CF card & Meter Bridge DM-4800

[Manne von Ahn Öberg]

Hello everyone! I'm really new here in the forum but a very happy owner of a DM-4800 since approx. 6 months back. Great what routing opportunities. Uses it as a digital switch for all tube outboards with such flexibility and quality.
However, unfortunately, the meter bridge has suddenly died. I have of course checked cable etc .. but it does not want to get started.
1. Is there any type of fuse in that meter bridge? Or can someone who has been involved in this matter before propose action?

2. From the first day I have had trouble loading from the external memory card. It did not come with a card so I bought a 2 gig card and after some trouble I was able to format it.
However, it is difficult to re-load if I shut down the console. I have to turn the mixer on and off several times until what is shown in the attached image shows up. Then I just choose the console to load from the CF card.

Am I using a to big memory card. Should it be smaller then 2 gigg? Do anyone have a clue how to get it to run smoother?

I really appreciate that your running this forum, all involved. Great work!

All Best /manne from Sweden with Love in this times of virus.

I just found out that I can't attache a picture. anyway, on the screen it says;
Shoot down was not performed correctly last time.
The projekt data is loaded ...
ENTER key : from internal memory
Cursor key : from CF card

 

[Arjan P]

Hi Manne, and welcome to the forum!
I can't help you with the first question since I don't have the meterbridge, but I do know (well, seem to remember) some stuff about the CF-card.

IIRC, 2 GB is way too big for the DM. There should be some history in the forum about it - try a search and then select 'site results' (it defaults to Google results). I have some 128 MB and 256 MB cards, and I think I have a 32 MB card in the mixer.

The thing is - I never take it out, I don't even touch the cover that's on it. And I'd recommend doing so to anyone, since CF-cards are very delicate, especially the card receptacle is. There's no need to change cards unless you are doing live gigs with the mixer and need many, many saved setups for one gig. With TMC Companion I backup regularly to the PC and after a project is finished I erase it from the card - or reload to the mixer if needed.

 

[skier]

I just performed a thorough search in the DM4800 User Manual attempting to find the min and max sizes acceptable for a CF card. Unfortunately, while the manual has many, many mentions of the CF card and recommends a minimum size of 32MB (on page 32, top left), there is no mention of a maximum size. The manual does state that the card has to be formatted in FAT-32 format, which limits file size to 4GB and volume size to 8TB — neither of those limits would appear to be an issue for this application as the structure limits of 128 banks and others are intrinsic to the DM’s software and not the card size limits. However, that still doesn’t mean the DM can access the much bigger CF cards available today, which can range up to at least 1TB at this time (interestingly, at a cost of $899.99 U.S. from B&H Photo).

Be that as it may, because the manual lists the minimum size at 32MB, it is my suspicion the DM card reader cannot read the larger cards. I say this because there are many cameras that cannot read the newer, larger CF cards, and the newest cards are not backwards compatible with their older readers.

So, this is all a long way of saying that, again, it appears that Arjan is correct (I hate this!) I recommend that you look to find a smaller capacity card, hopefully using the older NOR based system rather than today’s NAND based. I’d search for a 64MB or 128MB CF card — I did that for you and found both, some on eBay and others from B&H Photo and from Walmart online. One more thing, I’d also avoid those that say “EXTREME” and such. Those cards almost assuredly use newer technology and older is likely more compatible with the DM’s older technology reader.

Sorry for the long-winded explanation (not that sorry), but I thought some readers (humans, in this case) would find some of it interesting.

 

[Manne von Ahn Öberg]

Woow, I'm impressed! Great seriously answers and that you also put in time on my behalf. I will definitely try to find some smaller cards but as you also found out, they are not their any more as new ones. NOR or NAND? Didn't know about that. Thanx both for you experience och suggestions.

Also, anyone that have a suggestion about the dead meter bridge ?

