tascam dp-02

John Lemieux · Post by **John Lemieux** » 26 Nov 2008 5:47 pm

Has anyone tried this fairly new unit--8 track digital recorder-burn your cd.Mixed reviews on harmony-central especially operating nose thanks

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 15 Jan 2009 9:08 pm

John-I was wondering about that too...al

Ray McCarthy · Post by **Ray McCarthy** » 16 Jan 2009 11:08 am

I have the DP004--the little brother to the 02. It's a 4-track machine that uses the pan and level knobs like the 02, but no CD--you have to upload to a computer to make CDs. I don't know much about modern recording equipment; the last thing I used was an old Yamaha 4-track tape machine w/a 6-channel mixer board, which I never really figured out how to use.
But this little Tascam thing is amazing, the things you can do with it.. It smaller than a paperback, and I'm having a ball adding steel and vocal harmonies to commercial recordings. For 200 bucks or less you can't beat it. (IMO)

Derby SD-10, NV-112

Al Marcus · Post by **Al Marcus** » 16 Jan 2009 12:42 pm

Ray- Is that the model with the builtin Mic.? Sounds good to me , just what I may need...al.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 16 Jan 2009 4:06 pm

Several months back I was considering another smaller
workstation to add to my gear pile and I did a comparison of this unit DP02 , DP02CF and a few under in price and a few over this price. I even downloaded the users manuals and read them completely.

Seeing this unit it is very impressive, it looks great and feels great when I played with it over at GC.

here is my take .

8 tracks for $499 with basically reverb was not a good value overall. This unit has an input multi processor which I believe means you record with effects and it has reverb on all tracks POST.

Conclusions:

For $499 I found it to be stuck in the middle between two worlds. The DP02 CF, which is really what I wanted had NO effects.

I think if this unit was $100 cheaper it would be the market leader. For my money , even though it looks awesome, it was stuck between the lower priced units with as many features and/or 16 tracks and a little higher priced units such as the Tascam 2488 which is what I decided I would buy should I buy another machine. They can be found for $699.

I currently have a very productive Yamaha AW2816 but it lacks interfacing with a PC for back-up and file transfer.Yes it can backup each song on a CD, but that's getting old and it takes a very long time. PC connectivity is very important, actually mandatory now.

So what did I do ? Kept the AW2816 as I doubt another workstation will be better for music production and I went to PC recording with Cakewalk Sonar.

The DP02 will fill a need with 8 tracks, a stereo drum or BIAB track will use two tracks and you have 6 to mess with . This is good. My primary comment would be no effects loops for delays etc post recording, only reverb. Recording with effects is not a good thing. I am a bit surprised by this because even the Boss BR8 that I have (old) has post effects processors, two for each track plus EQ for each track.

If you can live in the 8 "only" track world and don't mind paying $499 for that privilege, than this is a very good unit. This may be the best constructed 8 track, no doubt. If you do not want or need any effects (??? huh ???) then the $250 DP02 CF would be the answer. For price comparison, I paid $199 for the Boss micro BR, 4 tracks, tons of effects, drum samples, PC connectivity, MP3 playing and recording, etc, SD card.

I don't think the Tascam DP02 is bad, in fact I think they are quite good, just not enough for the money is my take.

Not sure if I helped but at least I was honest !

tp

Ray McCarthy · Post by **Ray McCarthy** » 17 Jan 2009 3:32 am

Hey, Al, yes-this unit has two built in mikes, and two 1/4 " inputs, one of which can be set for direct guitar. What I've been doing with mine is this; First I record songs from commercial CDs (country music w/ little or steel) onto channels 1&2, then I run my NV112 in through one of the 1/4" jacks and record myself (steel) onto channel 3, and if the song can use a vocal harmony part I put that onto channel 4 using one of the internal mikes. (you can add a lot more stuff through "channel bouncing" which I haven't tried yet). When your done making all the tracks, you make a "stereo master" using the pan and level controls to balance everything. Then you upload the master to the computer (I put it on I-Tunes). Then you can make a new CD with all your songs, and pretend you're a pro! (or see how bad you really sound) Ha! Anyway, the unit allows you to keep trak of your songs, name them ETC. You can also fix mistakes easy by "punching in" and "punching out". I havn't had this much fun in a long time!

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 17 Jan 2009 4:09 am

ahh the conversations never stop ! I too like this unit ,the DP004,and no , I do not have one but I like it.

Yes,Hykacking the initial thread topic.

it's priced at $199, uses an SD card ( excellent feature) it's very easy to use , but remember, no effects and only 4 channels. You will have to record "wet" ( with reverb or delay ). And it has two small mics built in.

I see the ease of use as the dominant factor here, I have a MicroBR which for the same money has multiple items added, drums, effects, blah blah blah, but you need a friggen great set of eyes and a masters degree in following directions to get past the initial learning curve.

For the money, the DP004 is very attractive as long as 4 tracks and NO effects is not an issue. The next best bet I would think would be the DP02 CF, no effects, no mics and 8 tracks for $249.

The real great thing about SD cards is that you can swap em out, plug em' directly into the PC for file transfer etc and not have to fire up the recorder.

No hard drive, this means it will not fail one day.

Under $250, great stuff .