Considering Dumping DM-4800 for VS700C

Where to start...?

I'm sure a lot of people may disagree with the position of making a decision I've put myself in, but I am sick of dealing with Tascam. I have many questions going through my head because, frankly, recording should not be this hard. Unfortunately the past year has been a nightmare because of my decision to go with the DM-4800.

To start, I will explain my situation. Sonar and Tascam don't seem to play very nice together at all. I've had nothing but problems setting up Sonar using the Mackie interface because Tascam's support is laughable at best. They still use instructions for setting up their console from Sonar 6 on their website. Not exactly what I would expect after dumping $6000 on a mixing desk. You'd think they would be better on keeping things up to date.

At one point, I did manage to get things working to an acceptable level, but it didn't last. I ended up upgrading computers and jumping to Vista 64. With this came a whole new set of problems. For one, I had to do the setup all over again, and because of an issue where my firewire card got shifted out of position when I moved the console into my new production room, their support tech, who had an attitude with me the whole time, had me reset the board, which meant back to using instructions from Sonar 6. Then I find out that because they don't know how to write a proper driver for their gear, that I have to throttle my RAM back to 3.5gb instead of the 8gb I had in my system because it messed with the firewire card and wouldn't work properly. What was I paying for again?

Now, I've upgraded to Windows 7. I'm awaiting an email from Tascam on the status of a driver upgrade for this OS since it's now "out". If I don't like what I hear, this will be the end of my DM-4800 because, frankly, as I said: recording should not be this hard.

I'm not saying this to bash Tascam in any way. These are simply the facts of a very frustrating year and a half. I can't in good conscience ever recommend Tascam to anyone again.

So my questions for Cakewalk are as such:

If I invest in your V-Studio, will I get good support?
Will the drivers be updated as well as changes being made to better the system instead of leaving the console behind to focus on more worthless products?
What does your product offer in features comparable to the DM series? One of the reasons I went with the DM is because of the pre's; pretty much the only good thing about console.
How about a quality comparison of both the hardware and the results you get from recording with this?
Compatibility issues with Windows 7 or using 8 or 80gb of ram if I wanted to?

I'm not going to throw away another $6000 on equipment that doesn't work properly or on companies that don't care enough about their products or customers to fix issues in a timely manner... 2 years working on a driver or firmware is not a timely manner (just ask CME). I've always enjoyed Sonar and it's been a great product, and judging by the reaction of Sound on Sound, it looks like a solid product. But I need to make sure for my own peace of mind that it stays a good product and that the focus won't suddenly be shifted on other products while people who buy the VS700C are sitting around waiting for an update.

Recording should not be this hard...

Thanks for the reply, Willy.

I'm trying to get to a dealer to take a look, though according to the dealer finder, the closest one is in Baltimore which is 200 miles away from where I am (State College, Pa). I'll have to see if I can schedule time to get there if they have one in stock.

I say get as much money out of the DM-4800 as you can and just get the VS-700 Studio.
You'll have way more control over your SONAR.


Guy

The Tascam mixer looks like a very impressive product! If it is any help, I am someone who was using a Yamaha digital mixer (01V) in conjunction with Sonar and it was very good. (for signal flow, not so much control over Sonar) But since using the V Studio system I have removed it from operation. I was worried at first but it all works great now. How many input channels are you needing while you are playing back Sonar tracks. eg what hardware or external signals are you plugging in. For more inputs you can attach a device like a Behringer ADA8000 and get 8 more inputs feeding the ADAT lightpipe connection.

I am getting by very well just using the VS 700R as a mixing console for the studio. There is a stand alone software program that runs without Sonar and you can access the direct mixer and mic pres. You can send various inputs to the main output and monitor quite well. (one thing I would like Cakewalk maybe to perfect, is to somehow get the V700C console in on the act here and allow the faders to control the various channels while in stand alone mode)

But as people have said earlier when Sonar is running the control surface is second to none controlling the software. The use of the faders is easy once you get used to it. You can control mixes that are very large and switching around in banks of 8 become easy and fast. It also depends on how you set out your track configurations as well. ie different instrument types in groups of 8 etc.

One thing I did not expect though. I thought the Yamaha mic pres (and monitor outs) were sounding very good and they do but as soon as I started listening through the VS 700R I was impressed as to how natural and smooth it sounds. Also the VS 700R mic pres are very much different to the Yahama and they sound wonderful for tracking quality instruments with expensive microphones.

ORIGINAL: Jeff Evans

The Tascam mixer looks like a very impressive product! If it is any help, I am someone who was using a Yamaha digital mixer (01V) in conjunction with Sonar and it was very good. (for signal flow, not so much control over Sonar) But since using the V Studio system I have removed it from operation. I was worried at first but it all works great now. How many input channels are you needing while you are playing back Sonar tracks. eg what hardware or external signals are you plugging in. For more inputs you can attach a device like a Behringer ADA8000 and get 8 more inputs feeding the ADAT lightpipe connection.

The major issues have to do with Tascam's support (or lack there of). Having to throttle ram, wait for 6 months for a new driver to work with an OS, not having up to date information on how to run their products with the latest programs, and the arrogant attitude you get when you ask for these things are all very much unacceptable and unprofessional.

After trying out the V-Studio 700 today, I'm pretty much sold.