tascam 2488mkII or Zoom hd16cd???

[89gtsleeper]

tascam 2488mkII or Zoom hd16cd???
I am really at a big stand still on this one...

Basically they both have:

80 gig hd
cd burner built-in
basic 3 band eq
44.1 sample rate
some built in effects
programmable drum machines

the pros and cons:

tascam - 24 track
zoom - 16 track

zoom - 8 inputs xlr or 1/4"
tascam - 8 inputs total, but only 4 xlr, 4 1/4" only

tascam - 24 bit
zoom - 16 bit

zoom - comes with cubase, and has integration with said software
zoom - 200 bucks less (which I am REALLY tight on money right now!!!)

so really, I don't think I'll ever need more than 16 tracks, and I like the cubase added in, the only real downside to the zoom that I can see is the 16 bit limit, but I'll be mixing to 16 bit cd anyway, so I don't see why it matters for now... the other thing is the tascam is 900 bucks, whereas I can get the zoom for 700 bucks.... I was set on the tascam until I stumbled across the zoom... any suggestions???

[Chuck_Glisson]

The band I am in now is getting ready to record, and I will be getting the zoom, I don't see what the Tascam can offer except 1) A higher price tag 2)Confusing operating system 3) Lack of interface compatibility with other equipment ie-OS 4)A$$holes at their service department.

My 1st venture into home recording was with a Tascam 788 which was the most "stoned out machine" I' ve ever tried to operate The designers at Tascam must have been on some great acid when they went to designing this confusing piece of $#it! anyway I did manage FINALLY get some decent recordings with it, latter on it decided not to interface with an external burner that it worked with previously(burner is not built in to a 788). I called their Tech support who was a real jerk over the phone. He promptly told me; "That's what I get for trying to use THEIR machine with a CD burner from ANOTHER MFR". I promptly told him; " No, me buying the non-Tascam burner was not my mistake, my mistake was BUYING ANYTHING MADE BY TASCAM IN THE FIRST PLACE! I then hung up on the jerk.

So,,,save yourself $200, and get yourself a better recording studio in the process, plus a machine that is compatible with other systems, and as a BIG BONUS, you don' t have to deal with those scumbags at TASCAM!

[mikemorgan]

AND the Zoom can double as a DAW controller. I have heard less than stellar reviews about the Zoom's sonics, but it fills a niche at a price point that hasn't been beaten yet. Tascam owner's generally rave about the quality of the product, but most will admit, the learning curve is pretty steep.

Sorry, didn't realize how old this thread was.

[Danny B]

Well guys I will have to disagree with you. I am and owner of the 2488 MK11 and compared to the former 2488 there has been a large improvement. I was a former owner of a Zoom 1688 and sound wise there is no comparison. Simply put, the Zoom is a toy. The quality of the recorder's sound is average. The Tascam has it's flaws but it can still record at 24bit and yes there are menu's to navigate through but there are menus on the Zoom unit too.

It seems that everyone wants everything so simple. We think we should take it out of the box and wham, perfect recording... My 1688 hard drive crashed on me with in the first 6 months. I took it to a friend of mine and he replaced the hard drive and then a few months later it died completly. The only good unit I had was a 1266 and I sold it to a friend of mine. It was a good recorder!! I have also had two multi effects processors from zoom and one had a button break within a few days of buying it so I sent it back to AMS and they sent me another one, within a year the wah pedal was making a nasty noise.

Korg and Yamaha both make great recorders too. I had the Korg 1200 MK11 and recently the sound card went out of it, that is why I bought the Tascam. A friend of mine owns a recording studio and uses a Yamaha recorder and believe me it blows all of them away.

I think we could all agree on one thing, each person has their own opinion on equipment. At least with most companies you can try things for a few days and if your not happy you can take it back.

[The Green Hornet]

Viva the Yam AW1600. Great sound quality. And, it can burn 700 bytes of songs in 10 minutes and be ready to burn the disc again if you want more copies.

Its HD will hold 100 mixed songs; then you have to delete or download the material.

And, I agree, Tascam has gone downhill. I had a Yamaha techie on the phone and he spent an hour with me guiding me through some moves.

Also, there is a dedicated site with GREAT help from a bunch of people, as well as posted video instructions and many other assets: DijonStock Yamaha is the site. You can learn more there in a few visits than reading 22 manuals.

The 1600 manual is "better" than earlier Yam manuals but the box can do so many things. The more savvy you are about its functions via experience, the more fun you will have.

It would pay you to take a look at the Yam, as well as the other boxes. It runs just about 1K at the moment unless you can find a deal.

Cheers,
Green Hornet

[Minion]

My guitarist has a Zoom 1608 HD recorder and I have to say that the recording quality isn"t very good ,The pre"s are noisy and the effects are pretty crappy....The recordings sound like you are recording with a Gheto blaster and the Digital Vu meters aren"t even close to accurate....

Even my Delta 1010LT and Delta 44 sound 10x better than the zoom....

[TomBo777]

At the Zoom price point nothing compares. For $700 you have it all. DAW and DAW controller as well as stand alone recording with 8 balanced inputs.

It will do what you ask it to. Make a CD of your songs. NONE of the units named are better then going into a full blown Pro Tools Studio so why spend more than you have to. I assure you the differences will not be heard at the end among all the "Studio in a Box" Solutions. Especially since much of what is recorded will end up as VBR Mp3s anyway.

Save your money and get the Zoom. Use the $300 for a nice mike or towards a pair of BX8s or Mackie Monitors.

[drfringe]

the tascam vers I had some bugs, and defects, but it does have audio processing and some other features, but the DAW of the zoom sounds appealing,

at this range I'd even look at spending a little extra $ and see what you come up with

I was hesitant, and got a korg d3200- which is stellar

[boose44]

These days you can get a 2488MKII for *under* 700 dollars new and in the box off eBay. I don't care what anyone says -- to me that is quite a deal for a 24 track 24-bit recorder.

