TASCAM 2488

I have no idea why there is no catThis is a Portable Recording Desktop unit with and a very small and cluttered LCD. It can be VERY difficult to see if your eyes are over 40 and what???s worse is there is no external monitor output. It has LED VU indicators and short throw faders.
You pretty much need to consult the manual for anything other then basic recording functions. I???ve owned several analog PortaStudio???s by TasScam like the 424 and 414 MK versions and was looking forward to a digital upgrade.
I am disappointed. This is not the user-friendliest device on the market. One gets the feeling that the manual was translated from multiple languages and proofed by a person whose first language was not English.
I believe there firmware upgrades from previous posts.

For vocals I use a MXL condenser and a Shure SM58???s for recording a Fender Blues Jr. and a Roland Cube 60. I go direct in with an Alesis QS8 and Roland DR707 drum machine. A Gibson L6-S and Fender Stratocaster are the most used guitars along with other stringed instruments. Any effect goes through my effects rack and back through the 2488 later mixing. The effects in the 2488 don???t match dedicated units such as Lexicon reverb
This isn???t too taxing and the 2488 does an excellent job in terms of headroom and overall sound quality.

Absolutely not. At times it seems to be off in a world all to itself. Finding material is a chore. It is currently under repair for a failed power supply after which I will donate it to charity. I would not in good faith sell this to someone else.
To gig with this would be a nightmare. I think most sound engineers would miss half the show playing catch up with controls.

I tried to contact them but never heard back. I is currently broken and probably not for the last time.

I play mostly original NewRockAgeless and some personal favorite covers from the 60???s to the 90???s.
Been playing guitar over 30 years and can handle some mandolin, bass, keyboards and drums in that order.
The gear includes several electric and acoustic stringed instruments and my best friend the Fender Blues Jr. as well as other amps and effects I???ve acquired over the years.

If it were stolen I would ???pity the fool??? and definitely not replace it. I am going to try the Roland VS this go round.
It is a shame that a company that makes such a great analog recorder can???t seem to make the transition.
I usually tell everyone to look and listen before spending more then a grand on something and now I wish I had taken my own advice.

i purchased this unit for it's portability. it's ease of use comes with how well you can read the manual. and whether or not you have had experience with this type of thing before. i have the new mkii version with an updated hard drive and expanded effects and new 80gb memory. the manual though straight forward and an easy read does tend to not explain things as well as it should be. i think tascam wanted to save paper and only give you a 100 pages on something that has more computer sophistication than 80's era space missions. still though almost anyone could just hook the 2488 up and go straight to recording. i hate the editing it is o.k. and i'm willing to chalk it up and say that i just have not gotten good at it yet.

i think the pre-amps in this thing are a little loud. is it loud enough to call it an issue? i think not, actually when it comes to sound i am very picky, and this passes my grade. i have recorded most everything on this thing, from heineken drum keg sessions to rock. if you have the patience it will be a good recording. i have recorded some serious sound pressure levels next to this thing through my mesa boogie stack with my drummer and the 2488 took it all and never skipped a bit. my best advice for sound quality is spend some money and get yourself some good mics people. your recording will only be as good as the mic you have in front of it. i like the single effects in the 2488. the guitar effects are o.k. i would not use them but, for someone who does not have pedals out the yang they will do o.k. mastering effects are cool they get the job done. im not shure about mic effects though, i dont know if i like them or not, i am still checking out some different condinser mics to decide. i'm still only going to rate it at a 7. a 10 would be unfair and unrealistic. i think the pre-amps could be a little better.

ah. i have read all the reviews on this site about this product, from the customer reviews to the press releases. the tascam 2488 is a fine unit. like a said above i put this thing through some serious stress and use it daily. i hate that there are people on this site that have had bad luck with this product and to be quit frank they will scare the hell out of you and guide you away from the 2488. i want you to know that my 2488mkii is functioning fine and yes i purchased it still even after reading alot of the bad reviews. remember some units are only as good as how many times it was dropped in shipping and even the so called high dollar roland/boss units have a refurbishing department and go BAD! for every one of these units that are bad i'm shure that there are a hundred parked safely in someone's studio that's working just fine! i am going to rate this off of MY experience with the 2488mkii. i also have a fellow band member who owns a old version 2488 and even his after over two years of countless use time is still going.

i have not dealt with them. i hope that if something does happen i will be able to get through and talk to a human. it has concerned me though about other people ratings in this area. still i have not dealt with them. therefore no rating.

