Is the DP-24 being discontinued or replaced?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Noney
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Noney

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After bouncing around to many different models and brands, I finally decided to pull the trigger on a DP-24. I researched prices all over the net, and at the end of the day decided to purchase from my least favorite store, Guitar Center. They say they will match any price on the internet, and I can hit a 3-wood to one from my house. So on Saturday I march over there, all set to score my new multitracker, when it appears they are all sold out of them. Unable to find a DP-24 on the shelf in their usual location, I summon the help of a salesperson -- John. He looks around for a minute then leads me over to the computer and does a search. John scratches his chin and says the DP-24 is coming up as a "Code C" (I think he said...), so I ask him what that means and he says that that is the code for a product they do not carry any longer. I was pretty shocked to hear this, as the DP is one of Tascam's flagship products and Guitar Center is one of the largest retailers for music gear. He said if I wanted to place the order online through Guitar Center they could still get it and would match any internet price, but the store would no longer be getting any actual inventory. John then suggested that this is the time of year when they will stop getting inventory on items that they expect to receive upgrades or replacements of prior to the holiday buying rush. Hmmmmm.......

When a major retailer such as GC stops carrying an item, I think it sends a pretty clear message that something is afoot regarding said item. Since I can't see Tascam totally discontinuing the DP, does this mean that a major upgrade is on the horizon? Scene saving? Automation? Who knows.....

I searched online for a couple of hours yesterday and could find nothing about this.

Anybody have any insight?
 
Never seen one at any guitar centers here in L.A......GC info is always to be double checked, as it is not totally reliable....call TASCAM 323-726-0303 and find out from the horses mouth
 
Hi Steve -- thanks for the quick reply.

I did as you said and contacted TEAC America. The product support department was not available at the time, so I spoke with the main operator and she took my information, including my concerns about the DP being discontinued or replaced. She said she'll pass my info along to product support and I should receive a call back -- we'll see.....

Thanks again, and I'll post my findings when (if) I hear back from them.
 
Hey Wish!

Thanks for the heads-up. As of Saturday afternoon, Amazon and B&H both had the same price of $511, which matched the lowest price I was able to find for new units. This morning I see Amazon has dropped their price to $505. Is this yet another sign that the merchants are lowering their prices in an attempt to move inventory before a new or improved model is available? I won't know until I hear back from TEAC support, but I do know that I don't want to purchase an item that may be replaced or improved upon in just a matter of weeks...

Thanks again!
 
Interesting topic..
Please keep us updated on this.
 
What struck me as odd was the fact that the guy at GC said they were completely discontinuing the DP-24. This is not a small Guitar Center, there's an entire section dedicated to live sound, another to studio recording, a drum room, a bass room, etc., etc. So unless they're completely changing the store around, I can't see for the life of me why they would stop carrying one of the most popular multitrackers on the market. Like I said, I REALLY don't like the atmosphere in GC and avoid it at all costs, but since they will match anybody's price I figured I'd just walk in and get the DP that day without having to wait for it to ship out of New York (I usually shop at B&H). Had they even had ONE left on the shelf, I would have purchased it without ever knowing it was being discontinued in their inventory. I'm in South Florida, so I'd be curious to see if ALL Guitar Centers have this policy, of if it's only my store or my region.

The DP series has not been on the market all that long, so I would be very surprised if they're completely revamping it already. I would expect many more software updates before they start making hardware changes, but you never know. As arcaxis stated above, many cool features from the Neo were lost on the DP, so maybe they're reacting to the market sooner rather than later....? We'll see.

I'm still waiting for that phone call from TEAC.
 
I just got off the phone with product support at TEAC America and the representative (Robby, a well-informed American (as opposed to an ill-informed Indian in Bangalore, which is what I was expecting...)) told me that there are no plans in the near future to discontinue or replace either the DP-24 or DP-32. I told him my GC story and he said that disagreements sometimes arise when a retailer can't get the inventory that they want and they behave like children and mark the item as discontinued in an attempt to shift the customer to another product. Sounds like typical GC behavior to me..... I asked about pending software upgrades and he had nothing on his screen, but he did say the DP's were strong sellers, so let's hope Tascam keeps us in mind and keeps working on their product.

