Tascam DM 24_manual

							3 – Automation Overview
 TASCAM DM-24 Automation 11
Rehearse
Rehearse is a special status that works with Write, 
Trim and Static modes. Rehearse allows you to prac-tice or experiment with mix moves without recording 
them.
Displays
The three automation display screens on the DM-24 
described below are used for the following purposes:
 Enabling/disabling the automation system
 Setting operational preferences
 Setting the master Auto Fade Out time
 Displaying used/available memory
 Over-riding the automation system’s automatic 
mode switching
 Copy/paste of configuration between channels
 Mix file management
In all automation displays, the cursor is moved by 
using the cursor keys, located to the lower right of the 
display. Check boxes are enabled/disabled by moving the cur-
sor to the check box then pressing the 
ENTER key. 
Time values are entered by moving the cursor to the 
desired box, changing the value with the 
JOG/DATA 
dial then pressing the 
ENTER key. Time values flash 
until confirmed with the 
ENTER key.
To access the automation displays, press the 
AUTO MATI ON key. Repeatedly pressing the 
AUTO MATI ON key toggles between the displays.
While viewing these, it is also possible to select a dif-
ferent automation display by pressing the leftmost 
soft key under the display, then using the leftmost 
POD to select a display, and then pressing the left-
most soft key again to view the selected display.
AUTO MAIN
AUTOMATION ENGINE This on-screen button 
enables/disables the DM-24’s automation system. 
When enabled, 
AUTO is displayed in the upper left of 
the display with the currently selected channel, in all 
mixer displays. 
No automation data will be recorded or played back 
when the automation system is disabled. 
When the DM-24 is powered on, the automation sys-
tem will be disabled, even if it was enabled when 
powered off. 
KEEP CONFIRMATION When enabled, a pop-up 
box will ask for confirmation before performing a 
Keep operation. A Keep operation saves a copy of the 
current mix into the first memory bank, pushing older mixes to the next highest memory bank. If all 
memory banks are filled, a Keep operation will delete 
the oldest mix. All mixes saved using Keep will be 
numerically sequenced with highest numbers being 
the latest mixes.
The default value of this check box is on (keep con-
firmation is enabled).
NOTE
This is not implemented in Version 1.xx software.
AUTOMATION MODE MULTI PASS Nor-
mally, the mixer exits Write or Trim mode when it is 
no longer receiving time code. 
When this check box is enabled, the mixer remains in 
Write or Time mode until the mode is manually dis- 
						

							3 – Automation Overview
12 TASCAM DM-24 Automation
abled. This allows you to perform mix moves at will 
without having to manually enable Write or Trim on 
every pass.
TRIM ALL When enabled, a Trim operation will be 
applied to all mix moves from the beginning of a mix 
to its end, regardless of the transport’s position 
within the program. This allows you to change the 
overall level of a control and maintain all mix moves 
pre-existing on that control while listening to the pro-
gram at any time code location.
NOTE
This is not implemented in Version 1.xx software.
AUTO REVERT When Auto Revert is enabled, a 
control smoothly matches back to its previous setting 
when you release it. When Auto Revert is disabled, 
you must manually punch out of automation record-
ing by pressing the 
REVERT key, or by stopping the 
incoming time code—the control will then smoothly 
match back to its previous setting. 
There are independent check boxes to enable Auto 
Revert for Write and Trim modes. 
NOTE
It is possible to enable or disable Auto Revert during a 
mix pass. The new setting is applied to mix moves only. 
The following describes an example:
With the 
WRITE indicator lit, and AUTO REVERT – 
WRITE
 disabled, move the faders. Now enable AUTO 
REVERT – WRITE
, and move a different set of faders. 
These will revert automatically, but the first set will con-
tinue to write until you press 
REVERT.
REVERT TIMES To the right of the Auto Revert 
check boxes are fields to enter Revert Times. The 
Revert Time is the amount of time (in seconds) it 
takes for a control to smoothly match back to its pre-
vious setting. There are fields to set an independent 
Revert Time for Write and Trim modes. These fields 
can be set from 0.5 seconds to 10 seconds in 0.5 sec-
ond increments.
The ∞
s setting in the Revert Time fields enables 
Write/Trim To End mode, which applies a Write or 
Trim operation from the point where automation 
recording began, all the way to the end of the mix.
In the case of Write mode, this overwrites any exist-
ing mix data from the point where automation 
recording began, all the way to the end of the mix.
In the case of Trim mode, this applies the Trim oper-
ation from the point automation recording began all 
the way to the end of the mix. Here are examples of instances where this would be 
useful:
 There may be existing mix moves all the way 
through a song which need to be louder from half-
way through the song until the song’s end. Using 
the ∞
s setting in the Trim Revert Time field allows 
you to perform this operation without the need to 
play the song all the way to the end in order to 
record the new mix data.
 There may be existing mix moves all the way 
through a song, however, during the mixing pro-
cess it is determined that a control should remain at 
one setting from a point within the song until the 
song’s end. Using the ∞
s setting in the Write Revert 
Time
 field allows you to perform this operation 
without the need to play the song all the way to the 
end in order to record the new mix data.
NOTE
AUTO REVERT WRITE (or TRIM) must be enabled for 
Write (or Trim) To End to work.
A Write/Trim To End operation must be completed by 
stopping the time code. Manually disabling Write or 
Trim mode while time code is running will not perform 
a Write To End operation.
If the 
REVERT TIME value is changed from the ∞s (infin-
ity) setting to a non-infinite value (that is, anything 
else), and a 
Write (or Trim) To End is in progress, the con-
trols start reverting immediately.
CONTROL SENSE TIME OUT The DM-24’s 
faders are touch-sensitive, so the automation system 
knows when you have touched or released a fader, 
thus punching into or out of automation record. 
The POD controls, control surface keys and rotary 
encoders are not touch-sensitive. These controls must 
detect movement in order to begin recording mix 
moves. 
The 
Control Sense Time Out value allows these controls 
to punch out of automation record automatically after 
the specified amount of time has passed without 
movement of the control. This field can be set from 
0.5 seconds to 10 seconds in 0.5 second increments.
NOTE
A useful trick is to map the Auxiliary Sends to faders for 
touch-sensitive control:
Press either the 
AU X  1 - 2, AUX  3- 4 or AUX 5 - 6 key and 
use the 
AUX LEVEL selection tabs at the bottom of the 
screen to select an aux send across all channels
Use the faders to write your Auxiliary Send mix moves 
						

