Tascam M520 Story...

[quiberon]

Thanks, Sweetbeats, that is what I thought. We hope to find them tomorrow in his storage. It also had these plugged into random RCAs on the back. Only 4 of them. What would they be used for?
View attachment 110692

Four of those shorting plugs were supplied with my M-30, they are for shorting the inputs of the two stereo phono preamps.

 

[sweetbeats]

Yeah, yeah that’s what I was starting to recall…phono preamps are more prone to inducing noise when not terminated. It’s just sort of silly though because you would have to have the phono preamp input selected as the source, the channel turned on and the fader raised and assigned to one or more PGM groups AND be monitoring that group or groups for it to be a problem…and then only if the unterminated preamp was inducing noise. Why would anybody do that? Select a different source or turn the channel off/I assign it from any PGM groups….

 

[DrNomis_44]

I'm wondering if it's worth converting all the RCA sockets on my M-520 desk over to 1/4 inch T/S sockets?

 

[sweetbeats]

I saw you mention that earlier, and no offense but I can’t for the life of my understand why somebody would go to the trouble to do that.

It will still be unbalanced. You can easily find or make RCA to whatever snakes/cables. RCA pin jack connectors actually have more contact area than 1/4” TS. The RCA jacks on the M-500 series are PCB mounted so there is a fair amount of re-work you’d have to do to convert, for zero gain in my opinion.

 

[altruistica]

If you envisage plugging and unplugging stuff, you could possibly use an RCA snake to jack snake and wire a jack patchbay in. That way you could easily plug stuff in and out. You may run the risk of adding some noise to the signal path as it would be unbalanced. Good luck. Al

 

[sweetbeats]

I guess that’s a good point. I wasn’t thinking there would be a lot of patching/unpatching, but that’s just me because the M-520 has a decent amount of I/O access points and surface controls.

 

[quiberon]

Yeah, yeah that’s what I was starting to recall…phono preamps are more prone to inducing noise when not terminated. It’s just sort of silly though because you would have to have the phono preamp input selected as the source, the channel turned on and the fader raised and assigned to one or more PGM groups AND be monitoring that group or groups for it to be a problem…and then only if the unterminated preamp was inducing noise. Why would anybody do that? Select a different source or turn the channel off/I assign it from any PGM groups….

To use the phono preamps on the M-30 you have to patch them into channel line inputs as they are not switch selectable.

 

[sweetbeats]

Right. I’m aware. I was speaking to the presence of the shorting caps on the OP’s M-520.

 

[flyingace]

If you envisage plugging and unplugging stuff, you could possibly use an RCA snake to jack snake and wire a jack patchbay in. That way you could easily plug stuff in and out. You may run the risk of adding some noise to the signal path as it would be unbalanced. Good luck. Al

So can I use those Access SND/RCV RCAs with a patch bay to connect instruments, like my 10 vintage and modern synths/rack modules? Would that be just like having them as an input? Since I was thinking of having the M-520 in my studio as my big master analog mixer with the 8 XLR buss outputs going to my Tascam 388 inputs for recording (Along with tape outs going to my interface for recording in Logic at the same time). It is truly mind boggling how many different ways there are to do all this “connectivity” Whew! Hurts my brain but I hope that once I get my head wrapped around it, get it set up, I can just get back to creative recording!
I have a balanced patchbay and an unbalanced one, both Tascam PB-32s. I have many RCA to TS snakes, a few TRS to TRS, and two XLR to XLR snakes.
Thanks for all your help and thank you Sweetbeats too!

 

[quiberon]

I have a balanced patchbay and an unbalanced one, both Tascam PB-32s.

Tascam PB-32 versions are all unbalanced, there isn't a balanced version.

 

[sweetbeats]

Why use the insert points to patch in the synth modules? Why not just use line inputs as Teac intended?

 

[flyingace]

Tascam PB-32 versions are all unbalanced, there isn't a balanced version.

Not true. The PB-32B Is balanced, PB-32P is the unbalanced

 

[flyingace]

Why use the insert points to patch in the synth modules? Why not just use line inputs as Teac intended?

I’m Still trying to compensate for my unit not coming with the RCA Jumpers, so to get all the channels to work, my only choices are to create jumpers from short RCA cables, or use the access points as inputs… that is my question

 

[sweetbeats]

Sure you can use the RCV jacks as line inputs. Your line trim controls will be non functional, you won’t be able to monitor the inputs via the PFL circuit and none of the inline source features will have access to the signal (like the line source access on the AUX busses), but otherwise it will work, assuming the output of the synth modules is hot enough.

I would just use regular old RCA cables. Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be.

 

[flyingace]

Sure you can use the RCV jacks as line inputs. Your line trim controls will be non functional, you won’t be able to monitor the inputs via the PFL circuit and none of the inline source features will have access to the signal (like the line source access on the AUX busses), but otherwise it will work, assuming the output of the synth modules is hot enough.

I would just use regular old RCA cables. Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be.

Thanks, thats probably the best advice anyone EVER could give… good to be reminded that I’m making it more complicated that it is wanting the unit that is 40 years old to be like it was from factory… I’ll just bridge them with some RCAs, I can solder.. duh, I should have gotten over myself and already done this. Ugh.

Again, thanks for being a constant voice of reason!

 

[flyingace]

That said… what would you use the ACCESS SND/RCV for?

 

[sweetbeats]

No problem. I need frequent reminders myself.

The ACCESS SEND/RCV jacks are the insert points. These are used for interfacing insert type effects such as compressors/limiters. The SEND jack goes to the input of the outboard processor, and the RCV jack connects to the output of the outboard processor.

 

[quiberon]

Not true. The PB-32B Is balanced, PB-32P is the unbalanced

There is no PB-32B in the manual I uploaded, the ones in there are the only ones I knew about.

It must have been a later version.

 

[flyingace]

No problem. I need frequent reminders myself.

The ACCESS SEND/RCV jacks are the insert points. These are used for interfacing insert type effects such as compressors/limiters. The SEND jack goes to the input of the outboard processor, and the RCV jack connects to the output of the outboard processor.

SO I can use a snake to send all these to a patch bay that will connect to my compressor/limiter and my mic preamp! That means I won’t need all these RCA Jumpers! Awesome!

Then I can connect my two effects processors (stereo) to the AUX SUB IN and AUX OUT To be able to dial in effects on each channel? Or is it better to utilize another section of this thing? It’s so complex!!

 

[sweetbeats]

Correct on the ACCESS jacks to patchbay. You can have the jacks connected to each other via normalled or half-normalled pairs of jacks on a patchbay to replicate the jumpers, or normalled/half-normalled to inputs and outputs of your insert effects processors. My advice is, unless you have insert effects processors for every channel, I would pair up the SEND/RCV jacks on normalled jack pairs on the patchbay. And then just patch in your processors as needed.

So you have two stereo send-effect type processors? Like reverb, delay, that sort of thing?