- 8-track digital Portastudio with 2-track simultaneous recording capabilities
- Records to SD/SDHC memory cards up to 32 GB in size; comes with 2 GB SD card
- Each track has its own row of knobs for level, pan and effects
- Built-in metronome and chromatic tuner for tight-sounding tracks
- Powered by four AA batteries or optional power supply
After wanting a digital multi-track for a long time, I finally decided on this model, and I'm glad I did.
One thing that is not included in a list of specs is the usability factor. I've purchased my share of electronic devices for making and recording music over the years. Just looking at a dry list of specs has often been my method of deciding on what to buy. Well, on paper the DP-008 looks good, but it's not until you use this to cut a few tracks that you realize how well it is designed. I'm SOOOO glad I didn't buy the DP-004, as this model is clearly the results of Tascam eliminating the weaker aspects of the 4 track model just in time for the 8 track version.
I have seen a lot of digital multi-tracks that look good on paper, but to use them is a real pain. The fact that the DP-008 has all the individual track knobs means that you don't have to go flipping through pages on a menu or choosing the "hot track" in some other way. Here it's all laid out logically and makes tweaking the final stereo mix a piece of cake. Sure it would be nice if there were level sliders rather than dials, but these work just fine.
I use this model to record myself playing guitar and bass, run a Boss drum machine into it, and I record vocals with an external mic though a small mixer that has some helpful effects on it. You don't need a mixer, though, as the included mics are quite good. I am able to record several tracks, "bounce" them if I want to, and then write them to a stereo master mix. Then, I export that mix on the unit itself (sounds weird, but basically you're just creating a wav file that can be seen by a computer). The final step is connecting the DP-008 to a computer and merely dragging the song files over to the computer. I then use Audacity to convert it to an ogg file or mp3.
I use Linux and the process of transferring songs to the computer is very simple. In the past you would have received a useless cd-rom with a crappy "song transfer" program and maybe some crapware to go along with it. I'm glad that Tascam has decided to treat the customer right and state it clearly: There is no need for special software. Once you export the song, it will show up as an external storage device and you can simply transfer the files over to your computer, whether it's a PC running Windows or Linux, or a Mac.
Buy TASCAM DP-008 8-Track Digital Portastudio Now
So just as a point of reference, I'm an audio engineer. I went to school to be one and had my own ADAT based project studio for a while afterward. I was trained on buttons and knobs. Prior to, during, and after all that I had home gear that ranged from a boombox to 4-track cassettes, to the aforementioned ADAT, to PC recording. All the while as a musician as much as engineer.
That said ... I love the 008. It's not perfect, but I love it.
Features:
Brilliant. Compact, all the input options you'd need including phantom power, excellent decisions on what to have dedicated controls for vs. being menu items (save for the EQ, but that's a space hog, so I'm willing to accept the compromise), and potentially infinite memory.
Interface:
Considering my background, I'm generally not a fan of PC recording, I prefer the tactile nature of buttons and knobs over mice and pointers. And the 008 has instantly recognizeable tape transport control buttons. And clear single function knobs. Plus an aray of buttons that are mostly all clear and simple. So the familiarity with the basic controls makes things comfortable and easy. There are still somethings you have to scroll through menu items on the LCD for. But again, if you're at all familiar with the tools and terminology of recording, for the basics, it's simple, clear, and intuitive.
Sound:
Using the built in mics on just me and my acoustic guitar, I got a practically flawless sound. Seriously. On playback in decent headphones, my guitar sounded pretty much just like it does to me acoustically. I haven't tried the built in mics for a full on band recording. But I imagine they'd do fine so long as you placed it well, and kept the levels reasonable. As a preamp for a pair of large condensers, it worked equally well. This is how I got full band recordings. With a pair of room mics (strategically placed) running into the 008 I got a solid, accurate sound. In our quieter moments, the kick drum was actually one of the better sounding I've gotten in my years recording. Louder, things got a bit mushier, but still maintained it's quality. And that type of thing is more often the room than the recorder :)
After tracking:
This is where that one star gets lost. The 008 is designed as a multitrack recorder, not a field recorder. So overall these next steps make sense. They're just not intuitive, and despite being fairly easy to learn and eventually do, it required cracking the manual, reading and rereading, and sussing out some fairly non-intuitive practices. Essentially you need to 'export' your recorded stuff, whether individual tracks or after doing an onboard mixdown (which they call mastering) to a seperate partition on the memory card itself and then you can transfer that 'exported' file to a computer for putting to CD or MP3, etc. A clunky process, but again, it's designed as a multitrack, so the expectation is that you'll need to mix it down or get the raw tracks first.
