TASCAM announces the new DP-24SD

[64Guitars]

TASCAM has announced the new DP-24SD multitrack recorder. I assume it's very similar to the DP-32SD but with fewer tracks. The DP-24SD has 24 tracks with 8 virtual tracks on each for a total of 192 tracks. The mixer section has 12 mono channels and 6 stereo pairs.



Unfortunately, like its big brother the DP-32SD, the DP-24SD doesn't appear to have a drum machine nor MIDI.

But the price is only $399.99 US. That's $50 less than a BR-800!!! Of the two recorders, I think I'd much rather have a DP-24SD than a BR-800, despite the lack of MIDI or drum machine. I almost always do my drum tracks on the computer nowadays anyway. I think the DP-24SD is an incredibly good value. It would be great to be able to mix 24 tracks at a time. And the hi-res colour display is awesome. Lots of other great features too. It's giving me GAS.

DP-24SD at Sweetwater: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DP24SD
Boss BR-800 at Sweetwater: http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/BR800

DP-24SD page at TASCAM: http://tascam.com/product/dp-24sd/

DP-24SD Owner's Manual: http://tascam.com/product/dp-24sd/downloads/

[Hook]

Oh Yea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I saw something about this last week but forgot to post it, as always thanks 64 fr keeping us up to date!

This is exactly the machine I want in fact it's the top of my  GAS list & at the bottom of my possibility list. With the adoption (4 kids now ) it just make more sense to be mobile, I even sold the Fostex MR16 a while back. This will be the next multi track i get though, it just might be a few years down the road. It's so damn pretty, I want it so fecking bad!!!!
Gas On!

[alfstone]

Yes, it seems a very, very good machine...

Alfredo

[AndyR]

It does look very interesting... I was reading the manual last night (cover to cover! )

I was really excited by this initially. It looks like a really cute machine, and I'd love to try one for a few weeks, but...

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It's missing a few of things I use on the BR1600... and, for me, this is MAJOR

1. Doesn't look like there's any compression available on tracks during playback?
2. EQ is a bit lacking - only one band is parametric!!
3. Where are the hi- and lo- pass filters?!?! (The BR only has hi-pass, which is a bummer in itself)

For a "standalone" machine - ie, do all the mixing on the machine - those are show-stoppers for me. I wouldn't be able to produce the mixes I do at the moment, it just wouldn't be possible.

The lack of multiple parametric EQ bands is bad. They're obviously aware of it, the sweep of the parametric Mid band covers the whole range - but how are you going to cope with, for example, an errant vocal? That could need all 3 bands to be parametric (5KHz, 3KHz, 200Hz, all with a Q of 1.0). Having Hi and Lo EQ as shelf only is unusable.

In fact, my mixes only really started getting better when I learnt to stop using shelf EQ so much. It has its place but, for most EQ work during mixing, shelf EQ is like using a hammer to put a screw into a piece of wood - it'll get the job "done" but the results are... well... not as good.

Lack of compressor on track playback is a bit of a pain too, especially if you're the musician and the engineer. Compression is right up there with panning and EQ for placement of an instrument in a mix... so why leave it out? I mean, imagine if they left the pan control out on playback - forcing you to decide on panning when you record the instrument - we'd all be screaming... But once you've learnt to use Compression for track placement, you feel the exactly the same about that.

And filters, especially Hi-pass (Low Cut). That's how you produce clean mixes. There's a bunch of stuff we can't hear below 50/40 Hz or so (and if you want to impersonate vinyl you don't want anything above 16KHz either). So you get rid of this stuff - it's just using up bandwidth in the mix, pushing the level meters, and "cluttering" the sound. A shelf EQ can't do the job - set a shelf EQ at 50Hz and you lose loads of important stuff up to 150-200Hz at least. What you need is a hard filter to slice everything off below 50Hz. You can't hear the difference on the performance, but on the mix it's WOW!!

Originally I was doing this low cut on final mixes, you can master it louder then. That's OK, but the mix is already compromised. Cut below 50Hz on every track before mixing (especially anything that involved a microphone) and suddenly it's WOW! time. You can have everything louder than everything else and still hear it all

Not, apparently, on this machine, though...

================

No drum machine is kind of OK... I have a drum machine or two. But the complete lack of MIDI seems odd. In fact... the more I think about it, this is probably a show stopper too. I'm not really a "MIDI guy" with keyboards, I record and overdub them "live" so initially I was "yeah, so what? Who cares!" .

