Tascam M-___ Story...

  • Thread starter Thread starter sweetbeats
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Wow...check this out...the walnut boards are at my friend's being planed sometime this week. We ran a scrap through to see how it looked because it is hard to see the grain quality through the rough saw marks...the pics below are of that scrap (that was rough-planed with dull blades no less) after about 10 minutes of sanding. There is no finish on it. One pic shows the grain better, the other shows the sheen better. The stuff is hard.

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The M-__ is going to be dressed like it should be...
 
So, how goes the progress on the wood trim panels?

I also have to chime in with my kudos to you on this rehabilitation project and the wherewithal to document it!

Makes for great reading for those into all this techie stuff! :)

Cheers! :)
 
Jeff, thanks for the comment...I truly appreciate it!

I haven't heard from my friend but I did tell him to take his time...he has a lot going on so I figure it may be another week or two...he was going to change the blades on his planer too.

Anxious to see the material. :)
 
My friend who's planing the walnut for the trim panels is coming over with his family on Sunday to hang...I wonder if he's bringing walnut...
 
Ye olde M-__ gets its first taste of some true session work Thursday.

Doing overdubs here at the house for a tracking session I had on location a few weeks ago.

M-__ will be the central hub managing 9~10 sources, 6~7 DAW feeds and 3 cue mixes as well as a stereo playback mix and an engineering mix.

Kinda neat. Who knows how much or what kind of work this mixer has done in its mysterious life, but its got a new lease and its got a job to do Thursday.

All the switch and knob caps are still removed from channels 3~12. I pulled them off weeks ago to start cleaning them and haven't touched them since. I didn't anticipate I'd be using it in this way. Don't want to put them back on for the session since it was literally blistering to get them all off, but I don't think I have time to clean 700+ plastic parts with a tootbrush in the next 72 hours. Why does it matter? Trust me...Its going to be a visual challenge to operate the board without some color for switches and notches on knob caps to quickly see where a pot is placed. Hard to see if a button is up or down.

Oh well.

I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
Bummer...the talkback mic output is low and distorted. I'll have to use a mic plugged into a strip for talkback.

I also need to come up with a way to get the LA-40's racked as close as possible to the M-__...with as much gear as is installed in my very small space there is a rat's nest of power cables going every which way and if I can get the LA-40's as close as possible that will avoid noise getting into the unbalanced cables running between the mixer and the converters...

All the mute and solo options on this board are SO handy...you can just about zero in on any input or output and either kill it or solo it.

Looking forward to using the REMOTE functions for a couple mute groups, and I'm really understanding the value of the dedicated stereo MONITOR buss...so powerful to be able to have a completely independent stereo buss for the engineer and the EQ TO MONITOR function (along with the MONI SOLO function) allows me to preview EQ changes on any or all of the 12 input sources selected for the channel strip in a way that the signal routing through the strip and to the AUX busses is undisturbed. In other words if I want to mess with the EQ on a vocal mic on channel 1, I source the MONITOR section on channel strip #1 to the INPUT, press the MONI SOLO switch (and now I can hear that mic in my headphones through the SOLO buss), and then I hit the EQ TO MONITOR switch on channel strip #1 and now changes I make to the EQ of that mic input are only heard by me in the monitor buss. Once I get it set where I want I unlatch the EQ TO MONITOR switch and the EQ is reinserted into the signal path through the channel strip.

This is all such a switch from working with my small digital mixer (which is GREAT for what it is but...) which doesn't even have a PFL circuit...the SOLO function on it is post-fader.
 
So, wow. I was getting the mixer setup tonight for the tracking session tomorrow night. Channels 4, 5 and 8 sound like sputnik in the cans and through the monitors...not sure why, but maybe recapping the whole board sooner rather than later isn't a bad idea. It didn't used to make funny noises like that and compared to the channels that I recapped (which are whisper quiet *except* for the 60-cycle hum in the main buss...:mad:) the above mentioned channels are unusable for tracking. And some of the ACCESS jacks are really touchy.

I need to remember that it is relatively old mixer and will always be a little funky.

Otherwise its really great. The metering is nice with all the meter source switches. I've got channels 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 meters monitoring the inputs, meters 9, 10 and 11 are monitoring the aux masters and meter #12 is keeping an eye on the click track level coming off the DAW. The master meters are watching the main buss but I can and probably will switch those over to watch the monitor buss.

Tons and tons of routing options here.
 
Wow...Can't believe nearly 4 months have passed since I last posted.

Well, I have the trim panels back...that's what happens when two really busy guys try and help each other out...time gets away. Anyway...

The stock is just rough-cut still and "skip-planed"...still need finish planing and then of course sanding, but check these planks out...

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I have to bite the bullet...

Some of you will think I'm nuts...

