EQ Plugins For Tascam Model 24

[Jake Wienhold]

When using the Tascam Model 24 as a usb interface to record into your DAW, I don't think the 4-band EQ settings are in effect when using it in that manner.

It would be nice if there was a 4-band Tascam Model 24 plugin to duplicate your EQ settings in your DAW or better yet, if the EQ would work going straight from the board to your DAW.

There are plenty of EQ plugins you could download, but it would be nice if Tascam released a virtual plugin of the board's EQ, compression, etc.

Which 4-band EQ plugins most closely duplicate the board's EQ?

 

[-mjk-]

Who knows? If you can figure out the center frequencies/Q for the different bands, any decent DAW EQ can replicate that. But you may not be able to replicate the analog sound of the Model 24.

 

[Jake Wienhold]

I've been adding a bunch of different EQ plugins to my DAW to choose from and many of them sound very good, but it's a lot of extra steps. I don't mind it and I still think this board is great. Tascam should have made the EQ part of the USB recording process or provided a plugin for working in a DAW environment. Maybe a firmware update or plugin could be provided in the future to make this possible.

 

[-mjk-]

That wouldn't really work, due to the nature of that console. It's not a recording console with a separate monitoring path. You use the same channel for playback as you do for recording so you would end up with double EQ. Besides, if you need that much EQ then something isn't quite right with the engineering.

You can always set up a template in your DAW with those plugins you need already loaded onto the tracks but deactivated.

A firmware update for that is unlikely because of the monitoring path issue. That would confound most users. As for the plugin, I would not bet money on that happening.

 

[Jake Wienhold]

Well, when switching the inputs to "live" and recording into a DAW via USB, you would intuitively think it should operate like any mixer would which would include the EQ imprint, but that's not how this mixer was designed I guess.

I usually assign the master playback on channel 21/22 in "PC" mode to monitor what I just recorded while still connected via USB and then through headphones or whatever I'm listening to it on after recording and disconnecting the mixer.

I don't know what they could do with firmware updates, but I know TEAC does have some tapedeck emulator plugins https://www.ikmultimedia.com/products/trtascam/

Maybe at some point, they will come up with a plugin to emulate the EQ "analog sound" of this board for us. I don't really use a lot of EQ, but when I have a dozen mics on a drumset, some EQ will be required depending on the microphones I'm using.

 

[shredd]

Your drum-mix dilemma sounds pretty real to me - with a dozen mic's on a kit, room dynamics, the player's specific characteristics, yada...I'd say that 'yeah, some considerable EQ'ing capability is necessary'.

But while the Modelxx's EQ's look nice (and probably sound good...I dunno - I'm a PortaStudio guy) - I'd be inclined to agree w @-mjk- ...considering there's 1000's upon 1000's of EQ plug-ins available, surely there at least one in existence that would have both the sound you want and the capabilities you appear to consider vital.
And that would surely be easier (and more realistic) than hoping for Tascam to address the problem you have.

Now comes the research, trial & error, and selection process. Git the posse on it!!!

 

[Max Relic]

The Model 24 has the channel strip Analog-to-Digital-Converter send point placed after compressor and before EQ, so there is no chance a firmware update will change this (unless TASCAM designers secretly put an Easter Egg in it but I wouldn't hope). Secondly, channel EQ is a 3-band and not 4-band: low centered at 80 Hz, variable frequency band pass 100 Hz - 8 kHz and high centered at 12 kHz. Any basic EQ plugin should work well, but an EQ plugin developed by Tascam would be absolutely desirable.

 

[Jake Wienhold]

Yes, it's a 3-band EQ with sweepable mids (4 knobs) You're right. I don't think any firmware updates could change how they designed this mixer. I suppose if you use a USB mixer like a Focusrite 18i20 into a DAW, there is no EQ from the board either, so that's just how this was designed.

 

[-mjk-]

Well, when switching the inputs to "live" and recording into a DAW via USB, you would intuitively think it should operate like any mixer would which would include the EQ imprint, but that's not how this mixer was designed I guess.

Can you name a fully analog console with a post EQ send to USB? I mean, you do understand why it's done that way, don't you? EQ in and out = double EQ.

If you want to record the EQ, then use the analog outputs. That is what "every other console" would require you do to.

Maybe at some point, they will come up with a plugin to emulate the EQ "analog sound" of this board for us. I don't really use a lot of EQ, but when I have a dozen mics on a drumset, some EQ will be required depending on the microphones I'm using.

It's almost as if you don't realize that when using the console to mix, you can EQ the tracks coming into the console. Isn't that enough? Do you really need to double EQ?

 

[-mjk-]

I want to think out loud for a minute. @Jake Wienhold I want to make sure that I have the correct understanding of your issue. @Max Relic I could use a sanity check on this please.

The issue is that when using the M24 to monitor the DAW Master Bus the individual tracks are devoid of EQ because EQ adjustments to the live channels do not get recorded via USB. Of course one could apply EQ globally to the 2 DAW return channels, but this is not the desired outcome in this case.

