Tascam Model 24 Mutlitrack Recorder and Mixer

Red Electric Rainbow · Post by **Red Electric Rainbow** » Fri Feb 08, 2019 5:36 pm

can you do a final mixdown on the model-24 or do you absolutely have to use a DAW?

chaosick · Post by **chaosick** » Fri Feb 08, 2019 7:02 pm

Red Electric Rainbow wrote:can you do a final mixdown on the model-24 or do you absolutely have to use a DAW?

Yes, you can do everything 100% on the Model 24, if you so desire.

Red Electric Rainbow · Post by **Red Electric Rainbow** » Fri Feb 08, 2019 7:27 pm

chaosick thank you

do you have one currently? if so, how do you like it? pros vs cons

chaosick · Post by **chaosick** » Fri Feb 08, 2019 7:56 pm

Red Electric Rainbow wrote:chaosick thank you do you have one currently? if so, how do you like it? pros vs cons

Yes, as I've already written, I sold my RME Babyface Pro for it. Prior to this my only way to record was straight to my computer, I was limited to 4 channels, and I had no external mixer outside of my euro, so until the moment I was ready to record and plugged everything, I had to do weird stuff like route my Yocto 808 into my euro because I had my speakers feeding in from my TAI-4, so as far as all of that is concerned, it's an improvement.

suboptimal · Post by **suboptimal** » Fri Feb 08, 2019 10:33 pm

I wonder if there are clever ways of using a secondary mixer with this. In many ways it is a perfect device for me, but I think I'd get frustrated quickly with only 3 aux sends. My A&H's 6 aux sends are in constant use. Other than that this is pretty close to the pie in the sky. The bluetooth input is an interesting feature.

boxxgrooved · Post by **boxxgrooved** » Sat Feb 09, 2019 12:02 am

suboptimal wrote:I wonder if there are clever ways of using a secondary mixer with this. In many ways it is a perfect device for me, but I think I'd get frustrated quickly with only 3 aux sends. My A&H's 6 aux sends are in constant use. Other than that this is pretty close to the pie in the sky. The bluetooth input is an interesting feature.

Yeah, it kind of defeats the purpose of this when you have to think about integrating extra mixers to obtain missing functionality on this unit. For such a huge mixer where is the bus insert or master insert? People interested in this unit will no doubt already have some external hardware fx and processors. Tascam have provided 3 Aux sends but for some reason they think no one uses compressors or group/master limiters anymore.

I realize that many people might do compressing of individual tracks and mastering ITB, so if Tascam are forcing you to go ITB why bother including all the extra mixer functionality in the first place?

Maybe I'm missing the purpose of this unit but I originally thought it was one-stop unit for multitrack recording and mixing but without being able to edit individual track recordings on board and no way to use group bus or master limiting I see simpler ways to get dry recordings into the computer.

Red Electric Rainbow · Post by **Red Electric Rainbow** » Sat Feb 09, 2019 1:16 am

boxxgrooved wrote:
suboptimal wrote:I wonder if there are clever ways of using a secondary mixer with this. In many ways it is a perfect device for me, but I think I'd get frustrated quickly with only 3 aux sends. My A&H's 6 aux sends are in constant use. Other than that this is pretty close to the pie in the sky. The bluetooth input is an interesting feature.
Yeah, it kind of defeats the purpose of this when you have to think about integrating extra mixers to obtain missing functionality on this unit. For such a huge mixer where is the bus insert or master insert? People interested in this unit will no doubt already have some external hardware fx and processors. Tascam have provided 3 Aux sends but for some reason they think no one uses compressors or group/master limiters anymore.

I realize that many people might do compressing of individual tracks and mastering ITB, so if Tascam are forcing you to go ITB why bother including all the extra mixer functionality in the first place?

Maybe I'm missing the purpose of this unit but I originally thought it was one-stop unit for multitrack recording and mixing but without being able to edit individual track recordings on board and no way to use group bus or master limiting I see simpler ways to get dry recordings into the computer.

yeah lm beginning to feel the same way. i really like the concept but it seems like its still at the prototype phase. lack of inserts and dedicated external send/return is stopping me from pulling the trigger rn.