I've owned a couple of 788's, and while I agree the previous poster about the operating system (some serious drugs must have been used while writting that little beastie), I have to say that the 2488MKII seems to have been simplified, and sonically it seems *much* better than the 788's to my ears.

-bruce

[Danny B]

Boose44 I totally agree with you. The Tascam 2488MKII is a great recorder for the money. When they first came out there was alot of complaints on the quality, but hey as a musician I have seen alot of stuff come out on the market that had alot of problems and all were name brand manufacturers. The 2488MKII, for the price, is a bargain. Yes Korg and Yamaha make some awesome recorders but their price is steeper too. Tascam/Teac has been around for along time. I've had Zoom recorders in the past but I really like my Tascam. It is user friendly and sounds excellent!!

Danny

[Chuck_Glisson]

Originally Posted by Danny B

Well guys I will have to disagree with you. I am and owner of the 2488 MK11 and compared to the former 2488 there has been a large improvement. I was a former owner of a Zoom 1688 and sound wise there is no comparison. Simply put, the Zoom is a toy. The quality of the recorder's sound is average. The Tascam has it's flaws but it can still record at 24bit and yes there are menu's to navigate through but there are menus on the Zoom unit too.

It seems that everyone wants everything so simple. We think we should take it out of the box and wham, perfect recording... My 1688 hard drive crashed on me with in the first 6 months. I took it to a friend of mine and he replaced the hard drive and then a few months later it died completly. The only good unit I had was a 1266 and I sold it to a friend of mine. It was a good recorder!! I have also had two multi effects processors from zoom and one had a button break within a few days of buying it so I sent it back to AMS and they sent me another one, within a year the wah pedal was making a nasty noise.

Korg and Yamaha both make great recorders too. I had the Korg 1200 MK11 and recently the sound card went out of it, that is why I bought the Tascam. A friend of mine owns a recording studio and uses a Yamaha recorder and believe me it blows all of them away.

I think we could all agree on one thing, each person has their own opinion on equipment. At least with most companies you can try things for a few days and if your not happy you can take it back.

Point 1;
The Quality of the Zoom machine is Average compared it Tascam?
ALL these machines record in digital, so the recording QUALITY is not going to be different, you must rely on PROCESSING to get YOUR sound, I don't, for me if it dosen't sound good BEFORE the mic, then it's not ready (or worthy) to be recorded in the 1st place.

Point 2;
It seems everyone wants thing so simple.
And the reason this is a bad thing is?
Lemme SPLAIN somthing here. I AM A MUSICIAN. I an NOT a Techno geek, nor DO I want to ever want to be. There is ALOT of things that I DO AS A MUSICIAN that I want caught in the recording. Learning how to operate a badly designed piece of gear is not important to me, I'll go for the piece that was designed intellegently over one designed by a moron. "Simple to operate" for the user translates to; "GREAT DESIGNING SKILLS" by the MFR.

I am a musician 1ST, and YES do DO expect the WORLD TO REVOLVE around me when it's MY MONEY being used for equipment that I WILL BE OPERATING.

[dr.funkenstein]

Ok.. I was biting my tongue... But have to now say, there are some very mis-informed people handing out useless advice. 24 bit recording is NOT a slight difference when recording.. It IS a HUGE difference! For example a Pro-Tools HD Rig uses a 48 bit internal buss for mixing purposes, because even 24 bit recording buss will just overload when mixing 8 or more source tracks. 16 bit 44,100 is the absolute BOTTOM END of audio. Harsh sounding , noisy & only 96db of headroom(24bit has 144db)!! But, an even bigger deal are the converters used to change the analogue sound being recorded.. Or more accurately the word clock inside the converters.. Neither Tascam Nor Zoom are considered to be high quality A/D converters. Prism make the best, Mackie, Apogee are not bad.. Pro-Tools HD192 are not bad... Motu are useable..Ish.. The point is, whether or not you are a techno geek or a musician.. You want to record the best sound you can get.. Digital is not the same just because it is digital.. There are some very big differences from system to system. The Zoom is a nice toy for musicians that just wanna "play" at recording.. Tascam is slightly better quality, but only just. So if you want to make recordings & just have fun get the cheaper Zoom option. But if you take yourself seriously & want good sound quality... Then don't touch either & invest your cash in a Pro-Tools LE system using an M-Box2 PRO.

[jeffree]

Sorry, I know it's not one of your target choices, but I'll throw another vote out there for the Yamaha 1600. What a great box for those of us who prefer stand-alones. I've been happily using the older, similar version (aw16G) for seven years without a hiccup, and the 1600 adds some nice features to the package. As Danny mentioned, you can't expect to unpack a machine like that and record a CD the first week, but with some patience and practice, the learning curve's not steep at all--even for a low-tech geek musician like me.

[Jim Lad]

I almost bought the Tascam but chose the Korg for its preamps. It was a tough decision though.
I've heard a recording made by the Zoom (by a pro) and it's very thin.
Don't get me wrong. I love the look and feel of it. It's a great machine and very tempting at the price but... it's a top of the line hobbyist's tool.
The Tascam 2488 would be the the least expensive of the complete studio models and a real step up from the Zoom.
As for 16 versus 24 bit... It makes a big difference. I can certainly hear it in my own stuff but if you're using 8 tracks it would really depend on the individual project as to whether you'd use the 24 bit.
Safest bet? The Tascam.

[darrin_h2000]

I have the 2488neo...I kinda wish they still made the akai dps24 because the dps16 I used for alot of years Im comfortable with...but the Tascam is a real step up from the Zoom.