Other workstations?

[Jamie Sea]

Admin please feel free to delete this if inappropriate...
I'm looking to buy another rig similar to my Tascam SD32 but fancy another brand as I'm finding aspects of editing on the Tascam pretty unstable I'm afraid.
I love the machine but need 100% reliability which I'm just not getting - which is making me nervous/apprehensive when recording/editing, not a healthy state of mind when creating music.
Can anyone recommend a similar machine with identical functions, particularly editing/mastering tools - for a similar price?
I'm intending to keep the gorgeous bass/guitar sounds I have got on my Tascam - but I need to record on to an SDcard without instability.
I hope this isn't disrespectful to Tascam, I think I've just been unlucky with this particular machine, its frozen mid edit right from day one, regardless of system updates etc.
Like I say, if my question is inappropriate on a Tascam forum feel free to delete.
Many thanks.

 

[-mjk-]

It would be a lot cheaper in the long run if you address the reasons why you're experiencing instability on the DP machine. They are in fact, 100% reliable if you have the latest firmware and an approved SD card.

 

[Jamie Sea]

I am on my third SanDisk SD card and have the very latest firmware.
I'm afraid it is freezing at pretty much every opportunity now rendering it useless for anything but its EQs.
It was like this with the old firmware, it's the same with the new.
New cards have made no difference.
It actually completely freezes. None of the buttons on the panel do anything.
I have no option but to pull the plug or let it stay frozen for eternity.
This has happened countless times, obviously pulling the plug gives the machine brain damage, but I have no alternative.
I can't be the only person ever to have experienced this?
If I am - I might even gamble on getting another identical machine.
All I want is 100% reliability, I've had the complete opposite from this machine pretty much from day one.
If it was reliable it would be absolutely perfect.
This is very frustrating.

 

[-mjk-]

am on my third SanDisk SD card

What model card?

 

[Mark Richards]

I am on my third SanDisk SD card and have the very latest firmware.
...All I want is 100% reliability, I've had the complete opposite from this machine pretty much from day one. If it was reliable it would be absolutely perfect.
This is very frustrating.

Jamie, I've been using my DP-24 for over 8 years doing very complex trouble-free productions completely in-the-box on my DP-24 portastudio.

I use ONLY 32GB Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards (the SD card shown here on the right). This particular SD card has been proven over time to work flawlessly with the DP-24/32/SD.

Manufacturers sometimes change the design of their SD cards, and sometimes the changes, although subtle, can make a TASCAM tested and approved card problematic.

You also need to be sure that you don't have a counterfeit SD card. (Search the DP-24/32/SD forum for key word "counterfeit" posted by Sam Trenholme for more on that.)

If you can list your production process, step-by step, showing everything you're doing up to the point your portastudio freezes, we should be able to pinpoint where the problem is and how to solve it.

 

[David Porter]

The other possible cause of constant errors may be not understanding "best practices" as they relate to editing.

Regular editing of tracks eventually bogs the processor down. If you in fact are doing lots of takes, punch ins, edits of any kind in the track edit function, etc..... there are ways of managing these in order to avoid bogging the processor down and forcing errors.

I've got to get back to work now - dont have time to go any further. Maybe someone else can chime in - if not I will check back later.

 

[Phil Tipping]

When you try different cards, are you sure you are starting with a clean slate or are you copying your old song folders onto the new one? It's very easy to just have a single glitch which corrupts the song files, and then propagate that fault onto subsequent cards and deduce (incorrectly) that there are a multitude of problems. There was a long post on here some time ago describing a similar situation.

 

[Felonious Punk]

The card Tascam sent me for their rebate promotion is NOT on the list of approved/tested cards. I found that somewhat ironic. SanDisk Ultra microSDHC UHS-1. Haven't tested it yet.

FP

 

[Mark Richards]

...It's very easy to just have a single glitch which corrupts the song files, and then propagate that fault onto subsequent cards and deduce (incorrectly) that there are a multitude of problems. There was a long post on here some time ago describing a similar situation.

Here's the long post, and how to avoid the propagation problem.

 

[Jamie Sea]

Thank you everyone, I use the SanDisk 32 as recommended on previous threads, it's bought on Amazon with plenty of positive feedback.
The editing problems were there way back when the machine arrived with it's default card - I then changed to SanDisk, same problems, updated the system, same problems.
It just completely freezes. No buttons anywhere operate.
It's a sick feeling.
All I really do is copy and paste. I love the tools. I use these methods exactly as demonstrated on tutorials or according to the manual.

I will try ANOTHER SD card from a different source, I won't move across previous recordings on to it from the PC - and give it all another go.
It's so frustrating, if the machine didn't freeze, I'd be up and running - with a good sound building my songs.
Once I figured out the block diagram the whole machine made sense.

I'm wondering if these problems persist if anyone could recommend a specialist in West England who could check it out?
For all I know, there's little hamsters inside running around on a tread wheel.
I'm not technical.
I'm a bass player.
Thanks for the replies.

 

[Phil Tipping]

I'm wondering if these problems persist if anyone could recommend a specialist in West England who could check it out?
For all I know, there's little hamsters inside running around on a tread wheel.
I'm not technical.
I'm a bass player.

Made me chuckle
I think the mental and physical skills of playing an instrument qualifies as 'technical' in my books!
I'm in west Wales (near Haverfordwest) if that's any help, although not sure if there are still border patrols - you may have to sneak in

 

[Jamie Sea]

Hahaha, I'm in sunny Bristol but I'm going to try one more brand new SD Card before I try another machine, get this one looked at or embrace DAW.
I would happily pay a boffin to sort out this nonsense as a new machine is another expensive gamble from my perspective. A great shame.
(My dad had Tascam reel to reels which were bombproof).
I have a video of the freeze in action but can't seem to post it here.
It won't do anything now except play a track.
And my songs are getting stale.
And thinking about it, each card I've used has been a 100% clean slate not carried on from the previous ones yet the same problem occurs - which would suggest a machine error surely?

What I would really appreciate is a link to a definite legit SanDisk card source that other users have had no problems with.
I'm sure someone has already posted such a thing somewhere?
But I don't think the card is the problem.
In which case I've wasted a lot of money and spent most of lockdown learning a machine I cannot actually use.
Anyway, someone please point me to a decent card source and I'll stop spoiling the forum with my negative Tascam adventures.
Cheers.