							3 – Automation Overview
 TASCAM DM-24 Automation 13
AUTO FADE OUT TIME This field determines 
the duration of a linear fade written to the Master 
Fader when the 
AU TO FAD E key is pressed. 
This field can be set from 0.5 seconds to 10 seconds 
in 0.5 second increments. 
Since this fade is written directly using the Master 
Fader, it is not possible to change its time value after 
an Auto Fade has been performed. 
To write an Auto Fade:
1Press the 
WRITE key.
2Hold 
2ND F. and press AUTO FADE at the 
point where you want the fade to begin.To erase an Auto Fade it is necessary to overwrite the 
duration of the fade manually or by using the Write 
To End function.
NOTE
A useful trick to remember: A linear fade is often not 
musically desirable. Typically in these cases you will 
begin the fade at a faster rate and end the fade at a 
slower rate. Use the Auto Fade function to perform this:
Press 
WRITE.
Hold 2ND F. and press AUTO  FA DE at the point where 
you want the fade to begin.
Continue to hold 
2ND F. and press AUTO FADE again 
to restart the Auto Fade Time from the fader’s current 
position.
This may be repeated as often as desired to slow down 
the end of an Auto Fade to a mere crawl. 
						

							3 – Automation Overview
14 TASCAM DM-24 Automation
AUTO FILES
1The word AUTO appears here in all mixer LCD 
displays when the automation system is enabled. 
The word 
WRITE appears here solid when the 
mixer is ready to record either Static or Dynamic 
mix data. The word 
WRITE flashes when the auto-
mation system is actually writing mix data on the 
selected channel. This could be a Write or Trim 
operation.
2This indicates the source of the time code being 
used by the mixer and the automation system. 
TC 
indicates Linear Time Code and 
MTC indicates 
MIDI Time Code.
3Shows the currently selected mix memory bank. 
The mix shown here will be the mix used for 
Store, Edit and Recall operations chosen at the 
bottom of the display.
4Shows the Memo along with the size of the mix 
file for the mix shown in #3 above.
5Shows the amount of bank memory used by the 
selected mix in its memory bank.
6Shows a list of available mixes in their memory 
banks.
7Use the fourth POD control (the rightmost one) 
under the display to highlight a stored mix.
8The soft key under this display button is used to 
recall the highlighted mix into the current mix 
memory.9The soft key under this display button is used to 
start the editing of the name of a stored mix.
10The soft key under this display button is used to 
store the current mix into a storage bank.
11The soft key under this display button displays the 
list of the three automation display screens. Use 
the leftmost POD to highlight a display and the 
leftmost soft key or the ENTER key to activate 
the highlighted display.
12Move the cursor to this LCD button to create a 
new project. 
NOTE
Creating a new project will erase the contents of the 
current mix memory.
13DELETE permanently erases the contents of the 
highlighted mix bank.  
NOTE
There is no undo for this operation.
PROTECT locks the contents of the highlighted mix 
bank so it cannot be accidentally deleted.
14Any mix memo information along with the size of 
the current mix is displayed here.
15The title of the current mix is displayed here.
See the main manual section on “Libraries” for 
details of naming library entries, etc. 
						

