I am once again considering a dp24

[Steve-o]

I tried to find my old posts & did not find them, also I had a nice chart made to post , but it did not come out in chart form. So here I go again.

I own a Tascam 2488 which I seldom used, very seldom used, it is MINT. So, frustrated with it I only did a few songs. I have considered buying the dp24. I do find both machines overwhelming and even though I have a 2488, I did a LOT more recording on my old 488 8 track tape unit, & a dp01. I do like the new features on the dp24.

I did not talk to a person who is familiar with these & he said that you are comparing a $1500 machine (2488) against a $500 machine (dp24). But technology has come a long way. After all you can buy a good PC for $400 now (running a Dell Win 7 I paid less the $400 at Staples years ago), never no problems. I paid $1300 just for a Dell Tower in 2003 (also still works).

So, I weighed the Pro's & Con's

Tascam 2488
Pros:
CD Burner
Hard Drive
Solid well built
New song does NOT keep previous song settings

Cons:
Poor Display
NO control "Knobs"
HD can crash


Tascam dp24
Pros:
Very nice Display
There are some real knobs for controls.

Cons:
SD card issues
The buttons under the display seem very flimsy & sooner or later might break.
Much lighter, plastic, seems cheaper made
The songs do keep settings from previous song, you have to & restore factory settings when a new song id created.

So, I am not sure what to do. There is not a real market for these as I have yet to sell my 2488 in many years of trying.

Thank you in advance for any comments, or suggestions.

 

[David Porter]

SD card issues
The buttons under the display seem very flimsy & sooner or later might break.
Much lighter, plastic, seems cheaper made

I've had mine for approx. 4 years. I don't have "SD card issues". Ever. There have been some error glitches in the distant past. But firmware updates and best practices in workflow have *eliminated* them outright.

Maybe my buttons are on the brink of going out - but as of now - with probably hundreds of hours of usage - no button failures whatsoever. The button issue that others have reported seem to be resolved through the use of contact cleaner - DEOXIT, specifically. I have some but have not had to use it on my Tascam yet. Use it on my guitar pots and other work related things. Great product! Also - I'll add to this subject: Should you buy one of these I highly recommend getting the foot switch. The buttons that are most likely to get the highest usage might likely be the play, stop, and rewind (for me that's definitely the case). But I bought and use the footswitch to handle all three of these tasks - therefore cutting way down the "mileage" that the console buttons might get otherwise.

Build quality - for my purposes - is a non issue. It's solid. My DP-32SD sits in one spot. On a stand. In a dedicated recording area. The skin is NOT plastic. It is metal. I have no idea why you mention this as a "con". Makes no sense to me.

The songs do keep settings from previous song, you have to & restore factory settings when a new song id created.


We've covered this - you and I. Respectfully, it's not clear to me why you seem to continue to misunderstand this. You do not have to "restore factory settings". EVER. You simply have to load the settings template of your choice. You can have one, two, three, or 100 of these. Any and all customized to YOUR liking. You can save and use any settings template you want. The sky is the limit. One more time: you do not have to restore factory settings when creating a new song. This should be in the PROS column.



I'm not trying to talk you in to or out of anything - I'm simply pointing out that the items on your "cons" list for the Tascam DP-24 are - from my experienced point of view - non-issues. None of those are "cons" at all.

 

[Mark Richards]

Steve-o, here's all your old posts in case you ever want to revisit something:
http://www.tascamforums.com/search/10551591/

I have to agree with David: your DP-24/32SD "cons" aren't valid.
SD card issues are typically user error or not using TASCAM tested and approved cards. Approved cards are available readily from reputable on line and brick&mortor companies. Button/fader/contact issues are usually the result of not caring properly for the unit and letting dust and air moisture get into the works - ergo Deoxit to the rescue. I've been a heavy user of my DP-24 for almost 7 years with zero hardware issues.

Here's a valid "con". The user manual stinks compared to what TASCAM produced back in the day. But Phil Tipping has produced an excellent free video series (in the stickey section) that will get even the greenest nubie up an' running, and the other stickies on this forum are a treasure trove of useful information.

Another "con": no MIDI. Phil to the rescue once again (video#13); along with mjk and a few other knowledgable folks who have found ways to incorporate MIDI with the SD series.

In the "pro" column are far too many things. At the top of my list would be: price; build quality; work flow; flexibility; performance; capable of professional, studio quality master recordings; And this forum.

 

[-mjk-]

@Steve-o you didn't ask the most important question: What will get the job done? All devices eventually wear out. Preventative Maintenance will manage that issue. Define your needs first and then form will follow function. Maybe you can get by with a $50 USB interface and Audacity. Only you can decide that.

 

[Sam Trenholme]

Going back to the subject of which SD card to use, one should be OK with a $14 (US) SanDisk Extreme Pro (gold-on-black) card. Note that I said “Extreme Pro”—not “Extreme” (without the “Pro”), not “Extreme Plus”, and certainly not “Ultra”. The reason why I suggest “Extreme Pro” from San Disk is because it’s cheap, and it’s known to work: There have been issues with other SanDisk cards, but never a reported issue with an Extreme Pro card.

The current SanDisk Extreme Pro card — SDSDXXG-032G-### — is not listed on Tascam’s compatibility list, because Tascam has not had a chance to test this particular generation of the card. However, every SanDisk Extreme Pro card Tascam has tested passes with flying colors, and I have run a 30-second test (record 30 seconds of silence eight tracks at a time across all 32 tracks) myself, which it passed without problem.

Note that one should spend the 45 minutes or so needed to do a full format of the card before using it—this checks for defects before they become write errors while recording that once-in-a-lifetime song.

 

[David Porter]

So - did you make up your mind, Steve? Pull the trigger!

 

[Steve-o]

MJK said it right: @@Steve-o you didn't ask the most important question: What will get the job done?

I have 2488, only did one song, so it is old but like brand new. I have used other machines & still like this. The only reason for the dp24 is the display & knobs, that is it. I do not use Midi.

Thanks will consider.