Tascam DR 40 clock bleeding?

[Toenis Liivamaegi]

I just tested our new Tascam DR 40 with external mic (NTG3) and found out that even at rec level 64 (on scale of 100) I hear clear ticking sound (96/24bit) which corresponds to seconds. If I changed the settings to 48/16bit ticking went away but there is still some weird digital noise present. To my ears this is even worse problem than the Edirol 44 had in paused mode, and similar to original Zoom H4.
It also does weird sounds when I start or stop recording or when backlight goes on and off.

Sample at 100% gain http://www.kinotehnik.com/tascam/KINOTE_0019.wav

Might it be a faulty unit?

Thanks,
Tonis

[Chuck Fadely]

Try turning down the unused channel -- I hear noise from the channel that I don't have a mic plugged in to, but the mic'ed channel sounds fine on my DR 40. That's been the case to varying degrees with every recording device I've ever used.

I really like the DR 40. I bought it as a backup but it has well-behaved limiters and is hard to make clip. No distortion even when way too hot. I'm going to use it as primary instead of my Marantz on my next gig.

And it has individual channel controls, though they're in a menu.

Cheap recorder that feels cheap and has lots of handling noise but what do you want for $200? Beats the Zoom, I think.

[Scott Shama]

Love this unit. It's my new work horse for audio. Battery life is spectacular too.

[Toenis Liivamaegi]

Originally Posted by Chuck Fadely

Cheap recorder that feels cheap and has lots of handling noise but what do you want for $200? Beats the Zoom, I think.

It's even 150.00ish at B&H :).

Originally Posted by Scott Shama

Love this unit. It's my new work horse for audio. Battery life is spectacular too.

Have you tested it with external mics? If so how is the batterylife with phantom power?


T

[Jerry Jesion]

I am interested in this recorder and have looked at the manual. It seems that there are a few things that would make it unusable for me, and I would appreciate some info from those who have one. I will be using the external mic/line inputs almost exclusively and saw in the manual that there is no gain control when using the line level inputs. Is this true? I often get line level signals from mixers and find that I generally have to set the gain while recording. Also can one ride the gain while recording using external inputs?

These issues are critical for me.

Regards,
Jerry

[Greg Miller]

Originally Posted by Jerry Jesion

saw in the manual that there is no gain control when using the line level inputs.

Jerry, I don't have aDR40 (yet) but where did you find that info in the manual?

That seems to contradict what I found. On p.47 (of the .pdf manual) I find the following:
"Reduce the output level of the external audio device if the input sound is distorted even when reducing the input gain level on the unit."

Sounds as if they are saying that if you reduce the input gain on the DR40, and the audio is still distorted, then you need to reduce the actual level of the incoming signal (either by reducing the output level of the source device, or, of course, by adding an external pad).

If you have found something additional, that clearly says there is no input gain control when using line input, please post the exact reference (page no. etc.) for comparison to the above quote.

Hopefully someone who has a DR40 will clarify this.

[Jerry Jesion]

Greg,
On page 51 of the manual in the Limiter section under the Note it says: "When using LINE input, the level controls have no effect."

Regards,
Jerry

[Greg Miller]

The sentence you refer to appears to fall under a section starting on p.50 with the heading "Using the level control function." The first sentence in that section says, "The level control function for recording through a microphone is set as follows." It then goes to talk about three different level control functions: Peak Reduction, Auto Level, Limiter.

My interpretation is that your sentence on p.51 should really say "When using LINE input, the level control functions have no effect." But that's just my interpretation.

And even if I'm right, it's rather disappointing. If I'm recording from an external preamp or mixer, I still might want to use the DR40 internal limiter function, for example.

Hopefully, someone who has one of these will perform a few tests and let us know for sure.

[Jerry Jesion]

Greg,
I see what you mean, and after thinking about it I am inclined to agree with you. Although if the level control functions are not available it is not a big deal for me.

Regards,
Jerry