Kirk Markarian
New member
Hey Noisy Friends
I wanted to say that I purchased TASCAM's latest recording device, the DP-02CF, which is a 2-track simultaneous record / 8-track playback Porta-studio.
My initial impression was one of awe, as it has a very slim design, but it about the size of a large laptop computer. It records to compact flash card, which reduced the price considerably.
Startup was incredibly simple, just format the CF card and read the instructions. Really easy to record audio, took like 20 minutes to get the hang of it. All controls are simplified, and it felt like I was working with a 4-track cassette recorder. Very little menu diving for straight-ahead recording. In fact, none at all. Everything is pretty self-explanatory.
My reason for purchasing this is because of the reviews that I read on TASCAM pre-amp inputs. I read they are great, most people don't dog TASCAM on their recording quality, but rather on their construction quality, and that's only for the later products, like the DP-01.
Well, at first, I was highly disappointed with the pre-amps. I thought they sounded too digital. I know it's a digital machine. But for the life of me I couldn't figure out why they sounded bad. I was getting strange distortion and an electrical whining sound.
So, I dealt with it, thinking I should give it more time, let's see what the EQ can do.
Another small quirk - you can't use the EQ before you record the audio. You can only use it AFTER you have recorded audio. Mildly annoying to me, but once I figured out how to use it, it made sense. If I want to get a good sound, I should put a good sound in (more on this later).
TASCAM's EQ is actually VERY interesting, because at first look, you only have a HI and LOW control. It seems rather limited, until you press the button that says FREQ. This allows you to determine which parts of the audio spectrum you will EQ. You can choose bands in the upper range and bands in the lower range. In this case, the EQ is almost parametric in its operation. So your HI and LOW knobs will sweep the audio spectrum in the areas you determine with the FREQ parameter section. Still a bit limited, but it really opens up the scope of EQ that you can fuss with. And the EQ sounds natural and precise. Not warm, not cold, just accurate.
Earlier, I mentioned that the sound coming into the machine was disappointing. I was testing it with my ambient noise setup, which is: Sidrassi Organ > EH Clone Theory > ProCo RAT 2 > Dunlop Crybaby Wah > EH Deluxe Memory Man Delay. There was a grimy, unpleasant sound coming from my rig, and it was making me disappointed with the sound. No EQ could really cure my ailment.
I got to thinking about my chain, and found that even though it sounds great live, when I'm playing through my amp or a sound-system, it sounded like complete trash here.
So, I turned off the Deluxe Memory Man. Why? Because a year ago, I was fiddling around with it's insides, it's trim-pots and trying to mod it with a soldering gun. That was dumb. It sounded awful running audio through it. Immediately, as soon as I removed it from the recording chain, by turning it off, my sound improved drastically.
The pre-amps opened up, they were accurate, not warm, not cold, just accurate. I was really pleased with the results.
But now, I hear other faults in my recording chain. The accuracy of the TASCAM DP-02CF is an embarrassment to me.
The ProCo RAT 2 is strange-sounding. It is actually removing a ton of warmth from my signal. I'm going to have to investigate it further. The Dunlop Crybaby is also thinning out the signal. There are easy mods for that, and I may try to do some of those to warm it up a bit.
I'm going to have to probably get an EQ in my rig to give me the warmth that I thought I once had by recording directly into my line-in on whatever computer I was using.
Why don't I just use the EQ on the TASCAM?
Because I would prefer to use that as a spot-treatment rather than a cure.
Now, on to the effects send.
Sounds great, but you can't use it before recording your signal. You have to use it after you record your material. This is also another annoying quirk. Basically, I'll have to record material, route it through the send, then bounce the tracks to another set of tracks. Annoying. Maybe I have to read the manual more, though. There may be a way around that. We'll see.
The reason I find that annoying is because I prefer to pre-treat my signals, sometimes. I have a cool EH Black Finger Tube Compressor that I use on my drums when I record, because it makes them sound the way I like to hear them, plus it acts as a simple limiter. I wonder if I can only use the Black Finger directly into the machine. That's fine, but annoying.
Another annoying thing is the fact that you can only record 2 tracks simultaneously. Even on their other DP-02 variations. Why not 4? Fostex has a 4-track simultaneous recording unit for slightly more money.
In conclusion, I'd have to say that this is a VERY BASIC and VERY NICE recording unit. If you don't mind some of these cool things that seem to be missing (I don't, I'll just get creative), then you will have a really nice audio recorder to use, in case you're tired of the computer. It has USB and CF, so you can still edit the tracks on a computer if you want to.
The DP-02FX has a CD burner and FX, so it's definitely a bit more advanced, and you'll pay for it. But I really dislike digital effects, so I don't mind not having them.