Overall, this thing is a winner and most importantly it's convenience and ease of use will inspire me to record more. The best tools a musician can have fascilitate and inspire without taking over your time and energy. The 008 falls into that catagory.
Any issues I may have with it may be rooted in my more traditional background, and someone new to the art may not experience them because they aren't set in their ways. But either way, those issues are small, and definitely aren't deal breakers.
I can think of improvements for sure, but they'd just add to either the physical size or cost of the device. And really, the 008 falls squarely in that narrow gap of everything you need for a price you can afford.
Read Best Reviews of TASCAM DP-008 8-Track Digital Portastudio Here
My first Portastudio was a cassette tape Tascam 244 circa 1980/81. It was great for it's time and I used it so much the record head actually wore down. I moved on to an updated version of the cassette portastudio years later then got away from recording.
Now I'm back into music and recording so I thought I'd give Tascam another shot. I started with the 4 track DP-004 and loved it so much I immediately returned it and ordered the DP-008 which was a wise decision. This is simply an amazing unit in every way.
At first I was concerned that the menu driven system with a jog wheel would be cumbersome and slow but I was very pleasantly surprised. It's intuitive, fast and powerful. As a former portastudio user the learning curve for me was short.
The ability to easily import/export tracks and swap SD cards between DP-008s (even a DP-004 to a DP-008) is nice. The built in reverb is good and the condenser mics are excellent. Although you can mixdown and master your recordings on the DP-008 it's pretty easy to export the tracks and master them on a computer using Audacity or Soundbooth.
Best of all the price is simply amazing for all that you get. I highly recommend this for casual to semi-serious recording.
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I, too, started with the cassette-based Tascam Portastudio and there is no comparison with the difference in quality. It is so close to what I'd consider perfect for my needs that it just makes me want what it's missing even more. But I'll break down the ups and downs.
Ups
---
* The quality of the sound and ease of use. I can see how people would give it 5 stars just for these two.
* I'm very pleased with the built-in stereo condenser mics. Of course, it won't compete with pro level but these aren't toy mics either. Definitely a little better than I expected at this price point.
* Knobs! My main recording DAW is ProTools (no hardware controller) so this just reminded me how much more fun it is to mix with something physical (as opposed to the mouse).
* Reverb is pretty decent, too. More than I expected at this price point. I liked that the reverb isn't recorded during the actual recording. If you want to use its reverb, you need to mix it down with the reverb level of your liking (so exported individual tracks won't have reverb by default).
* Portability is also quite nice. I've been recording our band practices and it's nice to be able to move it around to find the best spot for the sound. I've also taken it to record another band's live performance. I've been able to run it with NiMH rechargeable batteries for 6 hours.
* XLR input and phantom power are the main selling points to me over the DP-04. The preamps in it are decent.
* When connected to USB, it shows up as a drive letter (as someone else mentioned, no need to install any software on your computer)
* You can transfer the individual tracks and/or a mixed down version.
* Last Recording Position feature is handy. This lets you easily go to where you last STARTED recording. Note, it cannot remember where you last stopped recording (which is actually a downer).
* Shuttle wheel is very handy for going to a certain spot in a long recording.
Downs
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* Transferring to your computer isn't intuitive. Basically, you have to export what you want to transfer on the DP-008 itself first and then you can copy it to your PC.
