2488, good buy?

[KeithS]

Krag, one more thing...how exactly do these stereo pairs work? I know they can't be seperated for mixing but...can the two tracks be recorded seperately?

I think your question got lost in the noise. Yes, you can record each side of a stereo pair seperately. The 2488 has 250 virtual tracks and you can pick and choose any of the 24 mixer channels to assign them to. You could for isntance record two tracks on one of the single channesl and then assign both of those tracks to a linked pair. The stereo pairs can be used to record stereo sources, to bounce to stereo, to bring in clones of various mixes for quick comparison, record external stereo effects, etc.

 

[mrx]

Do you really think it is bad?? Or are just bashing it? Honestly I think you are doing both. Which really isnt all that honest. But I need to ask in the most polite way. Why do you have a grudge and what do you recommend??

You just seem to bash Tascam without helping the user. Suggestions?

It's an old story, but I was having a bad experience with another Tascam product at the same time I read an article in Forbes about the state of consumer electronic and computer equipment. The article argued that crap documentation, inflated marketing claims, poor design, and flawed product releases (expecting end users to perform testing and bug tracking) had reached epidemic proportions and users had to draw a line in the sand and put a stop to this practice. Maybe it was bad timing for Tascam, but everything the article talked about mirrored what I was going through and I have made it a policy since that time to be much more critical of bad products, bad support, etc.

It's not just Tascam (I've posted joke responses I've gotten from m-Audio, Korg and Fostex support, as well.)

As far as helping the user, if this thread has caused you to take a closer look and make an informed purchase then it is worthwhile. As you can see from Keith's posts, he's a big fan of the 2488. There was a guy on that forum who had nothing but trouble with it and went with the Boss which worked right out of the box for his application. Wayne on this board has said great things about the Korg 16 track and I went with the Fostex.

My point with the 2488 is that as a consumer I'd be worried about a machine that appears to suffer a relatively high rate of hardware failure and was shipped with some serious software issues that Tascam has taken too long to address - even if the fix comes out today, it never should have shipped that way, and certainly should not take this long to repair when people are losing data.

 

[mrx]

People get banned from the boards for very few reasons and are usually warned first...

They are NOT there to send any "clear message of frustration back to the manufacturer"...

Overall, it is far more effective to work with the each other and the people at TASCAM to solve the few issues that we have, that to sit around and boo hoo about corporate America.

Keith,

I wasn't talking about getting banned, but rather the tendency of the other board to 'shout down' any valid criticism of the product. Obviously sales figures will tell the story, but not every user is content to sit and read Dr. Who's vague 'updates' about bug fixes. You obviously disagree, but the decision to squash dissent is causing otherwise valuable members of your community to go with other products.

 

[KeithS]

I wasn't talking about getting banned, but rather the tendency of the other board to 'shout down' any valid criticism of the product......

Challenging a person to defend his/her facts or questioning the facts as presented is hardly "shouting down" someone. The person is still heard. Both opinons are there for any reader to use to make up his or her own mind about which opinion or statement has more credence. Now if you are suggesting that other members of the board not be allowed to question or argue points of fact with posters, I would argue that is interfering with their ability to dissent.

Clearly, from the quotes that you cherry picked from forum, you have shown that the forum allows a discussion of what problems are cropping up with the machine and what can be done about solving them. The only kind of "dissent" that has ever been stifled are the times when posters have used the forum to climb up on their soap box and disparage vendors and manufactures or to make personal attacks on others members. I'll state again, that the mission of the forum has primarily been one of providing users mutual online support that TASCAM is no longer able to provide. We are not there to promote the sale of any TASCAM product, nor are we there to serve the agendas of individuals with axes to grind. I think one bottom line for us is that in using the TASCAM name for the forum, we know that we could well end up like the Taylor Guitar forum which is now the Acoustic Guitar Forum. Because of manufacturer bashing, Bob Taylor took action to deny the use of the Taylor name and logos to that forum. We hope to avoid going down that same road with TASCAM.

......the decision to squash dissent is causing otherwise valuable members of your community to go with other products.

Again, we are not there to promote the sale of TASCAM products.

