MX-2424 problem

[bobkill]

I know you had said the Tascam will see a 74 gig hard drive but I wasn't sure it was the same for the SCSI external chain. So I should be able to put my internal hard drive in the external case in place of the smaller hard drive it came with. Will the MX-2424 see it as drive 0 just as it does internally? I read that there can be 4 external drives in the chain, did that change with more updated software? Bob

 

[witzendoz]

Yes the same for the external drive, 75 gig ok, the internal drive can be moved to an external drive, the SCSI id number is set at the drive via the pin outs, I have used 4 drives at once in an external box but my max is usually 3, this for back ups and tidying up file location. I have 6 bays but this because I have 2 different bay types and so I can have 3 of 1 type mounted if required. Pinout link http://www.seagate.com/staticfiles/support/disc/iguides/scsi/cheetah_10k7_scsi_ig.pdf

Alan

 

[altruistica]

Hey Guys,

Really interesting read there on the MX2424.

Over the years I've dipped in and out of them. I currently have four though with the recent price-giveaway of the units on Ebay. I have two in a live rack, one in the studio rack and one for spare. I've also got a rake of tape machines (two MS-16 and two MSR16). The MX2424 was going to be the digital workhorse while the mix was worked out, with the final pass coming from tape. All of this was linked up to an Allen & Heath GS3000. The GS is a lovely desk, but with that amount of inputs and outputs I found myself getting lost as to which output was serving which input so I've streamlined the operation with the inclusion of the Behringer X32 mixers. I bought the full console about a year ago and was really impressed with it (for live use mainly but I'm now using variations of it in the studio).

The reason I mention all this is because if you love the MX2424, then you'll love the way it can link up to an X32 RACK. For those of you that don't know what one is, it's basically a digital mixer with 16 Midas pres (they're good.....best pres I've heard on a desk....) but the real beauty of all this is that it can run all over Wi-fi.
That's how I've got it configured. I have two setups, a live rack with two MX2424 and an X32 with the ADAT card. All interfacing to the recorder and mixer is done via ADAT. It means I can plug my external pre-amps straight into the mixer and via ADAT to the recorders. All operated from a Wi-fi PC....this is all linked by a Belkin router. It means the rack can sit in another room if needed with just the jack leads from the mixer's monitor outs coming into the control room amp......like a moveable machine room. The great thing about the MX I think is the sound. The next best thing (once you sit down and really learn the software) are the dedicated short-cuts. You can operate most of the MX's function from a keyboard (I do have the remote as I picked it up in a sweet deal) but if I didn't I'd be happy to operate from the keyboard. I find myself hardly touching the mouse.
If I get time I'll make a video of it, as it's such an impressive, uncluttered setup. I have a similar setup in the studio but have an X32 Producer along with the X32 RACK. The Rack has an ADAT card fitted which communicates all signals to the MX. The Producer has the USB card fitted to it which gives 32IN and 32 OUT of the computer. It means I can now interface tape recording, hard disk recording and computer recording with simple SCENE recalls. The other great thing about the X32 mixers is the use of AES50 inputs.......one ethernet cable can carry 48 digital signals between mixers.
It's taken about 18 months to get to this stage (and a heap of trying different equipment) but I honestly feel this setup now feels right. I can record a guitarist or band to tape, while in the next session do a dance track in Reason and all the while assemble it in the MX for ease of say tracking. ......oh another great thing about sticking a router in the package....you can store all the MX data (Network backup) on your PC (or attached drives) via Wi-fi......don't ever have to unplug anything.....same with Restore. This is brilliant because it means you can keep the MX drive pretty clear knowing that it's fairly quick to restore data.
This might be old technology, but man it was designed really well....just took quite a few updates to get there.

Al

 

[DanTascam24]

Hi Alan, I was wondering if you can solve a dilemma..? I have just gotten around to needing the pitch control. (Varispeed)

I'm at menu location 006, which is Varispeed, and I hit "trim" and then the up/down arrows. The percentage value IS changing, it goes as far down as 87.5%, and up to 112.5%, just as the manual says it does. So I then hit "trim" again, and the asterisk appears in the display, at the new value of 87.5% Then I hit "set up" again to get out of menu, and hit Play, but the speed is not affected.