BUT I do need it for drums - I write drums to existing instrument and vocal tracks, often rehearsal takes. Then I redo any rehearsal parts that can't be used. Then I tweak the drums later based on what the rest of the band does - for me, there's nothing worse than a lovely drum-fill or cymbal distracting from the lead vocal when it shouldn't. The whole process is kind of organic, like a band rehearsing the song over a few sessions, arguing about who is allowed to use the available space to best present the song... Basically, what you hear on my recordings is the first take of each part that actually fitted the agreed arrangement at the end of the last rehearsal.

This means I HAVE to be able to synch a drum machine easily... Can you still get "synch-to-tape" machines like we used to use in the old days? You know, a MIDI to audio time code converter... like the one that ought to be built into the ruddy thing anyway!!! (I probably still have, wait for it, a TASCAM one!! But it only supports song pointers, not full SMPTE or wotever it's called, so the synchronised sequencer or drum machine would only pick up and join in after a bar of play-back) ... And, one assumes that on a digital recorder, unlike tape, you don't get bleed between the time code track and the adjacent track?! (You used to have to dedicate a track on the edge of the tape for the synch code, but you couldn't safely use the track next to it for audio).

==============

Lastly, the mastering toolkit, although cute, is not as cute on paper as what I'm using now. It has the same toy EQ as above, no filters, and as far as I can make out the multi-band compressor doesn't seem to have mix functionality for recombining the 3 bands - in fact, the compressors don't even have an output level control, just some auto-level thing. No, I'm wrong, they have a Gain setting, you can use that (as long as you turn off the "Auto Make" level control). And where's the Limiter?! A mastering toolkit with no Limiter at the end of the chain?? They're obviously not sitting on the fence in the "Loudness wars"

=================

You know, it really is horses for courses. For some folk's workflow this could be the perfect machine...

But, for me, after looking into it, it turns out to be an expensive mid-priced toy, and I'd have to use other kit, or a proper machine, to do the recordings I do now.

I can't help feeling we're getting short-changed by the people who make these machines, though. I know it's economics, what can they fit in, and how many of these are they actually going to sell? And maybe the person talking like me ought to be using Pro-tools or whatever running on a super-computer in a dedicated air-cooled room... but, I still feel a bit sad ... Boss managed it in the BR1600, I'm still waiting for the thing that will replace it... Perhaps they never sold enough of them? Perhaps Boss and competitors are looking at sales of the BR1600 and know that it's not commercially worth creating one of those again...

Anyway, after an initial "oh YESSSS!" - I was really excited, btw - this DP-24SD hasn't changed anything for me, when my BR dies, the current plan still has to be PC, DAW, and a desk/controller, probably a Presonus one - that's still where my GAS lies on this front (oh, and FlashHarry, don't worry, the DAW is probably still Reaper! ).

For portable, and I rarely need portable, it's [jimi]"that's ok, I still got my MBR"[/jimi].

[Hook]

I'm trying not to take any of this personally😬😉💩
I think all your points are real valid Andy and I do think it's like apples and oranges. I've never felt I had a very good year for EQ so extensive EQ controls have never been terribly important to me. In fact I had the same kind of EQ on the BR 900and it sounds like the same thing on my 008 and that suits my needs fine. I have always tried to record the sound I want to hear and not alter it during the mix down.I have been trying to EQ as of late but just little attempts to de-mudify. I personally get to lost in the sound and can't hear the differences unless they are so extreme. I also don't really understand frequencies totally. It would be great to have more to grow into but It still just isn't a priority to me.

I've also abandoned the idea of programming drums altogether. I either play them myself or use drum jam or GarageBand. Both of which have a random pattern generator (gives me the sense of having an actual drummer making his/ her own choices) and I either use that or the live pad options.

MIDI I've never touched and don't really see me exploring unless I get a controller of some sort so that's a non issue.

I really like tascams layouts and operating systems & I still think this would be the petfect machine for me. With that said, my goal is to capture the song 1st. Production is fun but I doubt I could find the patience to spend the kind of time you spend in each track unless someone was paying me💰💵💶💷💴💸💳Chances are I've already lost interest and am ready for the next one.
Rock on!

[AndyR]

Ooh crumbs, don't take mine personally Hook! (I don't know what those emoticons thingies you're using are - they just display as boxes on my pc - so I don't know whether you're laughing or not! I do hope so)

Nah... I just felt REALLY disappointed when I looked into it. I saw 64's post before anyone had replied, followed all the links and downloaded the pdf, thinking "this could be it" ... then as I read it I realised that it would be a step backwards for me.