Well, looks like I'm off to make an internet purchase. B&H is gonna sell at least one DP-24 today.....
 
If haven't already found one and bought it- DON'T- they are s***.......unfortunately if you want 24 track recording, but dont want to go down the pc route.....and i went that way and hated the inflexibility of operation and illogical menus...try and get hold of a Fostex DL2424 or an Alexis HD24, if you really look and search hard you can still pick up a new one.if not its the s/handmarket i'm afraid as there are no other options.
 
Hi Phil,

Thanks for the heads-up, and I appreciate the suggestions you made.

I did purchase the DP-24, and so far all is well. I heavily researched all the products in the category before I pulled the trigger so there have been no surprises (so far). I wanted an all-in-one unit with real faders, and that quickly narrows down the choices. I need to be able to pack up the whole thing and hit the road and the DP does that nicely. I also wanted a price point that would leave some $$$ left over for some mics and preamps. The products you mention are nice machines, but they aren't really in the same category. If I were putting together a project studio that didn't need to be mobile I would definitely explore those units, but they don't travel as nicely and they require more outboard gear than I'm willing to pack.

Thanks again!
 
phil fridge said:
If haven't already found one and bought it- DON'T- they are s***.......unfortunately if you want 24 track recording, but dont want to go down the pc route.....and i went that way and hated the inflexibility of operation and illogical menus...try and get hold of a Fostex DL2424 or an Alexis HD24, if you really look and search hard you can still pick up a new one.if not its the s/handmarket i'm afraid as there are no other options.
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I think what you mean to say is that you bought one, and not having done your research beforehand, found it didn't meet your needs. My Dp24 meets MY needs exactly, and is a great unit.
 
phil fridge said:
If haven't already found one and bought it- DON'T- they are s***.......unfortunately if you want 24 track recording, but dont want to go down the pc route.....and i went that way and hated the inflexibility of operation and illogical menus...try and get hold of a Fostex DL2424 or an Alexis HD24, if you really look and search hard you can still pick up a new one.if not its the s/handmarket i'm afraid as there are no other options.
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What about it do you find "shit"? I have the original TASCAM 2488 and loved it for the 7 years or so that I used it, before I went the PC route. If the DP-24 is anything like the 2488, it's certainly not shit in my opinion. What were you not able to figure out about it?
 
No i didn't buy one....i have a very portable DP4, and years ago i had one of the first portastudios, the TEAC 144,so i hope that demonstrates i'm not prejudice against Tascam products as a rule. I've been recording on home systems since i had that first portastudio 31 years ago The dp 24, which i've used as a friend owns one, freezes all the time . The dp4 i have , has done that too, though not with the regularity the dp24 does
I appreciate for portability a dp24 does tick boxes, i used a Korg D16EXD for a few years which is a studio in box and it was fine and in fact i know a couple of professional acts who've recorded albums on them and if you have a dp24 and it works fine then good on you but i dont think theres any getting away from the fact they have a dodgy reputation and are not the most flexible of units. The customer support at Tascam is pretty useless which doesn't help things. After abandoning my pc cubase system i did seriously consider the dp24 and i contacted their customer service dept on 3 occasions to see if they intended to sort the freezing problem which is commonplace. I never got a response so i tracked down a new Fostex DV2424 . Obviously you need a seperate mixer but as i dont need a mobile set up that was fine. I stand by my view on the dp24 so 'rusty axe' please dont make false assumptions over my posting.I do hope 'noney' has no problems with his unit but if someone wants advice and you have experience of a products negativity you can hardly say there great can you?
 
phil fridge said:
No i didn't buy one....I stand by my view on the dp24 so 'rusty axe' please dont make false assumptions over my posting.
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This is even better ... an unqualified opinion of a non-owner. Has your friend updated his firmware? Contrary to your experience I found Tascam to be quite responsive to user issues, and most 'teething' issues have been resolved in the latest (and earlier) firmware release. My DP24 has never locked up or misbehaved in any way.
 
