No. You always have to send the PC audio to 1/2 if you want to monitor the audio from the mixer. I can see how someone would consider this a flaw. It’s about expectations, I guess. The Model 12 just sees the USB audio as an input, if that makes sense. Unless I have completely missed something.
If you are monitoring PC audio through the mixer you will have 4 mono and 2 stereo inputs left. In my case 1 of those mono inputs is the return from the AUX out of the Analog Drive, and 2 of the mono inputs I’m using as a stereo pair for my AS-1. I just hard panned them left and right so it’s a stereo mix with 2 faders. This is how the PC audio channels are set up as well.
Got it… to me that’s not a flaw but a shortcoming indeed that should be made more clear. So this basically becomes an 8 channel mixer and DAW interface rather than 10 channels when used this way. I can deal with that. Thanks for clearing up.
Sure thing. Yeah, I agree it wasn’t super clear from the documentation how the PC audio works but it’s in the manual. This happened to be EXACTLY the amount of channels I needed so it worked out great for me. Let me know if you have other questions and I’m happy to answer them.
Those are the 2 stereo channels assigned to the last 2 faders. Those are the MPC & iPad channels on my photo. Those 2 faders can be stereo or mono channel faders. If you use the bluetooth input, which I am for my iPad, it takes over the last stereo fader. The “Music/talk” input is a 1/8" stereo input you can either assign to the last fader or just send straight to the stereo master. If you use the AUX 2 send it takes over the built in FX.
O cool! I do plan to use my iPad with this. Connected via Bluetooth, can you have iPad music apps synced with everything else? Are MIDI and/or clock even possible with Bluetooth?
Also, I get it that inputs 7/8 and 9/10 are stereo inputs, but the jacks below them labeled “R” is throwing me off. What are those?
Nevermimd I just figured it out about the “R”. I feel stupid lol. I just haven’t seen it look like that before where the left channel is an XLR and 1/4" jack combo and the right channel is only the latter.
It’s so you can use every channel as a mono mic input. Those XLR jacks are both XLR and line in. All the channels have that. It’s just the last 2 faders that have an additional input for stereo. Pretty sweet if you are in a situation where you are recording a band or something. You could easily use the mixer as a standalone multitrack recorder for a small band setup with 8 mics.
There’s definitely some short comings in terms of how some inputs are auto-assigned, I guess. But Tascam did a decent job making this a really versatile piece of gear for a small studio.
Also one more thing to note. You can set every channel to “PC” if you were in a situation where you wanted to send multiple channels from you computer to the faders. I guess this could be useful if you wanted to mix the channels on the mixer and record to the SD card?
I agree. Overall, it’s well thought out. I especially like that they kept the mid-sweep EQ on the last 2 stereo channels. A LOT of manufacturers usually make these stereo inputs just a 2 band EQ.
Yes forgot to mention that. The master EQ with mid-sweep band is especially a great feature for live use once I can play live again (hopefully sometime in 2021).
I have the model 16 and came across a similar frustration. It’s for a more pedestrian use case, but to use it as an interface, and have, say, a zoom call, I need to have the mic going into channel 1 or 2 (because zoom or browsers default to the ch 1/2 inputs, I believe)…but then also need channel 1 or 2 for my stereo out, which is also sent via ch 1/2 by default.
Broadly speaking, can you use it as an interface and have a live input into ch 1/2 but also use ch 1/2 for output? I have no problem doing this on my dinky Tascam 2x2.
I haven’t tried it, tbh, but I’m assuming the answer is no because you have to use the switch on each channel to be either “PC” or “Live”. Maybe we can send some requests for a firmware update to assign which stereo pair is the default PC out.
Check out the loopback program, lets you reroute audio to different channels from your computer to hardware. I’ve used it before to change what channels audio gets sent to from my comp to a dj mixer. Works flawlessly
I still haven’t pulled the trigger on this unit and I just realized what’s been bothering me about it… I have all modern-ish gear that look modern (DN, DT, OT mk1, iMac, KMI controller, etc) and the retro 70s look of this just clashes with the look of my entire studio and apartment. I know this may seem lame to many of you, but I’m just afraid this will distract me or be in the back of my mind. Aesthetics are important to me. That being said, the more modern looking Zoom l12 looks cheap and plastic-y. It also doesn’t have MIDI. The Soundcraft MTK12 feels even cheaper. So I don’t know of any other alternatives that do what this Tascam can. Why did they have to go for this weird vintage look with wood and gold colors?! The whole vintage trend I feel has passed - especially 70s vintage. 80s vintage would have looked cool à la Matrix 6 kinda look. Tascam should have designed this to look like 2020. So… I’m kinda undecided and torn. :-/
I am from the 70s and this doesn’t look 70s to me at all, it just looks the way mixers have looked pretty much for decades to me.
OTH, I too confess to totally nixing otherwise perfect products because I’ll hate it in my living room. Hey man, we live and breath with this stuff, it truly matters
