Tascam DM24 w/ Firewire exp question

[statikcat]

Im in a pinch and need this answered as soon as possible.. hopefully someone with experience on this product knows

All websites on this card says it will give the DM24 24 ins and 24 outs. Does this mean you can run 24 inputs and 24 outputs at once? Wouldnt this conflict with the boards 32 ch limitation?

Or

Does it mean 24 ch total including both in and out? If so, (very imporant) can you set it up to do 22 ins and 2 outs or does it have to be done in banks of 8 like 16 in 8 out?

Also what about 96k? If the firewire card is this limiting I may just get the adat expansions and the M Audio lightbridge for more I/O and routing options.

Please help Tascam documents are weak!

[statikcat]

Anyone? Tascam wil not even answer their phones

[The Mime]

You'll never ge more than 32ch on the DM-24. You can get 24ch from to your computer and 24ch back, but NOT at the same time.

[statikcat]

Ya I dont get why the limitation is 24. Firewire can do so much more.

So now it is important to know what I/O you can setup within those 24ch. Can you do say 22 in and 2 out or does it have to be done in groups of 8 such as 16 in and 8 out or 16 out and 8 in. I tried calling Tascam over 20 times today and did not get through once.

[The Mime]

I used to have a DM-24, but never had the fw-card, so I'm not sure about this... but I do believe that you can get 16ch to computer and 16ch from at the same time, or 24/8 etc...

http://www.tascam.com/Products/IF-FW...manual_Eng.pdf

[fraz]

I have the DM24 with the IF/FW-DM option (firewire option).

As was pointed out prior, you will never get more than 32 channels of anything going simultaneously. So, no I don't think you can get 24 channels both ways at the same time (FOR PRACTICAL USE). One way you might be able to (don't know why you would want to, though(, would be by taking each of the 24 channels input channels direct outs and route those outs to the 24 outputs, but I don't think that is really practical.

The thing is, if you're using all 24 channels input, you have taken up 24 of the 32 usable channels and thus only have 8 channels of anything else you would WANT to route back to the firewire outputs.

Hope I didn't confuse the issue.

[fraz]

Originally Posted by The Mime

I used to have a DM-24, but never had the fw-card, so I'm not sure about this... but I do believe that you can get 16ch to computer and 16ch from at the same time, or 24/8 etc...

http://www.tascam.com/Products/IF-FW...manual_Eng.pdf

Yes, exactly.

[fraz]

Originally Posted by statikcat

Ya I dont get why the limitation is 24. Firewire can do so much more.

So now it is important to know what I/O you can setup within those 24ch. Can you do say 22 in and 2 out or does it have to be done in groups of 8 such as 16 in and 8 out or 16 out and 8 in. I tried calling Tascam over 20 times today and did not get through once.

You can do ANY combination up to and including 32. If you wanted to do 31 and 1 you could.

[synthetic]

Wrong, it will do 24 in and 24 out, period. They have a new one coming that will do 32x32 at 96k, but it won't work on the DM-24.

http://www.tascam.com/Products/IF-FW_DM.html

[fraz]

Originally Posted by synthetic

Wrong, it will do 24 in and 24 out, period. They have a new one coming that will do 32x32 at 96k, but it won't work on the DM-24.

http://www.tascam.com/Products/IF-FW_DM.html

Oops, yes you are correct, a brainfart on my part, I meant 24. Yes, it will never do more than 24 in or out.

[bigbaby987]

this seems like a very good option for myself.. how well does this work on a mac? i would love to know more about this..


thanks for all your help

[statikcat]

Ok so it will only do a total of 24. But we are sure that you can assign 20 in and 2 out? The dm24 manual states something about assigning banks of 8.

[fraz]

Originally Posted by statikcat

Ok so it will only do a total of 24. But we are sure that you can assign 20 in and 2 out? The dm24 manual states something about assigning banks of 8.

Yes with a caveat - for EACH input you have a toggle that allows you to select between the input and the return. So while you DO have to assign it as a block of 8, you can select an input channel instead for eacn and eany of the dchannels. I hpoe that makes sense

To reiterate:
The IFFW/DM is a RETURN device.
Each block of 8 channels has 2 potential "inputs" - the input channel itself (1-8, 9-16-17-24) or the return. So you assign which of the input or returns you assign to that channel. So, let's say you have assigned IFFWDM 1-8 to the first back (1-8), for EACH channel you will have the option of selecting either the input (line in) or the return (IFFWDM ) for that channel. Now, if you wanted to use another return, such as an ADAT device or something coming in via TDIF, that's another story. But if it's just a choice between the line inputs and the firewire device, you're good.

Outputs do work in backs of 8, but you can use any number of them, and ignore what you don't want. It's all in the routing.