Opinions on the Tascam LM-8ST

[Mats Nermark]

Hi!

 

My very old Mackie CR1604-VLZ is showing signs of needing replacement.

 

As my needs today differ significantly from my needs at the time I bought the Mackie (20+ years ago) I thinking of downsizing. All I need a mixer for today is to connect all my line sources and route them to my audio I/F when I want to record them.

 

So I went looking for a line mixer that had two separate stereo outputs (one for my monitors and one to the audio I/F. It seems like the Tascam LM-8ST fits the bill.

 

But while a want to downsize, I don't want a decrease in sound quality. Do you think the Tascam sounds at least as good as the old Mackie?

 

Tascam does not have a presence in Sweden and I can't try it out. If I decide to buy it I'll have to look for a place where I can import it from.

 

So in case you know of a similar product that would be obtainable in Sweden that would be good knowledge to have as well.

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

Cheers,

 

Mats N

 

[MikeRivers]

It's pretty low frills, but it's not too difficult to make a clean and quiet line level mixer. It's the mic preamps that are mostly what determine the sound of a mixer, and on this mixer, there's only one. I recall you were looking for something to replace your old Mackie a while back, and that you were using it for stereo sources only. Since the TASCAM has no pan pots, you'll get all of your inputs panned hard left and right (essentially centered), or centered if you have a mono source. Think hard about whether this will be bothersome.

[Mats Nermark]

I recall you were looking for something to replace your old Mackie a while back, and that you were using it for stereo sources only. Since the TASCAM has no pan pots, you'll get all of your inputs panned hard left and right (essentially centered), or centered if you have a mono source. Think hard about whether this will be bothersome.

 

Hi Mike,

 

Thanks for the response. When I'm looking for features I need now, it's so easy to overlook something I may need in other scenarios, like the issue with no pan pots. I really don't think I will need it as this is only for recording, and if it would change I can fix it in the DAW.

 

Cheers,

 

Mats N

[MikeRivers]

I only mentioned the lack of panning because I was thinking that you might be using the mixer for a monitor mix when tracking. You're likely planning to bring a stereo mix of recorded tracks into one of the channel pairs on the mixer and adding whatever you're recording in that pass. You might not want to hear that dead center.

 

And if you're going to be making your monitor mix in the DAW (accepting the system latency), then you hardly need the mixer other than as a convenient place to plug everything in and have it available in your headphones and to feed your DAW interface at the turn of a knob. For that, it would work fine.

 

[Mats Nermark]

I only mentioned the lack of panning because I was thinking that you might be using the mixer for a monitor mix when tracking. You're likely planning to bring a stereo mix of recorded tracks into one of the channel pairs on the mixer and adding whatever you're recording in that pass. You might not want to hear that dead center.

 

And if you're going to be making your monitor mix in the DAW (accepting the system latency), then you hardly need the mixer other than as a convenient place to plug everything in and have it available in your headphones and to feed your DAW interface at the turn of a knob. For that, it would work fine.

 

Hi Mike,

 

That's exactly the intended use. Thanks for the input!

 

Cheers,

 

Mats N