TASCAM MP-GT1

It has all the virtues and bugs other reviewers have mentioned. Plus, when you use the metronome after first turning on the device, the display will show your last settings but it always starts at Tempo=120 and Beat=4 until you change those values. Points off for that, and for its pickiness about file format. Points on for portability.

Firmware rev: 1.00 0020

Guitar: I don't use the effects much, but they sound fine to me. Playing straight through without effects adds some compression, to my ear, but otherwise it's perfectly usable for practice. It makes a decent headphone amp, and I would have given it higher marks if that was all I wanted it for.

MP3 playback: I bought it mainly for its slowdown capability, which sounds herky-jerky at any speed except 1x (and, surprisingly, even when played faster than 1x). Maybe the technology just isn't there in a portable device yet, but compared to the Amazing Slowdowner software, the slowed-down sound quality out of this thing is pretty dismal. Before people jump down my throat about it only being a practice device, yeah, I know. It's still dismal. That's where I'd want Tascam to put resources if a software upgrade is being planned.

It's still working, but it failed to boot properly a couple of times in the six months or so I've owned it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I'm mainly using it for classical solo practice with accompaniment out of Noad. I enter the notation into NoteWorthy Composer (which I highly recommend), save it as a MIDI file, then open it in iTunes and save it as an MP3. I have to pad the end of the songs with a few rests, because as an earlier reviewer mentioned, it cuts the songs off a bit short.

Despite its flaws, there's no other portable device that does what this does, so kudos, Tascam. It's your market to lose.

This takes a couple of hours to really get down. But then it becomes the best solution ever made. I have owned all the Tascam trainers. This has the best overall quality and solution. Also bought a leather case from ValetStand and now I'm 100% mobile. Just clip it on your belt or strap and walk around. If you are familiar with an iPod then it's a slam dunk to master in less than 2 hours.

Sound quality is way better than the cd trainers. The enhance and boost modes are precise. The pitch and tone is clear. The slow feature finally is relevant at -50

If you fully load it - sometimes there is a few hickups. Just like an iPod you just reset it. Just don't try to just forward from song to song quickly.

Have had good luck in the past with tascam on some minor repair of last trainers. However have not had to talk to them since 2003. So I'd have to say this company is on top of it.

I would have to say that between the trainer itself and the leather case from ValetStand - it is a 10. Never before could I just walk around the house and Jam.

Wow, there seems to be a lot of anger directed at this product. A quick reality check: this is not an iPod with a guitar input. Hell, it's not even a Zune. It's a very basic, totally functional MP3 player designed and built for practicing... not for recording, not for creating new soundscapes, but for playing along with digital files. On this level, it accomplishes what it set out to be. It saves you the hassle of having to set up an amp with effects and lets you be untethered from your computer. Great if you have instruction books that come with a CD. For convenience alone, this is well worth the money.

The effects are pretty processed and artificial-sounding, but fall under the category of "good enough". If you're looking for amp modeling or to replicate room sounds, forget it. If you want a basic distortion or flange or delay that will serve as a fill-in until you plug into your real gear, well then, it's just fine. The tempo shifting while remaining in key is a great feature, as is the looping option for specific passages... just mark your "in" and "out" points and that's it.

The case seems rugged enough, but I wish they offered some kind of carrying case to protect the LCD screen. Probably not a good idea to keep in the same bag as your pedals and other gear.

Haven't had to call or e-mail, and hopefully never will.

I'm totally satisifed with the MP-GT1. Not blown away, but satisfied. I'm not a shredder and I don't spend a lot of time breaking down solos note-for-note. I do, however, have the occasional need to learn tricky passages or signature licks that are part of a well-known song's identity. In this regard, the MP-GT1 is a great little tool to add to the tool box. .

