Tascam DP-004 vs. Fostex MR-8 mkII

esull0585

New member
So I'm new to this whole home recording thing, and these are the two pieces of equipment I've been looking at the most due to their price and the built in mics. Now I know the built in mics are not meant to record anything other than "ideas" but I'm kinda poor and have no money for expensive mics. Anyways, based on what I said, and your knowledge of these two pieces of equipment, what would you recommend me buying? I have $250 to spend.

Thanks a lot.

-Ed
 
Of those two (DP-004 vs MR8), I would pick the Fostex MR8 MKII. However the Tascam DP-004 is $150 and the Fostex MR8 MKII is $250 so you might expect the Fostex to be better.

You can find the Tascam DP-008 for $215 (B&H Photo Video), so for your $250 budget you should really be comparing the DP-008 vs the Fostex MR8 MKII. In this case, I think the DP-008 edges out the Fostex because DP-008 does 24-bit recording, while the Fostex and DP-004 are both 16-bit.

All 3 record onto CF or SD cards, so they will be quiet units.

I have a Fostex MR16HD which is very solid, so I like Fostex equipment (except for the wimpy preamps), but I have heard many good things about the Tascam DP-008 also.

If you can stretch the budget to $400, I would recommend the Zoom R16 over the Fostex MR16HD, because the Zoom R16 does 24-bit recording while the MR16HD is 16-bit.
 
Another thought - you might investigate the Zoom H2 for $179. It has 4 internal mics (stereo mics on front and back), which sound very good. It can record stereo front or back, or surround by using both mic sets.

No overdubbing though, so if you want to record a track while listening to a previously recorded track, you'd be better off with the Tascam DP-008.
 
Thanks a lot. I went with the DP-008. I printed out the sale page from B&H and brought it to Guitar Center and got it the next day for like $220 total after tax. The guys there were PISSED, let me tell ya, they kept trying to sell my unnecessary accessories to raise the price up, hah. Anyways, thanks again for your help.
 
I actually looked at those too before settling in with ebay for a steal-deal on something bigger. Something I noticed about the Tascam, is that its big brother, the 8 track one, is WAAAY better for only about 50-100 bucks more. It actually has equalizers and a reverb, but other than that, nice simple just like the dp4. If you are going to buy the Tascam one, you may as well go the extra cash to get one that will actually let you polish things up a bit and use a tad of reverb to sound like a 'good demo' instead of just a 'demo'. Just the difference in whether or not it has equalization is HUGE in my opinion, you can drop the lows on a vocal track, raise the mids by dropping hi/lo and raising overall volume to get solid midzy guitar, oomph up your kick drum or bass, treble out the bass hi for clarity, all those cute tricks, just from having a simple onboard EQ. Not to be underestimated. I tested the mics too and they aren't bad for general 'sounds like the room' recordings... but 8 tracks is far more liberating than 4. Reverb is a nice afterthought... since neither of these actually have an effect send, at least it has one built in. I swear I don't work for Tascam, I just tested these out and they were pretty cool. Only reason I didn't buy the 8 track version is that I found a DP/FX/CD on ebay used for about the same price. Can't argue with a free CD burner.
 
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