Red Electric Rainbow · Post by **Red Electric Rainbow** » Sat Feb 09, 2019 11:58 am

after careful consideration l think still gonna pull the trigger. im being to critical of what it cant do instead of focusing on what it can. outside of some minor details it serves its purpose and is exactly what ive been looking for. full report after ive had some time with it.

h4ndcrafted · Post by **h4ndcrafted** » Sat Feb 09, 2019 12:11 pm

it does seem limited in that respect, I feel it’s aimed at people like me, with just a few bits of external, and no first hand experience of these 70s looking boards. It’s partly a visual thing for me.

I’d likely return from the daw to mix for a bit of gel , or just hackout live mixes and copy what I did.

What are you using all those aux’s for, I feel like I’d only need 2 or 3 ?

Red Electric Rainbow · Post by **Red Electric Rainbow** » Sat Feb 09, 2019 12:38 pm

lm more ADD than OCD so when l have an idea l need to capture quickly because lm already onto the next thing

suboptimal · Post by **suboptimal** » Sat Feb 09, 2019 5:18 pm

h4ndcrafted wrote:What are you using all those aux’s for, I feel like I’d only need 2 or 3 ?

The approach that's working well for me at the moment is dividing my 6 aux outputs into 3 stereo feeds, going to a reverb (a Boss RV-500), a delay (Volante), and a T-Resonator. Not sure what I'd do with just three, honestly. I'd have to change how I approach my routing quite a bit.

h4ndcrafted · Post by **h4ndcrafted** » Sat Feb 09, 2019 7:44 pm

That makes sense, I’m used to just running mono into fx.

suboptimal · Post by **suboptimal** » Mon Feb 11, 2019 12:27 pm

If you're running mono then 3 might be enough. I go back and forth on whether I particularly "need" 3 stereo pairs for my effects sends, but I'm sort of used to working this way (that is, suboptimally).

boubi · Post by **boubi** » Tue Mar 05, 2019 2:04 pm

Up - just to rave a bit about it. Not to rave like crazy, though. But for a semi-pro use, it does the job. And the pre-amps are really, really good. Somehow not that neutral, but precise. I tested my whole rig through Allen & Heath once and was of course shocked/floored/walking on water. Nothing can beat that. Couldn't afford any, of course, wo sent through Behringer, Soundcraft, etc. A long-time user of the Tascam DR-680 in need of more strips for my groups, I had made my mind to return to Tascam when Model 24 appeared.

But I share most comments here - it's a middle-ground for those who need both basic studio facilities and performance-oriented gear. You can't expect to get huge results in a complex mixing situation. You get a great multitrack, an easy-peasy signal flow for your studio, and that's it. "It" being already 160% of what you need as a semi-pro...

Beware: get the best quality SD cards. With the highest writing/reading rates. Average ones are prone to fail. In the first week I lost 3 sessions, reached out to Tascam to return the product, discussed the set-up with them, got high range SD cards and the problem was solved.

Catchthehare · Post by **Catchthehare** » Sun Apr 28, 2019 12:27 pm

Are we still digging the M24? I'm thinking about picking one up this week.. I was on the fence about the L12 and figured I'd regret not having enough channels and the build quality for the price would get to me.

I'd like to use a few effect pedals on the Aux1/2 monitor sends and possibly another effect from the Sub Output, all returning into the stereo channels.. is anyone doing this successfully on the M24? I figure it's the only workaround and I only have 3 outboard effects I use anyways.

chaosick · Post by **chaosick** » Sun Apr 28, 2019 5:15 pm

Catchthehare wrote:Are we still digging the M24? I'm thinking about picking one up this week.. I was on the fence about the L12 and figured I'd regret not having enough channels and the build quality for the price would get to me.

I'd like to use a few effect pedals on the Aux1/2 monitor sends and possibly another effect from the Sub Output, all returning into the stereo channels.. is anyone doing this successfully on the M24? I figure it's the only workaround and I only have 3 outboard effects I use anyways.

