MX2424 Questions

[mozaicman]

affirmatitve, the scsi is mounting, and the drive is designated as the record drive in the scsi ID.

I cant get the unit to recieve timecode to lock up to in any way, Ive sent a message to the tascam people for them to look at it, but Im not hopeful. already looking at the otari radar

 

[witzendoz]

Run through this checklist.

You have smpte time code connected to timecode in back of unit.
You have selected "Timecode Chase" in menu 000?
If menu 002 is set to automatic then you should not need to worry about word clock.
You have pressed the "On Line" button front of the unit?

Generate smpte time code, does the mx chase?

This is all in the MX tutorial.

Alan.

 

[mozaicman]

menu oo1 has the "automatic selection, there isnt an automatic selection in menu 002.smpte was set up using the motu smpte generator window assigning the output bus from the main output on the 2408 to the smpte line in on the mx.

no dice

 

[witzendoz]

Sorry about the menu, I was working from memory as I don't have the MX with me.

So the MX is not working as a stand alone unit? When the drive has mounted does it scroll the time when you push the play button? Just checking the actual unit is loading OK.

I can't think why you are not getting this to work, unless there is a fault in the unit?

Alan.

 

[mozaicman]

the meter does count after pushing play, the tc chase light blinks which means there is no incoming time code being identified by the unit.

I sold the laptop back to the pawnshop today and got my money back, the only thing is to get this unit functioning and Im going to get rid of it in favor of the radar Ive located if its still available.

the drive is an interesting question becuase I did a low level format, and initialized the drive in the correct sequence as described in the manaul, only to have to repeat the process as an error code displayed.

when I turn the unit on, the drive mount message displays and the unit does initialize, but I still havent got it to function at all, so weather or not its correctly initializing...I dont know, but the external swappable scsi tray does identify a number zero. as mentioned before, the a__hole who sold it to me did so without a key....

attached are a few pictures, I can go through a photograph all of the parameters but Im not so hopeful at this point. midi machine control should have worked right off of the bat. the tdif is tascams proprietary protocal and that should have been an instant lock...

 

[witzendoz]

So if the unit is running as a stand alone unit, when the drive has mounted can you arm the tracks (flashing red) then press Rec & Play so that the mx is recording silence to the hard drive, does it do this? It will save this as "MXproject" automatically if it works.

Shame it is not working for you as they are great units and on a par to the radar.

Alan.

 

[mozaicman]

I do get the flashing lights to arm for record but no signal, Im routing everything through a motu system, 424 pcie card, which is their most recent offering, along with a pair of 2408 mkii s firewired off of the card seated into an intel mac pro circa 2006.

the 2408 acts as a passive bus for digital audio signals so anything that comes in through the tdif ports, are automatically bussed to the analog outputs. which is great for me becuase Im an old school large format mixer type of engineer, I like my outboard gear, I like the faders and eq, and that was the appeal for me picking up the unit.

Does the unit turn on and allow the user to go through the menus with an unmounted scsi? how might i figure out if its a drive issue?

 

[mozaicman]

when I had the computer hooked up with the software running tests I was able to set up a project with the software and view the tracks and so forth, but no signal was ever input into the unit

 

[William]

Mozaicman want to sell the tdif card for the MX ??? I am in need of one if you would like to sell the card. Thanks either way. William

Ps I also have a parts machine if you need any parts

 

[mozaicman]

I want to get rid of the whole box and get my money out. so for now, no. but if I cant get it to run, then Ill part it out as Ill be left with a lemon. and I couldnt guarantee to you that the card would work since Im still not able to sync up the box to get any signal in or out. hold your cards and let me do some more homework

 

[witzendoz]

I don't think you have a drive issue as, from memory, you cannot arm tracks when the drive has not mounted. What I was trying to determine was if the MX as a unit was functioning correctly, and that the problem was only the digital not talking.

What cards are fitted to your MX, did you say the analog card is fitted or just a digital card?

Alan.

 

[mozaicman]

the tdif digital card only, I can upload a video of the entire thing explaining it, but i think the box is no good, it should be able to chase incoming midi time code with no issues. I have to believe its an internal issue, but i believe that usb generated time code is faulty as I have tried a fostex d90 hard disk recorder with mixed results.

 

[witzendoz]

If you want to test the time code, the mx will generate timecode from the code out socket wen you hit play. Record this to an audio track on your computer (or some other recorder), and them play the audio track of the timecode back to the code in socket and see if it will lock to that.

Alan.

 

[mozaicman]

Since the unit was shipped to me with a unremoveable hard drive tray, Im going to try and open the box up and swap out the assembly with a new removeable hard drive and tray with a working key in a last ditch effort before junking it.

do you know what drives are best suited for the MX2424?

thanks again for your responses......

 

[witzendoz]

Have a read of this thread http://www.tascamforums.com/threads/best-mx2424-hard-drive.2368/

 

[mozaicman]

bought a new midi interface and Im upgrading my software to the motu digital performer that enables the clockworks on all its hardware through its proprietary software. using everything through the motu, I should be able to reliably pass signals to the mx, my feeling is that the tracktion software IM using is poor quality and not up to snuff.

I went through the menus again tonight and no errors, drives seem to recognize and spin up just fine. still no signals. but i do get the four bars on the first four tracks upon startup. I dont know what the startup sequence is supposed to look like on these, fi there should be a whole scroll across the meters or indication of some kind, but iM seeing something on the first four tracks which makes me think I have a menu selection that is the wrong parameter.....

I have tried the spdif, I bought a bnc wordclock cable and ran that out of my 2408. and of course the tdif card that doesnt pass any thing through, so.......hopefully its a software error

 

[witzendoz]

On startup it is normal for the first 4 bars of the vu's to light up. If they don't light up don't worry as sometimes it seems to skip the lighting of the vu's.

If it starts up, mounts the drive and ends up with the MX-01 (machine number) and a 2 rows of time (locations) showing, no red fault lights flashing, it is working fine.

 

[mozaicman]

extensive testing....nothing

after glancing over the brief sales material (not even the manual) I found that the Time Line bus feature is the key to synching the mx to a daw, and peculiarly, am unable to switch this feature. Despite selecting the TL bus slave mode, it only lights up on the face of the display as a master Timeline bus.....

dont know if I already mentioned it, I feel like that might set me a step closer despite the no signal problemo. thx

 

[witzendoz]

I think you may be doing the wrong thing with the TL bus slave. The TL bus slave is for slaving the MX to another MX that is the master. Running several MXs locked together via the TL bus. You actually want your MX to chase the incoming time code, so you tell the MX to chase.

Alan.