New digital multirack recorders

zooeywoof

New member
Hi all & hope is well~ I am an experienced guitar player & recording engineer, have owned everything from the old 4-track Teac Cassette recorder, to a 1" 16trk, and then an Alesis HD24XR w/32 channel analog board.
I'm looking at the TASCAM MODEL 12 & wanted some feedback.
I've been off the planet for a few years, & was curious to know what the latest & great in 8 or 12 track digital recorders? My primary use would be for recording acoustics, dubbing some electric & vocals, so a decent on board mic pre would be nice.. & good tweakable stereo Reverb fx. Obviously I would need to have an outboard midtown device?
So, what's our there, pros & cons, size not terribly concerning, but ease of use, yes! And I enjoy having real time tactile knobs to make my adjustments, not too many menus to tax my brain. Any other suggestions out there?
Thanks to all for sharing your expertise.
Be safe & stay well~
Kenny
 
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I will start off with a welcome to the boards! :listeningmusic:

There are much smaller standalone and very portable "studios", such as the BOSS BR-800, Zoom R-8 and Tascam DP-03SD. These have mixers and some level of FX - some FX are very basic and others better. MIC Pre's are adequate but may not be as good as your wanting.

The link below will give you some idea of what's available in larger sizes.. only the merest tip of the iceberg, though. Some of these are mixer/recorders and some are mixers only where a USB connection records to an external SSD or a DAW in a PC/Mac. It's quite a hodgepodge.

The Top 10 Best Audio Mixers In The World Right Now | PMT Online
 
I can't really comment on the "newer" units like the Zoom Live series or the Tascam Model 12, but I do have the Zoom R24.

The new lines are oriented to work for both live work and have the ability to do multitrack recording. They don't necessarily have the number of effects of the Portastudio or the Zoom R series. If you are planning to do some work in the computer's DAW software, the Model 12 has some nice integration for DAW control. Most of them now will act as an audio interface as well. With the PortaStudio and the Zoom R- series, you can mix down in the unit to a final stereo master. I've done songs entirely in my R24 with about a dozen tracks. The final stereo file can be exported to your computer.

They really come into their own in a live situation. Besides acting as a mixer for your PA system, you can make recordings to SD cards for later review, mixing, etc. A friend of mine has the QSC Touchmix. That worked nicely as a PA mixer but also records. I've used my R24 for live recording, then when I pull the SD card out and dump the tracks to the computer, I can later mix them down, or do touch up work as needed.

There are lots of nice options. It might be prudent to list your needs first (home only, live only, live with some home recording, effects, etc) and then start to whittle down the field.
 
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