What stand alone digital recorder to buy?

[Terisong]

Hi all!
I'm new to this forum. I have had about two and a half years worth of home recording experience and am now considering new equipment. I started with the Tascam DP01 and it's such an easy machine to work with and put out a decent sound, but has not CD burner. The next recorder I bought was a Roland VS2400CD and it is just over my head! I'm NOT an audio engineer and want to use a recorder that is user friendly and uncomplicated, but burns CDs. I'm looking at the Tascam2488 NEO. I'm not interested in recording with a PC, I'm just not computer savy.

I Would love some feedback on some stand alones, and especially the Tascam2488Neo. I haven't found many reviews about this unit so far.

[paul999]

There isn't a machine that doesn't have a learning curve. If you are happy with your dp 1 you might want to play music from your dp1 into your computers built in sound card with audacity ( free) software. All you need to do is press record in audacity and play on you dp1 and it should work. This is the least complicated way I can think of.

cheers

[Terisong]

Thanks Paul,

Pressing play on the DP01 and record on audacity sounds to good to be true! I'll have to look into this.

Cheers,
Teri :-)

[garageband]

Paul's being very generous today. This is more than a little of, "I want to be able to do something that approaches a very difficult and sophisticated magic trick, but I don't want to put forth any effort to learn and master it." Do you still have the VS? Toughen up, sit down with the book and learn to use it. It isn't that hard, just different. What'll help immensely on the VS-2000 is to hook up a keyboard and mouse, a fairly unique and wonderful capability this machine has. And don't be a quitter. As we have recently pointed out to our 11-y-o daughter, the world has limited appreciation for quitters.

For the record, is the new Tascam is anything like the older model (probably just greater resolution and other minor improvements), it's of the same relative power and complexity as the Roland. Just different.

[C. Hanson]

I use a Yamaha AW1600, which has everything the serious back-room home recordist would want or need. It has been a laborious learning process, but worth it.
Tascam's upgrade of the DP01 has a burner. I think it's the DP02, or something. I had the DP01FXCD and found it a breeze, but just too limiting on the input side of things.
I understand some computer software is really easy to use these days. It's important to have all the editing capability you might need.
You'll find, however, that most 16 or 24 bit recordings offer pretty much the same quality from one brand to another. The real difference to your recording has to be on the input side: decent gear, mic placement, room, monitors, ears.
Sorry for drifting off the topic at the end.

[garageband]

On reflection, the AW1600 has a similar level of sophistication as the Roland and Tascam machines mentioned. It's interesting how similar they are in function and complexity. Seems to be what's required to get the job done.

[spittingoutteeth]

First off, thanks to everyone for this great forum. Can't believe I'm just discovering it now.

I'm planning on buying a standalone digital recorder soon and need to have the capability to record 8 tracks simultaneously. I've narrowed it down to the Yamaha AW-1600 or the Tascam 2488neo. I can get them used for about the same price, but I'm completely torn on which one to get. The main issue I have is that, based on the specs I've read, they seem to be essentially the same machine.

Are there any major differences between the two units? I'm mainly interested in quality--are the preamps in one better than the other? They both seem to be full 44.1/24bit, so I don't anticipate any resolution differences. Other than sound quality, build quality and ability to interface with a Mac easily will be big for me. Any advice or info would be very greatly appreciated!

[newkid]

Originally Posted by spittingoutteeth

First off, thanks to everyone for this great forum. Can't believe I'm just discovering it now.

I'm planning on buying a standalone digital recorder soon and need to have the capability to record 8 tracks simultaneously. I've narrowed it down to the Yamaha AW-1600 or the Tascam 2488neo. I can get them used for about the same price, but I'm completely torn on which one to get. The main issue I have is that, based on the specs I've read, they seem to be essentially the same machine.

Are there any major differences between the two units? I'm mainly interested in quality--are the preamps in one better than the other? They both seem to be full 44.1/24bit, so I don't anticipate any resolution differences. Other than sound quality, build quality and ability to interface with a Mac easily will be big for me. Any advice or info would be very greatly appreciated!

Why did you rule out others?
Did you look at zoom r16 at all?
Of course if you meant 8 mike channels that would be a problem for the zoom.

Tascam does not seem to spec their quality.
If yamaha says anything about freq response and noise I would go with that one.

[spittingoutteeth]

The only reason I didn't include the Zoom was because the unit seemed pretty minimalistic compared to the other two. I'm definitely a "button-and-knobs" guy, and I hate having to dig through menus on hardware recorders. That said, I own one of the Zoom H4 recorders and love it, so maybe I'll need to give r16 another look.

I'm also thinking about the VS2400CD now. Didn't even know about that one until I saw this thread & I love the monitor out and keyboard/mouse functionality.

[garageband]

VS2400 is a truly amazing machine.