New Tascam Fw-1884 (all In One Unit), anyone seen this yet? Options

[Synthetic]

clicky here to see pic and specs!

IMHO this looks like a very cool idea and I am looking forward to seeing some magazine reviews of this product

[Francois Déchery]

Yes, in may
http://www.macmusic.org/news/view.php/lang...ate/2003-05-26/

We also annouced (a few hours ago) the release of the Lcgic Audio plug-in which support it:
http://www.macmusic.org/news/view.php/lang...ate/2003-10-15/

[theseer]

Yes, I just purchased and picked mine up yesterday. My system is:

G4 Silver 800mhz OS 9.2
1 gig ram
two firewire dedicated HD for recording
Cubase Score 5.1

it took a little effort to get it working but all-in-all it went smooth. I do however have a small problem. Channel 1 fader does not move in Cubase when I move it on the unit. All my other faders work just fine. I will assume there's something I've set incorrectly. And my pans do not seem to work as well.

The unit has a great feel and look. MUCH MORE professional looking than my US-428. I can't tell yet if the Firewire connector is going to show a noticeable difference. Frankly I'm not sure where that would show up anyway.

Can't wait to put some hours on this puppy

[Synthetic]

Soif... sorry I must have missed that link... i had just seen an ad for it in Electronic Musician magazine.

theseer.... you'll have to keep us posted on your experiences with your new toy hopefully you get that fader issue worked out

[theseer]

Last night after my forum post I played again with the FW1884. Had some major problems getting things to work. When I would play back my recording I got major hissing/distortion every 4 or 5 seconds. It sounded like the system was slurring during the recording. This was the most distressing problem.

This morning I was set to take the unit back and give up on Cubase after two years of using it. But changing settings and pushing buttons actually resolved most of the minor unit problems. AND, the hissing/distortion problem was resolved by putting my main recording file onto my main hard drive on my MAC and not using my stand alone Firewire drive.

As it turns out the recording worked great with no problems. So, I'm back to keeping the FW but still out on Cubase. Totally frustrated with their dongles and overprotection. I'm willing to pay but not get gouged to simply upgrade my legal copy. But I digress.

I was under the impression it was most beneficial to record using an external dedicated HD, but this problem was solved by using the internat HD. However I've had to take everything stored on the drive off.

[Synthetic]

what model was the external firewire drive? know the specs?

[theseer]

The firewire problem has been solved by using a PCI firewire card.
Must say I love the unit but am fed up with Cubase and the limited connections between Cubase and the FW-1884. Am switching to DP4 and hoping their driver will be better suited to the unit.

Must also admit I'm not advanced at this stuff. But friends have been over, one who is using the Mackie and says he really feels this unit has greater capabilities. What doesn't take expertise to asess is how professional this unit is.

The fader problem has turned out to be a software issue. Replaced my unit thinking it was a hardware problem but the new one had the exact fader problem. I'm certain it's an OMS or driver issue. The first fader does not work both in Cubase and Reason. OS 9.2.2 and OS 10.2.8. Very strange. Curious to see if anyone else is having this problem.

[lepetitmartien]

I'm reporting the opinion of a French user, quite happy indeed :

Original thread in French is here.

"I've just got the 1884 tu replace my 02R, I've positive at this moment save some strange behaviours in OS9 : sound gone after an off line bounce, can't listen iTunes while Logic is running (only in 9, you can on X)/ Good converters, transparents but not with enough gain for my taste, trimmer is not stepped.

On use, faders are of qome quality, all basics in Logic are here, but shortcuts are lacking (no screensets, start from a selected object…)
The ASIO eats more power than a 2408.

I use RME ADI pro to have 18 I/O, great with my Lexicon and all my synths at the same time in Logic. All ins are routed to inputs objects of course. Latency can go as low as 1 ms (not bad).

I'm waiting impatiently the drivers for Panther as OSX drivers are much stable than OS9 ones.

All was tested on a Bi I GHz MD, RAM 2 Go, OS 9.2, OSX.2.8; Logic 6.3

The balance quality/result is thumb up.

Fred SANS"

[theseer]

Well, I've been using my FW-1884 now for three weeks. My fader problems were cured by going to OSX programs exclusively. I dumped Cubase and am now using DP4.1. Most of my controls work although the Aux button connections are slim. I really feel that I'm using my board more now.

Gotta say, I'm falling in love with this unit. I was pleasantly surprised that the quality of my input has gotten better. A friend told me that the preamps and other techno inputs are of much better quality than the US-428.

I'm sorry I'm not an advanced digirecordtechy but I can certainly give you my intuitive sense of this item -- I'm sold on it.

[Synthetic]

glad to hear its doing well for you... I may consider that unit as an option later down the road... I am not sure how long I will stick with my Digi001 but then again its hard to pry out of my studio