1 – Introduction : About the DM-4800
TASCAM DM-4800
User’s Manual
11
About the DM-4800
The DM-4800 provides a fully comprehensive range
of I/O facilities. Almost all inputs and internal busses
are “soft”, allowing connections to be patched inter-
nally (naturally, routing configurations may be stored
and recalled).
Inputs
For analog input, the DM-4800 provides
twenty-four balanced inputs, with both high-quality
mic amps, and balanced line connections as well as
analog insert points (both mic and line connections
may be made to the same channel at the same time,
but only one may be used at a time). There are also
eight assignable send outputs and inputs for external
loop effects.
The digital side comprises three TDIF I/O ports, as
well as ADAT “lightpipe” I/O, and two pairs of ste-
reo S/PDIF or AES/EBU inputs and outputs.
Four TASCAM-standard card slots provide I/O
expansion capabilities, with a variety of digital or
analog options being available, including a FireWire
expansion card for direct high-speed bidirectional
communication between a DAW and the DM-4800.
Channel modules
The DM-4800 provides 64
channel modules. These may be freely assigned
internally to the 24 buss modules.
Of these 64 channel modules, 48 are “full-function”
modules with 4-band EQ, digital trim and phase, and
full dynamics processing with compressor/expanders
and gates. The other 16 are more basic in the facili-
ties provided, but still provide full buss assignment
and aux sends.
The first 48 EQ-enabled channels can have two
sources (
input
and
return
), which may be freely
assigned, and can be switched, depending on
whether the project is in the recording or tracking
stage. See the section on assignments (“Routing &
assignment” on page 58) for details of how channel
sources are assigned.
Figure 1.1: Basic logical components of the DM-4800
TDIF (x 24)
AD AT (x 8)
Mi
xer channels
Channel destinations
Stereo outs
(analog & digital)
CR outs
Studio outs
Cascade
Option slots
Assignable sends
(x 8)
Stereo buss
Busses
(x 24)
Aux sends
(x 12)
Direct outs
(x 48)
Assignable
internal inserts
(x 16) — not
“simple” channels
16 “simple”
channels
48 full-function
channels
Assignable
returns (x 8)
2-track in
Cascade
Option slots
AD AT inputs
(x 8)
TDIF inputs
(x 24)
Digital stereo
inputs (x 2)
Mic/Line inputs
with inserts (x24)
➤
➤
➤
➤
Outputs (har
dwar
e)
Inputs (har
dwar
te)