But.....these valuable members must use a different set of standards than I use when I make a major equipment purchase. I usually look after my own self interests rather than what someone in a privately operated forum says I can say there. Personally, I feel that if someone is going to decide against a TASCAM product based on the actions of some third party that has absolutely nothing to do with TASCAM, then they probably weren't motivated to buy the product much in the first place. People purchase or don't purchase products based on what is best for them and their own financial situation......not on what some fellow over behind the tree is doing.

 

[mrx]

...support that TASCAM is no longer able to provide.

...for a new $1200 product that, to be generous beyond reason, is experiencing 'teething trouble.'

There, my friends, is the end of this thread in a nutshell.

 

[philboyd studge]

Do you really think it is bad?? Or are just bashing it? Honestly I think you are doing both. Which really isnt all that honest. But I need to ask in the most polite way. Why do you have a grudge and what do you recommend??

You just seem to bash Tascam without helping the user. Suggestions?

It would be wise to form your opinion from those of us who actually own and use 2488s and make money with them.

 

[mrx]

It would be wise to form your opinion from those of us who actually own and use 2488s and make money with them.

It's just as unwise to do that as it is to not buy based soley on my posts.

Can you honestly say that you don't feel the level of concern rising on the other board? Another couple machines in the shop and that site is going to get ugly.

 

[philboyd studge]

It's just as unwise to do that as it is to not buy based soley on my posts.

Can you honestly say that you don't feel the level of concern rising on the other board? Another couple machines in the shop and that site is going to get ugly.

I haven't looked at the board for some time. I wanted to fool around with the 2488 some this summer, see what the internal midi stuff is like and a bunch of data transfer ideas, but hasn't been time. Just time for recording.

 

[mrx]

I haven't looked at the board for some time. I wanted to fool around with the 2488 some this summer, see what the internal midi stuff is like and a bunch of data transfer ideas, but hasn't been time. Just time for recording.

I assume (I know, a big mistake) that the MIDI implementation is similar to the PS-05. It's a very cool feature to be able to copy over a Standard MIDI File and use it as a backing or guide track. Obviously track space isn't a problem on the 2488, but it is a handy feature.

 

[freshmattyp]

Are you running .wav files out on the usb port or just mixing stereo files? So far I'm still happy with my mixes on the 2488 since the effects and eq are so similar to the 788, then I'm still using the spdif out method for stereo mixes to prepare for 16 bit on Sound Forge. I'm thinking I might want to work on individual tracks on the computer and then run them back to the 2488 before mixing.

As to the display, either I'm getting used to it or it's getting burnt in and brighter. Still, there's no way you can do any serious visual work on a waveform with it......or any other machine with a lcd display of any size or brightness for that matter.

Sorry for the late response to your question, I haven't been in the Tascam forum in a while. I dump the WAV files to a PC then edit and mix in Cubase. That seems to work best for me. I like working in Cubase, but hated tracking on my PC. I get the best of both worlds.

 

[philboyd studge]

Sorry for the late response to your question, I haven't been in the Tascam forum in a while. I dump the WAV files to a PC then edit and mix in Cubase. That seems to work best for me. I like working in Cubase, but hated tracking on my PC. I get the best of both worlds.

Hmmm, I may run some tracks off the 2488 to Sound Forge for a tune up, then bring them back for mixing.

Thanks.

 

[kanthony]

Hi - I one of the unlucky few who bought a 2488 and regretted it. I'm sure there are those who love it. The specs are great but the reality is so-so.

Another member here mentioned the noisy preamps - varies from machine to machine - I went through 3 of them. I went with a Roland BR1600 - less bits, less tracks, less headaches. I actually did record quite a bit with the 2488 and found it's setup logical - more logical than the Roland - but just not practical for recording if the end result has sporatic click/pos/spitz/crackle/etc. Tascam support was very denying about the noise issues even though the store salesman agreed it had issues. My 20 year old fostex 8 track 1/4" tape machine had less problems.

 

[Flight 16]

I was going to get this thing....

would I be better getting a Korg D1600 MKII Multitrack Recorder

only 16 tracks but I have allready had my Tascam US-122 lost have its inserts for no reason.....if the 2488 was to play up i would not be a happy bunny

 

[Flight 16]

Ha!!!

Well I did get it and it was F**ked so i did take it back and get the Korg...

2 Tascam things in 1 year ..both broke...1 in the first day...buy buy Tascam!

 

[BMWerks]

Thanx. A fair and balanced view.