i play all types of music (except country and bluegrass which i hate) and have been playing for over twenty years. i owned a yamaha aw-1600 which i thought was a nightmare. the yamaha was hardest unit i have ever tried to use. and if you want to try out a zoom recorder, good luck i owned two of them, they are the most environment sensitive unit's known to all of mankind and that if you want the absolute best in inferior cheap equipment you should buy a zoom. i own a fleet of music equipment and i only keep things around that functions and works to my satisfaction. as for the 2488mkii i like that it can be very simple or very complicated it's up to you. it's a clean unit with very few bad marks. i did alot of comparing and still got this unit. if it had 8 xlr inputs instead of just 4 this would be a monster unit. this is a good unit and a great buy for the money, i would recommend it highly to you. it's easy and fast, it will be a great asset to the working songwriter. if it were lost or stolen i would get another one. so go out and get this machine it will serve you well. godspeed

Using the MK2. It's fairly easy to get a grip of the basic functions and everything from there is just about investing some time with the unit. The manual sucks!

I can't give an opinion here as I record my tracks dry and haven't had the machine (purchased 15Apr)work reliably enough ye to get get me to mixdown and pre mastering. At least on the dry recording I'm happy with the signal to noise ratio.

Absolutley not!!! Stay away from it. I'm on my second unit since 15Apr and that one is on it's way to the factory for diagnostics. A gig? Don't make me laugh. You can't even use this thing reliably at home. Quickly...I get no signal to my master stereo outs. The meters are jumping on the individual channels but not going to the master! $800 paper weight! This happened to both units. The first one worked for three weeks the second one DOA. I have taking all necessary steps to rule out operator error. I guess you get what you pay for in the end so don't go cheap!

I laugh becasue the lady whom I read about here was all she was described as. She told me before transferring me " Nobodys gonna tell you how to fix it" click. The factory manager was a good guy though. He heard me out and offered some assurance that he would turn the unit around in three days. I suspect that if I would have pushed harder for info or comp on the shipping it would have turned it to a fight. I expect to get the good ole "It's working fine for us". But he was receptive initially.

If I could get a full refund I would! I'be been playing for three years now on electronic devices I own a Korg Triton, MPC 1000, Mackie DFx 6. some numark mixers and tables some KRK monitors and never had a hint of a problem. I'm considering going back to a DAW because at this price point I don't think a decent product can be made. Well not by TASCAM.

Excellent, very easy to use.Just turn it on and off you go...

Not studio but definatly respectable demo quality

A big NO. This damn thing is forever freezing up.It's soo sensitive, it doesn't like the slightest bit of noise or vibration.I never have trouble recording live drums with a computer.This thing can't handle it...not even a loud amplifier in the same room.
Useless.

*****, although the tascam forum is pretty good.

I think if you'd have to think twice about goung near this product.I bought mine when they came out and it cost loads.I stuck with it as I thought it was just a bug in the system but even though the software has been upgraded it still plays up.No point in selling it as I would make a huge loss.
Don't make the same mistake as me!!

I have owned my Tascam 2488 for a little over 2 years. It is fairly easy to use if you have any recording experience. The manual is only fair though, it does not cover some important operations like patching in outboard effects. How Tascam could miss that one is beyond me. So I will take off 2 points for that one.

The sound quality is quite good on the Tascam. Don't let some of the ridiculous reviews on here fool you. It is WAY better than any of the Boss recorders. The effects are pretty good too for what I paid for my 2488. My recordings are fairly airy sounding, and are quite adequate for songwriting demo work. No, it is not Neve quality on the preamps, but only the Akai DPS24 gets close to big production house a/d and pre quality. Duh...it's a thousand dollars people!

I have had zero problems with my 2488. It doesn't move from my studio, and I follow the shutdown procedure every time. I have and do depend on it!

The Tascam forum seems to have a lot of knowledgeable people on it...and I've relied on their expertise from time to time.

For what it is, and how much it costs, there is nothing in today's marketplace to compete with the 2488. Good clean recordings are possible with patience and care on your recording levels. Get a good condenser mic and go to town!

Its Rubbish compared to other brands! the system is not the best!! I can use it fine but I find stuff such as Boss/Roland much easier/quicker to use. Its annoying to use! I keep wishing it was more like my smaller Boss unit :)

Not as good as other makes! Boss/Roland beat this! and one thing that seriously stinks about this unit is the effects!! they are so so bad!! cheap and nasty sounding! and the drum machine is very average! for the price you pay! you think you would get better quailty! people say this is pro? I say its a cheap 24 track recorder

I feel worried reading some of the reviews on here!!!

