TASCAM DP-004 REVIEW
Posted on Tue 19 July 2011 in entries
The Tascam DP-004 is a highly popular product that has received huge praise from users all over the world. I thought that I would do a bit of digging around to discover why this miniature box has become such a hit…
TASCAM DP-004 – WHAT IS IT?
The Tascam DP-004 is essentially a studio in your pocket. It is a compact and portable recorder, allowing you to capture and mix up to 4 tracks at once, by recording up to two tracks at a time through the two ¼” jack inputs. It also features two built-in condenser mics, a friendly interface with a number of immediate controls, a small LCD display, a headphone/line output and a USB 2.0 connection for hooking it up to your computer.
TASCAM DP-004 – FIRST IMPRESSIONS
It’s small! Yes, that was definitely my first thought! The Tascam DP-004 is indeed highly portable! Its modest frame is indeed smaller than most paperback books (as Tascam claim on their website) and it really doesn’t weigh much at all – 360g without batteries to be precise! However, despite its size and weight, the Tascam DP-004 still has a nice sturdy feel to it and it seems like it would be able to handle a bumpy life on the road. The LCD screen is also a nice size and is easy to read, although I did notice that it was not backlit, so I can foresee a few problems working with the DP-004 if you are sat in a really badly lit room. I wouldn’t worry too much though, it’s probably just me being picky and as long as you have access to a light-switch, you will be fine!
TASCAM DP-004 – MAKING A RECORDING
Now, I’m used to creating recordings using my MOTU interface, Logic Pro and my Mac, but I've never used a palmtop box to do it before(!), so I should be a good guinea pig to see how easy this thing is to use.
I began by opening up the manual and scanning through some of the ‘Quick Start Guides’. I have to say that the manual was very easy to follow, with short and simple steps and clear diagrams that indicate which buttons you should be pressing and the menu items that you should be selecting. In fact, if you ever purchase a Tascam DP-004, then I would highly recommend giving these ‘Quick Start’ guides a read over as they give you an excellent flavour of how the unit works without taking up too much of your time.
So, first thing’s first… I held down the power button on the top-left of the Tascam DP-004 and turned it on! Once my request had been registered, the LCD screen went through a little boot-up phase (with the TASCAM logo appearing in all its glory), before the DP-004 finally settled on its home screen. I should note that the Tascam DP-004 can either run off four AA batteries or a PSU, although this is not included with unit, so I settled for the batteries this time (as these were included!)
I then selected the ‘Menu’ button (which is the starting point for most processes within the Tascam DP-004) and used the Data dial to scroll to the ‘Song’ submenu, before selecting ‘Create’. All my menu selections were achieved using the right-hand black button underneath the LCD screen. These buttons are multi-functional and their purpose changes depending on what menu you are in. However, there is no need to worry about learning all about what each button does for every given situation, as a virtual label appears on the LCD screen above each button to indicate what pressing it will achieve at any given time.
Right then, according to the manual, I should now have created a new, blank project, from which I can start to build my song. The Tascam DP-004 takes a short while to set everything up (I imagine that it is loading all the blank project settings into memory), but the wait is nothing significant… just a few seconds.
By default, the Tascam DP-004 is set-up to record through the internal microphones, so I decided to give them a go by record enabling the first two tracks (for a stereo signal), checking the levels by looking at the handy meters that appear on the LCD screen, pressing 'Record' and sheepishly singing a few words after making sure that I was alone in the house!… I am by no means a singer so my vocal recording was rather out of tune to say the least! I then hit the 'Stop' button, followed by the 'Stop' and 'Rewind' buttons in combination to return the virtual project cursor to the start. I then disabled the Record mode for each track, hit ‘Play’ to listen back to my recording, and two things happened:
1. I cringed at how out of tune my version of ‘Lucky Man’ by ‘The Verve’ was!
and…
2. I was hugely impressed with the sound quality of the built-in microphones!
My recording sounded extremely detailed and clear, which in this case was not too desirable as it really highlighted all my vocal flaws (and there were a LOT of them!) In fact, it was so detailed that it even captured my breathing in detail! I felt that this was perhaps a little too detailed for my taste, so I decided to alter the sensitivity of the in-built microphones (the Tascam DP-004 offers 3 different sensitivity modes; low, mid and high) to find a more suitable setting. I did this simply by using the ‘Input Setting’ button.
Ok, so I was impressed with the built-in microphones, but it was now time to test how the Tascam DP-004 handled other signals. I started a new project and then used the 'Input Setting' button and the dial to select a Guitar/Line input for Input A and a Microphone input for Input B. It is extremely important to make these selections before recording to ensure that your signals get routed to the correct places in the DP-004 and ultimately to give you the best possible recording. For example, if you are using an external microphone, you need to specify that the input is coming from an external mic so that it gets routed to the Tascam DP-004’s preamp. You should also be aware that only the first input is capable of routing a guitar level signal and you toggle between guitar/line level recordings using a little switch on the side of the unit.
Within the Input Setting menu, you can also assign whether your inputs will be mono or stereo signals. For the case of my mini-project, I chose mono signals... just because I felt like it!
My inputs were now set up and I had a Yamaha Pacifica plugged into Input A and a trusty Se X1 microphone plugged into Input B (the Tascam DP-004 does NOT supply phantom power, so I had to run the condenser mic through an external phantom power supply first!) However, I now wanted to know how to route the input signals to specific tracks on the Tascam DP-004. Luckily, this was again really easy. I simply had to press the 'Assign' button and use a combination of the multi-function buttons and the Data dial to make routing selections for each of the four channels. It was really simple!
