Okay you guys, with all this banter, I have to check it out for myself!
FWIW, I predicted the Tascambbs would never come back, a long time ago. No one really knows "why", except those on the inside, but we all have our assumptions.
We all saw the anti-Tascam sentiment on those boards, in every forum, so maybe Tascam took a good, hard look at the bulk of the posts, and if they were negative in the majority, they just decided to pull the plug on it.
Not to mention the off-topic fluff that was increasing on the board, clogging it up,... but I thought it was shut down because I called TBeck a 'whiny little prick',... for which I apologized soon thereafter. Haha,... eh TBeck?
... Or, was it the flagrant violation of "the rules" that I endeavored to post links to about 10 all-Tascam-all-analog recordings I posted at NWR,... as a response to a direct inquiry for Tascam/analog recordings & examples. [See:...]
http://www.nowhereradio.com/davemania/singles
You guys, myself included, have ample reason to be upset about Tascambbs going down, and that Tascam obviously lost touch with it's user base long before that.
We were, at Tascambbs, a lively crowd, though, and maybe Tascam-corp could not stand the shining light of brilliance that we all cast upon Tascam,... about how they're losing 'it', and going down the wrong path,... toward digital-everything, and cheapness as a rule.
F/I, Cjacek asked Tascam tech support, point-blank, about the successor to the cassette-4-track 424mkIII, to which he was told [para], 'wake up & smell the coffee, get real, cassette is dead'. This was a question that many of us had, deep down, but cjacek just went to the source, and was told [para] to 'piss off'.
I'll guarantee you, that up until the last 5 years or so, that you would NOT see a majority of Tascam users casting negative comments on Tascam about how damn cheap they were,... from price point to build quality.
Speaking of pre-'98 Tascam, the quality was pretty good, IMO, although my favorite Tascams are of the early-mid-80's Tascam gear, of which quality was VASTLY SUPERIOR to anything out there, in 'semi-pro' and 'consumer' home recording gear.
No doubt, with the invention of the Portastudio, Tascam was an innovative leader and not only set the pace in the home recording market, but actually CREATED the affordable home recording equipment market,... to which every other company was destined to respond,... and ultimately overtake Tascam in many regards.
As someone stated above,... although I won't wholeheartedly hop over to FOSTEX,... in their own cheaper and dumbed-down way, Fostex actually has some innovative products and features that tops Tascam engineering, in some cases.
This, coming from the 'original' "long time user" [Tascambbs screen name],... Tascam really lost touch with it's devoted user base a long time ago, and the adversarial stance was taken by Tascam as a kneejerk reaction to defend it's half-baked and almost-there new product lines.
Tascam/TEAC, Inc., made a lot of sweeping business decisions, a long time ago, that the results of which have just 'come home to roost'. F/I, killing off analog, cassette, reel, discrete analog mixers, etc. That [IMO] alienated almost all of it's pre-'98 user base. It will continue to hurt them in the future, with Tascam very visibly falling out of the top preferred home recording gear manufacturers.
F/I, the P5 is not a robust, full-featured or adequate answer to the 424mkII, or much less the 488mkII, [eh, Benreturns?]. I mean that, with all due respect to "Havin-Fun", and "mcarp555", and the VERY RESPECTABLE WORK they do with the P5.
Further, although the 388 is regarded as the "white elephant" of Tascam products, I dare anyone to show me a better, more far reaching, high quality or full-featured all-in-one design. I dare you! In my own analysis, the 788 is not an adequate replacement for the likes of the 388,... or 488mkII,... [eh, Benreturns?],... Haha, or much less for the 8-in/8-out-on-cassette of the 238.
Don't even make me compare the Tascam 38/M30-mixer to the 788,... it is to laugh,... not to mention the TSR-8/M308-mixer. The all-digital 788 Portastudio is not an adequate replacement of those glorious analog designs of the past. That's MO, of course, and I still have the utmost respect for the likes of B.SABBATH/788 user, and several others whos names escape me at this time.
More, I think the SX-1 is a "white elephant" in it's own right, that barely competes with the likes of
the Yamaha AW-4416, and that family of products, NOT TO MENTION is not comparable in the least to the likes of
the MSR-16, MS-16, ATR-60/16, as paired up with the likes of an
M320B or M520,... or even the M600, [eh, jake-owa?]
I believe, in my own naivete, that if Tascam wanted to lead the pack in home recording, that it could revive the "vintage/analog" market, and not only have market share, but would stand a chance of reversing the digital tide, tidal-wave, if they wanted.
Instead, a high level decision was made to change Tascam from a leader and innovator in the field, to just another second-rate me-too type of gear manufacturer.
The arrogance, indeed, of alienating a 'long time user', 'thefontmeister', 'cjacek', and 'mark7',... not to mention 'Derek Verner', in the march toward progress,... is not a sound business decision.
Yeah, how does Tascam even float the slogan, "innovator in recording for over 30 years", when it's losing market share daily to other more savvy digital gear mfr's, while it's simultaneously pissing on it's 30-year devoted user base?
Time will tell. In the meantime, I don't think they'll respond to criticism, or even take it seriously,... as long as there's a "digital-is-IT" mentality that's controlling the company.
F/I, they long ago stopped focusing on how to make tape drives and better discrete analog mixers, completely dropped the ball, to focus exclusively on the digi-bred mixer, hard disc storage & DAW controller market.
I'm not one to step out and predict the future, but I think this was a big mistake, that will continue to diminish Tascam's impact in the home recording market, more & more as time goes on.
In the end, HRcom/Tascam & HRcom/Analog forums remain one of the last outposts, where 'long time users' of every sort can gather and talk about home recording,... with lots of knobs & faders, NO MENUS, and the ever present spinning of TAPE. This is it, the "Alamo" of analog. Remember [the] Analog: HRcom.
My history's a little fuzzy, but didn't we lose the Alamo, too, only to regain it later? Someone, [DV], pls correct me if I'm wrong.
BTW, That, & among others, shouts go out to my man, Derek Verner! Hi Derek!
PS: I'll continue to recommend TASCAM gear, and that prospective buyers should go straight to EBAY, leap-frogging completely over TASCAM/TEAC, Inc., as [IMO] they have nothing to offer.