Mackie Digital 8Bus D8B v5.1 User Manual

1. Connect the digital cables between the TASCAM tape

decks and the DIO•8 cards in the Digital 8•Bus.

 You must use the special dubbing cables provided

by TASCAM, part number PW-88D (1 meter) or PW-88DL
(5 meters). These cables are reverse wired. Do not use
a standard DB25 computer cable, which is wired
straight through pin-to-pin.

2. Connect the sync cables (TASCAM part number

PW-88S) between the master deck and the slaves
in a daisy-chain fashion. Make sure the last deck
has a Termination Plug connected to its SYNC
OUT connector.
For the DA-38:
An MMC-38 MIDI Machine Control interface must be
used prior to the SYNC IN connector on the master
deck to implement MMC transport commands and
track arming for up to three DA-38 machines.
For the DA-88:
You must have an SY-88 card installed in each
DA-88 to implement MMC transport commands
and track arming for up to three DA-88 machines.
The SY-88 cards also provide SMPTE chase lock
operation. Alternately, an MMC-38 MIDI Machine
Control interface may be used prior to the SYNC
IN connector on the master deck to implement
MMC transport commands and track arming for
up to three DA-88 machines.

3. Connect a BNC cable from the first DIO•8 (Tape

1–8) card’s SYNC connector  to the WORD SYNC
IN connector on the master deck.

4. Connect MIDI cables between the MIDI OUT

connector on the Digital 8•Bus Remote CPU and
the MIDI IN connector on the MMC-38 (or SY-88
on the master deck), and between the MIDI IN
connector on the Digital 8•Bus’ Remote CPU and
the MIDI OUT connector on the MMC-38 (or SY-88).

1. Set SW2 DIP switches 6 and 7 to the up

position. All other switches should be in the
down position.

1. DIP switches on the SY-88 are set internally.

The DIP switches labeled S2 assign the device
ID numbers (see the TASCAM SY-88 Owner’s
Manual for ID setup information).

1. On the front panel of the TASCAM, select

WORD CLOCK as the clock source.

2. Also on the front panel, turn on the DIGITAL IN.

3. Set the Machine ID on each recorder, with the

first deck (master) having the lowest number and
the last deck having the highest number. DA-88s
start with ID #0 and DA-38s start with ID #1.

DA-88

DA-38

Deck 1

0

1

Deck 2

1

2

Deck 3

2

3

 If using a DA-88 as the master and a DA-38 as a

slave, assign the DA-88 ID #0, and the DA-38 ID #2.

1. Click the “Setup” button in the bottom menu bar of

the SVGA monitor to open the General Setup window.

2. Click the “Digital I/O” icon on the top of the

window to open the Digital I/O dialog box.

3. Click each Tape Input and Output box and select

TDIF for each DIO•8 card installed.

4. Select the appropriate sample rate in the Digital

I/O Setup window.

a.

Click the “MIDI” button at the top of the
Setup window.

b.

Set all Device IDs to 1 (all D8B Device IDs
must be set to 1 in order to arm tracks from
the console).

a.

Click the “MIDI” button at the top of the
Setup window.

b.

Set all Device IDs to one digit less than the
DIP switch settings (S2) on the SY-88 cards
for their respective machines. For example:

SY-88

D8B

Deck 1

1

0

Deck 2

2

1

Deck 3

3

2