I'm using this device with an iMac running on OS X, Version 10.4.1, so my comments are based on that set up. A lot about this unit is great and some aspects are total utter rubbish, so I'll divide my review into pros and cons.
PRO: The MP-GT1 is faily easy to use. In the beginning I had to consult the manual twice and that was that.
CON: You have to do a lot of press and enter to get to some features, especially when choosing effects and activating the time controls - annoying. And they only give you one playlist to add songs to. So operation is easy, but uncomfortable.

PRO: Operation via headphones (the only way I'm using it) is very quiet.
CON: The sounds and effects are generic and somewhat sterile. Don't expect amp or stompbox emulation in POD quality.

No PRO here, just CON: This is the MOST UNRELIABLE product I ever bought!!! My version is 1.02. (I checked their website - a newer one is not available).
When I bought this thing about half a year ago it would crash my computer EVERYTIME I connected it. I could not transfer mp3s onto it without getting error reports and everything freezing. I called Tascam, Germany and had the good fortune of accidentally getting the ONLY guy there who also used the MP-GT1 with a Mac :-)
The main problem was that you have to name your soundfiles with plain old lower case type!
Forget about using _- & ! : ' # ) or even spaces or upper case. It won't work.

See "Reliability" above. Thanks, Herr Sommer.

After I had talked to the support person, I was able to have the MP-GT1 running without crashing everytime. Still, it often gives false error report and crashes now and then. Having said that, here's my summary.
PRO: Innovative product. The features are really helpful in learning/practising songs or licks. Especially the slowing down and the loop-function are great. I think the mp3-version is a better idea that the CD-version.
CON: A brilliant idea badly executed! They should completely redesign the software - it's a total nightmare! Crashfree running and better user interface would be the most urgent concerns.
As this is the only device on the market you have no choice, but I would love to see another company design a better version of this product, if Tascam is too stoopid for that.

I will submit a general review but there is just one design flaw That makes the unit pretty useless for me - ANYONE ELSE NOTICE THIS?
- IT HAS GUITAR CANCELLATION - WHO NEEDS THAT? -FOR YEARS I COULD NOT HEAR QUICK SOLOS and NOW you decide to cancel the guitar? THE Purpose of this is to LEARN solos Yes LEARN solos not play along with purple haze -Who is the idiot, them, or me for thinking a GT meant I could ISOLATE GUITAR? I NEED A filter to TURN UP the guitar not get rid of it
Depite all the fancy gadgets - ALL any guitarist wants is to slow down, loop at same pitch AND BRING UP THE GUITAR NOT OUT - TASCAM really screwed up on this feature - This is playalong MP3 item not a solo learning item, period - you cant lern those Satch or Benson licks on this - Hopefully Boss or Line 6 will design the right item-

It is pretty easy to load songs like everyone says - Make sure the song is in MP3 format. I think it sounds pretty good and though compact the screen is not bad. I printed out the manual but I am really sick of all this packaging and waste but things dont come with manuals - Its on the CD - I hate that I need to read and see the manual easily.

I think the effects are damn good (NS what others are doing)

IMHO effects sound great IDK what others are talking about
Despite the price and slickness, the sound at slower speeds is no better than the chop shop (for only $30-50) This necessitates a filter (which the chop shop has) to BRING UP THE Guitar (Boy I wish I was at NAAM to level the guy who invented this)
It is great to learn clearly recorded licks and parts -But NOT For Satch, Herring, Jazz or old garbled passages
8 for Effects
2 for variable speed sound

Wow I guess others have had problems - I have not, however that is because I dont use it as it doesn't do what it advertises - for 200 dollars I should be able to poke out Fast jazz, fusion and bluegrass licks - I dont need a little toy to play Purple Haze with

SO it has been reliable so far - about 3 hours of use

I dont see a rating for features - BUt aside from the terrible design flaw, others have noted:
1. On/off is weird
2. Too many bells and effects and menus (Someday one company will keep it simple)
3. Charging is the only way to use it - come on, an adaptor or batteries is stndard!

