DM-24 Firewire? & other Qs?

[Booda]

Ok, I've been thrown a curve ball...
I had been planning on getting a RME Multiface or Tascam FW-1884 for a new interface.

While looking at the 1884 at GC I saw a DM24 that they are selling for $1500. I then find out about the new Firewire card that's coming out. AND if you buy a DM24 by 12/31 you get a Free Meter Bridge from Tascam.

It just seems too good to be true. It’s way more than I need at the moment but for the extra little $$$, it’ll be there if the time comes.

How do the Converters rate? I’ve been researching the DM24 all day today… read a few times guys saying they were not so great. But they were also using Mytek and Appogee stuff. Think they are as good as the Multiface?

What kind of Latency will be expected w/ this system? below 5ms?

I'm using Cubase 5.1 right now... plan to upgrade to SX or Nuendo. Will it control 5.1 at all? How about Samplitude?

MIDI... the DM-24 has a 1 MIDI i/o and the Fire wire card has 1. Won't the MIDI on the Fire wire card be used to control the DAW software? & then I can use the MIDI on the DM-24 to controll my Roland drum kit or a Keyboard?
Would I need a separate Midi unit on my PC for the controller by Fire wire?

Effects on the DM-24…. When tracks are already on my PC, instead of using a plugin for a effect… it says you can use the DM-24. Does that happen w/ out another Conversion? Does it stay digital or does it come out D/A and then go back in A/D?

What do you all think? Is this a good route to take? I wanted expandability to 16 ins for the future, well this has it w/ Pres, Comp and EQ on all channels. (I still would get 2-4 Nice Pres). Also, I’m not a gambler and like to know things will work when I get them. Given the DM24 track record… do you think this Firewire situation will work right out of the shoot?

If you can add any more thoughts please do.
Thanks,
B.

 

[garymusic]

Booda, as a former owner of the DM24 I say go for the Yamaha 01v96. You would have to buy the MY16AT card to get 24 digital tracks AND I know the cost of the board is a lot more but it is WORTH it. I purchased my DM24 and only owned it for 8 months. I never got productive with the board. I spent so much time with the manual and still had trouble learning the board.

If you are planning to get Cubase SX there is a mixer map for the 01v96. All you do is plug the 01v96 into your USB port of your computer, tell the mixer that you are working with Neuendo (Cubase SX is the same) and tell Cubase that you have a DM2000 (01v96 is the same). What ever you do on the mixer is reflected in Cubase and the other way around too. It was really amazing.

Check out the 01v96 before you drop the cash on the DM24.

Gary

 

[Booda]

Gary, thanks. I've pretty much abandoned the DM-24 idea. It seemed like such a great deal, but the guys @ GC are such boneheads and can't seem to give me much info on it. Except a serial # and I can call Tascam. To get the free meter bridge it has to be a V.2.0 mixer and they can't figure out which version it is. Sad but True.

Anyaway... I've decided to go w/ seperates and am looking at RME Multiface and now the Layla 24. Supposedly very comprable, & I can get the Layla used for little $$$ and at least see if this level of converters will work for me.

& then get a Controller... Mackie. What do you think about using the 01V as a controller? (not 01V96) I've been seeing them in the $700-$800 ballpark.

Thanks,
B.

 

[BarkinB]

DM24

As the current owner of a DM24, I can say I really love this mixer. I wish there had been a deal with the meter bridge when I bought it, it was expensive (but well worth it).

I don't know anything about the FW interface, I use an M-Audio Delta TDIF card in both a PC and a Mac... 8 channels to each.
MIDI is handled by a pair of MidiMan Midisport 8x8s. This arrangement is working pretty well.
The effects in the DM24 are very nice, and I've been using them more and more. They are digital internally, so if you send the results back through a digital connection, it stays digital. I've always liked the converters on it.
I'm using Sonar 3, and now that Cakewalk finally got MTC out working, it's synced to Sonar, and using MMC, the transport controls on the DM run Sonar. I'm pretty sure I got the transport control button to run a demo version of Cubase, but I don't remember what version of Cubase it was.

BTW, WHO is selling DM-24s for $1500???

Now for some things to watch out for... The DM24 is pretty intricate, and has a healthy learning curve. I replaced an analog 24ch Mackie 8-buss with this, and it took a lot of setup time to get the I/O configured right. Starting out, you can get lost sometimes trying to route a signal... after a while it becomes second nature.
I have an odd problem with an analog expansion board (BTW, it's +4dB ONLY) that won't put out a signal after I change snapshots unless I change it's setting to something else, then back. It's really quick and easy to do, but an annoyance regardless.
A couple of track record button lights are out. Older DM24s had a whacked-out gain curve on the analog trim pots... the last few tiny degrees of turn on the knob covered a huge chunk of the potential +54 dB of gain (!). Despite these problems, I don't regret buying it at all!

Tascam used to have a really lively discussion board for it, and their product people were in there answering questions, but they shut all that down. Definitely pissed about that.

 

[Hans Christian]

Hello,

in regards to the quality of the DM24s, here's my five cents:

I own two DM24s for over a year now. Originally I had horrible technical problems with them and had the honor of finding a software bug in version 1.1 that made the boards crash. But eventually Tascam was able to develop a fix, and ever since then the boards have been reliable. The sound quality is very, very good (an opinion based on working in studios for over 20 years). Frankly, if we can't get a good sound on this board then we should switch careers. But of course, there may be other boards out there that are more appealing. I think that the learning curves on any of them will be steep. The mixers are complex devices, with lots of features, and it will take a while to get it figured out. The documentation of the DM24 is not very good, but repeated reading and practice will make you a champ.

FYI, I am using my two DM24s with a DP3.1 (G4 Dual Processor), a 2408 and a 1296 interface. It sounds great.

Greetings,

Hans