I wanted to say that I purchased TASCAM's latest recording device, the DP-02CF, which is a 2-track simultaneous record / 8-track playback Porta-studio.
My initial impression was one of awe, as it has a very slim design, but it about the size of a large laptop computer. It records to compact flash card, which reduced the price considerably.
Startup was incredibly simple, just format the CF card and read the instructions. Really easy to record audio, took like 20 minutes to get the hang of it. All controls are simplified, and it felt like I was working with a 4-track cassette recorder. Very little menu diving for straight-ahead recording. In fact, none at all. Everything is pretty self-explanatory.
My reason for purchasing this is because of the reviews that I read on TASCAM pre-amp inputs. I read they are great, most people don't dog TASCAM on their recording quality, but rather on their construction quality, and that's only for the later products, like the DP-01.
Well, at first, I was highly disappointed with the pre-amps. I thought they sounded too digital. I know it's a digital machine. But for the life of me I couldn't figure out why they sounded bad. I was getting strange distortion and an electrical whining sound.
So, I dealt with it, thinking I should give it more time, let's see what the EQ can do.
Another small quirk - you can't use the EQ before you record the audio. You can only use it AFTER you have recorded audio. Mildly annoying to me, but once I figured out how to use it, it made sense. If I want to get a good sound, I should put a good sound in (more on this later).
TASCAM's EQ is actually VERY interesting, because at first look, you only have a HI and LOW control. It seems rather limited, until you press the button that says FREQ. This allows you to determine which parts of the audio spectrum you will EQ. You can choose bands in the upper range and bands in the lower range. In this case, the EQ is almost parametric in its operation. So your HI and LOW knobs will sweep the audio spectrum in the areas you determine with the FREQ parameter section. Still a bit limited, but it really opens up the scope of EQ that you can fuss with. And the EQ sounds natural and precise. Not warm, not cold, just accurate.
Earlier, I mentioned that the sound coming into the machine was disappointing. I was testing it with my ambient noise setup, which is: Sidrassi Organ > EH Clone Theory > ProCo RAT 2 > Dunlop Crybaby Wah > EH Deluxe Memory Man Delay. There was a grimy, unpleasant sound coming from my rig, and it was making me disappointed with the sound. No EQ could really cure my ailment.
I got to thinking about my chain, and found that even though it sounds great live, when I'm playing through my amp or a sound-system, it sounded like complete trash here.
So, I turned off the Deluxe Memory Man. Why? Because a year ago, I was fiddling around with it's insides, it's trim-pots and trying to mod it with a soldering gun. That was dumb. It sounded awful running audio through it. Immediately, as soon as I removed it from the recording chain, by turning it off, my sound improved drastically.
The pre-amps opened up, they were accurate, not warm, not cold, just accurate. I was really pleased with the results.
But now, I hear other faults in my recording chain. The accuracy of the TASCAM DP-02CF is an embarrassment to me.
The ProCo RAT 2 is strange-sounding. It is actually removing a ton of warmth from my signal. I'm going to have to investigate it further. The Dunlop Crybaby is also thinning out the signal. There are easy mods for that, and I may try to do some of those to warm it up a bit.
I'm going to have to probably get an EQ in my rig to give me the warmth that I thought I once had by recording directly into my line-in on whatever computer I was using.
Why don't I just use the EQ on the TASCAM?
Because I would prefer to use that as a spot-treatment rather than a cure.
Now, on to the effects send.
Sounds great, but you can't use it before recording your signal. You have to use it after you record your material. This is also another annoying quirk. Basically, I'll have to record material, route it through the send, then bounce the tracks to another set of tracks. Annoying. Maybe I have to read the manual more, though. There may be a way around that. We'll see.
The reason I find that annoying is because I prefer to pre-treat my signals, sometimes. I have a cool EH Black Finger Tube Compressor that I use on my drums when I record, because it makes them sound the way I like to hear them, plus it acts as a simple limiter. I wonder if I can only use the Black Finger directly into the machine. That's fine, but annoying.
Another annoying thing is the fact that you can only record 2 tracks simultaneously. Even on their other DP-02 variations. Why not 4? Fostex has a 4-track simultaneous recording unit for slightly more money.
In conclusion, I'd have to say that this is a VERY BASIC and VERY NICE recording unit. If you don't mind some of these cool things that seem to be missing (I don't, I'll just get creative), then you will have a really nice audio recorder to use, in case you're tired of the computer. It has USB and CF, so you can still edit the tracks on a computer if you want to.
The DP-02FX has a CD burner and FX, so it's definitely a bit more advanced, and you'll pay for it. But I really dislike digital effects, so I don't mind not having them.
