by Dave Oliwa
Analog or digital? Hard disk or RAM? ADAT or 8mm? There's a world of choices out there. So what is it to be a digital workstation or a digital multi-track? Don't answer so quickly! You could be surprised.
Take the Tascam DA 88 digital multi-track recorder. Its Tascam designed and manufactured transport works with Hi8mm video tape, with 108 minutes of recording time on a 120 tape. A direct challenger to the Alesis group's ADAT technology, which uses S VHS video tape, the DA 88 will no doubt confuse the "standard" of video tape based digital multi-tracks for some time to come.
The front panel is mostly beige with a large grey panel of controls directly under the transport. The panel itself is 19 inches wide, and the rack ears are not removable unless you care to pull out a Dremel tool. Four rubber feet are easily removed with a phillips head screwdriver. The DA 88 is four rack spaces, or 7 inches, high.
The power button is recessed, and, upon power up, all 45 of the Tascam's LEDs ignite in an impressive show of lumens. The eight, 15 segment bright yellow VU meters go crazy when the unit is first turned on, that is, until you stand back to see they are actually spelling out "Tascam" in big letters ala Times Square. After the power up, the unit settles in with the Sample Rate, Absolute Time, Internal Clock, and Stop LEDs illuminated. The time display, in Hours, Minutes, Seconds, and Frames, sits with dashes, waiting for a tape to be inserted.
The tape itself is slightly smaller than an audio cassette and about twice as thick. It's built like a VHS or DAT tape with a main case and a protective cover on the front that flips up. The only drawback to this package is the safety tab. When opened, it can be recorded on; closed, it cannot the direct opposite of DAT, cassettes, VHS, and floppy disks. Users just have to "remember" the safety tab works in just the opposite manner of other tapes.
Putting a tape into the DA 88's front slot causes the display to read "LOAD" while the Cassette In LED flashes. It takes about six seconds for the transport to seat the tape, read the absolute time, and come to a stop with the display showing the tape's position, lighting the Cassette In LED steadily. Rewinding to a stop, the end of the tape is displayed with the letters "b O T" (beginning of tape).
The large transport buttons each have an LED above them to indicate the tape status. Going from Stop to Play takes about a half second an improvement over the 1¼ seconds it takes a buffer less DAT to kick into play. Going from Play to Rewind or Fast Forward and back is handled in about the same amount of time. There is a mechanical noise that can be described as a "whirrr" when the transport is engaging any command, but tape and transport movement during play and record are virtually silent.
There are several transport controls that add to the tape handling features. Two Memo and two Locate buttons function as you would expect and as the In and Out markers for several other features. An Auto Play button, with its own LED, sends the deck into Play after one of two locator positions are used. A Repeat button, with LED, will continually set the machine in a loop mode determined by the locators. These same locators also define the Rehearsal mode for checking punch in and punch out points. Did I mention the LED on the Rehearsal button? The Auto In/Out button punches in on your record ready tracks using the Locators as a guide. It's got an LED, too.
With all of these items being controlled by the two Locators, you find yourself quite involved with them during a production. The tape handling, similar to that of a DAT machine, is so quick that we found setting a locator point during the recording of each element would allow us to quickly return to a good pre-roll point for the next punch in. When it comes to tape, any tape, smaller is faster, lots faster.
The exact position of the Locator points in real time can be displayed by pressing the Display button. The Absolute Time Display toggles to the first Locator position, the second Locator position, and to the percentage of Vari Speed, plus or minus 6%. And yes, there are LEDs to show you what time display you are currently working with. Vari Speed is set by pressing a button with its own LED, and setting the amount with the Up and Down buttons. The Up and Down buttons do not have any buttons next to them on either side allowing a finger to comfortably rest on the control panel while the speed or other parameters are set. By the way, the DA 88 "remembered" the Vari Speed setting from yesterday, even though the machine was turned off! (Other functions that are backed up by a memory battery inside: the two locator points, the punch in and out points, and pre-roll time.)
The All Input button (and LED) lets you set record levels without being in record just like an analog tape machine! A Digital In button chooses between a digital I/O port and analog unbalanced RCAs or a balanced multi-pin connector as the input source. (More on the back panel later.)
There is a small but taught shuttle wheel with enough room around it to work with, enabled by a button with an LED. The wheel will sit where it's placed and scrub audio at the speed you choose forever. The same in either direction, the very first movement will cause the audio to play at a 1:4 ratio. That is, it takes a full four seconds to hear the entirety of one second! Since we're talking digital, and that means only the speed and not the pitch is being affected, cuing is ridiculously accurate and clean, easily surpassing that of a CD or DAT machine. On the other end of the Shuttle wheel, the DA 88's fastest scrub is 8:1, or eight seconds playing in the space of one. All in all, and even compared to digital workstations designed in the last year, this shuttle does a damn good job and may very well be the best feature, if forced to choose.