							3 – Automation Overview
 TASCAM DM-24 Automation 15
AUTO CONFIG
Figure 4 – AUTO CONFIG display where automatic mode switching can be over-ridden.
The grid represented in the AUTO CONFIG display is 
used to manually over-ride the automation’s mode 
switching. The selected channel is displayed in the 
upper left of the display. If the displayed channel is 
part of a group, this is indicated in the upper right of 
the grid.
The changes made in this grid are applied to channel 
and controls selected by the 
APPLY TO buttons at the 
right of the display. Use the rightmost POD to make 
this selection. Note that it is not necessary to press 
ENTER to confirm this setting.
When a module or control is set to any mode except 
Auto using this display, that module or control 
remains in that mode until it is reset back to
 Auto. 
The settings made in this display are saved as part of 
the mix data.
MODULE When selected, the changes in this dis-
play will only be applied to the specified control on 
the selected channel.
ALL MODULE When selected, the changes in this 
display are applied to a single control across all chan-
nels. For example, with 
ALL MODULE selected, 
enabling 
SAFE in the FADER row places all mixer fad-
ers into Safe mode.
ALL CNTRLS When selected, the changes in this 
display are applied to all controls on the selected 
channel. This applies the changes to the libraries.
ALL When selected, the changes in this display are 
applied to all controls on all channels.
COPY This soft key copies the configuration of the 
currently-selected channel into a special clipboard 
where it can then be pasted to another channel.
PASTE This soft key pastes the configuration copied 
using the 
COPY soft key to the currently-selected 
channel. Note that there is no Undo for this opera-
tion.
Channel LED Indicators
Each channel has an LED indicator immediately 
above the fader. When automating a mix, these indi-
cators can be used to show whether a channel is writ-
ing, reading or reverting. 
Use the 
OPTION display screen to set the function of 
these indicators. The default use is as channel over-
load indicators, as explained in the main manual.When used as automation indicators, they flash when 
any control on a channel is writing or reverting. They 
are lit steadily when all controls on a channel are 
reading.
The global Revert LED above the REVERT key fol-
lows the behavior of the channel indicators when 
they are used for automation. 
						

							16 TASCAM DM-24 Automation
4 – Operation
Operating the DM-24’s automation system is 
designed to be intuitive and transparent to the mixing 
process, while offering power and flexibility previ-
ously unavailable on a mixing console. The steps below, combined with an understanding of 
the information on the previous pages, will have you 
automating your mixes in no time.
Setting Up Your Mix
Action: Enable the automation system in the AUTO 
MAIN
 display by moving the cursor to the on-screen 
AUTOMATION ENGINE button and pressing ENTER.
Result: The settings of all mixer controls are stored 
into the current mix memory. Changing any settings 
will automatically update those settings in the current 
mix memory. This is just like mixing on an analog 
console except the system now knows where every control is set. The automation system sees these con-
trols as being in Static mode.
Action: Store the mix file in a memory bank (see 
“AUTO FILES” on page 14).
Result: Until a mix is stored in a memory bank, it 
only exists in the current mix memory. The current 
mix memory is erased when the console is powered 
off, so storing a mix in a memory bank is required for 
later recall.
Writing Mix Moves
Action: Press the WRITE key before or after start-
ing time code so that its indicator lights. With time 
code running, perform the desired mix move.
Result: With the console in Write mode, any move-
ment of a control while time code is running is writ-
ten to that control by the automation system.
In the case of the touch-sensitive faders, writing 
begins when a fader is touched.In the case of POD controls, writing will begin when 
the control is moved.
Once dynamic mix moves have been written to a 
control, the automation system automatically 
changes that control from Static mode to Dynamic 
mode, in order to read mix moves. Controls that have 
not had mix moves written to them remain in Static 
mode, even if those controls are on the same channel 
as a control that has had dynamic mix data written to 
it.
Revert Time
When a control stops recording mix moves, it 
“reverts” to the setting that existed before recording 
the mix move. The previously existing setting could 
be a dynamic mix move or a static control position. 
The amount of time it takes to make a smooth match 
from the end of the recorded mix move to the previ-
ously existing setting is called the Revert Time.
A Revert Time is applied, even when the time code is 
stopped, past the point where the time code stopped, 
to ensure a smooth transition between the new mix 
move and the control’s previous setting.
Auto Revert Choices 
With AUTO REVERT – WRITE enabled, the automation 
system stops writing mix moves automatically on a 
per control basis without the need to end writing 
manually. In this case, controls stop writing mix moves at dif-
ferent times, depending on when they were released 
(faders) or when movement ended (POD controls).
In the case of touch-sensitive faders, reverting begins 
when the fader is released.
In the case of POD controls, reverting begins when 
the 
CONTROL SENSE TIMEOUT has expired without the 
control being moved. The 
CONTROL SENSE TIMEOUT 
allows the POD controls to respond as if they are 
touch-sensitive (even though they are not).
When a Revert occurs, the control smoothly matches 
back to its previous value, based on the set value of 
the 
Revert Time. The previous control value could be a 
control’s Static position or a control’s Dynamic mix 
moves. 
						

