TASCAM X8 SERIAL NUMBER DATE AND FW UPGRADE

[prenez]

Hi folks, just picked up a Tascam Portacapture X8.

I just upgraded it to the latest firmware. It was at 1.33 now its 2.01.

I'm now reading with alarm about the ultrasonic sound on higher bitrates. Uh oh. Was this firmware dependent, or build date dependent?

Serial number on the box is 2410093. Can we tell the date from that? As in 2024, October, the 9th, or the like?

 

[prenez]

There isn't one. That's why I posted it here.

Portacapture X8 | 8-Channel 32-Bit Float Portable Audio Field Recorder | TASCAM - United States

The TASCAM Portacapture X8 is like having a studio in your hand. Capture pristine audio with 8 XLR/TRS inputs, 32-bit float, and an intuitive touchscreen.

tascam.com

Hope that helps.

I called TEAC and got my answer.

 

[Mark Richards]

@prenez,
the Portacapture X8 is a handheld recorder similar to the DR-xx series and other types of handhelds, so perhaps it fits here:
Handheld and Field Recorders
rather than this "Recording 101" forum in which you posted (focus: multitrack recording methods).

A quick search of the "Handheld and Field Recorders" forum using search term "portacapture" turned up two pages of threads/posts about Portacapture X8 and X6 recorders.

The purpose of forums like ours is to share information. So for the benefit of those who may find your thread in the future, might you be kind enough to share with the community the answer TEAC gave you?

 

[prenez]

First, thanks for the search. That's useful guidance.

Second, TEAC didn't give me any information about how to decode the serial number, alas, BUT they did tell me my unit had been sold to a dealer in 2024, so the build had occurred shortly before. I don't think these units stay on the shelf long.

The build date is important because there had been issues with an errant ultrasonic sound wave in recordings using a sample size of 192khz in early builds of the X8, apparently, that were not fixed by firmware upgrades, and although it's hard to be sure, it seems that it was a hardware issue, since resolved.

I'll repost this info in the proper forum so it's easy to find.