I've tried several buttons, like "store" and "shift" then "Store" but I can't get the actual playback to recognize the new setting.

And when I go back to menu 006, the setting still remains as *87.5%.. (which I simply put back to 100%) I'm puzzled.

The manual only seems to cover what menu 006 IS, but not enough detail (page 37 in my manual, that might differ though)

Any ideas? Thanks, Dan

The LED "NON STD" on the front panel, is supposed to illuminate, but it is not.

I'm at 44.1, 24 bit, and internal time code 30. No digital outboard gear, except a Fostex multitrack, hooked up via lightpipe and MIDI, but it's powered-down. (Maybe the Tascam is in Slave mode?) Oh.. Maybe I have to dis-able MIDI? But again, the Fostex is not powered up.. (?)

 

[altruistica]

I think digital varispeed achieves this varying the system clock. Therefore if attached to a digital console, the console would have to be a slave (I think) and be able to vary it's clock between at least 87.5% and 112.5% for you to hear sound.

If you're using an analog console and the MX's analog outs, you should be able to hear something.
Al

 

[altruistica]

FWIW, this is the first time I've tried the VARISPEED function and I couldn't get it to work, though I am hooked up to a digital desk @44.1k.

Al

 

[DanTascam24]

Thanks Al, what version software are you running in the MX2424?
btw, the manual does mention something about running with another piece of digital equip. But it is supposed to work. page 37

 

[altruistica]

I'm running the last version...3.12.

Hey Dan I've just sussed it.
Read page 36 of the manual...MENU '000' is where the master time ref. is chosen. For Varispeed settings to work (006) you have to select Varispeed in MENU '000'.
As I thought though, I'm using the ADAT card which goes into my Behringer X32 RACK. I couldn't get more than 95% varispeed without the sound breaking up...if I wanted to use this, I'd have to go out the analog outs of the MX then into the mixer's analog ins (D-A then A-D)..... but I could hear that it had pitched it down almost a quarter-tone (or thereabouts).
Al

 

[witzendoz]

Thanks Al, what version software are you running in the MX2424?
btw, the manual does mention something about running with another piece of digital equip. But it is supposed to work. page 37

Sorry for the late reply, was away for a while ad no net, I keep forgetting, but if the latest is 3.12 it's that.

Funny the varispeed thing has just come up as I was trying to use it the other day for the first time in many years and I could not get it to work, I was wondering if I ever got it to work. I do remember in the days I had the MX locked to a tape machine we could varispeed the tape and the MX would follow.

I will have a look at it if these other explanations don't work it out for you.

Cheers
Alan.

 

[altruistica]

I do remember in the days I had the MX locked to a tape machine we could varispeed the tape and the MX would follow.

I'm trying to figure out how this would have worked Alan?

If the MX was synced via SMPTE, with code coming off tape, surely the MX would struggle to interpret the code if varispeed was added to the tape machine?

Al

 

[witzendoz]

I'm trying to figure out how this would have worked Alan?

If the MX was synced via SMPTE, with code coming off tape, surely the MX would struggle to interpret the code if varispeed was added to the tape machine?

Al

All I know is that it worked, maybe because the timecode frame rate was selected on the MX so that it would lock to it at the speed it came in, I don't know how far you could push it.

The situation we had was, we had the Drums, Bass & Guitars on tape and we were recording a piano onto digital. The piano was slightly off concert pitch (due to the summer temps we had at the time and the fact that the piano was up stairs from the studio not air conditioned) so we verispeed the tape to move the pitch on the tape top match the piano tuning.

Alan.

 

[altruistica]

Hey Alan,

From the manual....'MENU 000 Timecode Chase. Select this to have the MX chase to SMPTE being generated from another device. If MENU 002 Sample Reference is set to automatic then digital clock will be derived from the incoming timecode.'

Maybe this is how you did it.

