tascam m-2516

[fire.is.real]

i will soon be in the market for a new desk and was wondering if anyone has any experience with the tascam m-2516. it caught my eye on ebay - seems like i could get one pretty cheap.

any thoughts/suggestions?

before i saw this board, i was leaning towards a mackie 16 - 8.
comparisons?

thanks

fire.is.real

Walking Man Sound

[Track Rat]

I had one for a short while (actually it was a 2524). The Mackie smokes the Tascam's mic pre's, IMHO.

[fire.is.real]

thanks track rat - i actually kind of figured that.

i have a couple of presonus pres and i'm planning on getting some more pres (not necessarily presonus) anyway. so the quality of the preamps is not as much of a concern as ease-of-use. i will be using a 1" 16 track machine with whatever desk i get and i want to make sure the patching will be easy.

for instance: with the tascam each track has tape ins and outs, but with the mackie this is not the case. as far as i understand, with the mackie i would have to use the inserts to hook up my tape machine.

track rat - since you have used both, could you give me some more pros/cons INCLUDING price. (i found a m-2516 on ebay with a reserve of $600)

thanks again!!

fire.is.real

Walking Man Sound

[fire.is.real]

ok since it doesn't seem like anyone has much experience with the tascam m2516.... how about tascam mixers in general?

anyone?? ...experience with a tascam mixer thats not attatched to a 4 track?

thanks in advance..

fire.is.real

Walking Man Sound

[camus]

Well, I used a Tascam 1516 board for about 2 years at work, and there was certainly nothing wrong with it. With the exception of the mic pres (which were a little noisy but still useable), it was a pretty quiet, decent workhorse. It ain't junk, if that's what you're worried about. The only trouble with Tascam stuff is that everything's unbalanced, but no, I didn't have an issue with noise at the time. The version I had didn't have a monitor control pot though, so if you're using active speakers that might be a problem. I'd certainly recommend a Spirit or an Allen & Heath over it, but if you can get one cheap, why not?

[fire.is.real]

thanks for the reply.

the monitor issue shouldn't be a huge deal. i will probably get some sort of unit to switch between different sets of monitors anyway (that should have independant volume control for each set)... and in the meantime, my event ps5's have their own volume controls.

so what would be some other good boards to mix down onto 16 track r2r? my absolute max is $1k, but i'd rather not spend that much...

..you mentioned spirit and allen & heath - what would be the models to look at from those guys?

thanks again,

fire.is.real

Walking Man Sound

[camus]

Well, the Mackies tend to be the boards of choice round here, but you could take a look at the Allen and Heath Mix Wizards (16 channels), or the Spirit LX7 (which I'm using), which comes in 16, 24 or 32 channels. The Spirit Folio series comes with built in effects (ala the Mackie CFX) as well. Take your time and sniff around their websites.

[Paulie]

Hey Fire, I made two great sounding albums with my 2524 The automute is a great feature. I use it on mixdown only. I use two Ramsa WR 8210As for drum tracking and guitar and vocal tracks. They have great Pre's and can be had for a song. I also use the one inch 16 format,an 85-16B and mix to an Otari MTR-10. Back to the 2524 The eq could be a bit better but I learned how to get great results with it. Good luck, Paul.

[fire.is.real]

thanks for the feedback...

i guess what i'm asking is whether this is going to be enough of an upgrade for me. i've been using a tascam 688 for years and i think i've really grown out of it. 8 tracks is becoming a serious limitation as is the cassette format. i just want to make sure that the tascam board is not going to be only a small step up from the mixer on my 688. i mean hell the 2516 kinda LOOKS like my 688. heh. but i really can't justify spending much more than 3k on board + tape machine. so if i buy the tascam, i want to be happy with it for years to come - i don't want to "settle" for it. i guess i really need to just try all the boards out.

the only problem is that all i have down here in new orleans is a guitar center, all they have on display that i'm interested in is a mackie 32-8 (i would be interested in the 24-8 i think). so i guess i can try that out somehow. i'm really interested in the older boards though... my recording "mentor" has an old biamp board that i love...

another question:

is there or isn't there such thing as a mackie 16-8? i've heard people talk about them, but mackie's website has no mention of them and i haven't seen any of them on ebay. i don't think i'm interested in the 1604vlz pro because of the lack of patching options (having to use the inserts as tape sends/returns, etc.).
more info on the 16-8 would be great...

thanks again everyone...

fire.is.real

Walking Man Sound

[camus]

Hey Fire, I stumbled across a user review of the 2516. Here ya go:

http://www.recordingwebsite.com/revi...ascam2516.html

[Paulie]

The muting feature has 99 scenes. You can close all the channels that are not playing during the beginning of a song to cut tape noise and then open them as needed as the song goes on. An important feature some people dont understand. Paul.

[fire.is.real]

hey thanks guys.

yeah my old 688 has a similar "scene" - oriented patching/signal routing feature that i totally used as mute automation.

now anyone have any detailed pics of the 2516?

thanks again

fire.is.real

Walking Man Sound

[iqi616]

Originally posted by fire.is.real
heh. but i really can't justify spending much more than 3k on board + tape machine. so if i buy the tascam, i want to be happy with it for years to come - i don't want to "settle" for it. i guess i really need to just try all the boards out.

If you've got 3k to spend, why not get a digital multitracker? If you like Tascam gear, they do one that's getting good reviews. There is a lot of choice under 3k and some of them like the Korg D1600 have a CDR/W burner for making backups and audio CDs.

...Mike

[fire.is.real]

iqi616:

have you ever recorded on a 1" tape machine? i have had the pleasure to work with them fairly often, and i must say that they just feel like home to me.

also - i am a computer technician by day, so recording is a facet of my life that i would like to contain as little "digital" technology as possible...

thanks for the input though. a friend of mine just got a yamaha aw4416, so if i ever get that urge i can always play with his setup

fire.is.real

Walking Man Sound

[iqi616]

I have used 1" but there's just something about a multitracker that appeals to me (like being able to liberate it from the basement and edit/record anywhere there's a power outlet).

[fire.is.real]

yeah man i hear that...

there are ups and downs to both formats...

to each his own!

fire.is.real

Walking Man Sound