My post is ENTIRELY about my experiences and disappointment that this box can't do what I need such a box to do. I so want a standalone box that can do what the BR1600 does for me - not for now, but for when the thing dies... I really don't want to go back to using a PC

On the EQ front - I wish I could get the sounds I can hear in my head when tracking, I just don't seem to be able to do it - especially on mic'd stuff, I just don't have a room to do it in any more... (btw I'm shaping up to post the "Nobody Loves You" demo in a bit - just vox and resonator - that'll reveal what the lead vocal really sounds like with no EQ... I hated it when I was trying to mix the finished version... the song nearly didn't get finished because I couldn't capture a better vocal to fit the track)

No - pleeze don't anyone take my post as "this machine's a pile of cr@p because you can't work with it like I do (and by the way you should be working the same way)"!!!

It's NOT a pile cr@p - or even, really, a "toy" like I said earlier! - it's VERY good value if it does everything someone needs it to do.

But... not for me, sadly... it's just not got the facilities I need in the situation I'm in. And I feel kinda frustrated that a thing claiming to be a standalone, self-sufficient, recording solution in it's blurb is missing these things.

I almost feel like buying you one now... (I did SO want to buy one last night!) ... but, er, I'm going to!!

[Hook]

Totally laughing! iPhone has some great emoticons sorry they don't show up, one was of smiling pile of crap. Totally get your point I was totally kidding... But I would happily take a dp 24 if someone was offering...

[AndyR]

Totally laughing! iPhone has some great emoticons sorry they don't show up, one was of smiling pile of crap. Totally get your point I was totally kidding...

I was fairly certain you were OK about it, but when I reread mine... I did think it was possible someone could misunderstand me!

But I would happily take a dp 24 if someone was offering...

Let's see if we can get a collection together - I've got an old nappy (diaper) bucket we could pass round

[stebster]

I am very tempted by this machine although I have to admit I do buy a lot of equipment that I use a few times and then put in a drawer with my internal justification being there is a limitation that stifles my creativity... I'm probably just lazy and lacking creativity as I get older.

I'm a software developer so I find the idea of my hobby being sat at a computer screen with a mouse totally unappealing and growing up in the 70's and 80's I am still hooked on the idea of using the old fashioned tactile way of recording and mixing like all my hero's did.

There is no one machine out there for me that has everything I want... maybe I would still make excuses even if there was but my idea now is not having enough tracks is what really holds me back. I love double tracking guitars and trying different mike positions, singing multi-layered harmonies and when I revisit my projects on my BR-800 I forget exactly what has been put on each stereo pair and never feel like re-mixing or attempting to re-track or finish anything ... perhaps if I had everything on separate tracks I could play with things longer without getting bored? Complete more ideas through to completion? Maybe not!

Effects wise I have quite a lot of similar Boss gear now... Boss GT100, GT001, JS10, BR80 ( I told you I buy a lot of equipment )  ... and I prefer BOSS effects but I thinking maybe a machine with lots of tracks is my way forward. A dp32 or dp24 would maybe be helpful to me spending more time on my hobby? I'm sad that there is no midi or rhythm on these units though as when it comes to some instruments (like piano & drums) I am better with a step sequencer and patterns rather than with my skills :-)

Anyway to my reason for posting... I came across this yesterday and was shocked at the price
http://www.eglobalcentral.co.uk/zoom-r24-recorder-and-interface-and-controller-and-sampler-en.html?gclid=CjwKEAjw9uypBRD5pMDYtsKxvXcSJACcb9AYsf8gIpmpeKaOaJTdGjGGrnpVg5UnLn4Iaji0bElzUBoCYFPw_wcB

I know this unit doesn't have very good editing but using the sequencer I believe you cope with pasting verses and choruses into the right places. There's no midi sync and 3 tracks sharing a fader is a bit lame but would this be a serious contender to the dp24sd at this price (given it has a drum machine that can be programmed after playing with click track)

I think I will buy one or the other soon though. But which one? I work hard, I deserve toys even if I don't play with them much :-)

[Blooby]

My take on this machine I think is from a different direction. My BR-1600 is finally acting consistently wonky, and I want a machine with 8 inputs for live tracking whether it be in my living room or to record a live gig. I would just export the stems to my DAW for mixing and mastering.

Having said this, I'm ordering a couple replacement parts for the BR in the hopes of getting it healthy again, but this unit looks like it might be up my alley. We shall see.

Peace.

Blooby