I am playing for over 30 years - I learned solos from record players and worn needles I thought I had finally found a unit to learn and decipher really tough solos and parts for 200 bucks - WRONG
IF you play well already, this will not assist you in your quest to copy fast garbled passages - It's a fun tool to play w/efx and loop easy parts - Back to the drawing board!!
IT REALLY got in the way of making music when a GUITAR TRAINER cancels guitar instead of brings it up in the mix - IT IS An MP3 Playalong device and from the other reviews it sounds like it doesnt last too long at that either

Dont get me wrong assuming it works it has some great features and value but it is not what is advertised (get a chop shop or feed it into a DAW, or abuse a cassette player and use the leftover money for useable gear)

Very good user interface. Simple menu, enter button, and scroll wheel, with a few additional buttons for looping and FX. Two gripes:
1) having to menu search for the tuner
2) there is ONLY one set of loop points stored for the whole unit. It would be a REALLY EASY software fix to have loop points stored for each song and stay with the song in memory. The way it is now, if you set loop points for song A, they get trashed if you set loop points on song B. I would LOVE to have all my lead loops preset, so I don't need to fast forward through every song. Maybe TASCAM will figure this out for the next version.

For what it is (a 128k mp3 player!) it sounds fine. However, there is a bug in the player in that it cuts off the end of some tracks about a half second too early. I know this from listening to audio books and the last word of a track gets eliminated.

No problems. Seems to be built like a tank.

Don't know.

An excellent tool for the money. I use this way more than I did the CD version. I play in 2 bands and am able to keep all of my band songs, plus 5 or 6 more CDs on here.

very easy to use. it's simple to drag mp3's from your computer to the
mp-gt1. you can create multiple folders to organize your
songs which makes browsing on the mp-gt1 even easier. (i have one
folder for cover songs and seperate folders for play-along clips
from various instructional books).
browsing songs, looping songs, looping parts of songs, looping
play lists, changing tempos & tuning is very easy to do.
you can plug your guitar in directly, pick one of the various presets,
and set the mix of your guitar and your looped track easily.

the guitar tone and effects are good enough to use for playing along with your tracks. the unit has preset combinations of clean, overdrive,
distortion, delay, flange, and reverb. when changing tempo, the unit
does a great job of keeping the track in tune. slowing the tempo
a little still gives you decent audio. slowing it alot makes
things a little tough to distinguish. however, my mp3 samples
were ripped at 128Kbps. so, at half speed, you're hearing 64Kbps. this
might improve with a higher mp3 sample rate.

reliability is why i'm writing this review. i used the mp-gt1 for about
2 months before it "locked up". after playing a track, the mp-gt1
stopped. i tried to hit the menu button, no response. i tried to turn
the power off, no response. i went looking online to see if other people
have found a solution for this issue, but it appears no one has. i would recommend waiting on buying this until they fix the problems. i've
had this for two months, so i can't return it. i can only send it back
for repair (and pay for the shipping myself).

i haven't dealt with tascam support directly. i purchased this through
sweetwater and they are handling the repair.

when the mp-gt1 is working you could say "they did it right. what a
well thought out product". however, the fact that it broke after
only 2 months and was never so much as even bumped, leads me to believe
it wasn't well tested.

i wish that i could return it, and get my money back.

This unit is pretty easy to use. It's simpler for me than the guitar trainer CD version. For the most part loading songs is a drag and drop affair, however, I did have one episode that I haven't figured out yet where I would drag a couple of new Mp3's on and it would give me the "file not found" error message. I still haven't figured out that yet. I thought perhaps a firmware upgrade would work, but after looking on the Tascam web site I didn't find anything but a "we're redoing our website, sorry for the inconvenience" type message. When it works it works pretty well. BUT! And this a big one. It is a royal pain to turn on and off. I'm talking about the most simplest thing you SHOULD be able to do, you have to sit there and jack with it, just to get it to turn on and off. Also I'm used to an iPods controls and these are laid out a little different, but once you get used to it it's not so bad. Editing patches is kind of a pain.