To be honest, I don't like it, you are much better off paying more for a Roland or Yamaha system which will give you better results. This is NOT a pro unit, its just a budget 24 track recorder!

Easy to use.
You'll need a little get used to for the copy/paste/punch in etc. functions as well as clear track, and all the edit track functions...

but yes, easy to use.

Very good sound, no noise. Effects if too loud can get nosy but that's with any machine.

Never got any error or blocking.
I inly have to re-mix songs if i make a mistake on the pre-master stage, but that's my own fault.

Very easy to use! Of course, you need to read the manual, and USE IT as you walk through your first recording. It becomes much, much easier to use with each recording....but it is a complex piece of equipment. It's not your 4-track cassette recorder to be sure.
The manual is user friendly. There is a DVD that provides more information, but you need to purchase it seperately from Tascam. It would have been nice to include it with the unit. I tried other 16 and 24 track digital recorders. They were too difficult to understand, instructions were unclear, or components felt cheap. Some have complained that they don't like the hard plastic shell of this unit. Hey, if you want metal, fork out another grand. They need to keep costs reasonable when packing all the features of this recorder into a useable container. Check out other brands.......plastic as well!

Someone mentioned this unit as being "a toy". That couldn't be further from the truth. This is a professional recording tool that produces a remarkable recording that can be burned onto its own CD. The recordings are quiet. No hiss, or any other noise associated with cassette or cheap recordings. We have many local recording studios in this town, and the final product that comes out of my Tascam rivals a pro studio in sound quality and finished product.
Perhaps those who have created a substandard recording do not really know how to acquire a good sound from this unit. I've seen musicians pull a $5000 Les Paul from the wall in a music store and complain that it "doesn't sound good". Maybe they don't know how to play it well. Don't blame this machine if you can't get a good recording. You need to understand about recording, mixing, and production to get great recordings. READ THE MANUAL!!

No problems at all! Of course, you can't bang it around. Would you take your computer on the road and bang it around....especially DURING the recording?? This thing IS a computer. It's digital, recording on to a hard drive.
Treat it with respect, and it will reward you! Mine has never left my studio, and I have recorded dozens and dozens of songs by myself, and with our full band. Absolutely no problem whatsoever! You DO need to shut it down properly and again....FOLLOW THE MANUALS INSTRUCTIONS.

Hmmmmm....never have had to deal with them. From the sound of other reviews, it must be like trying to get through to the phone company or something. This IS a large corporation. But that's no excuse. Bad service is rampant today, unless you're dealing with a boutique one-man operation. Some amp and pedal builders are much more accessable in todays world. Sorry to hear about bad customer service from these guys.

I give this a nine due to hearsay....bad service. Other than that, this has been an awesome recording tool. To have twenty-four + tracks available, great features, and a fairly easy format to creating my songs and recording our group, this is a fabulous deal. Yes, I HAVE recorded in a professional studio in a major city. This machine is way cheaper than what I paid for a "one shot experience" and I can go out to my studio every day, and it's still here.
I love this machine.

Decided to purchase this based on its specs and after reading the manual
from cover to back several times to ensure it had all i needed.
SCENES: All through the manual it referes to a SCENE library where you can save your most used mixer/eq/fx setups upto 100 of them to recall them at any time. Sound great (if it where true)
After purchasing the 2488 I started to realise there was no such library. You CAN NOT gain access to any scene library to recall your favorite settings.
What you do have is a scene for a single song. So once you have your perfect mix and save the song you no longer have access to it or any of the other 99 scences you may have saved with this song.
Once you begin a new song and want the same setup up as before Its GONE
You have to start all over again. (Whats the point of having scenes stored in a closed song?
So far tascam have offered no solution even though it should be a firmwre update to comply with what there manual says you have but dont.

Sound quality is ok but some channels are noisey

I wouild never work without back ups

customer support was friendly but could offer no solution to the scenes issue.

for what it offers its a cheap catch but not having any Scenes access is a BIG let down, especialy when you concider if you where using a real mixer and started a new song you would still have your original setup.
Howevers the 2488 resets all controls settings to zero when you choose New Song, So even your current settings are lost.

Very easy to use, the basic recording of tracks and bouncing is a snap. Manual is okay, if you realy want to understand how to use it buy the dvd. ($40.)

Very clean.... Not studio quality but close.

I bought the warranty (2 years) $ 95. Three year total complete replacement.

Have not used them.

I play jazz and blues... We use the tascam to perfect arrangements and as a songwriting tool. Would like a video out to a external monitor. For the money I WOULD buy it again. I've spent much more cash for much less!