Yup. Lke I said, I had the original 2488, and never had a freeze up or any other problem with it.

They're certainly not "shit" by any stretch of the imagination. Usually, anyone that complains about them isn't an owner, which makes their "testimonial" total hearsay. Great machines.
 
phil fridge said:
No i didn't buy one....i have a very portable DP4, and years ago i had one of the first portastudios, the TEAC 144,so i hope that demonstrates i'm not prejudice against Tascam products as a rule. I've been recording on home systems since i had that first portastudio 31 years ago The dp 24, which i've used as a friend owns one, freezes all the time . The dp4 i have , has done that too, though not with the regularity the dp24 does
I appreciate for portability a dp24 does tick boxes, i used a Korg D16EXD for a few years which is a studio in box and it was fine and in fact i know a couple of professional acts who've recorded albums on them and if you have a dp24 and it works fine then good on you but i dont think theres any getting away from the fact they have a dodgy reputation and are not the most flexible of units. The customer support at Tascam is pretty useless which doesn't help things. After abandoning my pc cubase system i did seriously consider the dp24 and i contacted their customer service dept on 3 occasions to see if they intended to sort the freezing problem which is commonplace. I never got a response so i tracked down a new Fostex DV2424 . Obviously you need a seperate mixer but as i dont need a mobile set up that was fine. I stand by my view on the dp24 so 'rusty axe' please dont make false assumptions over my posting.I do hope 'noney' has no problems with his unit but if someone wants advice and you have experience of a products negativity you can hardly say there great can you?
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The lockup issue was something I encountered quite frequently during my research and was one of the things that gave me pause. However, two separate firmware updates were issued during that time which convinced me that Tascam was on top of things and that the problem was being addressed. When my DP arrived last week the first thing I did was check the firmware version, which turned out to be 1.02. The latest version is 1.12 so I immediately updated it and so far everything has been very smooth and lockup-free. Another thing to keep in mind about the DP-24 is that it is very sensitive to the brand and model of SD card that is used. Numerous user issues have been solved by switching to one of the Tascam approved SD cards and formatting it properly. Both the software updates and a list of approved SD cards can be found on Tascam's website (I'd provide a link but the BBS won't let me do that until I have a higher post count).

You might want to share this link with your friend, as using the latest software and an approved SD card might make his/her life much easier.

So far the unit has been everything I thought it would be. It is solidly built, has tons of great features and most importantly, has a terrific sound -- all for an unbelievably low price point. This really is a studio-in-a-box, and when you consider all of the features that are available in this one machine, it really is incredible.
 
Hi Noney....i'm pleased you found a solution, i saw all the stuff you did and indeed thats why i contacted Tascam ...had i got a response it would have at least acknowledged they cared!.....as for my bass playing friend and his unit, he has upgraded but he still experiences problems .....it shuts itself down without warning...........we spent 8 months working on some drum trax at the beginning of 2012 and it was a nightmare getting them finished. Contrary to what you think Mr Rusty AXE!!!! I know my way round these units better than most owners.
 
phil fridge said:
Hi Noney....i'm pleased you found a solution, i saw all the stuff you did and indeed thats why i contacted Tascam ...had i got a response it would have at least acknowledged they cared!.....as for my bass playing friend and his unit, he has upgraded but he still experiences problems .....it shuts itself down without warning...........we spent 8 months working on some drum trax at the beginning of 2012 and it was a nightmare getting them finished. Contrary to what you think Mr Rusty AXE!!!! I know my way round these units better than most owners.
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Whatever ... I defer to your obviously superior knowledge ...
 
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