Tascam Control Surfaces & Io?

[Edwin Beeler]

Yes: FCP 5, G5 2×2, Tascam FW-1884 and AJA IO. I connect the AJA ADAT out to the FW-1884 ADAT in, Tiger OS Control Panel Sound to Tascam FW-1884 in/out, and in FCP 5 using SDI between AJA and Sony DSR 1500, Sound Devices in FCP to the AJA-Settings (Devices: Video out 8bit component, Audio Pro IO). In FCP and Soundtrack Pro it works so far.
But since my control monitor is out of order (see my thread below), I can’t use Digital Desktop Preview instead, because the AJA’s ProIO in the menu is greyed out…?!? Maybe I did something wrong in QT Pro Preferences and this affected the other settings. I couldn’t figure it out.
My english is bad, excuse me and thank you.
Edwin Beeler

Calypso Film Ltd.
Lucerne, Switzerland
http://www.calypsofilm.ch

[Mitch Ives]

That is a similar setup to what we have in mind. We too use a 1500 through SDI to the Io. We are interested in the motorized fader control operation in FCP5. Since the Io needs all the FW400 bandwidth, we weren’t sure the Tascam would work without interfering with the Io. So you have it all working… that’s good news.

As for your English, you never have to apologize. Always remember this joke: “What do you call a person who speaks three languages… tri-lingual. What do you call a person who speaks two languages… bi-lingual. What do call a person who speaks only one language… an American”. Sad but true for most here…

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com
http://www.insightproductions.com

[Edwin Beeler]

Thank you – here in Lucerne at summertime we have many Americans, english lessons are basic; just now there is a big flood, the town is like little Venice, all the traffic in the old town is down…
I must say when I work with the Tascam FW-1884 and AJA IO, I don’t use the DSR 1500, cause the scenes are allready captured. So far the motorized faders are working, both in FCP and Soundtrack Pro, but I use this device only a few weeks ago, so I’m not very experienced, and the new Soundtrack Pro I do not use often yet, but intend to. But I see no reason so far for problems/issues.
All the best
Edwin, Lucerne, Switzerland

[Mitch Ives]

The folks at AJA haven’t actually tested that. The thing to keep an eye out for when using additional firewire devices with an Io is a sync loss between audio and video…

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com
http://www.insightproductions.com

[Tom Volotta]

Assuming you have the slot, isolate the AJA Io to the Mac’s built-in Firewire port by installing a FW PCI card and using that as the interface for the Tascam mixer, Firewire drives and oher FW devices.

[Mitch Ives]

Sadly no. I need all three of them for a Kona2, and two 4 port SATA cards to drive an 8 drive array (since none of the 8 port cards work to our satisfaction).

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com
http://www.insightproductions.com

[Tom Volotta]

Mitch,

Do you even need to be concerned with the Tascam 1884’s Firewire conflicting with the AJA Io?

If you’re bringing sources in through the 1884, but passing that output of the 1884 to the Io (selected as FCP’s audio input source) via SDI or the ADAT path, the Tascam’s Firewire interface really isn’t being used for capture/playback. Right?

So, couldn’t you connect the Tascam to the Mac via MIDI (with a USB adaptor), using the Mackie Control Protocol to get the Tascam’s mixer control surface functions, while still keeping the Firewire channel dedicated to the Io?

The Tascam 1884 firewire path for audio could be used for Soundtrack Pro or other apps as needed when the AJA Io wasn’t required for video.

Any reasons why this wouldn’t work?

I’ve been using a similar setup with the Event EZ Bus and the Io for some time. The EZ Bus (I don’t think it’s manufactured anymore) is a nifty digital mixer interfacing to the Mac via USB, but also works as a manual standalone, allowing in and out with the AJA Io via ADAT. This was all before FCP5, so I’m looking for a motorized fader solution to replace the EZ Bus.

Please let us know you’re results.

…Tom

[Mitch Ives]

[Tom Volotta] “Do you even need to be concerned with the Tascam 1884’s Firewire conflicting with the AJA Io?

If you’re bringing sources in through the 1884, but passing that output of the 1884 to the Io (selected as FCP’s audio input source) via SDI or the ADAT path, the Tascam’s Firewire interface really isn’t being used for capture/playback. Right?”

I believe that’s true.

[Tom Volotta] “So, couldn’t you connect the Tascam to the Mac via MIDI (with a USB adaptor), using the Mackie Control Protocol to get the Tascam’s mixer control surface functions, while still keeping the Firewire channel dedicated to the Io?

Any reasons why this wouldn’t work?”

I didn’t realize that the Tascam had USB… I thought it was firewire only? If it had USB, we could use the MIDI adapters you mention and avoid the problem all together, right?

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com
http://www.insightproductions.com

[Tom Volotta]

No, the Tascam FW-1884 doesn’t have a USB interface, but one of its four sets of MIDI I/O can be connected to your Mac via USB adaptor to handle the control surface data to run the FCP sound mixer. Other MIDI devices (e.g. keyboards) could be connected to the Tascam, then controlled by the Mac through that same usb/midi path. Here’s a couple sample usb/midi adaptor from Edirol and M-Audio that should do the job:

https://www.edirol.com/products/info/um1sx.html
https://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Uno-main.html

…Tom

[Mitch Ives]

Thanks… I hadn’t looked that closely at the 1884, we were focused on the 1082. I don’t recall it having any MIDI connections…

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.
mitch@insightproductions.com
http://www.insightproductions.com