Tascam User Review

[elwoodblues1969]

I just received my Tascam 2488neo this morning & spent 8 wonderful hours learning the basics & I managed to record 10 tracks thus far,in a continuing effort to polish Oren's current project.
One of the features that I immediately fell in love with,is the capablity to immediately re-record over a mistake on a track,without having to dig into a sub-menu to delete it!
I am tickled pink over the amazing difference in sound quality over my old Zoom recorder & I have yet to experience the sheen of the mastering effects!
I used the 3 band EQ(for each track) to brighten up Oren's bass & guitar tracks & the results were excellent,as I have the ability to set the Hz & kHz levels for each band!
At this point though,I have it a wall....as I am unable to decipher the advanced functions of the recorder,as the manual is basically a quick start guide & as such,it's very vague in some aspects. However though,there is an affiliate company that makes tutorial DVD's...so I have realized that it is now necessary for me to buy one & the DVD is quite reasonable in price($29.00)
Incidentally,I have been unable to do any track trimming,so I am pretty much on hold until I get the DVD.
Aside from the vague manual,the recorder is otherwise quite simple to use & once I can become familiar with it's advanced functions using the tutorial DVD,I am certain that I will breeze through the rest of the Tascam's functions.
I have yet to delve into the effects processors of this unit,but I can already see that this multi-tracker is going to be the sweet center of my studio,as this unit will easily handle anything that I throw at it!
As for the aesthetic quality of this machine..well...it's the size of a battleship & it's a beautiful color scheme!!
As for pricing,Zzounds.com sells the 2488neo for $729.00...but AbesOfMaine.com sells it for $674.00 & Zzounds matched the price!!(street price is $799)

[Oren]

Thom,

Looks cool!                                     ..........but...........
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Upon further consideration, the lack of a comprehensive manual is troubling... Tascam used to have a good reputation, but reading some of the user comments on the web has me concerned.
The Korg 3200 has a 200 page PDF manual, the D888 has a 52  page downloadable  PDF manual.

I don't have much experience with digital hardware recording gear, but is a portable recording device your best choice? You don't need all those inputs/outputs, and that big mixer. This unit seems more appropriate for recording a band with singers and analog instruments. What are your other options? Could you find something that will do all the tracking/mixing/mastering, but without all the inputs, and with a comprehensive manual? Maybe even save a few bucks in the process?

Food for thought, mi amigo,

Oren.

[elwoodblues1969]

Hey friend...I appreciate the concern,but I've done my homework thoroughly on this unit & yes,I have read the user reviews & some of them are not good....but you need to take it with a grain of salt.     Some folks want their instructions spoon-fed to them,if the PDF's or printed manuals are not spelled out to them to their particular liking....meaning that a lot of people are spoiled with YouTube videos & the like.
I knew beforehand,that some people were buying tutorials for the 2488neo,because the manual did not suffice in guiding one through the in-depth editing features.
Since I had some experience with multi-tracking,I thought I might be able to find my way through this unit with no hitches....but I had always considered the possibility that I may need the DVD at some point.
You may find it interesting to know,that for several years,Korg has been making horribly vague user-manuals for their keyboard workstations-yes,that's right....their manuals basically listed all of it's functions & parameters,but failed to instruct one on how to utilize the said functions.
I can't speak for the Korg multi-trackers,but in recent years...Korg started including DVD's with their workstations,as my Korg Triton Extreme came with one.
It's actually very commonplace to end up with a product with only a quick start guide(of sorts)...M-Audio does this,Hewlett-Packard does this & even my Propellerhead software was slim on instructions & I had to spend $50 on a tutorial DVD to learn the program.
Trust me Oren....all these inputs & outputs have already proved to be useful.I have two Korg Workstations running through my mixer & into the first two inputs...then there's my microphone in input 3...& once I get the Kurzweil PC3LE keyboard,I will have exhausted my # of inputs on my mixer,so any extra device I end up using,will have to be directly connected to my Tascam-which I will be able to do easily and I will still have additional inputs for something done the road that may come up & I'll never have to worry about running out of options.
There's two other points to consider as well....one,is that my Zoom recorder(which was only a $175 less than my Tascam,only had two Mic/Line inputs...which was one of the main reasons why I had to buy the Mackie mixer in the first place.
Secondly....take a good gander around....what else is there besides portable recorders in the hardware world??
Any stationary hardware multi-tracker will begin at around $2,000 to start....& my only other alternative,is to spend a small fortune on a custom computer,just so that I may have stability & reliability with software.
Seriously man,it's literally impossible to find anything that even comes close to the Tascam 2488neo for the money & if you dig deep enough,you will see that $674 for the 2488neo is by far,the absolute best price on the internet(brand new).
By the way...I have read through 5 star reviews on the Tascam tutorial DVD & in terms of saving a few bucks,the price of the 2488neo & the DVD guide,is an absolute steal,in contrast to everything else that's out there.
I have also read through posts in forums,where people are becoming disgusted with all the excess time they are spending on all of the advanced editing,instead of just creating & making music(not to mention all of the time wasted on fixing PC issues).....so they are looking towards recorders like the Tascam,so they can get up & go...make the music-record it-master it,with great sonic quality in no time flat!

-Thom

[Oren]

Hey friend...I appreciate the concern,but I've done my homework thoroughly on this unit & yes,I have read the user reviews & some of them are not good....but you need to take it with a grain of salt.     Some folks want their instructions spoon-fed to them,if the PDF's or printed manuals are not spelled out to them to their particular liking....meaning that a lot of people are spoiled with YouTube videos & the like.
I knew beforehand,that some people were buying tutorials for the 2488neo,because the manual did not suffice in guiding one through the in-depth editing features.
Since I had some experience with multi-tracking,I thought I might be able to find my way through this unit with no hitches....but I had always considered the possibility that I may need the DVD at some point.

Trust me Oren....all these inputs & outputs have already proved to be useful.I have two Korg Workstations running through my mixer & into the first two inputs...then there's my microphone in input 3...& once I get the Kurzweil PC3LE keyboard,I will have exhausted my # of inputs on my mixer,so any extra device I end up using,will have to be directly connected to my Tascam-which I will be able to do easily and I will still have additional inputs for something down the road that may come up & I'll never have to worry about running out of options.
 if you dig deep enough,you will see that $674 for the 2488neo is by far,the absolute best price on the internet(brand new).[/b]
By the way...I have read through 5 star reviews on the Tascam tutorial DVD & in terms of saving a few bucks,the price of the 2488neo & the DVD guide,is an absolute steal,in contrast to everything else that's out there.

You've done your homework... nice going, eh?! 
(many of these internet reviewers seem to be hyper-critical, as if they feel more intelligent if they can find something wrong with a product... )