This is What the Quality of TASCAM Manuals Once Was

[Mark Richards]

Back in the day, TASCAM actually employed talented technical writers to develop the owner manuals for their gear.

This, for example, is the M-30 8x4x2 Audio Mixer's Owner Manual.

It includes a wealth of information on reading block diagrams, understanding impedence, and other technical information that's still relevant today for owners of TASCAM mixers. I'm posting that manual here in Recording 101 for that reason.

Hopefully, regardless of the specific platform, this c. 1980 TASCAM manual will be a useful resource for forum members.

It's a shame TASCAM doesn't go the extra mile anymore for their customers.

 

[shredd]

I'mma gonna agree w @Mark Richards - while Tascam's O/M's of today aren't worth the effort of tearing out a page to use for wiping up kitchen spills...I've had my O/G DP-32 for a coupla-three years now...and while I REGULARLY have to scour the forum, or search ytube, etc, for answers/solutions...I've cracked the manual about 3 times since I read it through when acquiring the unit.
@Phil Tipping 's User Guide is at least 10x more utile/relevant to a user - especially a NEW user - than the OEM O/M could possibly be. Clearly Tascam is using Uighur slave labor to write their manuals, without bothering to notice that they understand about as much about English usage as a politician understands about integrity or character.

There WAS a time where their manuals were great. Not just informative, not just useful, not just relevant to the product's use...but REALLYREALLY good. I ran 2488's for 15 years - all three incarnations - and never ONCE did I EVER have to search ytube, scan through blog/forum posts, or post on "social" media for an answer to ANYthing. They were exactly what MR is talkin' 'bout.

 

[Phil Tipping]

Wow, what a contrast; it's like a book on the subject.

Love the idea of speaking the word "statistics" into a mic and watching the meter and peak LED, then repeating with the word "average". Great way of making the point.

So many things to quote, but here are some which caught my eye:

"The routing for effects sends, cue feeds and stereo monitoring can be hard to visualize"

"Your mixing needs may be best served by an arrangement of inputs and sub-systems that you work out for yourself"

"Understanding what is going on inside your equipment will help improve your sound"

"The first time user may say at this point that these extras are SO HARD TO GRASP... the first few pages seem to be describing logic that is so sophisticated that it only makes sense to a 20 year "pro". WE AGREE!
These mix patches ARE complex and their routings are not easy to visualize. We will not insult your intelligence by saying otherwise. The M30 is a tool, not a toy. Like any good tool, good results depend on practice and understanding"

"'Less' is always the best working concept in audio, so use EQ after all other methods have been exhausted, move the mic, change the mic, and finally - try the 'cut' functions of the EQ first"

 

[midinerdguy]

As a former Technical Writer (8 years total for 3 different global enterprise companies), I too miss the era of solid documentation for technical products. But times have changed, and that’s largely led by how people consume information now.

But, A) most people won’t read the manual these days, they want to google, search a forum, or Reddit, ask ChatGPT, or watch a video. B) timelines are compressed as products are released much faster, so most companies won’t give you much time at all to create the docs, which impacts how deep you can go before the deadline. C) a lot of companies fired their Tech Writers and let their engineers write the docs, which impacts their quality. D) a lot of companies moved their Tech Writer jobs overseas to save money, where the English docs are now either written by writers whose command of English is not at a business level, or badly translated to English without a localization team to validate or fix.

 

[shredd]

As a former Technical Writer (8 years total for 3 different global enterprise companies), I too miss the era of solid documentation for technical products. But times have changed, and that’s largely led by how people consume information now.

A vivid illustration/explanation of why most O/M’s suk like an airplane toilet.
The last time I got a realllly utile/worthwhile OM was my 2488neo. That was about 2008.
Honorable mention to my DigiTech GNX4 (an absurdly complex device)…also in the 00’s. But the manual is EXCELLENT- right down to block diagrams & signal-flow illustrations!

 

[midinerdguy]

on yeah, those "floorboard" guitar processors in the early 00's were a nightmare from a useability perspective so they really needed good manuals. Speaking of processing guitars, I'd say the absolute best manuals I've found in the last few years are coming from Chase Bliss Audio, for example: Chase Bliss Onward manual

Just highly useable, with a logical flow, and leads you by the hand through what would otherwise be a very frustrating bout of head-scratching and trial and error.

