The FW-1884 is a professional DAW control surface and audio/MIDI interface that uses the Fire Wire high-speed data transfer protocol. With Fire Wire’s high-bandwidth capabilities, the FW-1884 provides audio and MIDI interfacing to computers as well as control of DAW parameters via eight 100mm motorized touch-sensitive channel faders, one master fader, and controls for pan, solo, mute and select functions on each channel. Tactile control for four bands of parametric EQ, a jog/shuttle wheel and a variety of shortcut keys for various popular software applications are also included.
Co-designed by Tascam and Frontier Design Group, the FW-1884’s DAW control capabilities include comprehensive mixing, automation, editing and navigation tools. Steinberg’s Cubase LE in included free -- a 48-track, 96kHz professional recording workstation. An included application, Soft LCD, shows the assignment of the channel strip of your computer monitor.
In addition to its surface control capabilities, the FW-1884 provides eight balanced XLR analog mic/line inputs with high quality mic preamps, phantom power and inserts on every channel. These mic preamps are the culmination of Tascam’s 30-year history of producing great-sounding, reliable equipment for home and professional studios alike. The mic input circuit uses a hybrid design combining the best of discrete and IC-based circuitry for 54dB of gain, wide dynamic range and natural response. The mic inputs have phantom power assignable in groups of four and include an analog insert on each channel for inserting outboard signal processing. The result is a clean preamp design with a frequency response of 20Hz to 40kHz (+0.5/-1.0dB) and a noise level of -124dBu(EIN), ideal for recording at 96kHz/24-bit resolution.
For people who require simultaneous control of more audio channels, the FE-8 expands the FW-1884 with eight additional channel control strips (100mm motorized faders and dedicated control buttons). Up to 15 FE-8’s may be added to an FW-1884 system as needed for big console functionality.
Features:
- Comprehensive mixing, automation, editing and navigation tools for DAWs
- Eight 100mm motorized touch-sensitive channel faders, one motorized touch-sensitive master fader
- Dedicated controls for pan, solo, mute and select functions on each channel; tactile control for four bands of parametric EQ
- Shortcut keys for various popular audio software applications
- Eight balanced XLR analog mic/line inputs with high quality mic preamps
- Phantom power and inserts on every channel
- 24-bit/96kHz A/D and D/A converters; full 96kHz operation on all analog I/O channels with compatible DAW software
- Eight channels of ADAT light pipe, stereo S/PDIF inputs and outputs
- Eight analog outputs, allowing connection of L/R and 5.1 surround matrices
- Dedicated headphone output
- Four MIDI inputs, four MIDI outputs
- Word Clock in and out jacks
- Assignable foot switch jack
- Up to 18 simultaneous inputs
- Compatible with a wide variety of popular DAW applications
- Operates as a standalone 18x2 line mixer without a computer
- FE-8 (eight-channel sidecar) expands FW-1884 with eight additional channel control strips up to 128 channels (15 FE-8s).
- Soft LCD application simulates a ”scribble strip” by displaying what each channel is controlling, see the screen shots in the column on the left
- Includes Cubase LE 48-track/96kHz recording and mixing software
- Includes GigaStudio 3 LE 64-voice streaming sampler software
- Compatible with MOTU Digital Performer, Apple Logic, Steinberg Cubase and Nuendo, and Cakewalk Sonar. Control surface compatible with Digidesign Pro Tools
- Dimensions: 22.9”W x 5.4”H x 18.9”D
- Weight: 22.7 lbs
- Compatible with the latest Intel Macs
