DP-24 - I love it (so far)

cwhowell2 said:
Good news - The DP24's internal format is now fat16 or fat32, depending on the SD card size. I suggest you immediatly get a larger SD card because the one included is a 2GB fat16. Staples has PNY 8gb cards on sale for $15. Note: cards must be Class 10 in order to work. Anyway, format conversions are no longer required. You can pop the SD card into your computer and access all the files. A USB cable is also included and that simply connects you to the card in the recorder with Widows Explorer. Either way, you get full access to all files. CAUTION: Don't mess with the recorded tracks. Apparantly there are control files that keep track of track sized etc. Although I haven't tried it yet, I believe using the AudioDepot folder is the solution to keeping everything in sync. So lengthy format conversions are no longer an issue. Backups are simply a copy & paste operation. Regards - Bill
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If files first have to be sent to an "AudioDepot" folder in order to be in sync when imported into a DAW, then that suggests they are being converted (i.e., silence is being inserted in the unrecorded portions preceding the files). I don't see how else it could be done. If the files are already in .wav format rather than in a proprietary Tascam format, though, that probably cuts down the conversion time considerably. [UPDATE: Rereading your paragraph, I see you were saying the same thing.]

I don't understand why Tascam would give the user direct access to the raw session .wav files through a computer if he's not supposed to modify them. Isn't that kind of like putting a bottle of milk spiked with Draino next to a toddler and telling him not to drink it?
 
aaronaycox said:
The DP just doesn't appeal to me. I was really hoping that Tascam would have given us an option to use a monitor with full color, 8 balanced preamps, the choice to record to multiple drives (SD, external hard drive, direct to a PC or mac, thumb drive, (and) or CD). I would have also like to have been able to use the effects independantly on each channel rather than being restricted to what we have been restricted to for years.
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If those are the things you want, why not just record to a computer?
 
cwhowell2 said:
My only complaint with all the digital recorders is no way to tell which tracks have something recorded. You have to play it to see which tracks are empty. The solution, of course, is to make good notes on a tracksheet. Here is my version, if anybody's intersted:
http://cwhowell2.com/tracksheet4.pdf
http://cwhowell2.com/tracksheet4.xlsx
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I could've sworn I saw a screenshot of the DP-24 with a timeline view that displayed all the audio in a session. Am I just imagining it?
 
cusebassman said:
For basic tracking, I'd imagine the two units would function similarly. The benefit of the DP-24 is that it records to solid-state media, so you are at less risk of damaging the unit by moving it around. The 2488's use a standard mechanical hard drive which is much more susceptible to damage from moving the unit around. Also, I've read that you can simply remove the SD card from the DP-24 and, using an SD card reader, transfer tracks directly to PC without performing a lengthy export process. I could be wrong on that one.
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An even bigger advantage of recording directly to an SD card, I would think, is that it eliminates hard drive noise and the need to have a noisy fan built in the unit. This won't matter if you're recording your brother's death metal band in their rehearsal space next to an airport, but if you're recording acoustic instruments in a quiet room, fan and HD noise can be a PITA.

Is the DP-24 noisy?

Based on some of the reports I've been reading about the DP-24, DP-02, and some of the Zoom recorders being prone to lock-ups, I'm starting to wonder if SD and similar media are really up to the task of doing more than, say, 4 tracks of audio.
 
Gdub1 said:
....but, ultimately, I guess what I'm REALLY annoyed about is the fact that there are really no alternatives (other than the now defunct Neo) to the DP-24 in the 'high quality' standalone...sod the pc, let's twiddle some knobs....yet affordable....24 track market.

Alas & alac... for a Yamaha or Roland big track!

I still believe the big boys have got it wrong, there's PLENTY of peeps who want knobs to twiddle, instead of a mouse to click, on endless menu systems....I've been there n done that.
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It certainly looks as though self-contained hardware multitrack recorders are on the way out.

As far as I can tell, the only companies still making digital portastudios are Tascam, Zoom, Roland/Boss, and possibly Fostex. Yamaha, Korg, Akai and probably a bunch of other companies I'm forgetting about no longer make them.

There used to be a bunch of affordable rackmount 24-track hard disk recorders on the market as well, and those have also disappeared. Mackie and Fostex no longer make them, and while Alesis still have their unit listed on their website, I'm not seeing any online retailers that actually carry it.

If this keeps up, in 10 years one won't have a choice but to record on a computer.
 
Gdub1 said:
Hi steve!

The Zoom actually has decent sound quality..... certainly good enough to do good quality demo recordings (if you're prepared to work at it) and it's a great portable recording device, with 8 simultanious XLR recording (in theory!) ....but....