Mine still suits my purposes. That should work, I thought about some stuff like that, but just move the cables directly to my tape delays etc. rather than do that.

shaft9000 · Post by **shaft9000** » Thu May 09, 2019 12:19 am

I've been recording at my mate's place with this thing for about five sessions so far.

We'll record all at once: 5-6 tracks of mic'ed drums, 2 tracks dir+mic bass , 2 to 4 tracks guitars or synths, maybe some memotron, and vocals. Around a dozen tracks on average. On my cheap 3-yr old DAW it takes me about two minutes to import into Reaper a 10-20 minute session of 12-16 tracks @44kHz/24bit. I've been able to load hour+long 12-track jam sessions in under 5 minutes.
I've got a couple of decades of recording experience, and it took me about five minutes of skimming the manual to get a good idea of how to use it. It's crashed on us only once that I can remember in ~50 hours. And it didn't exactly crash - it ran out of recording memory on the card and froze. As much data as could fit in memory was still in there safe and sound when re-booted

So far it's as (or more) reliable than any other v1 'early adopter' product that I've ever used.
I've got my ISA 428 preamps helping out the front-end and a FMR RNC strapped to the snare&kick inserts. Mics used are a pair of custom Blondies , a pair of Sovtek SDC overheads, some sm-57s & 58s on the speaker cabinets, dunno exactly the kick mic (some AKG, i think) and a U-87 clone into a UA LA610 for acoustic guitar and/or vox.
For $1000-1200 or whatever it sells for it's quite impressive. It sounds good and doesn't get in the way of your flow, ever. No, it is not going to sound 'amazing', nor compete with a Midas or a SC Ghost but it isn't supposed to. And frankly - for some material it doesn't have to, anyways. Some of the greatest records of all time were done on lesser gear, so here's a clear Win for "technological progress". I cringe at thought of going back to ADAT or whatever budget 'multitrack solution' of old.

It's meant to be seamless and easy to suss while staying out of the way, and offering flexibility beyond port-a-studios of old - and it does all of that very well. It's versatile enough that a songwriter could be just fine doing with a nice mic+pre and mixing it all internally with no DAW. The reverb/fx and on-board compression is alright, albeit greatly simplified.
But then more demanding users have total back-end flexibility WITH the DAW, and that works like a charm, too.

a winner...and for under

per channel

There are some Yamaha and Soundcraft recorder/mixers available, also the lower-end Zoom stuff. afaik none of them make something that's quite a 1-1 competitors to this. I'm interested to hear experience(s) from anyone who's used some of these.

TL;DR : It (like any hardware multitrack) enables me to focus on performance and tracking with no distractions toward editing or mixing. It's got a surprisingly robust v1.x OS that doesn't choke or leave you wondering wtf.
The beauty of the M24 is in the ease of importing into a template-prepped DAW. Once I figure out how I want to structure the recording sessions, I'm then able to get the imported files up and running all together within in a minute or so.

JimY · Post by **JimY** » Thu May 09, 2019 8:00 am

I'm assuming inserts are wanted so you can leave a particular instrument in a channel and insert an external processor at will without disturbing your normal connections...
In which case, have you considered adding a patchbay? That can allow you to reroute everything and might be located at a more convenient place and have less cable clutter around the mixer.

One thing I absolutely despise DAW's for is the way they generate an unmanageable amount of files, the majority of which are going to be dead files if you work a lot. Even if the DAW has housekeeping, the o/s still wants to hang on to all those file references and thumbnails and if you delete them outside the DAW then it still has references to them in its own project files. It's not that a lot of files are a practical problem on modern computers, but it is beyond my brain to sort through them. Oh, and you'd better not delete a take that isn't used unless you're sure the project isn't using virtual clips from it, because when the take is gone, all the virtuals will be gone with it!

If you record outside the box, you have a decent level of control of what files you have and want. Backup is more straightforward and when you are confident you can do it, delete the multitracker project to clean things up.

Bath House · Post by **Bath House** » Fri May 10, 2019 8:08 am

JimY wrote:I'm assuming inserts are wanted so you can leave a particular instrument in a channel and insert an external processor at will without disturbing your normal connections...
In which case, have you considered adding a patchbay? That can allow you to reroute everything and might be located at a more convenient place and have less cable clutter around the mixer.

