Tascam M-5000
A 64-input recording and production console that sold for around $30,000, and the engineers who ran one still talk about how fast it let them work.
Overview
The M-5000 is a large-format in-line recording and production console. It's a 24-bus desk with 32 I/O modules, expandable to 40, which the period press tallied as a 64-input console. Mix (March 1996, p.153) put the street price at around $30,000 and called it outstanding value for a desk of that size. That fits where Tascam positioned it, since a conventional console with comparable input count would have cost considerably more.
Each channel carries two independent signal paths with dual linear faders, and both paths get their own extensive EQ, solo, and cut facilities. That dual-path layout is what makes an in-line desk useful in a working studio. The monitor path isn't a stripped-down afterthought, it's a full channel. Mix (January 1995, p.17) quoted chief engineer Glenn Aulepp of Wild Woods, who chose the console partly because it was set up for post-production, saying the board was logically laid out and very easy to operate. Aulepp also noted that the large faders were preset for his tape returns but could be reversed at the flip of a switch for tracking.
Grouping is where owners tend to get enthusiastic. Mix (January 1995, p.17) reported virtually unlimited grouping and subgrouping options, and Aulepp singled out the three cut groups as a necessity rather than a convenience. For anyone doing complex mixes with stems or multiple monitor feeds, that flexibility is the difference between a session that flows and one that fights you.
Automation was supplied with the console, per Mix (March 1996, p.153). The same review notes the M-5000's in-line channel strip topology and its dual input layered architecture - a high degree of modularity that let the desk be tailored to the application. Scene automation could be run either discretely or in groups, covering masters and other elements in any combination. An optional Fader Link module tied event controllers such as relays and TTIs and MIDI program scene changes to the fader automation. The default fader arrangement favors the in-line workflow, but internal jumpers can be set module by module to reverse those defaults if the room needs the console configured in a more conventional mode.
That modularity cuts both ways. A desk built from 32 I/O modules expandable to 40 is a desk you can grow into and service in sections. It also means condition varies enormously between surviving examples. A console pulled from a working post room with a full module complement is a different proposition from one that's been picked over. Buyers should expect to verify module count and automation status before committing.
Production years are not settled. No confirmed start or end date for the M-5000 has surfaced in the available documentation, and the period coverage clusters in the mid-1990s without pinning the run down. [VERIFY: production years not confirmed] Specifications beyond the bus count, module count, and dual-path channel architecture remain undocumented here. No frequency response, distortion, or crosstalk figures are on file, and none should be assumed.
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