New firmware 1.30 fixes headphones and master fader problem

[Johnny Mixtape]

Just to let everyone know a new firmware 1.30 posted at Tascam website fixes the headphones being impacted by the master fader.

Head to Menu > Mixer > Phones Main Sel and if you set it to PRE you can now mute your master or turn it down and the headphones bus remains untouched.

Great to see Tascam is listening to users.

Just a heads up.

 

[Johnny Mixtape]

There' also a DAW Control implementation for REAPER.

Tried it works OK.

Found one bug, if anyone would like to confirm on their side as well. When using the DAW Control and turning the PAN knob, when you return to center, unless you have gone full clockwise or counterclockwise, the center value on the Model 12 starts drifting in REAPER. In other words when centered in the model 12the values in REAPER are like not center but 6, 8, etc unless you go full 100L or 100R with the knob, then their sort of recalibrate.

 

[AltTuning]

I haven't tried 1.30 yet, but noticed in either 1.21 or 1.22 the pan pots didn't center right in Reaper if I didn't have them centered when starting up controller mode. Hard-panning like you mentioned to each side seemed to re-center them. I'll re-test after upgrading to 1.30 but it sounds like the same behavior -- nice to see it has a native Reaper mode though!

 

[Recording Studio 9]

I have noticed this with Studio One V5 as well. It's a bit annoying.

 

[AltTuning]

Just verified the same behavior using the Reaper DAW control mode in 1.30 -- I had been using one of the other modes in Reaper before:

- The volume sliders jump to the absolute position they are at as soon as I touch them (absolute position)
- The pan pots pan the direction I move them from wherever they started, regardless of where the physical knob started at. Panning hard one way, then the other seems to center them. Alternately, if I center everything to start (seems like it tracks relative movement, not absolute position)

Fortunately if I save and leave a session and don't touch anything on the M12, I can load the session back up, enter DAW controller mode and everything seems to still be in sync with where I need them (no need to recenter them) -- probably since the position matches the session positions.

A bit of a nuisance -- since in DAW controller 1/2 goes straight to mains 1) I cannot hear Reaper output in my speakers since I have my speakers on the sub bus (less of an issue now that we can separate the main fader from the headphones) and 2) with 1/2 going to the mains everything gets router back to 1/2 ins so be careful about not having tracks armed (at least with monitoring) as I just made a lovely feedback loop when testing.

I'm glad to see functionality is improving with the firmware updates, not perfect, but workable IMO.

 

[Recording Studio 9]

I use the DAW Controller mode to simply WRITE the automation when mixing. Once written, and switched to READ mode, it does not matter if the M12 faders/pans have moved.
Motorized faders are great, but, this is better than using a mouse. More so, I can ride-in automation for up to 8 faders at a time, getting the song to feel more dynamic and better balanced, without the expense of motorized faders.

I hope next firmware update, I suggest moving the 1/2 playback direct to the pre Main fader, then, if you need to, you can still record from the analog 10 inputs.
But for me, if I'm recording at a mixing stage, I'll stop and record everything first, then move to DAW Controller mode.

I feel TASCAM is really connected with their customers.

 

[Peter Rafle]

Thank you @Johnny Mixtape ! I saw the headphone pre/post feature listed in the doc for the new firmware, but didn’t immediately understand what it meant! This was one of my big wish-list items! Now I can mute my main monitors when recording with one button, that’s huge! Still have to turn them off when performing on zoom though… so I might stick with my workaround, using the sub outputs instead of the mains for my r/l monitor outs.
[EDIT] I just tested the new 1.3 firmware with Zoom and the Model12 appears to still send the MAIN stereo out to Zoom when the MUTE is engaged on the Main channel (if the new Headphone PreFader option is selected)! So that means I can just use the Mute button to turn my studio monitors off for situations where I want to just use phones, and turn them back on when I want to use the speakers. Awesome!

oh, and @Recording Studio 9 I’m with you 100%: the option to route the PC audio return to mains (or even to 9/10) would take my overall satisfaction level w my Model 12 from 89% to 99%…