Under the eight Peak reading VU meters are the individual channel Record Ready/Safe buttons. No questions here; when they're pressed, a loud click and a flashing red LED doesn't lie. A simple closure, optional foot switch will give dexterous toes remote control of punch ins. Other buttons on the front panel include a Remote switch that disconnects all of the front panel controls excepting Display, Up, Down, and Stop, and transfers all other controls to the optional RC 848 Remote Control. This monster of a remote allows you to control numerous machines, see Absolute and Locator times at the same time, and to control several machines linked together to perform as one with a sample accurate lockup and more. A keypad allows the direct entry of tape position and the ability to control other machines on the same working surface.
Up to 16 DA 88s may be connected together for a total of 128 tracks. The Chase button, on the front panel just under track 1's VU meter, lets your first machine be the slave master when others are added on. Moving across to the right, a Clock button chooses between an Internal clock, an External SMPTE clock, or a WORD lockup to Video should you venture into audio for video. Buttons for SMPTE Generation and Recording are also under the VU meters. A SMPTE time code card is available as an option with one card locking up an entire system of DA 88s.
Of the last two buttons, one sets the Sampling Rate to 44.1 or 48k during tape formatting. Two LEDs show which rate has been recognized by the deck whenever a tape is inserted. The last button is the Format function and must be double clicked before it will work, and of course, completely erase and re format the tape. Tascam warns users not to run tapes previously used for video.
It's the formatting of the tape that sounds bothersome when compared to an analog deck, but the process is simple just like a computer floppy. There is, however, no such thing as fast in this mode. It's real time and, perception being reality, it's the slowest thing on this box. The only saving grace is the whole tape doesn't have to be formatted at one time. Formatting can take place from any point you choose. So you can format what you need, then format more even after audio has been recorded on the tape. The only comment from Tascam on this subject is to be careful not to allow an un formatted "space" when practicing the format what you need method. It might be better to format the tape in its entirety during your lunch hour and forty eight minutes! "Time Management," you know.
One other option is the not so decked out RC 808 Remote Control which offers basic control over most of the functions, including: All Input, Auto Input, Insert, Repeat, Rehearsal, Auto In/Out, the eight Record Ready buttons, and the two Locator memory and recall buttons. Unbelievable as it may seem, there is only one LED on the small remote, a little red one in the Record button's corner which is protected by barriers on each side. The buttons on the remote are sensitive, but they have a quiet little "snap" to assure they have been pressed. Although it is not the "Big Daddy" that the 848 is, the 808 is a nice, metal box with a long cord and a 5½ x 6-inch footprint that sits comfortably in even the most cramped studios.
The rear panel has a large heat sink next to the power cord's socket. What it is doing there, I haven't a clue. The deck generates only enough heat to make the heat sink not feel cold. The unit consumes only 74 watts of power. That means a light bulb in the lamp on your night stand uses more power! The eight RCA input jacks sit in a row above the eight RCA output jacks. The multi-pin connector for balanced ins and outs sits between the RCAs and the heat sink. A space above allows for the optional SMPTE card. There are multi-pin connectors for digital in/outs and an optional meter bridge. Two remote ports, a Sync out, a WORD in/out, a foot switch, and a selector knob to set the slave machine number span the top of the back panel.
The DA 88's specs are impeccable. Wow and flutter do not exist. Frequency response is flat across the board to within a half a dB. Dynamic range is >92 dB. 16 bit linear quantization and some A/D D/A converters that sound good make the Tascam DA 88 a little work of art.
Several brand name tapes are available at your local Target or K Mart for nine bucks and will most likely be available for some time since Hi8mm is the current "format of choice" for video cameras. Just considering the cost of analog tape in comparison to this format may help you to justify buying one with upper echelons. (This tape will replace almost four analog tapes!) Imagine, if you will, a production room where every client has their own 8 track master. A complete, modifiable record of every spot you've made for them will fit into the palm of your hand! Cost? Cheap. Storage? Pick a drawer any size drawer.
Now, there's going to be no knocking of digital workstations in this review, but credit must be given to a brilliant product design from the folks at Tascam (and this writer/Production Director hasn't been too particularly kind to Tascam all these years). If you want a digital box that will give you multi-track capabilities, well designed and well placed "working" controls, with a modular approach to growth, on a storage medium that beats the pants off the cost of workstation hard drives and memory expanders, the DA 88 is your box. The only thing that would make it a perfect world, would be one of each!
With Tascam selling them as fast as they can make them, the DA 88 can be had for a street cost of less than $4,000. That means the digital age can make it to your production studio today for less than the cost of a good cart machine! Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
♦