You know, I won't comment on the fact that this thread is in the WRONG FORUM, and you guys are acting as "enablers" by responding to it at all. Or to the fact that it is a stupid fucking question in the first place. AND to the fact that I don't ask questions around here usually, just answer them...
All that aside, I would probably but the Tascam unit. There are some good reasons. You guys so far have only thought about the bottom line (dollars and cents) and haven't thought at ALL about a few other things.
1 - The Tascam unit requires NO computer to do direct editing to the wave form. Hook up a keyboard, mouse, and monitor to this box and away you go with editing.
2 = Tascam customer support HAS to be better than Alesis. Give Alesis customer support a call sometime! I am sure that once you get past the BUSY SIGNAL, that you will wait at least 30 minutes if not much more to actually talk to someone.
Okay, gonna try the email tech support route? HAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH....man that is funny!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA>...my gut it hurting from all the laughing!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA...boy you are funny!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It took them fully a WEEK to return an email to me concerning a file transfer issue on the HD24. Meshuggah figured it out for me after working on the problem for 10 minutes. I have sent more emails asking if they have an answer yet (even though I already know what the problem is...) and have recieved NOTHING from them.
I predicted this severe drop in Alesis tech support long ago with Numark bought the company. I remember Mr. Companyguy (aka Mike Nicollette) coming on here claiming that it would NOT be so....sorry Mike, I cannot believe you would stoop so low on a home recording BBS to say some of the things you said about Alesis...you KNOW it was a fucked up company in every way!!! Thus, the bankruptcy.....doesn't take a genius to figure THAT out....). I also predicted that there repair support would go to hell. Tell you what, go to your local Alesis repair shop and ask how long it would take to get some replacement parts for ANY of their products. The studio I work at had a BRC sitting in the local shop for ONE MONTH, and they wound up installing a Play buttom from ANOTHER MACHINE just to make it work for now because they CANNOT get Alesis parts right now.
Just wait until you HD24 has some problems that requires either tech support, or going into the shop for repair. You are going to be out of the recording biz for some time while you wait for that. Don't think the unit WILL break down? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...oh boy.....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA>.....you are gullable sort aren't you....HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA>.....Wait until that box starts to go!!!!! You are going to be pissed (another sonusman prediction!)
Tascam has an EXCELLENT record of tech support, and they keep parts readily available to their authorized repair shops too!
What do you expect when you get a damn 24 track recorder for $2000? Hello people, this is reality we live in, and reality says that for a company to make a $2000 box like that, they are going to cut some severe corners in doing so. If you think of your HD24 as a dispensible object (meaning to be thrown away when it breaks) you will be far less disappointed.
Now imagine you are in my situation. You want to actually run a studio using whatever HD recorder you buy. Let's see, if
my HD 24 is out of commision for one month awaiting repair, and I would normally book let's say even 10 full days in that month, and at $400 a day, that would be $4000 LOST!!! So, $2000 for the HD24, and $4000 lost in studio bookings because it doesn't work. $6000!!!! How much for the Tascam unit did you guys say? $4000? I'll take it!
Think VERY carefully before you try to argue this. Some of you are just going to read over this post quickly and think you understand where I am coming from, then post some garbage that is not relavent to WHAT I am talking about, then I am going to have to flame you for being an idiot. Save yourself the hassle and think about what you are going to write. I take particular pride in Alesis bashing, and look forward to doing so every chance I get. I have even more fun bashing people that defend Alesis based solely on dollars and cents. There is much more to consider when buying products.
I will tell you the truth, I like how the HD24 sounds. The studio I work at has one, and it was a very major improvement in sound quality. But now we need to buy TWO to cover our ass, because I KNOW one of them is going to break and we will be fucked getting it repaired even somewhat quickly (on most studio equipment, 1 week is the cut off for "quickly"...anything longer than that and you can potentially lose money in billable hours, or from reduced capabilities of the studio....you could lose a lot of FUTURE business too!!!!). This is typical Alesis crap. Hype a product to be the "end all" of everything, then don't support it.
Sorry, out of MY pocket no money will flow to Alesis. They have done nothing but ignore polite attempts to get answers and the TRUTH about problems with certain pieces of gear over the years, and that has my very frustrated. That company was a shame before Numark bought them, and it would appear that they are even worse now. It is really bad when you cannot get a simple part for a $1500 controller, or a question answered about transferring tracks to/from a unit (don't get me started about all the problems with the ADAT PCR card....I am STILL contemplating a class action lawsuit against them for that card...go back to last summer and you should find some threads in here concerning that PunkCrapReek piece of shit they are STILL selling, even though it is NOT stable by any means....did you know that they said in their initial adverts that the card will support S/PDIF? LOL.....)
You see, you guys ONLY think with your pocket book, and never consider what will happen down the road. To you, the HD24 is half the price, and that is the only thing you can fixate on. You justify it by quoting "features" that are not even that big of a deal (another Alesis marketing ploy....don't build a solid box, but sell em' on the "features" nobody else has...or at least make em' THINK we are the only ones...rename a capability like burning
a data disk with 24 bit files...call it CD24....LOL...people fell for that shit....I cannot believe it...). Since most of you never take the time to really check out the track record of the company, you dont' KNOW their track record and just buy because of the hype. You only further the bad track record because a company like Alesis has never felt it has to change how they design/support products in certain markets because the people in that market don't know shit ! They never get to compare, and Alesis figures as long as they get you with a few purchases before you figure out that they suck ass, well, there is a new sucka born every second...pay the bills now.
A company like Tascam on the other hand has been VERY involved at the highest level of professional audio for many many years. They are a company that prides itself on making VERY dependable products and they support them well. Usually, Tascam products come with MORE features than their competitors, and arent' really that much more expesive. But I can tell you, I have never been to a studio that was having problems with ANY of their Tascam gear! Their shit works, and it stays working, and the few times I have heard of a Tascam piece going into the shop, the repair time was short and was all that expensive. Buy an ADAT sometime and have to repair headstacks!!! LOL.....You can buy a good used car for what that costs!
So, believe what you want about "bang for the buck". My money is on Tascam to survive. I predict Alesis going to exclusively licencing their technology and not manufacturing stuff within the next 4 to 5 years, and you can bet there will be NO legacy tech support when that happens.
Suckas!!!
Ed