Al

 

[witzendoz]

Hey Alan,

From the manual....'MENU 000 Timecode Chase. Select this to have the MX chase to SMPTE being generated from another device. If MENU 002 Sample Reference is set to automatic then digital clock will be derived from the incoming timecode.'

Maybe this is how you did it.

Al

The sample rate is always set to 44.1 on my mx, remember I use the an along card so the sample rate is always internal in the mx. If the SMPTE is set to a frame rate, not auto, the mx will always think that the location of the time code is the location of the recording. This could all be different if I was recording a digital input. SMPTE is a location code showing where within a time the recording is at originally designed for film / sound syncing.
Alan

 

[DanTascam24]

Regarding the Varispeed, altruistica. Brilliant! Thanks so much, good eye, I didn't see that. Y' know, sometimes these manuals, they often throw in this "see page so-and-so for more information" stuff and I always wish they'd just put all the info on the page I'm reading. Now, when they really should have referenced another page, they didn't! Too funny. Anyway, I had just emailed Tascam this morning, and I had pulled out my Fostex in case I needed to use it for a couple of songs, if I didn't get this Varispeed thing figured out. Thanks again, Al. -Dan ..And to Alan, witzend; Never ends, I guess, does it? lol. Oh, btw, Alan; you know, I go 44.1 as well, I really think it makes more sense, as Industry Std. is 44.1, and this way there's no down-converting. My thinking has always been, why down-convert the sample rate, I'm already going to be dithering 24 to 16bit.. (When I mix down, I go to to 24 bit DAT, then dither to 16bit CD) Is this your reasoning as well? Just wondering.

 

[DanTascam24]

And to Alan, witzend; Never ends, I guess, does it? lol. Oh, btw, Alan; you know, I go 44.1 as well, I really think it makes more sense, as Industry Std. is 44.1, and this way there's no down-converting. My thinking has always been, why down-convert the sample rate, I'm already going to be dithering 24 to 16bit.. (When I mix down, I go to to 24 bit DAT, then dither to 16bit CD) Is this your reasoning as well? Just wondering.

 

[altruistica]

Hey Dan,

You gotta remember, the MX came out at the back end of 1999. I remember at the time I'd gone through various incarnations of a Fostex setup (D80 x3...then a D160 with an analogue board). I think around 2000 I was using an EMU EIVK sampler and a Roland VS1680 in an ultra slimmed-down setup....worked well except for mixing....my stuff around this time always sounded 'small'. After a few years of Roland VS2480, Roland VM 7000 mixer and VSR880 setup I finally settled down to an AKAI DPS24 (2002-2008). The AKAI was great but no support meant running on borrowed time. Then came the YAMAHA AW4416 stage, then the AW2400 stage (2008-2010). The YAMAHA pres were rubbish though. Then an impulse buy for a TASCAM SX-1 led eventually to a TASCAM DM24 (again no support from TASCAM) and onto the MX2424. I coupled the ones I owned around 2011 with a Behringer DDX3216 (using the TDIF cards) and the setup was impressive. I'll upload some vids I made at the time a little later today. Anyhow, with the recent fall of the price of MX machines I bought a few to use live (where the big meterbridge gives you a good indication of something being recorded) and I've hooked up one with the latest Behringer digital mixer, the X32 series, and it looks like it will fit the bill nicely.

Al

 

[altruistica]

Here's a link to the vids I mentioned. I think I shot these about 2-3 years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un__iXTwYcQ&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7KiH3zUoPUU&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6VAAX86KoY&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV0_KArjkgE&feature=youtu.be

I'll try and shoot a vid of my new setup which is running over wi-fi now, two MX2424 (running one as a backup) with a Behringer X32 RACK mixer.

Al

 

[witzendoz]

Funny how things come around, the question of Varispeed was raised a couple of weeks ago and I was saying that I had not used it in years, then this weeks we used it twice on playing back songs that were played a little slow in the recording process, bumped it up to 102% (from 100%) client happy. Also funny that they quite liked the vocal sound with the pitch up slightly.

Alan.