Tascam FW-1082 - Advice
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Posted on Dec 06, 2007 12:56 am
Hawkens85
Member Since: Aug 07, 2007
Hey folks, found your website a while back while looking for some answers during some recording and decided to come back and ask a few questions. I'm running a Sonar 6 PC setup with a SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro sound card that has an external I/O with all the bells and whistles, 1/4", SPDIF, optical, and midi. Unfortunately, it'll only record one track at a time. I'm using a Mackie 1642-VLZ3 to run double-miked guitars or drums mixes into one channel at once. This is great, but many times I want to be able to record a couple instruments at one time and still have them on their own channel to mix later. A friend recommended the Tascam FW interface - everything will be controlled FW, up to 10 channels at once, and I'll be able to mix all my tracks right there on the board without having to go into console view and start moving the computer sliders. My question(s) to you is - is this board worth the price? Is it not good enough? Has anyone here used it and have any first hand experience with it? Thanks for any help I can get.
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Keith WarrenMans reach exceeds his graspMember
Since: Oct 23, 2007
Dec 06, 2007 01:11 am The 1082 is Tascams take on the ProTools 7 & LE Command 8 boards, and I've had a few chances to play with it a bit. From what I understand, it has basically the same guts, minus all the program specific non-sense. If thats true, then it's a solid buy. It seems like a solid unit to me, but you may want to download the PDF Manual and check the specs, just in case. Tascam has a nasty habit of being vauge with in manuals.
If I were you, I'd make sure wherever I bought it from had some form of return policy so you can try it before committing to it, or even go to your local music playland like Sam Ash or Guitar Center and see if they have one in stock and mess with it a bit. It's a serious purchase indeed, but I personally would grab one if I had the cash.
Dec 06, 2007 03:32 am ya can bring the price down by getting the rack version of it unless moving faders are indeed worth the extra cash to you....i've never been able to justify the cost myself...the only time i've ever ridden faders is while tracking, i prefer to program automation when mixing.
that said, i had my eyes on the bigger version (i think it was called an 1882) for awhile but we opted to go with PT 002R in the end after countless reports of driver issues (this was back in '04 btw, and i'm sure the worst ones have been worked out)....and thats when i learned i didn't "need" PT at all.
there are even cheaper interfaces out there with the same features of the tascam....i've worked extensively with the Alesis i/o 26 and have been blown away by the features at it's price point. and it's got two headphone outs and knobs and led's for every channel.
Dec 06, 2007 02:01 pm Whos, I do feel like the faders are worth the extra cash. I've done mix downs manually and automated and faders help me just to get things started. I looked at the Alesis you recommended and it did look tempting since it had conexs for ADAT and I just did a ADAT project a while back that's a stand still, but it really didn't look as appealing and have as many features.
Found a few things online, specifically, it takes several hours to set this puppy up, and Tascam phone support sucks. Also, just got off the phone with the local Guitar Center and was told (well, you know how those employees are...) that the FW-1082 was discontinued and the DP-01 digital recorder was the successor. Nothing like the FW interface controller, so how is it a successor? lol
