TASCAM DP-O1 FX

Relatively easy to use, although it takes some time getting used to. The manual is easy to follow and well-written, but you must take the time to read it.

For the price I doubt you could find anything that sounds much better. It has great potential, if you know how to get a good sound from your instrument its easy to capture with the Tascam. I have used just about every type of electric guitar+amp set-up imaginable, and all produce great sounds. The EQ cut and boost controls are difficult to set and and not very practical.

It is not very reliable. At seamingly random intervals it will lock-up and cause you to lose everything up to a point. On my unit the faders 4 of the faders have stopped functioning and I have been unable to have it fixed even though I purchased an extended warranty. For use as a toy, its ok, but don't expect it to perform as a professional piece of equiptment, you will be disapointed. Do not use without a backup.

The company relays everything to their 'Authorized Tascam Service Techs' who are only concerned with recieving their warranty service payments and not with customer satisfaction. After taking my Tascam in for service, I waited 4 weeks to have it returned only to find out that it wasn't repaired at all, plus they lost the volume knobs and claimed it was already like that. Tascam is unconcerned and has not attempted to help in any way.

Its a fine toy, but not reliable enough for a seroius musician, if you are looking for a digital multi-track recording apparatus, keep shopping. I will try not to purchase anything else by Tascam, after I have seen how they respond to customer complaints and product problems. There should be a lemon law against these type of practices. Next I think that Tascam should team up with Estaban Guitars and start selling their 8-tracks on QVC, because this hunk-of-junk should not be in any 'music' store.

I found this very easy to use some of the more advance features (Editing cut paste) you have to read to learn. Also I don't agree with the earlier review about transfering the files to the computer. I haven't tried transfering individual tracks to edit on my computer because I don't have the software but to transfer the final Mix from the Tascam you plug it into the USB port and it shows up as a removeable drive. It is as easy as a Thumb Drive.

I am sure that you can get better equipment and better sound but for the money I just don't know how you can beat it. All Digital very little to no background noise (If you know what you are doing)

The effects for electric guitar aren't that great. Way too overdone and everything seems to have too much reverb. There are some decent acoustic guitar effects that I have used.

Had issues in the begining getting the gain up high enough and ended up having to run all the MICs through a pre-amp. This is obviously a bang for your buck product not something that is going to replace a 8,000 dollar studio. There is a difference, but not enough for me to justify the price difference.

Only had it for 2 months.

Overall I am very happy with it. I had the old school tape version years ago and never was happy with the final product. It is night and day. I still haven't played with all the features but overall am very happy with it. One thing and I think it might have been mentioned is there is no backlight to the LCD Display. Since I doubt anyone is recording under florecent lighting this can be annoying. I can not stress how easy this is to use. Take it out of the box and start recording.

This recorder does a good job with most functions and is generally easy to use.Editing is tricky but do- able.Importing music files is extremely difficult if not impossible.Something never mentioned in the ads or manuals.
The manual contains information that is incomplete. The "restore" feature, (importing into the DP01 from your computer) Is written as a simple 3 step process and no mention is made of the fact that you have to find and buy additional $$$ software $$$ to allegedly enable this function.

Sound is good plugged directly into the recorder.I seldom use the on-board effects.

Probably as dependable as anything with a hard drive in it.I would gig without a backup but probably should not.

Your questions and problems will require several phone calls to tech services.Don't expect any timely,friendly or helpful advice as they always seem to be in a hurry to get you off their phone.(don't wait or rely on an e-mail response... you will be to old to remember the problem by the time they respond)

I play finger style guitar.We record gospel music.
I would not replace this recorder with another Tascam simply because the unit does not perform as stated in the manual and additional costs must be incurred to make the import feature work. The tech service personnel just laugh it off and say "that is the nature of this machine" These folks are another reason I would not buy Tascam again.

i found it easy to use, within a half hour i was recording and the manual was layed out good, but was a little tricky on somethings, but after reading another time i got it.

i have had it for about 2 weeks and it sounds good,very clear, the effects i think arent that bad as some of other people have said, i play everything fom metal to polkas (really!)it got some nice clean and distorted sounds, i like the bass sounds,the vocal and drum sounds are cool too.

no problems yet, as long as you take care of it and be nice to the hard drive.

no problems yet.

things that it could use: a light in the digital display, it has rca's out and not 1/4 inch jack, no drum tracks like boss and rolands.
i ve been playing for 20 years. from metal to polka. and i am real happy with it. the thing that's good is its easy to use, if you cant get how to use it, you better not buy a digital recorder.

I upgraded to this model after having used a Sony 4-track digital recorder that uses mini-disks. The Sony was great - but 4 tracks get used up quickly, even bouncing them. The Tascam is a great little machine that takes a little geting used to. The manual is not clear about the sequence of making a recording, which is Create (which does not mean record), Title, Save, Record, Save again. Also the inputs have to be re-selected after each song, even though the ready-lights are one. Little things like that which the manual does not make clear. I have the Tascam with the CD burner, which I have not yet used.

I have not used any effects. I tend to not use them except a little delay for vocals and acoustic guitar. I mic either vocal or fretted instruments; run direct line from a Roland synthesizer for piano, bass, etc. It records well, but the meters are a little small and hard to see. The sound is digital - it's very clean. A good mic is essential, maybe the most important of equipment you will need: a $50 mic will give you a $50 sound.

I have only had it a short while, so I can't tell you much about reliability. Because it is plastic, with plastic sliders and buttons I would advise a light touch when using the deck.

N/A

I play a variety of styles: folk, pop, Celtic, ragtime and this deck is great because--in addition to the 8 tracks--one can bounce if more are needed. The sound is just fine. If this were damanged or broken I would certainly get another one. For home recording, this is a very hard-to-beat machine. The only slight drawback is that one can only record two trakcs at a time, and only to separate tracks (unless you use a mixer). So this would not work At All for recording a live band or group. However, for me--who records one or two tracks at a time (vocal and guitar, piano, bass, etc)--this presents no problem. It is small, compact and yet very easy to use. This unit was very well thought out.

I like recording acoustically with it, but the distortions for electric guitar do not get a crunch.

You do get noise with the built in effects. It is difficult to imitate most sounds. You pretty much have to use this recorder for demo recordings only. You can still create good recordings though.

I play mostly hard rock. I really can't get the sounds out of it that I want. I have used it extensively for the past year and decided that I would not buy anything from tascam again. Next time I'll probably go with BOSS. I do like the dp-01fx and I have created a lot of fun music with it. If you don't need crunchy sounds, this unit would be great.

Pretty easy to use after you read the manual. You really should read the manual to get the basic facts and then you can go from there. Manul seems to be good at getting you where you need to be. I haven't tried to download to my computer yet. You can do that and then burn to CD if your computer has a burner.

Good stuff in........good stuff out! Bad stuff in.....bad stuff out! It seems quiet to use. No tape hiss 'cause there's no tape! It's all digital. It has built in effects for guitar(so far distortions not so good) and vocals and drums/percussion. Pretty good for drums and vocals. Seems to be some very usable stuff there. I have out board effects to use though. Also, midi equipped.

It's Tascam ans I've never had a problem with their products before.

I'm into classic rock/ rock music and do most recording with guitars and drum machines and such. This unit is designed with the guitar player in mind.