Teac DM-3200 Software Guide

D008893-10B

Digital Mixing Console

TMCompanion SOFTWARE GUIDE

Contents

1 – Introduction and installation

Installation (Windows) ........................... 3

Repairing and uninstalling TMCompanion ........4

Installation (Mac OS X) ........................... 4

Uninstalling TMCompanion ................................4

Copyright, etc. ......................................... 4

2 – Using TMCompanion

Backup and restore ................................. 5

Timecode/Transport window ................ 6

Meter bridge ........................................... 6

Firmware update .................................... 7

Screen shot .............................................. 7

3 – Preferences

MIDI Time Code ....................................................8

Window settings ..................................................8

Confirmations .......................................................8

Settings .................................................................8

2 TASCAM DM TMCompanion software guide

1 – Introduction and installation

The TASCAM Mixer Companion (or “TMCompanion”) is software for Microsoft Windows XP or Apple Com­puter’s Mac OS X, allowing the following operations to be carried out on the TASCAM DM-4800 and DM­3200 digital mixing consoles (referred to in this manual as “TASCAM DM”) from the host computer, using a
USB connection for 2-way operation:

• Management of projects, allowing storage and
archival of projects on the host computer, and res­toration to the TASCAM DM.

• On-screen metering for channels, busses, aux
sends, and the main stereo buss.

• Firmware updates to the TASCAM DM are carried
out through TMCompanion.

Installation (Windows)

A computer capable of running Windows XP, with at
least one USB port, is required to run the program.

It is strongly recommended that Windows XP Ser­vice Pack 2 (SP2) is installed prior to installing
TMCompanion (this provides better and more stable
MIDI drivers than earlier versions). This Service
Pack (English version) is provided on the TMCom­panion CD-ROM.

When the CD-ROM is inserted, the autoplay process
opens a window providing the option to install
TMCompanion or SP2, read the release notes, install
Adobe Acrobat Reader or visit the TASCAM Web
site to look for updates and further release notes, etc.

• A timecode display and on-screen transport con­trols mirroring those of the TASCAM DM can be
used.

• A screen shot of the TASCAM DM can be down­loaded and stored as a PNG (Portable Network
Graphics) file on the host computer.

Next>

• Press

to move to the next screen, which
sets out the licensing terms and conditions.
Read these, select

I Agree

, and press

Next>

.

• Choose the folder in which the program will

reside. The default folder

C:\Program Files\TASCAM

is one in which other TASCAM applications
(e.g. GigaStudio) reside, so it is a good idea to
leave the default settings here.

NOTE

If SP2 is to be installed, this should be done before
TMCompanion is installed.

• When installing TMCompanion, a confirma-

tion panel appears, followed by a standard
Windows installation program:

Figure 1: Installation start screen

Figure 2: Destination folder selection

• After a few more confirmation screens, the

program will then install.

• Following the installation, there will be a new

TASCAM

group in the

Start

menu, with the
TASCAM Mixer Companion as a sub-item in
it.

Other items (e.g. Adobe Acrobat Reader) can then be
installed as required.

TASCAM DM TMCompanion software guide 3

1 – Introduction and installation : Installation (Mac OS X)

Repairing and uninstalling TMCompanion

To uninstall the software, run the
from the CD-ROM:

Figure 3: Uninstalling the software

SETUP.EXE

program

Alternatively, the
item can be used to remove the TMCompanion soft­ware in the usual way:

Control Panel

’s

Add/Remove Programs

Note that this option also allows reinstallation of

Repair

damaged components (

).

Installation (Mac OS X)

A computer running OS X 10.3 or above is required.

• Insert the CD-ROM into the drive. A CD icon

labeled “DM Series” appears. Open this disc.

• Double-click the installer package to launch

the standard OS X Installer program.

Uninstalling TMCompanion

Simply drag the
(or press

Command-Delete

TMCompanion

).

application to the Trash

Copyright, etc.

Windows and Windows XP are trademarks of
Microsoft Corporation.

Figure 4: Using the Control Panel to remove the

TMCompanion software

• When the installation is complete, you will see

a program called
folder.

• If you download the Installer from the

TASCAM Web site, it will be in the form of a
disk image (.dmg) file, which should be
attached and used in the usual way.

Macintosh, Mac OS, and Mac OS X are trademarks
of Apple Computer.

TMCompanion

in the

Applications

4 TASCAM DM TMCompanion software guide

2 – Using TMCompanion

Make sure the TASCAM DM is connected to the
computer and turned on. Double-click the application
to start it.

If you launch TMCompanion with a TASCAM DM
is not connected, you can run the program in offline
mode, but it will not enable you to do very much.

Backup and restore

The different functions of the software are accessed
through the main window, which appears when the
software is launched.

The application will also automatically quit, display­ing a warning message panel if the connection to the
TASCAM DM is broken while the software is run­ning.

Projects stored on the computer are named as

xxxxx.tpi

(TASCAM Project Image).
This main window can be shown by using the

Main Window

->

menu item.

Window

To back up a file to the host computer

Use the methods described above to select the desti­nation folder.

Select a project on the TASCAM DM (left view) and
drag it into the right view. Confirmation can be
switched on and off through the application prefer­ences (see below).

Figure 5: TMCompanion Main screen

The left view lists the projects stored in the CF card
of the TASCAM DM (the currently active project has
a red icon).

The right view is a file browser for the host com­puter. Use the

Browse

button to select a working
folder (the arrow buttons work like Web browser but­tons to go backwards and forwards through the navi­gation history).

