Unable to get full length master on DP-008ex

[Lino]

Hello, I am new to this forum and wanted to ask about a problem with mastering songs I just encountered on my Tascam DP-008ex recorder. F0r some reason when I go to master my song with the automatic "Natural Sound" compression algorithm, the mastering takes place, but stops short of the end of the song. I set my In/Out marks to be the length of my song out of the total recording length, so I get my 3 minute and 35 second-long song out of the total let's say 25 minutes of recording. So I then go to mixdown my 3 minute and 35 second song in Mixdown mode, get my level, pan, and reverb settings all set up, record my mix, and done. I then go to Mastering mode to master with the automatic Natural Sound compression algorithm, and see "Auto Mastering" at the top of the screen. I then hit "Exec" to start the mastering process, and I see the recording circle going, and my song being played. However, the mastering stops not even halfway through the song shortly after a minute. I cannot figure out why my mastering is not completing here. I transferred this cut-off mastered file to my computer to listen to, and yup, the song is cut short after just about a minute. Can anyone help me understand why this mastering is cutting short? I erased some songs on my machine to free up space, but I still encountered this issue. Is there something I can do to get this mastering to work correctly? I would rather not have to redo my mix again. I would appreciate any help with this, thank you!

 

[dctdct]

@Lino : If I understood your problem right, all went well until the downmix (where the master file is created). At that stage, before mastering, your masterfile from the mixdown lasts correctly 3'35" if you play it back (just hit PLAY in MASTERING mode). Does it?
(Be aware that as soon your masterfile is modified/overwritten, you cannot go back to the previous state in MASTERING mode. You have to switch back to MULTITRACK and there you can use the UNDO function.)

Then you select AUTO MASTERING, TYPE=NATURAL SOUND, and hit EXEC. Here comes your error, as far I understood. Never saw this behaviour.
Did you already try to double check with RHSL instead of EXEC, before mastering, if the too short cut does happen already there?
And did you try another MASTERING function if it leads to the same problem?

 

[denemante]

I have this exact problem. I've tried 1000 different things. I'm doing everything right. In/out points are right. SD card has a ton of space. This unit literally just stops about 75% of the way through the master process on EVERY song. Happens in rehersal or the executed version. I have tried EVERYTHING.

 

[denemante]

In repeatedly trying to solve this issue, now there is extreme hiss and now the mastering exec or rehersal stops about 7 seconds into the song.

 

[denemante]

This is 10000% a bug and not user error.

 

[denemante]

I have dozens of hours into a song of 4 minute song-of-perfection which I can replay in multitrack - but is useless otherwise. Mastering just stops- 45% of SD card space still available.

 

[Mark Richards]

I have the DP-24, not your portastudio, but it seems to me if this is being caused by a bug in the most current firmware there'd be a heck of a lot more instances reported.

* Have you updated to the most current firmware?
* Are you using only TASCAM tested/approved SD cards?
Both of these, individually or in concert, frequently cause otherwise unexplainable issues. Thus the notice in the OM.

If this is an option on your portastudio:
* Have you consolidated all the tracks into contiguous files using export/import? Punching, starts/stops, etc. create file snippets that the firmware has to read and parse in real time; too many also may cause otherwise unexplainable issues. Export/Import incorporates all those snippets and the primary song file into one contiguous file that's easier for the firmware to work with.

After assuring the firmware is up to date and the SD card is TASCAM approved, dctdct's suggestions are the next trouble shooting steps I too would have taken.

The OP never bothered to answer dctdct's questions (let alone say "thanks for trying to help"). So there's no way to know if his advice worked for the OP.

 

[denemante]

Firmware is current, SD card is approved. I keep trying different things, and tried all the dctdct's suggestions. When I turn the unit off and back on and try again, the hiss heard during mastering gets worse. Where the problem originally was that the song would stop in mastering about 75% of the way through, now it stops at random points - 45 seconds, 7 seconds, 15, seconds. Restarting the device is all that is done in between. The hiss in mastering is now about 25% the volume of the song. Not sure how I can salvage things - I can't go with a new SD card just as a test because my songs are on this card.

 

[-mjk-]

I would copy the contents off the SD card, reformat the card in the machine, and then copy the files back.

 

[shredd]

I would copy the contents off the SD card, reformat the card in the machine, and then copy the files back.

I would agree...the card MUST be formatted in the DP, NOT the puter.

I'd also strongly suggest moving files to/from the DP via its' USB connection to a puter, and NOT by removing the SD card and putting it in a computer's card reader...less possibility/likelihood of the files being messed with/messed up.
I do this always - I run mac's, and when I open the DP's uSB conn'n, it simply appears as a drive on the mac/s. Easy-peasey.

But what do I know...I actually imagine politicians are "public servants"...

 

[Mark Richards]

I found a one-off case from 5 years ago in the DP-24/32/SD forum where the owner had a situation similar to yours - in Master mode the song kept getting truncated. It turned out the SD card was defective, which in turn corrupted one of the portastudio's system files (on the SD card; not the firmware), which resulted in a truncated master file. This post & following talk about that and the solution, which may work also for your portastudio.