Some of you will think I'm making a mistake...

Go ahead and roll your eyes...I 've lots of rolling eyes these last few years, all deserved. :D

Some of you will understand.

I'm moving toward putting the M-__ on the market.

I recently purchased another mixer that is better suited in terms of channel capacity and workflow for what I'm planning on doing with my Ampex MM-1000. I've done A LOT of thinking about this as well as discussing it with close friends and family. I realistically lack the space to keep the M-__ around when its not going to be routinely used, and I lack the self-control to not obsess about something that is here and not being used (I'd be trying to figure out how to use it if its here rather then spending time on the music), and most of all we've hit a financial snag with the remodel on our home which is pretty desperately needed considering the present size of our home and the 6 of us living in it. The market is poor right now and our appraisal came back lower than we hoped and so the amount we can borrow for the project has fallen short so I'm trying to raise funds to cover the financial hole from cash reserves. The changes needed in the home (and no I'm NOT talking about the sound room) are much more important for my family than me keeping a mixer I don't need, even if it is the coolest and most rare Tascam mixer ever.

The mixer will be finished before it is sold but I want to get the word out now to hopefully start some interest and maybe some offers. I'm realistic in that there may be none, but I have to try.

When I say "finished" I'm meaning all cleaned up sweetbeats style, all the mic jacks replaced, other jack repairs done, any other functional repairs executed, and walnut trim panels completed and installed. You'll get a new looking super-cool fully functional ultra-rare mixer. I will not be recapping the 10 strips that haven't been done yet but I will include the caps in the sale. You'll get any documentation and notes I've made on it as well as my everlasting support as long as I'm able. Reminder that channels 1 and 2 and the whole master section HAVE been recapped and repaired. I'm willing to personally transport it a significant distance to meet the buyer. I won't ship it unless the buyer is willing to pay for custom crating, palletizing and freight.

Please PM me if you are interested in discussing it or email me at torridheatstudios@gmail.com.

PLEASE UNDERSTAND I NEED MONEY, SO ANY OFFERS CAN AND LIKELY WILL BE MADE PUBLIC IN ORDER TO DRAW ADDITIONAL OFFERS AUCTION STYLE THOUGH IT WILL BE A SILENT FORMAT (SOURCE OF OFFERS WILL BE KEPT PRIVATE). ALSO, THIS IS NOT A FIRST-COME FIRST-SERVED DEAL. I RESERVE THE RIGHT TO BE CHOOSY ABOUT TO WHOM I ULTIMATELY SELL THIS THING. Is that rude? Oh well. Its my mixer until its yours anyway. :) Also, be confident that I won't jerk anybody around. Anybody that's done business with me knows I'm more than fair and very good and reliable with which to do business. I want a happy transaction.

If you think I'm nuts then go ahead and try to talk me out of it. I love having my logic challenged.

**NOTE TO THE MODERATEUR: I apologize if this post is not appropriate...do whatever you gotta do to make it right if its not. Thanks.
 
Oh, Cory... it really breaks my heart to see you put it up for sale but I TOTALLY agree with you and I believe you are doing The Right Thing(tm).

I just hope that it goes to someone who can fully appreciate it. Be very picky in choosing a buyer... !!!

I would make a bid if I didn't already have a perfectly good mixer, and if I wasn't tempering my gear lust!
 
Corry,

Very sorry to see you making the moves on selling this one of a kind beast! :o

I only ask that before you sell it, you take some quality shots of it with all the strips installed and with the entire mixer in the frame of the shot, decently lit so that we can do a proper photographic tribute to it. :cool:

Cheers! :)
 
I've enjoyed this thread, immensely.
Hope you can get some pictures up when it's all done.
:drunk::drunk::drunk::):drunk:
 
Hey thanks for all the comments folks. I've really enjoyed working on the M-__ sharing it with you all and rest assured there will be more posts detailing the eventual completion of the M-__ as described above, and Ghost you bet I'll be doing a photo shoot once its done...I'll borrow that DSLR and be running to you for advisement on settings. :D
 
sweetbeats said:
, and Ghost you bet I'll be doing a photo shoot once its done...I'll borrow that DSLR and be running to you for advisement on settings. :D
Click to expand...

Excellent! :cool:

You know I looked through about 400 pictures of your M___ mixer and couldn't find one single shot that showed the mixer in one piece other then a tiny little one of when you first picked it up and it was all beat up looking. :o

You did post one which had all the strips in except for the 12th channel and the angle and lighting on that one was pretty good, so if you know the shot I'm referring to, that's what I'd love to see a high resolution version of! :)

Cheers! :)
 
He's already fingered me for it!

I bet he puts his kids up for sale as well!!!
 
Cory, you did such a tremendous job

I too would love to see a high resolution picture of the board fully together and lit up. :)
 
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