Hi folks,

Have a problem here. I have Sonar 5 Producer Edition and I have a Tascam DM-4800. I'm running Sonar on a Creation Station(Sweetwater)Intel based PC,dual core.

Can some kind person tell me the best way to run these 2 devices..here's what I'm trying to do..

First, I want to be able to record/edit the audio and midi in Sonar and basically use the Tascam DM-4800 as the sound card for it all ( at least for now). Now my Tasc 4800 does not have the fire wire card w/ it so obviously I'm not connecting that way, but I am using a MOTU 2408mk3 interface. I've been told that going through the interface can work this way even if one doesn't have the Tasc Fire wire card, like me.

I'm using 3 TDIF digital connectors going from the MOTU to the TASCAM. I thought I connected, routed, and set everything correctly. However, when I armed a track, and tried to get an audio signal in Sonar, the db meter just instantly pegged out to the RED! It showed the same on the front of the MOTU interface. In fact the only way that I could get a signal reading in Sonar was when I connected w/ the Analog wires.

But I would like to use the TDIF wires that cost me some $! Can some bright young guy or gal tell me where I went wrong, and get me back on the right track? ( or at least direct me to something that can) The folks at Tascam were not very patient or helpful. Using a large hardware device like the Tascam is new to me so please be gentle.

THANKS A HEEP

The key to this puzzle will be the input/output routing options on your DM4800. I spent quite a while figuring it out...so long ago (3 years) that I haven't rerouted it sense! The meter pegging thing is a loop due to your sending the input signal to itself rather than an output buss most likely.

I'd mosey over to the tascam forums pay them a few bucks and see if there are any detailed threads on this beast. Be patient, test a very low volumes, or no volume at all until the meters show a correct reaction to input signals. You'll save your ears and monitors (or headphones).

Good luck! I love my SOnar 8pe, DM3200 and Motu 2408 mk3 tdif set up!

Hey, it's good to hear that this set up is possible..thanks for the reply. Do you think you can give me a tad more info about your set-up? For example how is your input/output set for your DM-4800 when using Sonar?? BASED ON YOUR SET-UP, If your going to record a small vocal group using 4-6 mics, each mic having it's own separate track in Sonar...how would you set that. Then how would you set your 4800? ..redundant ain't it.

THANKS
PS-I did call Tascam and the young man I spoke w/ was very rude.

As Zenfly said, you need to assign each input to a TDIF output channel, which is the input to sonar.
Then assign each TDIF input (audio coming from sonar) to input channles in the DM, different than those used for other inputs.
The DM-4800 menus are not very intuitive, as in most roland units, but you need to learn the signal routing options and configure them.
I used one and I remember it was difficult to find what I was looking for in the menus, but I don't have it currently so I can't give you more specific steps.

I neglected to mention that this is not my own personal studio I'm inquiring about. I've actually been hired on to help at this studio and specifically, the guys here want me to bring in Sonar and add it to their already existing studio set-up. Subsequently, the guys here have been using an ALLESIS HD24 ADAT to handle the recording sessions and not any recording software in their DAW. The ADAT is an older way of doing it, but now they want to be able to use more of their PC, Sonar in the case, to handle the recording sessions. However, they still want to be able to use the ADAT also.

It's like this, the owners of the studio know and understand recording via hardware devices, e.i. the ADAT, and want that option for themselves ( on the rare occasion they'll engineer a session). At the same time they've hired on another guy and myself to take some of the load and handle most of the recording sessions. We use Sonar as our mainstay and the owners want to have that option for us, and at the end, be able to go back in forth between using Sonar mostly & using the ADAT rarely.

On one of my attempts to get help from TASCAM, I was told that if I want to go back and forth between using an ADAT device to record and using SOFTWARE (Sonar ) to record, I will need to have a MASTER CLOCK set up in order for this to work. What are your opinions? Is this true?

THANKS

If you want connect the ADAT to the PC, you need an ADAT interface in the PC (such as a RME9652). Each ADAT optic fiber carries 8 channels and you will need one for in and one for out.
The ADAT interface has embedded clock, so the very same optical fiber server for the purpose of syncing the ADAT and the PC interface. You have to set one as master and the other as slave. In this case it does not matter which one is master, but I'd suggest the PC card to be master, so it can work without the ADAT switched on. If you want the opposite, set the ADAT as master.
There is an optional connection called ADAT Sync, a 9 pin D connector. The wordclock syck is already done with the optic fiber, but using this connection allows also transport control.

If you want to connect it to the mixer, you need ADAT interfaces or TDIF/ADAT adapters for your mixer (I believe it uses TDIF). Just connect it as described for the PC. Then the mixer would be connected to the PC, also through ADAT connections.

A third option is to use an ADAT router to connect the PC to the mixer and the ADAT.

In any case, only one thing must be set as clock master and the rest as slave.

A DM 4800 is a Tascam unit and TDIF is a Tascam interface for digital audio. Also the menus on the 4800 are not unintuitive. Read about it here.

Ooops, I confused the mixer model with a much older and very different one, and forgot you were using a motu too.
You could connect the mixer to the motu through TDIF, and the ADAT either to the mixer's ADAT or the motus's ADAT. Other combinations are possible. But in any case this setup would be very limited in the number of channels from mixer to pc (only 8), and you will have routing splitted across the motu and the mixer.
But for best flexibility I would purchase the mixer's firewire card and use the mixer's firewire to connect to the PC. This way you have 32ch in 32 ch out bewteen PC and mixer, and you could control everything from the mixer. The ADAT would connect to the mixer's ADAT port. And in this case you would not need the motu.
In any case, you have to configure routing and clocks in all the connected modules, so that one is clock master (the mixer would be the best option) and the rest as slaves.

The MOTU and the 4800 have 3 banks of TDIF input and output. This gives 24 ins and outs. The DM 4800 should be set for direct outs so that audio is going to Sonar and to any monitors at the same time. Direct outs allows you to add effects to what you hear with out adding them to what Sonar is getting. The clock can be set to the MOTU because that is the point at the computer and if not set it could cause issues in booting up Windows. This may not be and issue but it could be. The MOTU should be the clock master and you can use the TDIF for sending sync.

I would also experiment with making the clock the DM-4800. I have the Firewire card, so everything works all snazzy there with the DM 3200 being the clock, but on my Pro Tools HD set-up, I was trying to use my 192/Digital as the clock and I was having some issues (pops/clicks and etc) until I let the DM3200 be the clock source. Ever since then, things have been nice and smooth.

So I would take John's advice first, but if you start getting little pops and clicks (jitter), then I would make the DM3200 the clock source and see if that clears things up.