Can the Tascam Model 24 make a good recording?

[TalismanRich]

For those who have considered a Model 24 (or 16) and wondered if it would make a quality recording, you might want to watch this video. Granted you have a good room, and probably more in mics that most of us (lots of Lewitt gear) but they used the 24's preamps and compressors and EQ. Not too bad for a $1200 unit.

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[Dave Matthews]

Awesome. Such a great time to be a musician!

 

[RFR]

I would own one. Am I gonna buy one? Nope, got responsibilities.
But if I could just blow my money, sure. I’d pick one up in a heartbeat.

 

[Dave Matthews]

I would own one. Am I gonna buy one? Nope, got responsibilities.
But if I could just blow my money, sure. I’d pick one up in a heartbeat.

I got myself a Zoom L-12 to goof around with. That's prolly all I ever need.

 

[Manslick]

I have the Tascam 2488 since they came out back around '05.
I love the pres in it, so if this has those, then yes.

 

[TalismanRich]

I thought it was also refreshing that for the most part, it was a group playing music at the same time. Add in some overdubs and move towards the mixing stage. It wasn't a cut and paste/assemble the beats type of recording. It was all done like they did it "in the old days".

 

[Papanate]

Anything can work and make a good recording - as long as you stay within the boundaries of the machines capabilities.

 

[jamesperrett]

There's nothing wrong with the sound quality on those machines but when I tried working on a Model 16 I found it a bit frustrating to use. I'd much prefer a proper recording mixer with a separate recorder or DAW.

 

[maxman65]

I'm still convinced if you had the right environment. First class musicians and instruments . Good condenser mic and mixing expertise you could get a track professional enough on a pocket digital tascam 8 track. Sure there'd be limitiations by today's standards . But then alot of modern standards induce limitations in themselves. Ie cut and pasting instead of live double tracking .autotune and so on

 

[grimtraveller]

Conceptually, I love this. However, I'd want to know 3 things;
1] Does it have editing capabilities ?
2] Can the signals be reversed ?
3] Does it have varispeed capability ?

The features and overview don't say anything about any of that. Lack of 1 & 3 would be a deal breaker for me. On the other hand, if all three or certainly 1 & 3 were part and parcel, I would seriously consider going out and getting it now. I could pick one up for £849 {$1048}, which isn't bad.

 

[jamesperrett]

The Model 16 has basic punch in facilities but I can't see any other editing.

If, by reversed, you mean can it play a sound backwards then no - I can't see that from a quick look at the manual.

I can't see any varispeed facility - and given all the issues I had with clocking, I doubt that the hardware is capable of it.

 

[TalismanRich]

The Model 24 isn't designed for the type of editing and manipulation that a DAW or even the DP32 and DP24SD. It has basic recording facilities, but the key point of the post is that the preamps and recording setup is capable of recording good sound. You do have effects that you can use for doing mixdowns to a stereo track. For major editing tasks like cut and paste, you're better off with a real DAW once the tracks have been recorded.

It's more like having a tape machine setup, doing linear recording with punch in/out ability.

 

[grimtraveller]

Shame ! It looked good until the details unravelled.

 

[Joseph Hanna]

Shame ! It looked good until the details unravelled.

Still looks good to me! You're kinda tryin' to pound a square peg into a round hole and then declaring the peg a shame

At what it does, and what it's designed to do, there still is very little (if anything) on the market that does it as well as the Model 16 and 24. It is fundamentally and at its heart, an analog console with a really great analog eq section. It is sonically a typical higher-end Tascam analog console that not only sounds as such but feels as such as well. From there it can be a great live console, including some really great onboard compression and digital FX's. It can also make a fantastic live-environment recording console with its onboard 24/44.1 recording abilities. With a higher-end memory card, I think I'd trust it to live recording more so than to a computer hard drive rig. It can serve as a tape deck style, stand-alone, all-inclusive, home recording solution. It can be a marvelous hybrid front-end to a DAW rig or it can be 24 channel mixer as a digital return from a DAW. It does all of that to an excel. It, on the other hand, was never intended to be a non-linear editor.

 

[jamesperrett]

I'm afraid that the Tascam Model 16's reputation sinks every time I use it. From my most recent experience I would say that it is possibly the flakiest audio interface I have ever used. It will stop passing audio at the slightest excuse which requires the Tascam to be switched off and then on again to fix. I'm sure it works fine as an analogue mixer but it certainly doesn't work well as an audio interface.

 

[Joseph Hanna]

I'm afraid that the Tascam Model 16's reputation sinks every time I use it. From my most recent experience I would say that it is possibly the flakiest audio interface I have ever used. It will stop passing audio at the slightest excuse which requires the Tascam to be switched off and then on again to fix. I'm sure it works fine as an analogue mixer but it certainly doesn't work well as an audio interface.

Three years as an interface to Pro Tools and Studio One. Hasn't failed me a single time. Not once. I'll assume your firmware updates are current? Your DAW is up to date? Historically each makes an immediate difference. If that's all up to date I'd think about sending it to Tascam. No reason this should be happening. Too many folks using this as a main solution to condemn the entire line. It's a drag that happening to you. What all have you done and if I can help PM me.

 

[jamesperrett]

The model 16 isn't mine - I just have to sort out the problems when it stops working. The owner has been through everything with the shop that sold it already so I assume that it is working properly in their opinion. I seem to remember the firmware was up to date when I last checked a few months ago. Reaper is the DAW but none of the problems are Reaper related because no other software works when it goes wrong.

The most annoying thing is that the sample rate can't be controlled from the computer on its own or the Model 16 on its own. You have to manually set the sample rate on both before it will even think about passing audio. If a piece of software subsequently tries to work at a different sample rate then that's it - no audio until you switch off.