 

[shredd]

those "floorboard" guitar processors in the early 00's were a nightmare from a useability perspective

That is the facks jack!!! Using the GNX4 to its' full potential is like flying the space shuttle while doing trigonometry in your head while counting the time signature to the intro to "Tubular Bells".
That said - few units could compare with its' capabilities back then, and even now, it's my "go to" when I'm looking to create a specific tone; and tone is just scratching the surface of what the thing can do.
But it's a daym good thing the manual is so good - to this day (after owning it for close to 20 years), I still refer to it every time I use it...

 

[midinerdguy]

It's so good that you've bonded so well with that device and know how to get what you want out of it.

I find all the fiddling and menu-diving to be too distracting when I'm trying to be creative so I ditched my multi-fx floorboard things and went with separate effects pedals years ago, and haven't looked back. The only pedal with a "screen" is my MIDI controller. Everything else has a knob or a switch.

I'm totally happy to do the menu-diving thing on devices, or get lost using software, etc, when I'm in my engineering headspace. But when I'm playing/writing/creating, I don't want to think about the technology at all. I just want to feel my way through with my ears, so everythign needs to be tactile.

 

[shredd]

Yup - hear that… in fact, I’d argue that single pedals are actually a better way to get the sound you want, the easiest.
My problem is that I spent literally decades going through countless pedals, looking for the sound I wanted. Nowadays, there’s thousands of them. I spent a fortune, but never exactly “found” it. I ended up going with various MFX because of the bang/buck factor, multiplied by versatility. I still have several good ones, led by the GNX4…

 

[midinerdguy]

I hear ya, Shredd.
I have bought and sold and bought and sold a lot.
I don't mind the chase. It keeps things exciting, because my playing sure doesn't. Hah.
I came to the conclusion that the sound in my head doesn't exist. Sort of a "Shoot for the moon; even if you miss, you'll land among the stars" situation. And I apply that to the music I write, too. It's never what I'm initially trying to do, and I've become better at accepting that.
Digital all-in-one things just never do a very good job of overdrive and distortion, which I use liberally.

 

[shredd]

Agreed. OD/dist’n is by FAR digital-based FX’s weakest area. Pretty much w/o exception…

Though I’ve gotten some pretty daym good amp-sims outta my GNX…
It also helps that my hearing is so bad that I wouldn't have been able to tell if Zepp made their albums with a $39 Arion fuzz-box rather than a truckload of Marshall stax!!!

 

[mdr1]

It looks like it's a minority view, but I find the DP-32 and DP-008EX manuals just fine

They obviously are a very different kind of document to the M-30 manual. But so far, any time I was looking for something specific in the manual, I could find it, and quickly. It's also short enough to actually be read by less-than-patient users like me

Contrast that to e.g. the documentation of Logic Pro... of course it's a much more complicated piece of technology, but the way the docs are organized and phrased are such that I often just can't find the answer for whatever problem I'm having (and I seem to be a magnet for problems in DAWs).

 

[shredd]

It looks like it's a minority view, but I find the DP-32 and DP-008EX manuals just fine

Thas' kewl...frankly - I couldn't TOTALLY disagree...I have BOTH the O/G '32 AND the '008EX...and there IS worthwhile/utile info in them. I actually refer to them from time to time, when my dementia is acting up and I can't remember how to bounce trax.
But (as the OP points out, and I agreed with) - in comparison to the Tascam OM's of olde (which were stellar), they've gotten pretty bad. That's why a user-created guide like @Phil Tipping 's is so valuable...not only written in a utile and easily-accessable manner, but by someone who actually uses it.
The current generation of OM's read like the guy who wrote them had nothing but the design specs to create from, and learned English from a box of Lucky Charms.

 

[Max Relic]

I generally agree to the above posts, I'm disappointed by the quality of current owner/user manuals that supposedly should illustrate how music instruments, effects and gear in general work, and how to use them in a satisfactory way.
While I don't have expectations from cheap companies, bigger ones make me feel bad for the quick-and-dirty bunch of uninformative paragraphs that they call manuals.
But there is still hope, as this Mackie document attests https://mackie.com/img/file_resources/1642VLZ4_OM.pdf
It's informative and detailed in the peculiar entertaining Mackie style. I love that writing style.