandwagon (as opposed to tape/mechanical devices) for a lotta years is that they tend to be pretty reliable (way more than the DAW/puter-based recording setups I've tried!). I've never had one flake out/go bad, either from s/ware issues or mechanical/control failure, let alone component failure. Knock on wood!

 

[mnkorte]

Ah man, sorry to hear that! I did find a bunch of caps on reverb.com, they are about $12 USD a piece:

DP-32 Parts

I plan on driving my DP-24 (with midi) until the wheels falls off and then purchasing a Model 2400 down the road lol. Being in Long Island, NY, the humidity isn't terrible, and so far I have been lucky with the plastics. Hoping to get a few more years out of it!

 

[shredd]

caps on reverb.com, they are about $12 USD a piece:

DP-32 Parts

That is freekin' obscene.
Decorum prevents me from imparting what I think of this.

 

[mnkorte]

@shredd LOL Agreed! That is robbery. I'd be tempted to pick one up if I only needed one.

I wonder if anyone has posted STL files for the knobs/faders for 3D printing? I'll scour the webs today to see if I can find anything.

 

[shredd]

That is robbery. I'd be tempted to pick one up if I only needed one.

I could see indulging this absurd pricing if perhaps you had ONE (or a couple) to replace - lost, broken, etc. - just to have a complete set, rather than the odd bare control shaft/slider.
But in a case like MJ's - where potentially most/all knobs/sliders would need replacing - this is a shameful outrage. By my head-math calculations, a full set of sliders and the knobs for a DP-32 would be nearly US$400. That is nothing short of prison-rape.

I wonder if anyone has posted STL files for the knobs/faders for 3D printing?

That would be an amazing application of the technology. I myself have benefitted from this: I own the lovely Roland Juno-06a synth module, which I play via MIDI through my Roland GAIA. And I paid barely US$28 for a pair of 3D-printed "feet" that click into the slots of the unit that are meant to hold it into that silly little micro-keyboard thing they sell - which places it on my KB stand at a perfect angle for adjusting controls during play.

And someone printing those knobs would make a fortune on it, assuming Tascam/whoever didn't "sic" a busload of million-dollar lawyers on them.