All Best to You all tascam folks

 

[Headroom]

I too have encountered all sorts of troubles with the CF cards. By trial and error I found two Kingston 256 Mb cards that work, but only when formatted in the DM. None of the larger cards I have tried did work.
The message on your screen is normal, when you didn't (or could not...) save to the CF card.

 

[skier]

Hey Manne,

You’re very welcome for the help! This is a great group and they’ve helped many people over the years, including me.

As for whether a card is NOR or NAN based, I wouldn’t worry about that - it was just for background to help you better understand what I think is the problem with more recent, larger CF cards. Just get what we now consider to be a small card, such as in the 64MB - 256MB range. And as Headroom alluded, you should consider purchasing several, (perhaps even from different manufacturers) because you may need to test several to get a few that work. Fortunately, because they’d now be considered small cards, they should be cheaper than they once were. And also as Headroom advised, format them in the DM — I forgot to mention that.

As for your meter bridge, I have one myself, but have not experienced any problems with it and I haven’t seen much on this forum discussing that topic. That may be why you’ve not had much of a response to that issue; members don’t know what to advise if they’ve not heard of nor had the problem themselves; sorry we’ve not been able to offer you much on that. But if it was me, and presuming you’re comfortable with troubleshooting electronic circuits, my focus would be in this order:

1. I know you mentioned checking the cable, but I don’t know if you meant just visually, electrically, or what. So, using a multimeter (if you haven’t already), test the continuity of each conductor of the meter cable from connector pin to connector pin. If they’re all good, consider this next step.

2. Open the meter bridge and at least take a look around and make a thorough, visual inspection.

a. Look first for something loose, such as a wire that broke off of the board or off a component.

b. If you find nothing, then look for something burned or some such. This can be easy to find or difficult to see; make sure you have good lighting and even a magnifying glass or magnifying glasses to see damage to what today have become very small components. You might see a burned resistor, a ruptured or bloated capacitor, a dark burned, spot, etc. You may even notice the smell of a burned component when you open the bridge.

c. If nothing so far, use that magnifier to examine solder points. Are there any little balls of solder rolling around inside or sticking to something that looks unusual? How about cold solder joints? Those are pitted, dull joints that should look shiny?

3. And perhaps you will find there is a fuse in there that has blown to protect the meter for some reason, but I don’t think there is a fuse, but don’t actually know.

If that examination finds nothing, it may mean the problem lies elsewhere, such as in the DM itself on the meter bridge driver circuit board. But I would first start at the bridge itself with the simple, easy-to-find things before suggesting that you actually open the DM; that’s more involved and the chance of causing a more serious problem is greater.

I hope the foregoing helps. Let us know what you discover, and hopefully can resolve.

Good luck!

Jerry

 

[Peter Batah]

@Manne von Ahn Öberg Hello and welcome to the forum. I have a 4GB SanDisk CF which I would have gladly sent you. But as others have stated above, it won't do you much good. Best of luck with your meter bridge. I too use the 4800 with meter bridge but have not experienced the issues that your meter bridge is displaying (Fortunately)

 

[Manne von Ahn Öberg]

Thanx for all answers so far. I already started to find an old smaller CF card and I will during the weekend take the meter bridge apart. Thrilling

 

[Manne von Ahn Öberg]

I just want you all to know that switching to a 64 mb CF card made all the difference. Loading projects works just as it should now after restarting the DM-4800. Thanks for the advice and tips. However, my problem with the meter bridge remains. Have taken it apart and tested another cable but it is stone dead. If you know someone for sale, please feel free to tip me. All good to you tascam folks.

 

[Palagic456]

I too have same CF card problem and have been round and round and round with it. Replaced CF card reader w no luck (though it was an eBay used part.....)
Several times it would just suddenly work and allow me to save to it. Then next time I booted, it would complain that it could not find a CF card again.
I just relocated to another state and had to pack up studio in process. In thinking about setting up studio again, I’m back to wanting to fix this dang problem, or sell the mixer.
I don’t recall now if I did try a 32 or 64MB card, but would sure like to know if fixing it was just that....
(My meter bridge works just fine.)