1) It is somewhat flimsy (toylike) you'd need a flight case if you wanted to take it 'on the road'....and even then.....
2) The preamps are a bit, er....pants!
3) Oh lord no! Not another sub menu!.....Sob!
4) Why is the darn thing not doing what I want it to!??.....(See number 3)
5) Metering is inadequate.
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That's one of the things I find attractive about the DP-24. It's one of the first portastudios I've seen that looks like it has adequate metering (made possible by the color screen). Poor metering has been the bane of digital portastudios.
 
boxy said:
It pans right to left fully but since it's a digital knob it must be rotated several times around to go from one end to the other. An analog knob has a complete swing of maybe 300-330 degrees from one side to the other.

Yes, as I stated it works fine, just not able to sweep completely with one rotation.
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Yeah, well, that's the sort of thing I'd expect from a device that only costs $700. If you want something that behaves like an analog mixer and lets you mix live, King Tubby-style, your best bet is to use, well... an analog mixer. I was contemplating getting a DP-24 just to do my tracking on, and then transferring over to a DAW to output through a multi-channel soundcard to do my mixing through an analog mixer (I abhor doing final mixes through software). Of course, that was before I realized the DP-24 has this freezing problem...

Maybe the DP-24 has some sort of an auto-pan effect you could assign that would provide a similar effect to the one you were trying to achieve by hand?
 
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animalglx said:
I've received my DP-24 today and I had to face the first dissapointment. Listening to de demosong through my headphones, I've recognized a terrible hiss (all faders and pots to zero) is coming out of the headphone amp. I'm surprised that no one mentioned it before, or am I the only with this problem????
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The headphone amp on my DP-004 is hissy as well.
 
John Finley said:
Why do things have to be so complicated, why cant we just record whatever and tweek.
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You can say that again.

I miss cassette portastudios. Sure, the sound quality left something to be desired, but at least they were straightforward and reliable. Now that recording gear is tied to the computer industry, it seems it's become acceptable for companies like Tascam to push buggy product out the door without properly testing it first, just like the software companies do. In analog days, there was more of an incentive to get a product right before it rolled off the assembly line, since you couldn't just release a firmware update on your website to try to fix things after the fact. Now the mentality seems to be "release now, fix later."

I find this kind of BS really frustrating. Why can't this stuff just work like it says it will on the box? I won't even consider buying a piece of digital gear I'm interested in until at least a year after it's been released, since I know that's how long it'll take before the major bugs get ironed out.
 
animalglx said:
There is a firmware update available for the DP-24 :D at Tascam's website.
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Thanks for the heads up. Looking at the release notes, this update promises to fix just about every software bug I've seen reported. This is my first Tascam product, so I'm happy to see that they're listening to their customers.

BTW, if anyone is wondering if you can put the SD card into a card reader, drop the update file from your computer into the "Utility" folder, then reinsert the card and update the Tascam, you can. Not having a computer near my studio is why I bought the Tascam in the first place, so I'm glad that worked out.
 
Unfortunately my reported bug isn't fixed. Renaming a song for example to "Candy" shows "CandyNG" on the mainscreen.
Of course, it's not a hard bug.
 
Igor Alexander said:
Yeah, well, that's the sort of thing I'd expect from a device that only costs $700. If you want something that behaves like an analog mixer and lets you mix live, King Tubby-style, your best bet is to use, well... an analog mixer. I was contemplating getting a DP-24 just to do my tracking on, and then transferring over to a DAW to output through a multi-channel soundcard to do my mixing through an analog mixer (I abhor doing final mixes through software). Of course, that was before I realized the DP-24 has this freezing problem...

Maybe the DP-24 has some sort of an auto-pan effect you could assign that would provide a similar effect to the one you were trying to achieve by hand?
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dude thats what I do, I use the dp24 , mackie mixer, and drag and drop to Sonarx1. Things seem to work great so far.
 
The german tascam support confirm today, that the renaming bug is present also after the update. In the songlist it shows the correct name, but back to the homescreen allways show "CandyNG" instead of "Candy". Did you try this name?
 
Igor Alexander said:
Maybe the DP-24 has some sort of an auto-pan effect you could assign that would provide a similar effect to the one you were trying to achieve by hand?
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Not that I've noticed. Besides, an "automatic" panner wouldn't know when I want to sweep back and forth.

I am sure the 'two-track' method will work but it's like the last thing to do when making a final mix. I haven't got there yet, that darn guitarist won't answer his phone. :)
 
Brand new recorder. Got it yesterday. I downloaded the zip file, extracted it and dropped it into the utility folder. I put it back into the DP-24, turned it on, but still on the old version. How do I update? Thank you.
 
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