 

[Joseph Hanna]

The model 16 isn't mine - I just have to sort out the problems when it stops working. The owner has been through everything with the shop that sold it already so I assume that it is working properly in their opinion. I seem to remember the firmware was up to date when I last checked a few months ago. Reaper is the DAW but none of the problems are Reaper related because no other software works when it goes wrong.

The most annoying thing is that the sample rate can't be controlled from the computer on its own or the Model 16 on its own. You have to manually set the sample rate on both before it will even think about passing audio. If a piece of software subsequently tries to work at a different sample rate then that's it - no audio until you switch off.

Yea James that just shouldn't be. Something is wrong with the board that absolutely can be corrected. These are decidedly not duds. As I mentioned I'll offer my help if you're ever inclined. A gaggle of thoughts however;

These devices are pretty complex and my first thought is I wouldn't look towards "the shop" for any real help unless, of course, they're certified in Tascam training. It's a deep, deep dive to get ahold of everything this device can be configured to do. I'd probably look to Tascam support for help, especially with something that's dropping audio.

The firmware on these units is absolutely vital. I just can't stress that enough. I'll say it again Vital. I definitely would not move forward without being certain the firmware is correct. The current firmware is 1.33. I think I started on 1.20. There is also a downloadable Tascam piece of software that monitors current firmware and software updates.

There also have been a fair amount of troubleshooting threads that have indicated USB hubs are not supported and it's essential that the connectivity is a direct USB port on the computer itself. Not specific to the Model 16 but more and more I see the typical USB cable being a culprit in interface and midi keyboard connection problems. It's happened to me and I was shocked that a fairly substantial problem went away in a heartbeat with a decent new cable. I know for sure when Arturia does tech support one of the very first questions is 'have you replaced your USB cables"? When I hear someone say that a digital device is randomly dropping audio I immediately think of connectivity.

It is true that the sample rate must first be set on the Model 16 before the software. If there is a master clock involved that of course wouldn't be the case but, clocking woes are such a thing of the distant past I wouldn't think many would want to go down the rabbit hole of external clocks. Honestly I always record at 48K /24-bit so it's just a set-and-forget thing. It's never crossed my mind that this is a game killer. I dunno exactly what you mean by "a piece of software wants to work at a different sample rate". Give me an idea of what you're referring to and I'll help if I can. I never have worked in a scenario where it's important that a project, with multiple pieces of software running, need to auto-adjust sample rates.

Anyway...if I can lend a hand, let me know.

 

[jamesperrett]

The firmware on these units is absolutely vital. I just can't stress that enough. I'll say it again Vital. I definitely would not move forward without being certain the firmware is correct. The current firmware is 1.33. I think I started on 1.20. There is also a downloadable Tascam piece of software that monitors current firmware and software updates.

There also have been a fair amount of troubleshooting threads that have indicated USB hubs are not supported and it's essential that the connectivity is a direct USB port on the computer itself. Not specific to the Model 16 but more and more I see the typical USB cable being a culprit in interface and midi keyboard connection problems. It's happened to me and I was shocked that a fairly substantial problem went away in a heartbeat with a decent new cable. I know for sure when Arturia does tech support one of the very first questions is 'have you replaced your USB cables"? When I hear someone say that a digital device is randomly dropping audio I immediately think of connectivity.

It is true that the sample rate must first be set on the Model 16 before the software. If there is a master clock involved that of course wouldn't be the case but, clocking woes are such a thing of the distant past I wouldn't think many would want to go down the rabbit hole of external clocks. Honestly I always record at 48K /24-bit so it's just a set-and-forget thing. It's never crossed my mind that this is a game killer. I dunno exactly what you mean by "a piece of software wants to work at a different sample rate". Give me an idea of what you're referring to and I'll help if I can. I never have worked in a scenario where it's important that a project, with multiple pieces of software running, need to auto-adjust sample rates.

Anyway...if I can lend a hand, let me know.

Hi, it doesn't usually drop the connection at random. However, If a session was recorded at say 44.1kHz and you then open another DAW session which was recorded at 48kHz the interface stops working - even if you try to go back to the 44.1kHz session again.

Another example - if you switch the function of the USB to memory so that you can grab a file from the Model 16, you can't change back to audio interface mode without rebooting the Model 16.

Neither of those things should happen with a decent audio interface. I use a Zoom U44 and an RME Digiface USB and they are both perfectly happy to work at whatever sample rate they are asked to. In fact, I can't think of an interface that I have used which hasn't been able to set their own sample rate (unless I've deliberately set it to work from an external clock).

I'm fairly sure that the firmware is V1.33 and it is connected directly to a fairly recent laptop running Windows 11. When it runs, it runs reliably but it is far too easy to do something that stops it working. The user that I'm helping wants something that works without any faffing around - currently they have to worry about far more than they should have to worry about with the Model 16.

 

[Joseph Hanna]

Hi, it doesn't usually drop the connection at random. However, If a session was recorded at say 44.1kHz and you then open another DAW session which was recorded at 48kHz the interface stops working - even if you try to go back to the 44.1kHz session again.

Another example - if you switch the function of the USB to memory so that you can grab a file from the Model 16, you can't change back to audio interface mode without rebooting the Model 16.

Neither of those things should happen with a decent audio interface. I use a Zoom U44 and an RME Digiface USB and they are both perfectly happy to work at whatever sample rate they are asked to. In fact, I can't think of an interface that I have used which hasn't been able to set their own sample rate (unless I've deliberately set it to work from an external clock).

I'm fairly sure that the firmware is V1.33 and it is connected directly to a fairly recent laptop running Windows 11. When it runs, it runs reliably but it is far too easy to do something that stops it working. The user that I'm helping wants something that works without any faffing around - currently they have to worry about far more than they should have to worry about with the Model 16.

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