Tascam DA38

Can Tascam's lean, mean DA38 offer musicians more functionality than the portlier DA88 without compromising on quality — and give the Alesis ADAT XT a run for its money? Paul White investigates.

When the budget digital tape‑based multitrack war between the Alesis ADAT and Tascam DA88 finally died down to a mere skirmish, Alesis seemed to come out top in the project studio music recording market while the professional post‑production studios, on the whole, took the Tascam route. The reasons for this apparent demarcation are numerous, but price was obviously a major factor, and for the project studio owner, the lower street price of ADATs was obviously very attractive. The ADAT was also very musician‑friendly when coupled to a BRC remote controller, although the Tascam's much faster spooling speed and longer recording time made it better suited to video‑chasing than the relatively slow ADAT.

Enter The DA38

Since then, Alesis have launched the ADAT XT with its faster wind speed and improved front panel functions, but Tascam have taken a different approach; instead of replacing the DA88, they've built a lower‑cost machine using the same underlying technology, and added certain features designed to attract the musician. These include a digital patchbay, allowing any input to be recorded to any tape track without repatching, and the ability to digitally copy audio data between tracks. What the DA38 loses is the ability to directly sync to external sources, though including a single DA88 in a multi‑machine system will provide a means to do so. The DA38 is also less modular than the DA88, so whereas the former can often be serviced in the field by changing boards, the DA38 is more likely to have to be returned for servicing.

In common with the DA88, the 8‑track DA38 uses 8mm video‑style tape cassettes, and special formulations are now available optimised for digital audio recording. Up to 16 DA38s can be synchronised in a master/slave arrangement for multitrack recording (giving up to 128 tracks) — and the DA38 will also integrate seamlessly into existing DA88 systems with no compatibility problems. Like its big brother, the DA38 has a shuttle wheel for identifying precise points on tape, and there's an auto punch‑in/out system with a Rehearse mode and user‑selectable pre‑ and post‑roll for musicians working alone. Punching in or out creates a very short crossfade, so there are no glitches, clicks or gaps. It's also now possible to copy material from one track to another internally, so you can, for example, compile a perfect vocal track by 'cherry‑picking' the best parts from several takes on the other tracks. A small amount of track delay (‑4 to +150mS) can be dialled in to correct timing errors or to change the feel of a piece of music, and in a studio environment, multiple machines can be controlled from a RC848 or RC808 remote control unit. Professional users may be pleased to hear that the machine can be locked to an external Word Clock.

Facilities

Superficially, the DA38 looks much like the DA88, with its 3U, beige‑coloured front panel. Around the back, you'll find a choice of unbalanced phonos or balanced 'D' connectors for plugging in to either pro or semi‑pro mixing consoles, while Tascam's own TDIF1 digital I/O connector provides a means of transferring data in and out of the machine in the digital domain. Two further 'D' connectors are fitted for Remote Control/Sync In and Sync Out. A multipin DIN connector allows you to connect the aforementioned RC808 remote controller, and for hands‑off punch‑in/out, there's a footswitch jack which accepts the optional RC30P footswitch. This works a little differently to most systems — pressing the footswitch once puts the machine into Play mode, while pressing it again drops you into Record mode on any armed tracks. To end recording, you have to press the footswitch again, or press Stop. I tested this with a non‑latching switch I had lying around and it worked perfectly.

The sound quality of the DA38 is up to the same very high standard as the DA88.

Recording may be carried out at either 44.1kHz or 48kHz sampling rates, and as with any digital machine, the tape must either first be formatted or formatted at the same time as you make a recording. The latter option is fine for live recording, where it is usual to record the whole tape in one go. I've already mentioned the ability to copy from one track to another in the digital domain for loss‑free compiling, but in a multiple‑machine setup, you can also offset one machine against another, which adds the flexibility of copying audio from one part of a song to another part of the song. This is also possible with ADAT, and is one of the great benefits of a multi‑machine digital recording system.

Whereas an ADAT system will interrogate itself and automatically assign numbers to the machines in a multi‑machine system, DA38 ID numbers have to be set manually, though this is very easy, and need only be done once. Selecting Chase on a slave machine will cause it to follow and lock to the master, and a varispeed range of +/‑ 6% is available in 0.1% steps.

Another benefit offered by the DA38 is the 'virtual slave reel' facility, where you can record a rough mix onto one track of a fresh tape and then post it to somebody on the other side of the world who might, for the sake of argument, fill the other seven tracks up with various guitar solos. When you get the tape back, you can transfer the tracks or parts of tracks that you want to keep to your session tapes, knowing that the new guitar parts will remain in perfect sync. Finally, if you have two machines, you can make perfect clones of your important tapes for increased backup security — a good move for anyone using digital recorders of any kind.