I use a patchbay with my inserts, but it's definitely not a replacement for them. Since inserts are after the channel preamp, they can be inserted in-line on things like mic inputs or even line level level that require the basic input gain, low cut filter, etc. before processing. My compressors aren't preamps, so I couldn't just run a mic right into them, and even having the channel gain to vary the level of a drum machine or synth that I hit them with is crucial.

interpolate · Post by **interpolate** » Mon Sep 23, 2019 9:50 pm

I've been considering this along with the less sexy Soundcraft Ui24r.

I want a multitrack interface that also doubles as a mixer and recorder. My primary use case is recording jam sessions or live shows, and then mangling the recordings in my DAW. I don't think I would ever try to print directly from my recordings.

InsectInPixel · Post by **InsectInPixel** » Wed Feb 19, 2020 9:12 pm

I sold my Alan&Heath Zed60 14 FX and got the Model 24. I got frustrated having to chain instruments together w/ "External Inputs" and having little control over the final output of both instruments. Now i have quite a few channels dedicated for stereo output. Great for Rainmaker, Morphagene, Analog Keys, etc. I've only had it for a day, so it's going to take me some time to get familiar w/ it. I'm happy now that i can send all those tracks individually. I wasn't able to do that w/ the A&H.
::Edit again:
I'm happy to see other people are talking about the Model 24. I'll be sure to share anything i discover.

InsectInPixel · Post by **InsectInPixel** » Thu Feb 20, 2020 5:12 pm

Hurdle #1:
My Mac won't play back any sound via the USB connection to the M24. For example, if I want to play iTunes or hear the audio from a YouTube vid. I installed TASCAM Model Mixer Settings Panel.
Software Ver: 1.10.0014
Firmware Ver: 1.41.0079
Device: Model 24 (of course)
Sample Rate: 44.1 kHz
Mac OS Ver: Mojave 10.14.6
The Mac "sees" the M24 as an Output and Input Device in System Preferences.
Ableton 9 "sees" them too.
I can hear my instruments through the M24 and routed to the Main L & R Outputs.
I haven't gotten to the point to try and record anything yet.

I just did a quick track directly to Ableton and it recorded successfully. No playback even though Ableton sees the M24.It isn't an Ableton problem, no matter what audio program is used, no sound is generated.

InsectInPixel · Post by **InsectInPixel** » Thu Feb 20, 2020 9:06 pm

I figured it out.

black_label · Post by **black_label** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 2:48 am

InsectInPixel wrote: ↑
Thu Feb 20, 2020 9:06 pm
I figured it out.

What was the fix? I’m going to be setting my M24 up with my Mac this weekend.

seta666 · Post by **seta666** » Tue Mar 10, 2020 3:56 am

I think is wrong seeing Tascam Model or soundcraft mtk ( the one I chose) series as a dawless solution. For that you are better of with a tascam DP32SD , livetrack L-20 or something like that.

Mainly because you are paying lots of extra money for a multiple in/out audio plus daw midi control interface ( the model 12 has this funcionallity) you are not going to use.

I bought a soundcraft mtk 12 to replace a behringer QX1204USB and a Presonus 18/10

I wanted an all-in-1 solution I could use for jamming without starting the computer and this mtk 12 suits me very well.

If I wanted to use both the QX/presonus I would have needed a patchbay and rearange everything before beeing able to use the computer.

I would have probably gone for the model 12 if it was ready available, but it is not. The sd card is nice for saving ideas but then you probably will have to finish the project in the computer.

There are inserts, but these are virtual ones, you send your tracks to your daw an apply any fx you want and back to the mixer.I see this like an excellent option for live situations.

MUFF WIGGLER

MUFF WIGGLER

Tascam Model 24 Mutlitrack Recorder and Mixer

Re: Tascam Model 24 Mutlitrack Recorder and Mixer

Re: Tascam Model 24 Mutlitrack Recorder and Mixer

Re: Tascam Model 24 Mutlitrack Recorder and Mixer

Re: Tascam Model 24 Mutlitrack Recorder and Mixer

Re: Tascam Model 24 Mutlitrack Recorder and Mixer