Tascam Digital Mixer problem...

[lost studios]

Hello all.
I am the not so proud owner of the Tascam TM-D1000 Digital Mixer. I gave up using it as the front end of my PC based DAW in favor of a dedicated channel strip (ART DI/o) w/ a S/PDIF out to my AP 24/96. I dusted the TM-D1000 off and am now successfully using it as a remote control for Sonar 2.1 via MIDI. I have just recently thought of another use for it but cannot get it to work properly the way I've envisioned it to.

Here's the deal. First a touch of background info. As I said, I'm recording via a dedicated 2 channel tube pre (w/ a 6-band compressor and parametric EQ in the inserts). It's has A/D converters in it so I'm sending S/PDIF signal out of it into my AP 24/96 soundcard. I'm currently monitoring out of the RCA out of my AP 24/96 into a Mackie 1202. I have many other things plugged into the Mackie as well... anyhow, you get the idea. It's a monitoring board.

What I'd like to do is use the S/PDIF out of the AP 24/96 and use that to monitor certain tracks that I choose separately from the RCA outs. So I figured I'd send the out of the S/PDIF from my PC to the Tascam TM-D1000 to do the D/A conversion, then out of the TM-D1000 into the mackie. That way I could be recording vocals or something and send all the other tracks to the RCA out and the vocals to the S/PDIF out. I could then apply effects to just the vocals from the mackie (aux sends/returns to some outboard gear). This way I can avoid any input monitoring of effects on whatever I'm recording. My rigs latency is pretty terrible making input monitoring useless anyway. You all know the equation.... Old PC+ 98SE + Sonar w/ MME drivers = terrible latency.

Anyway, I can't figure out how to set up the tascam to recieve an incoming S/PDIF signal and output it correctly to the mackie as an analog signal. I have it working somewhat but the RCA sounds way better if I A/B them. I'm afraid that it is because of the truncation of the 24-bit word lengths I'm sending the TM-D1000. I've come to understand that this was a problem w/ this mixer. The truncation of 24bit words to 20bit that is. What settings should the Tascam be set at? How the hell do I set this up correctly??

Sorry this is so lengthy. If you need more info, just let me know.

cheers
jay

 

[gdoubleyou]

I'm not quite sure what you are doing, but it's in the bus settings and which monitor buttons you have engaged.

You are right about the 20bit A/D.

The internal signal path is 24bit, you do have to set the word-length.

I have a Delta 410, I use the analog in for recording, send it to the TM-D1000 for processing and fx.

I was thinking about the Presonus Digimax as a frontend for the TM-D1000. 8 24bit in via TDIF/Lightpipe. Or 2408Mk3 and just use the TMD for compression, and efx.

 

[lost studios]

Thanks for the reply gdoubleyou!

What part don't you understand about what I'm trying to do? hmmm... Well I guess it doesn't really matter. I guess my main question is how do I take an incoming 24bit, 44.1khz S/PDIF signal into my TM-D1000 and then send the output in analog form to my Mackie 1202?

Where do I control the output level of the signal? Should I assign it to an input channel? if so, do I need to assign 2 channels to the s/pdif in? One for right and one for left? Should the analog output go to the stereo outputs or the monitor outputs?

This is what I have selected as of now....
-Option/setup/digital input/A:RCA
-Option/setup/aux rtn input-assign/Input: digital In A
-Option/system/Master Clock Select/ Digital In A

It sounds pretty harsh (digitally) with the setup; however, I will assume this is due to the truncation of the 24 bit word lengths.

Any ideas?
jay

 

[gdoubleyou]

Sorry for the delay, Once you set up your digital inputs, you can access the analog signal by using the channel assign.

The signal depending on the channel assign will be at the stereo outs, or the group outs.

Output is controlled by the four group faders or the L-R fader.

Yes, assign 2 channels or L/R for SPDIF.

There is an online tutorial here.
http://www.recordingeq.com/tasc/1kindex.html