							4 – Operation
 TASCAM DM-24 Automation 17
See the diagrams below to understand how this 
works:
Figure 5 – Writing a fader move over a previous static fader position with Auto Revert enabled
Figure 6 – Writing a POD move over a previous static position with Auto Revert enabled.
8 sec
8 sec+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-12
+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-121 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
1 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
-9
Existing Static Fader Position
Mix Move
Touch Fader Release FaderRevert
Time
Fader Movement
8 sec
8 sec
Control
Sense
Timeout
+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-12
+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-121 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
1 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
-9
Existing Static POD Position
Mix Move
Move POD Release PODRevert
Time
POD Movement 
						

							4 – Operation
18 TASCAM DM-24 Automation
Figure 7 – Writing a new fader move over a previous Dynamic fader move with Auto Revert enabled
Figure 8 – Writing a new POD move over a previous Dynamic POD move with Auto Revert enabled.
8 sec
8 sec+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-12
+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-121 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
1 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
-9
Existing Fader Move
Mix Move
Touch Fader Release FaderRevert
Time
Fader Movement
8 sec
8 sec
Control
Sense
Timeout
+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-12
+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-121 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
1 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
-9
Existing POD Move
Mix Move
Move POD Release PODRevert
Time
POD Movement 
						

							4 – Operation
 TASCAM DM-24 Automation 19
Disabling Auto Revert allows you to manually 
stop writing mix moves, either by stopping the time 
code, or by pressing the 
REVERT key. In this case, 
all controls that are writing mix moves will stop writ-
ing simultaneously when 
REVERT is pressed or time 
code stops.When a Revert is triggered by stopping the time 
code, the Revert Time is still applied to the control 
beyond where time code was stopped, for a smooth 
match from the end of the new mix move to the con-
trol’s previous setting.
See the diagrams below to see how this works:
Figure 9 – Writing a new fader move over a previous Static fader position with Auto Revert disabled
Figure 10 – Writing a new POD move over a previous Static POD position with Auto Revert disabled
8 sec
8 sec+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-12
+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-121 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
1 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
-9
Existing Static Fader Position
Mix Move
Touch Fader Release Fader Press REVERT
or stop Time CodeRevert
Time
Fader
Movement
8 sec
8 sec+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-12
+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-121 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
1 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
-9
Existing Static POD Position
Mix Move
Move POD Release POD Press REVERT
or stop Time CodeRevert
Time
POD
Movement 
						

							4 – Operation
20 TASCAM DM-24 Automation
Figure 11 – Writing a new fader move over previous Dynamic fader moves with Auto Revert disabled
Figure 12 – Writing a new POD move over previous Dynamic POD moves with Auto Revert disabled
8 sec
8 sec+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-12
+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-121 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
1 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
-9
Existing Mix Move
Mix Move
Touch Fader Release Fader Press REVERT
or stop Time Code Fader
Movement
Revert
Time
8 sec
8 sec+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-12
+12
+6
+3
0
-3
-6
-121 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
1 sec
2 sec 3 sec
4 sec5 sec
6 sec7 sec
-9
Existing POD Move
Mix Move
Move POD Release POD Press REVERT
or stop Time Code POD
Movement
Revert
Time