Tascam PortaStudio02 Reviews 5

I bought this at Steve's in Toronto for CDN $180.

Straight-forward controls. Very friendly. Plug and play -- fantastic for songwriting and recording ideas on the fly. It's analog, so you don't have to worry about drive space and can leave it rolling while you do free-form improvising. Because of this, it's also great for recording non-professional band practices.

It's analog, so you'll have to buy some tapes. The sound you get isn't very clean. When I record electric guitars, the sound I hear during playing is very different from what's being recorded. And for some reason, I could never get a good vocal sound on it. But since I wasn't using very good microphones, it may not be the Tascam's fault.

Quite good. This thing is light and not that rugged (mine conked out when it fell about a foot), but then again, you're supposed to put it in a secure place.

Even though I've since graduated to digital recording after my PortaStudio died (after four years of constant use), I still bought a replacement (the PortaStudio MkII) because nothing is better at capturing your ideas. There are no menus to navigate, only a few cables to hook up, and you can let it run on without having to worry about running out space. I recorded nearly 100 songs and wrote just as many guitar fragments using this machine. It's just a great hassle-free musician's tool.

Derek Mok rated this unit 5 on 2003-11-17.

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