First Impression: TASCAM Sonicview Digital Mixer

TASCAM’s new Sonicview mixers show a lot of promise, coming in at a price point that few other manufacturers have addressed.

by

TASCAM has been a familiar brand in recording and live sound for decades, but they’ve never been known as a player in the higher-end digital mixer space. This may change with the introduction of the new TASCAM Sonicview 16XP and 24XP digital mixers. With list prices of $5,999 and $6,999 respectively, the 16XP and 24XP are aiming to meet the needs of those churches looking for more than the less-expensive digital mixers have to offer.

...the end result is sonic accuracy that’s off the charts (i.e. 110 dB dynamic range) and ultra-low latency (0.5 ms analog-to-analog).

While Sonicview 16XP offers 16 analog inputs and 24XP offers 24, both have the same internal processing and routing: 40 mono inputs, 2 stereo inputs, 22 mix busses, and stereo main bus. All internal processing happens at 96kHz in Sonicview, with 54-bit resolution through its FPGA (field programmable gate array) mix engine. All A/D and D/A conversion happens with 32-bit resolution. The end result is sonic accuracy that’s off the charts (i.e. 110 dB dynamic range) and ultra-low latency (0.5 ms analog-to-analog). We look forward to finding out how this technical purity translates to audio quality.

Sonicview has one 100mm motorized fader for each input, plus one additional fader for the stereo bus. Each input fader has an LCD display directly above it functioning as a high-tech “scribble strip”. This display shows the channel number, name, instrument icon, fader level, and gain reduction. Sonicview arranges input faders in groups of eight, with a 7-inch touchscreen positioned over each group. Sonicview 16XP offers two touchscreens, while the 24XP model has three.

These touchscreens use TASCAM’s VIEW (visual interactive ergonomic workflow) system. VIEW allows the user to configure the touchscreens in three different modes. The channel strip view shows an overview of the eight channels positioned beneath the screen. Module view allows you to control two or three parameters for a single channel. Individual view allows you to view and control a custom selection of functions for any channel, group, or bus across the displays. In addition to the VIEW interface, Sonicview offers 18 assignable user keys, seven custom fader layers, and eight DCA groups. With user interface being one of the greatest challenges of creating a new digital mixer, we’re eager to see how user-friendly and intuitive Sonicview is in a real-world setting.

... Sonicview goes a step further with the addition of punch-in/punch-out recording, pre-record, auto-record and markers.

Rather than create yet another digital audio networking standard, TASCAM implemented the Dante network with Sonicview. Both the 16XP and 24XP offer a Dante port for connection to external interfaces, mixers, DSP engines, amplifiers, active speakers, and more. TASCAM also offers a companion 16-input/16-output Dante stage box for Sonicview (SB-16D, list price $2,499). Going with Dante was a good move, as it opens up Sonicview to the world of Dante devices.

While Sonicview owners can use Dante for recording, they won’t need to. Sonicview offers a USB audio interface that allows recording of up to 32 channels of audio at full 96kHz/32-bit quality. With included multitrack recording interface, Sonicview will also record 32 channels of audio to an SDXC card. This feature is common among digital mixers, but Sonicview goes a step further with the addition of punch-in/punch-out recording, pre-record, auto-record and markers. Sonicview also saves and closes the audio file every 60 seconds while recording to minimize loss if catastrophe strikes. Nice touches.

For DSP, Sonicview offers a familiar complement of gating, compression, and EQ on each input and internal bus. Each mix bus also has a 31-band graphic EQ. On the effects side, Sonicview has four internal multi-effects units. These offer effects designed to take advantage of the mixer’s new 64-bit ARM CPU, such as Sonicview’s ultra-detailed plate reverb algorithm. We’re eager to explore Sonicview’s support for VST3 plugins, which could be a game-changer for a mixer of this type.

One area where less-expensive digital mixers often fall short is interfacing with a larger production system. In contrast, TASCAM took steps to make sure Sonicview plays well with the larger world. BNC word clock in/out/through allows Sonicview to integrate with other audio and video components. An 8-in/8-out GPIO connector allows interfacing with external systems (i.e. lighting controllers). Two expansion slots offer AES/EBU digital I/O, additional analog outputs, and BNC/optical MADI. Sonicview’s HDXC recorder uses one expansion slot, however, placing the memory card slot on the back of the mixer (at the bottom, no less). That placement may prove to be inconvenient at best.

As with most digital mixers, Sonicview offers an external control app for remote control of the mixer. That software supports Mac, Windows, and iPad devices. The Sonicview control app doesn’t currently support Android devices.

TASCAM’s new Sonicview mixers show a lot of promise, coming in at a price point that few other manufacturers have addressed. We look forward to seeing if Sonicview offers enough value to entice churches to step up from the crowded $3,000-$5,000 digital mixer market.