Sound quality on the MP3's is great, no problems. The slowing down function is understandably weird sounding as are most devices that digitally slow down without changing pitch. But it's a tool to help you learn songs/licks. Doesn't have to be perfect sounding just audible enought to figure it out. The looping section is pretty easy to work.
The sound quality on the guitar effects is completely horrible. Again, it's a practice tool, so not that big of a deal, but with the invention of the POD I know it's possible to cram some sort of realism into a box like this.

It has way too many system errors and the "file not found" message is a big problem. I bought this thing to make practicing and learning a song to be trouble and hassle free.

Haven't dealt with them, after reading reviews on here I decided not to bother. I did look on the website for firmware updates with no luck. Tascam used to have pretty good name and reputation at least with studio recording gear on a prosumer level. Their other products have started to show a decline in their quality too. I'm less and less impressed with Tascam.

I really think that if Line 6 offered a similar product with metronome, tuner, guitar effects and a mp3 player with slow down and looping that I'd buy and sell this thing.

Fairly easy to use. Menu is pretty self-explanatory. Manual is built in.

Effects sound pretty lousy if using headphones. MP3 player sounds good but trying to play along with the songs sounds bad unless you play through an amp.

Here's where it all falls apart for me. As far as I'm concerned, this thing is a hunk of crap! I drove 40 miles to Guitar Center and paid $200 only to get home and turn it on and get an immediate system error. I drove back the next day and exchanged it for another one. Well that one only lasted 3 weeks before it locked up and was nothing but a paperweight. I tried to reset it but that didn't do anything. There are serious software issues with this potentially good but overpriced product.

Called Tascam after the first unit failed to work. Waited on hold for 45 minutes only for them to tell me to take it back to where I bought it.

Never bothered to use the effects through the amp since they weren't very good. The tempo feature was ok but sounded worse the more I slowed it down. The looping feature was pretty good. Pretty relieved to get my $200 back since this thing was not worth the money when it did work. After the refund, I went and got a $40 MP3 player at Wal-Mart to play along with and it WORKS!

Making connections is pretty easy, the unit is well-labeled. The USB functionality is very good, plug it in and the unit appears and works like any other folder. The manual doesn't tell you this, but there is not problem creating subfolders, and their "browse" function supports them.

Some of the buttons are clumsy to use, such as the Output and Mix Balance, because they are small and flush with the unit. This can be annoying when you're sitting there tangled up with guitar cord, headphone cable, guitar, and strap.

I think the user interface could have been better designed. It's possible it was designed to be like an I-Pod but I've never used one. I'm always hitting "menu" when I should be pressing "enter" and vice-versa.

You can set up a playlist. ONE playlist.

The guitar settings are 72 presets. If you want to change your setting for each song, you must do a lot of scrolling. The presets have some editing capability but there are no "user" patches to store your custom settings.

No complaints about the sound of the mp3's; the guitar sounds are just OK but since this gadget is just intended for practicing, I'll give it a 9.

On two occasions, the unit started behaving erratically, switching between Playlist and Folder mode at random and eventually freezing up to the point that I couldn't shut it off and had to do a hard reset.

There are two files, mp-gt1.sys and mp-xt1.lst; I found that by deleting these files, the unit will work again, but I lost my playlist.

The first time the unit froze up I called the non-toll-free support number, waited online for about 20 minutes, and got a technician who was pleasant but was not able to solve my problem. He told me to return the unit, get a new one, then call them back regarding a software upgrade. After we got off the phone I deleted the files mentioned above and got the thing going again so I didn't bring it back. When it happened a second time, I put in a tech support request and asked if they could send me the software upgrade or at least put it online as a download - never heard back from them. I have no patience for poor support- This will be my last Tascam product.

Despite the low ratings I gave in individual categories, this is a useful gadget for its intended purpose - learning songs. It is also useful to play back songs during a band practice by running it through a P.A. system. I find it very cumbersome to use earphones because of the wires getting tangled up, but it sounds great plugged into the 1/8" aux input of a Roland MicroCube. Plug the guitar into the Roland instead of the Tascam and you've got a great little portable practice rig.