Selected folders can be stored as favorites by using
the

Add Current Folder

accessed by clicking the
The

Remove All Favorites

option from the pull-down menu

Browse

button.

option clears the list of favor-

ite folders.

Alternatively, double-click the file, or use the

Backup

button.
If the current project is selected, the last version of

this project stored on the CF card will be copied to
the computer.

Multiple files can be selected and moved between the
TASCAM DM and the host computer.

To restore a file from the host computer

Use the right view to navigate to the folder on the
host computer containing the project.

Select a
right column.

Either drag and drop the file into the left column
(TASCAM DM), or double-click it, or use the
button to move the file.

Multiple files can be selected and moved between the
TASCAM DM and the host computer.

Note that you can rename a project on the host com­puter, and this name will be used when you restore
the project to the TASCAM DM.

.tpi

project file from the list of files in the

Restore

TASCAM DM TMCompanion software guide 5

2 – Using TMCompanion : Timecode/Transport window

Timecode/Transport window

Use the

Window

->

Timecode/Transport

menu item to

bring up the transport window.

NOTE

To use the timecode display, you must use the prefer­ences to set the MIDI port used by the MTC (see “MIDI
Time Code” on page 8).

This window has two appearances; a fixed size and a
resizeable appearance. Change between them by
clicking in the timecode area.

Click on the on-screen transport buttons, which work
in the same way as the physical transport keys on the
TASCAM DM. Note the “return to start” button
which has no physical counterpart.

As timecode is received through the appropriate
MIDI port, the display updates.

Figure 6: Fixed size (top) and resizeable (bottom)

transport window

Meter bridge

This allows all channels, all busses and all aux sends,
along with the stereo buss, to be metered.

Select

Meter Bridge

Figure 7: Meter Bridge window

Note that this window comes in three “fold-out” sec­tions, accessed by the triangular controls on the left

from the

Windows

menu.

of the window. Figure 7, Meter Bridge window
shows all sections displayed.

The top control section of the window allows the
meter settings to be made: the type can be either

Regular

(peak) or

response). Sliders allow the

Hold Time

to be set and a check box provides

peak hold time. The

Average

Clear Peaks

(more similar to VU meter

Meter Decay Rate

and

Infinite

Peak

button resets pesak

hold displays.
The pickoff points for the meters can then be set. For

channels 1 through 48 (DM-4800) or 1 through 32
(DM-3200), the choices are:

Pre Insert

and

Post Fader

. Consult the block diagram in

Input, Pre Gate, Post Gate

,

the Owner’s Manual if you are unsure of where these
belong.

For channels 49 through 64 (DM-4800) or 33
through 49 (DM-3200), thse choices are restricted to

Input

or

Post Fader

For the busses (and aux sends) the choices are:

Comp

(compressor),

.

Pre Fader

and

Post Fader

Pre

.

6 TASCAM DM TMCompanion software guide

Firmware update

2 – Using TMCompanion : Firmware update

From time to time, TASCAM will make updates
available from the Web site or through your
TASCAM distributor. To install these updates, use
the

Firmware Update

dows

menu) in the TMCompanion software:

Press the on-screen

window (accessed from the

Figure 8: Firmware update

Open

button to open a file

Win-

browser, where you can select the firmware update
(these always have a

.tfi

extension).

The version of the mixer firmware and the version of
the new firmware are shown in the

Status

fields, respectively.

Mixer Status

and

File

More information, including whether the file actually
performs a recommended upgrade or not, is available
by using the

More Info

foldout (not shown in Figure 8,

Firmware update).

To update the TASCAM DM Press the on-

screen Update button. An on-screen status bar dis­plays the progress of the operation, and the screen of
the TASCAM DM shows the update progress. The
process takes under five minutes, including the
reboot of the TASCAM DM unit.

NOTE

The TASCAM DM should not be turned off during the
update process or subsequent reboot, although it has a
“safety-net” built in which allows the unit to be started
without a full operating system.

Use the
updating the unit.

Close

button to close the window without

Screen shot

The screen shot option allows you to capture the cur­rent mixer screen as a PNG file to a directory of your
choosing.

When the option is selected, a standard browser
panel appears, allowing you to select the directory
and name the resulting file.

As the screen data is uploaded to the host computer, a
progress bar appears on screen.

TASCAM DM TMCompanion software guide 7

3 – Preferences

The Preferences panel allows the setting of various
parameters:

Figure 9: Preferences screen

MIDI Time Code

Firstly, MIDI Time Code can be accepted for use
with the Transport Window, and the default for this
over the USB connection is Port 3 (see the MIDI sec-

Window settings

The last window size and position can be remem­bered, using

Save Window Size and Position

.

Confirmations

By default, the TMCompanion software asks for con­firmation before transferring project data between
the host computer and the TASCAM DM (during
transfer a progress bar appears). Turn this confirma-

Settings

The mixer’s internal clock and calendar may be set
from the host computer’s internal clock using the

Mixer Clock

button.

Set

tion of the Owner’s Manual for details of the virtual
ports used by the TASCAM DM).

Enable

Display splash image

MTC In

and select the MIDI port.

allows you to choose whether a
“splash screen” announces the launching of the
TMCompanion application or not.

tion off with the

Skip Confirmation for Backup and Restore

option.
You can also turn off the notice confirming quitting

the application with the

No Confirmation on Quit

option.

TEAC CORPORATION

Phone: [phone] www.tascam.com
3-7-3, Nakacho, Musashino-shi, Tokyo 180-8550, Japan

TEAC AMERICA, INC.

Phone: [phone] www.tascam.com
7733 Telegraph Road, Montebello, California 90640

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