* The exporting isn't fast. It doesn't seem like it's realtime but more like 50%. So an hour recording will take 30 minutes to export (and then you still have to copy it to your computer but this part is usually fast). But I could be wrong because I would just set it to export and walk away and then transfer to my PC later.
* Missing compression! I appreciate that it has EQ and can be used during the recording (2 bands of it anyway) but I wish it also had built-in compression. I don't normally record with EQ but recording with compression is very necessary at times. If this had a decent compression that can be used for recording (with variable threshold, ratio and attack) then I would probably give it 5 stars. Compression could also be handy during mixdown (though personally, I do that on my PC after I've transferred the files).
* No inserts! If it had inserts (TRS) on the preamps then I could use my own outboard compressors and I would probably give this 5 stars even if it didn't have a built-in compressor. I wonder if they could make the 1/4" inputs act as both regular inputs as well as an inserts so they're not giving up real estate on the device.
* No easy way to remember where you last stopped recording. This is a problem as it becomes easy to overwrite something you recorded before. An example is when I was recording a live performance. I recorded the whole first set as one song (would not be practical to try to create a song file for each song) and turned off the device to save battery life. I should have created a new song for the second set but being in the "cassette-based" PortaStudio mode, I just powered it up and started recording. Unfortunately, the DP-008 always starts at 0:00 whenever you turn it on it does load up the last song you were using but doesn't recall where you last stopped. It took me 10 minutes to realize I was actually overwriting the beginning of the first set. So I stopped recording and fortunately, I remembered the time mark of when I last stopped recording so I was able to quickly go to that time with the shuttle wheel. Otherwise, I would've had to keep fast forwarding and listening and repeating until I got to where I last stopped recording.
* No third XLR input for 3 simultaneous tracks recording! I could ask for four which may make more logical sense but three would be enough. One reason I wanted this is to quickly record myself singing and playing an acoustic guitar. Sure, I could just use one track for each, but the fact that the built-in stereo condensers actually sound decent make me want to keep the acoustic guitar in stereo then use another track for vocals. Of course, I could overdub the vocals later but I would prefer to just record everything at once. If real estate is an issue, I wonder if they could make it so you can use both the two internal mics and the two external inputs (via XLR or 1/4") for four tracks of simultaneous recording.
If Tascam came out with a PortaStudio that had three (preferable four) XLR inputs with phantom power (or allow you to simultaneously use both the internal mics and external inputs), a decent built-in compressor that can be used during recording, and TRS inserts in all inputs, I'd seriously consider buying it (of course, depends on how much more it would be).
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Holy cow. I'm a drummer by training and picked up guitar, keyboards, and then MIDI from bandmates, ultimately combining everything into songwriting. I've had a home studio for years, running every kind of recorder from ADATs in the '80x to Cakewalk/Sonar and late-model 24-tracks. This little gem has become my go-to recorder for laying basic tracks. Why? How about bullet-proof solid state recording media? A 16GB Class 4 SDHC card delivers about 4 gig into each of 3 partions, plus 4 gig into the USB-accessible "FAT" (PC) partition. That's about 818 minutes, or 14 hours. Antique ADATS used VHS tapes(!), The big 24-trackers use hard drives (they eventually die!), and PC will give you the Windows latency, compatibility, and software update headache every time Bill G issues a new operating system. How about portability? It's the size of a decent paperback. Built-in mics? Surprisingly good, quality finally available because of noiseless solid state data storage. XLR inputs with phantom power yes! Non-destructive editing/recording with "undo" history yes! More reasons? How about digital copying (see notes below), allowing you to record hundreds of tracks of the same song? I've recorded a base of 3/4 and 4/4 drum backing tracks at various BPM, stored them, then copy them our when it's time to create a "new song" idea. Then I use the remaining available tracks to backfill with quality recordings, individual drum parts, etc. All tracks are easily exported to the unit's "FAT" (PC-based) partition (4Gig), where a PC can easily pick each track up as a .wav file. Edit away in your PC. I could go on.
I wouldn't attempt much internal editing in the DP008; it is unavoidably tedious. Use a PC-based sequencer for that. If you're on a budget, Audacity is free, and it will do the job. Also max of 2 tracks recording at a time.
