At the 2011 NAMM Show, Tascam announced the new DP-03 8-track Digital Portastudio.
Features:
- 8-track Digital Portastudio with CD Burner
- Records to SD/SDHC Card media
- Import audio tracks from CD
- Built-in stereo condenser microphone
- Two XLR microphone inputs with phantom power
- 1/4″ stereo line inputs
- Switchable instrument-level input for guitar/bass direct recording
- Multi-band mastering effects
- 2-band EQ per track
- Internal reverb processor with dedicated send per track
- Chromatic Tuner and Metronome
- Track editing, autopunch and bounce features
- Optional RC-3F footswitch offers three switches for punch-in and transport operation
- Compact and lightweight
The DP-03 records two tracks at a time at CD quality to SD/SDHC cards, using XLR microphone preamps or a pair of built-in condenser microphones. Mixing features like reverb and EQ are accessed using dedicated knobs for simple operation.
When a production is finished, it can be transferred to computer over USB 2.0 or burned to CD using an internal drive.
A pair of inputs can be routed to any tracks, providing condenser microphones with phantom power when required. The DP-03 inputs also include 1/4″ line and instrument level switches for recording sources like drum machines, guitar and bass. A tuner and metronome are built in for assembling polished performances. Once recorded, tracks can be bounced and edited.
Like the DP-02 before it, the DP-03 uses an array of dedicated controls for mixing, combined with a simple menu interface for editing and other features. New mastering effects like EQ and multiband compression have been added for radio-ready masters. With so much power in a compact package, the DP-03 makes recording affordable, portable and fun.
Pricing and availability for the Tascam DP-03 Portastudio are to be announced.
Another pathetic records-only-two-tracks-at-a-time device from Tascam. Zzzzzz.
old fashioned
it would be cool if I had this in the early 90s… but not now. Is this type of product desirable to anyone nowadays? Who uses CDs anymore?
Not cool, but still perfect for many one-person songwriting operations if competitively priced.
What's that round blank thing coming out from the side?
Does your DAW allow you to start recording in 10 seconds from flicking the power switch? Can you put it in your gigbag (audio-interface, mics and all)? That’s why I still use my Boss BR-600 almost every day even though I have two computers with DAW software. Takes maybe 5 seconds more if I have to create a new song first.
The thing that pisses me off about these devices though is that none of the portable ones come with any kind of synchronization options. How difficult can it be to include a MIDI out and send a f*ng MIDI clock? I would love to use such devices for recording synths with arpeggiators and stuff as well, but Roland and; Zoom and Tascam seem to think that only guitarists use them. 🙁
I use Zoom MRS-8 (introduced in 2005) which has not only clock but also one channel bass sequencer sent to MIDI OUT (and new Zoom R16 for some reason doesn't). Only and real drawback is that it works very unreliable with some brands of SD-cards.
I wonder if you could go old school and get an old sync box both to print FSK and generate MIDI beat clocks. I have an old JL Cooper sync-link the size of a stomp box. I bet you can find one cheap. Makes it a little less portable, but if you print FSK on a track and pan it hard to one channel, then monitor everything else in mono from the other channel, well.. it's not elegant, but it could work cheaply. Just a thought.
I agree that CD-R's are a colossal waste of resources. I'm sure that pile of CD-R's that were used once to move a single file from one machine to another is visible from space.
A USB port to copy or move mixes onto a flash drive would be better.
I only wish ALL these rigs had their two mic's set up as Mid-SIde. Wouldn't that make more sense?
Even the Zoom MRS-4 had MIDI clock out, and I'm with Chris regarding portability and boot-up time. And some of us still use CDs, not having graduated to the giddy heights of 45 rpm vinyl yet.
Should go well with the Teenage Engineering OverPriced-1
While I do agree on the cd-r part I do wonder where this comment came from. I mean; this device seems to record to a memory card (sd / sdhc) and can then copy the end product to either a cd-r or over USB, that's what the description above tells us anyway.
And if it has an USB connection it might be possible to use a memory stick in there as well (although I doubt it; most likely the device will support act as a usb mass storage device).
But considering the amount of audio cd's which are still around I don't think its too silly to support this medium. Not every part of the world is fully customized to the usage of memory sticks and such.
Sorry for 2 posts quickly after one other, but here is a demo movie which explains quite a lot. I have to say that the video makes it look pretty interesting enough:
[youtube aQtYfJ8nKSc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQtYfJ8nKSc youtube]
I have the DP-08 version of this. It uses an SD card instead of the CDR. It's a little more with the times 🙂 dunno how much this one is, but the DP-08 is ~$200. a good price. only thing i really miss is an effects send and return!
BR-800 FTW!!! So awesome effects, good EQ and best price/quality/quantity/features -ratio ever. Fast composing at home and everywhere!
I bought it just to get Rolands Fantom/cosm effects, but it totally changed my workflow.
Here's another surprised BR-800-ist.
I bought it for easy and cheap portable recorder for rehearsals, but found it good enough to replace my earlier 16 tracker. Really good effects!!!
it looks good but if you want to edit vocal tracks and cutr and paste from different takes into the 1 "best take" I think you will have problems,, so it is really just for band practice scenarios, and you can only record 2 tracks simultaneously, so a laptop interface will be much better becuase you will have better editing capabilites too… think about it
Wow, quite a few NEGATIVE comments here, sorry to see that. Thought there would be something useful somebody would say that I could actually use. No problem, I can respect all that. Anyway, I have one of these and I’m enjoying it IMMENSELY! Peace. *smiling*
Question about theTascam DP-08: When you load or create a new song, the song currently open is saved (over-writes the song that loaded from the SD card).. What if you don’t want to save the song because you messed it up? Is there a way to create or load a new song without saving the song you were working on?