For work involving sequencers, you can of course record timecode onto one track of the DA38 , but this is rather wasteful. A better option if you have an MTC‑compatible sequencer is to use the relatively inexpensive MMC38 which provides MIDI Machine Control. This wasn't available at the time of this review, but is expected to be released later in the summer.

Two locate points, which can be keyed in or recorded 'on the fly', serve the dual functions of conventional locators and auto punch‑in/out markers. An auto play mode can be invoked to put the machine straight into play after a location point has been reached, and you can also make the section between two markers repeat, which is a good way of rehearsing a tricky passage. For tuning and calibration purposes, the machine has an internal 440Hz (A) oscillator, and you can record this tone on tape for slating or test purposes.

Recording Options

Recording is very much like it is on an analogue recorder; individual track status switches put the selected tracks into Record mode, then record is initiated from the transport controls, via a remote controller or footswitch, or via auto punch‑in/out. The shuttle wheel is particularly useful for locating difficult punch‑in/out locations by ear. As with the DA88, various monitor modes are available to ensure that you always hear what you need to hear at the multitrack outputs. These modes are: All Input, Auto Input, Insert and Shuttle. All Input monitors all inputs regardless of record status, while Auto means that track monitoring is from the tape in Play, but directly from the input in Stop, Wind or Rec Ready modes. Insert is effectively the same as Auto except that in Rec Ready or Play modes, the track output is monitored off tape until Record mode is entered, at which point the track output switches to monitoring the input. The ability to monitor off tape during recording is due to the DA38's 4‑head drum layout. The outcome is much the same as using Auto Record mode on an ADAT — the monitoring switches from what you have on tape to the input signal when you punch into record, so you always hear the right signal over the monitors.

Shuttle lets you identify specific points by moving the tape back and forth manually via the Shuttle dial; the shuttling speed is variable from one quarter to eight times normal play speed, depending on how far you turn the dial.

Usability

Though it's quite a while since I used a DA88, the DA38 appears to have exactly the same feel, with a fast, positive transport, and seamless punching in and out. I don't think I'm wrong in saying that the Tascam DA38 and 88 shuttle faster than any comparable competitors by a significant margin. The front panel controls are clearly labelled and uncluttered, and though many of the buttons are dual‑function, the alternate function is clearly labelled in blue and accessed via a latching Shift key. I found the footswitch punch‑in and out option invaluable for recording guitar parts, and Tascam's little twist of using the footswitch to start the machine playing is actually quite useful.

If you have no requirement to lock your multitrack to external timecode, the DA38 offers virtually all the functionality of the more costly DA88 at a significant cost saving.

I have no reservations about the sound quality of the DA38, which is up to the same very high standard as the DA88, and the metering is both positive and clearly visible. Monitoring is straightforward, and for most purposes it's easiest to leave the machine in Auto Input mode. Shuttle mode is very effective for locating precise points, and though the monitored sound is very 'chopped up' and glitchy, it's still easy to recognise what's going on.

Having front panel autolocate points is useful, but I feel that only two points is a little restrictive — something like 10 would have been more appropriate. Other than that, these work fine.

The Bottom Line

With a street price close to that of the ADAT XT, the DA38 is an extremely attractive machine [just as SOS was going to press, we heard that the price of the ADAT XT has been cut by £500 to £2699 including VAT — Assistant Ed]. However, the main factor affecting a purchase decision is arguably that of compatibility. If you work in an area where the DA88 is already prevalent, the DA38 assures you of full compatibility; but if you're operating in a sector of the music market where the ADAT format predominates, then you need to consider the ramifications. For example, how many projects do you carry through from start to finish, and how many do you either take over when they are part of the way through, or pass on to other facilities to finish? Having made that point, I know a number of project studio owners who use DA88s and who are supremely happy with the marketability of their adopted format.

Once these questions are decided, the issue becomes clearer, and if you have no requirement to lock your multitrack to external timecode, such as from a video machine, the DA38 offers virtually all the functionality of the more costly DA88 at a significant cost saving. Similarly, if you already own a DA88, a DA38 can be used as a slave machine, which retains the DA88's ability to sync to timecode, so the only remaining area of concern is that of ease of service. While a semi‑pro musician can probably live without a machine for a few days while it goes away for service, the busy professional may find this situation less acceptable. Then again, you could argue that at this low cost, the professional could afford to keep a spare or two.

Whatever your feeling about the two major modular digital multitrack formats, the keen pricing of the DA38 means that you're no longer forced to make a choice of format entirely on the basis of price — the DA38 puts you in the position where you can make the right choice for the right reasons. Whichever way you look at it, this is a very serious machine for the money, and indicates an aggressive marketing thrust by Tascam to gain more ground in the music recording sector.