The DP008 ships sans AC adapter. I highly recommend Sony PSP100 Power adapter for about $5 instead of Tascam's $30 offering, and the Yamaha FC5MM "sustain" pedal footswitch for record punch in/out. (Subsequent note: users report the PSP100 doesn't supply enough juice for phantom power mics, so consider the Tascam adapter.)
Operation is intuitive and simple, but here's my personal "cheat sheet":
TASCAM DP008 Operations
Home Screen: A & B meters inputs; 1-8 meters tracks; L & R meters stereo bus levels. Top meter bar is OverLoad (OL), and it will stay on for a while for noticeability. "Hollow" A,B,1-8, L,R frames means mute or eq has been applied to the track.
MENU > CARD > PARTITION > Select a partition.
Footswitch use: Arm tracks to record; push "PLAY". Footswitch toggles into & out of record mode as play progresses.
Record Auto-Punch: Set "IN" & "OUT" points. Press "REC+IN/OUT" to enter auto-punch mode. Arm target tracks. Press "PLAY" to rehearse. Press "PLAY+REC" to record. Nice.
Punch In / Out shortcuts = Function keys 1-4 (4 buttons under the display).
STOP+F1 = go to "In".
STOP+F2 = go to "Out".
F3 = set "In" point.
F4 = set "Out" point.
REPEAT button: repeats between "In" & "Out". Interval of quiet is adjustable.
MENU > SONG >
LOAD (loads existing song)
SAVE (note: the machine continuously auto-saves by default)
CREATE (new song)
COPY (to current or other partitions)
ERASE (allows multi-song erase)
NAME EDIT
PROTECT (on/off, allows multi-song protection)
REC MODE > MASTER RECORD. Choose in/out points. Press REC+PLAY. Master Level, Track Level, and Pan knobs control the stereo mixdown. The master mixdown is placed in the FAT partition as a stereo .wav file.
REC MODE > BOUNCE Tracks. Choose source tracks on screen. Press track REC to arm target track(s). Press PLAY+RECORD to bounce. Adjust VOL & PAN on the source tracks; adjust record volume using MASTER LEVEL. Unlike tape, you can bounce source tracks 1 thru 8 simultaneously to target tracks 1&2. Of course, the content of tracks 1&2 will be replaced, but the originals will have been included in the bounce mixdown.
To create 100's of tracks for one song: Record 8 tracks into new song "xxRhythm", for example. Then, before BOUNCE, use MENU > SONG > COPY (and NAME EDIT) to create a new copy of the song. Call the new copy "xxVocals". The original 8 tracks will remain intact in the original pre-bounce "xxRhythm" version. Then use the new "xxVocal" copy to bounce down all 8 rhythm tracks to tracks 1&2. Record new vocals into tracks 3 thru 8. Repeat copying & bouncing as needed for bass, drum, lead, strings. When finished, use EXPORT TRACKS to save all tracks of the song, from all copies, into the FAT partition, ready for transfer to a computer editor. Careful track naming is essential. Adding just 2 copies = 20 tracks; the only limit is space.
MENU > EXPORT / IMPORT > TRACKS (or MASTER) converts tracks to .wav files & puts them in the FAT partition for import / export to a computer. Hook up the USB cable; the DP008's FAT partition appears as an external storage device on the computer. Exporting MASTER is redundant, but you can import .wav files to tracks (16bit, 44.1kHz only).
MENU > INFORMATION gives record time available in current partition. A 4gb partition contains 818 minutes.
"UNDO" & "HISTORY" buttons. UNDO goes back one level. HISTORY allows you to choose one of several past levels to return to. Nice. All past recordings and operations are saved until you power down, which clears history. Keeping history eats up storage space in the current session.
MENU > TRACK EDIT > CLEAN OUT (track). All other track edits would be better done by bounce, or by record "IN" & "OUT", or in a computer editing program.
Metronome button. It's never recorded, unless picked up by a live mike.