A simple solution might be to use an external USB interface and feed the analog outputs of the M24 to the interface input. Then the interface would get everything, much like a PA. The return from the DAW through the interface could directly feed the monitors or (with extreme caution to prevent feedback) through 2 channels in the mixer (I would set up a separate bus for recording to prevent that from happening). The downside is that you can only record a stereo pair at any time.

An alternative solution might be to monitor the live sources via the analog outputs and apply EQ to those channels. When monitoring the DAW on the console, I would use Mixdown mode, where each track on in the DAW is sent to the corresponding channel. For example:

M24 Channel 1: Kix
DAW Track 1: Kix

M24 Channel 2: Snare
DAW Track 2: Snare

Monitor the sound of the kick and snare on the analog outputs and record them without monitoring those tracks in the DAW. After recording, playback on those channels will have the same EQ applied that you heard during the recording operation.

I would not use the DAW Master bus because it's not needed. In my own studio I do not use the Master bus when recording and mixing with the console because the DAW is simply a sophisticated multitrack recorder. The solution may be as simple as a hybrid workflow.

 

[Jake Wienhold]

---

I guess I'm really just looking at this like a console at a music venue sending an EQ'd mix from the console to the monitors except in the recording domain into a DAW. There is no "double EQ" if you look at it like that, but I see your point. I use Adobe Audition and assign each mono track into my DAW accordingly from the Tascam and apply the EQ plugins to match the console. If Tascam made it possible to record the EQ from the mixer to the DAW, there would be no need to EQ in the DAW domain, if that makes sense.

 

[Max Relic]

@-mjk-,

The issue is that when using the M24 to monitor the DAW Master Bus the individual tracks are devoid of EQ because EQ adjustments to the live channels do not get recorded via USB.

This is the point. I think Tascam designers had a specific use case in mind where using the Model desk connected to a DAW would see all the sound design operations done in-the-box, EQ included. The choice of tapping the signal after compressor looks a bit odd to me but I would see it more as a safety net against loudest peaks than a sound design tool (IIRC it acts as a limiter with the knob at 9:00).
Unfortunately I haven't connected my Model 12 to a DAW yet so I'm afraid I can only speak in theory about send and receive solutions
If I get @Jake Wienhold point right, the idea is that once done the mic EQ job on the desk he would prefer to record exactly that sound and don't have to redo it a second time after the recording session. It makes sense, but the Model doesn't allow it. What would I do? Record on the Model a sample (or the whole session) of the Main Mix and use it as a EQ reference for the post-processing stage.
Other workarounds can work just as well.

 

[Jake Wienhold]

Yes, I think Tascam designed the USB capability of this mixer to act like any other USB mixer with the intention of doing all the EQing, compression, effects etc in your DAW instead of from the board into the DAW. I just think it would be nice to have the option to treat the USB function in the same way the multi-track to SD card function works so you can do the EQing from the board into your DAW rather than trying to duplicate the sound you get from the board post-production in your DAW.

 

[Max Relic]

A service center or a good electrician could trace the circuit on the motherboard and modify the USB send point from pre-EQ to post-EQ. It would be a tedious and not cheap work but I think it could be done.

 

[Jake Wienhold]

True. I'm not really complaining about how they designed this mixer. Don't get me wrong, I think it's great the way it is, but it would be awesome if Tascam designed it so you could sync up the EQ, faders, etc to your DAW and have it fully automated and translated back and forth in that way.

 

[Max Relic]

I am not sure if a couple of Model 12 would work with a DAW, for sure they could not be synchronized/slaved.

 

[Jake Wienhold]

I haven't purchased any studio monitors for my Tascam Model 24 yet, but I'm assuming the EQ does translate from the board to the monitors when running live sound, right? If they took that concept to the individual tracks on the board and made it possible to record the EQ straight from the board into your DAW via USB, that would be ideal.

 

[Max Relic]

Correct, channel EQ is hard-wired in the path signal and is audible anywhere except on USB/recorded track. You can listen it with a pair of headphones, monitors are not mandatory. Tascam did what any other maker do: balance product features and target price.

 

[Jake Wienhold]

Essentially I would like to treat my DAW like tape so that all of the individual tracks could be EQ'd going to DAW just like tape and in this way you could essentially add infinite "overdubs" or additions already EQ'd from the board in the DAW multitrack beyond the limits of the number of inputs on the mixer because you wouldn't be sending anything back into the mixer. The mixer would just be all outboard. That's something Tascam would have to design.

 

[-mjk-]

---

I guess I'm really just looking at this like a console at a music venue sending an EQ'd mix from the console to the monitors except in the recording domain into a DAW. There is no "double EQ" if you look at it like that, but I see your point. I use Adobe Audition and assign each mono track into my DAW accordingly from the Tascam and apply the EQ plugins to match the console. If Tascam made it possible to record the EQ from the mixer to the DAW, there would be no need to EQ in the DAW domain, if that makes sense.

It only makes sense if you are mixing ITB because once the audio comes back out of the DAW and into the console, you have to reset the EQ on the console channel strip or else that EQ is applied.

What you want is a digital console with encoders and motorized faders.