I could then make recordings in exactly the same way as before, i.e. hit record enable on my routed tracks (in this case 1 and 2), set levels and pan positions using the dedicated track dials on the Tascam DP-004 (and the dedicated input level dials), and then hit 'Record' and 'Play' together. If you have previous experience of recording in a DAW, then this process should all seem very familiar and if you have no previous recording experience, then it is very quick to pick-up.
Now, again, I am by no means an expert guitar player, so my little recording was all very messy! I didn’t even bother turning on the in-built metronome (which can be activated from the dedicated Menu option). I have to say that the recordings (not the playing!) all sounded excellent though and I was very impressed with the quality that this little thing offered. I definitely wouldn’t have any arguments about creating demo tapes using recordings from this mini-gadget and I would also be very comfortable with creating recordings using the Tascam DP-004 and then tweaking them in my more flexible DAW. Also, just in case you are interested, I also used the Tascam DP-004 to record a stereo line level signal from my Access Virus synth and once again, the quality of the recording was excellent.
TASCAM DP-004 – MIXING
The Tascam DP-004 is not just a portable recorder, it is actually a complete studio in your pocket! Well, I say ‘complete’… it is by no means as flexible as a full computer studio, but it does give you all the basic tools for recording, mixing and exporting. You can even easily bounce multiple tracks down to a single track so that you can extend the capabilities of the Tascam DP-004 and theoretically record an unlimited number of tracks.
However, lets say that you have completed a project and you want to create a master mix. How easy is this? The first thing that you need to do when creating a master track is to set the start and end points for your recording. You can do this by using the 'In/Out' menu. You then need to hit the ‘Rec Mode’ button to change the record mode from 'Multitrack' to 'Master'. When you now record, you will be mixing everything down to the master track. Easy!
The only slightly annoying thing here is that to create a master track, the Tascam DP-004 has to record everything again in real-time, meaning that you have to sit and listen to your recording all the way through… not a chore if you just have a single 3 minute song, but I imagine that this would become very tedious if you have a whole album to get through. Still, I guess that it forces you to have another good listen to your track, which can’t be a bad thing. Maybe I should just learn to be a little more grateful for modern digital bounce-speeds in professional DAWs!
TASCAM DP-004 – EXPORTING
Once you have your master track, it is highly likely that you will want to export it to your computer, most likely in an uncompressed Wave format. This is another fairly simple process, achieved by switching back to 'Multitrack' recording mode and selecting ‘Wave’, followed by ‘Export Master’ from the DP-004 menu. Once you have created a Wave file, you can then plug the Tascam DP-004 into your computer and transfer it in exactly the same way as you would extract a file from a standard USB device. It’s worth noting that you can also export individual tracks to Wave files and you can import Wave files from the computer, which is useful if you want to build a song around a pre-recorded drum track, for example.
TASCAM DP-004 – BOX OF DELIGHTS!
The Tascam DP-004 is certainly a very impressive product. It is a fantastic idea for rehearsals, song writing and generally just capturing ideas, as it is just so simple and intuitive. In essence, it allows you to get on with the important things without getting bogged down in too many technicalities, so it is perfect for the creative on the move.
Recordings from the Tascam DP-004 all get captured on an included 1GB SD card (which should enough space as long as you remember to regularly back up your work on your computer) in CD quality (16-bit, 44.1 kHz). Whilst I prefer to capture my recordings at 24-bit, 96kHz resolution and bounce my work down to CD quality later on, I must admit that the Tascam DP-004 really does give you some excellent quality recordings for an extremely affordable price. In fact, if you find yourself away from the studio and need to make a project recording, I can confidently say that you would be able to rely on the DP-004 for the job.
However, with its portable size and dedicated feature-set, the Tascam DP-004 is naturally going to compared to the Boss Micro BR, so I took the opportunity to have a quick play with each and this is what I can tell you.
The Boss Micro BR is undoubtedly another impressive product and it has advantages over the Tascam DP-004 in that it has features such as built-in effects and a drum machine, which I can see suiting some people very well. However, I think that the Tascam DP-004 is more suited to the traditional songwriter as it is more 'straight-to-the-point', giving you all the basic functions required for creating songs. With the Tascam, there is no need to get bogged down or distracted with effects, etc… you can just fully concentrate on forming an idea and the interface of the DP-004 is also a lot more friendly than the Boss Micro BR, which doesn’t have any dedicated level and pan dials. I also felt that the in-built microphones were superior on the Tascam DP-004.
The only real moan that I would have about the Tascam DP-004 is that it could do with a footswitch to perform recording punch outs… it’s a point that I have heard other people mention as well and they do most definitely have a point! If you are playing and recording a guitar on your own then you don’t have a free hand to reach down and press the punch-out button, meaning that you will inevitably record a bit of fumbling around that you will have to cut off at a later point. It’s not a huge deal, but it would be a nice little touch!
All-in-all, the Tascam DP-004 is a brilliant product! Whether you just want something to capture ideas on-the-fly or you want a portable device to capture pro recordings, you should feel more than at home with this product and for the price, it is a real bargain! Plus, if you like the sound of the DP-004, but need more flexibility, check out the Tascam DP-008 8-track recorder with built-in reverb!
I hope you enjoyed this review! Feel free to add comments and ratings and for more information on the Tascam DP-004, or to purchase it, click the link below…