As a songwriter who needs something that will allow me quickly to jot
down song ideas and fragments, as well as completed songs, this unit is a
little cumbersome. In order to create a song, you must do the
following:
1. Turn on unit
2. Press "Menu" button
3. Scroll to "Song" menu item
4. Click a function button to select
5. Using the data wheel, scroll down to "Create"
6. Click a function button to select
7.
Use data wheel to enter name of song one laborious letter at a time
(optional step: you can forgo naming a song and it will be named
"Song023" etc.)
8. Click "Home" button
9. Click "Rec" buttons for tracks 1 and 2 (assuming you want to record in stereo).
10.
Click the record transport and play transport buttons together, to
start the recording process (I'm assuming you have already set the input
levels and want to use the built-in mics)
11. Click the stop transport button when you are done recording your song
12. Repeat steps 9-11 if you wish to overdub another voice or instrument on tracks 3 and/or 4.
13. Click "Menu" button, then "Play" to listen to playback
14. Click stop button at end of song
15. Click "In/Out" button
16. Click function key "Out" to set the out point
17. Click "Rec Mode" button
18. Using data wheel, scroll down to "Master Rec"
19. Click function key to select
20.
Click the record transport and play transport buttons together, to
start the recording process for the "master" track (this is simply a
stereo mixdown of the four tracks)
21. Click "Rec Mode" button
22. Using data wheel, scroll up to "Multi Track"
23. Click function key to select
24. Click "Menu" button
25. Scroll using data wheel to "Wave"
26. Click function key to select
27. Scroll down to "Export Master"
28. Click function key to select
29.
Use data wheel to enter name of song one letter at a time (optional
step: you can forgo naming a song and it will be named "Song023" etc.)
30. Click function key to execute exporting of the master stereo tracks to the FAT partition of the SD card within the unit.
31. Attach unit to your computer via the supplied USB cable
32. Open folder to view the files on the Tascam
33. Click the "Wave" folder to find the master tracks you just created.
34. Go to a file conversion program to convert the ".wav" file to an ".mp3" file, so you can email it to your friends, etc.
Whew! Not exactly a quick, friendly, intuitive process!
What
you want is a two-click process to start recording (as on my old
mini-disk recorder), and then be able to connect to a computer to copy
the file and convert. There are an awful lot of extra steps involved,
but of course you are talking about four tracks, not just stereo, so
there's just no getting around the necessity of the mix-down/mastering.
What is a little odd and annoying are those extra steps to export the
master to the FAT partition of the Tascam SD card (steps 27-30, above).
Some places to get good prices Tascam Recorders.
Also,
since each song file must be loaded before you can listen to it, there
is no way to play songs one after the other unattended, or zip quickly
between songs like you can do on an iPod or CD player, to audition which
is which (thus naming them is critical).
Anyway, a word to the
wise if you want something quick and easy. You pay for the ability to
make a multi-track recording. On the other hand, if you want something
with great quality recording sound, ample storage (a 16 GB SDHC card
gives you 1300 track minutes in the 8 GB partition you can create (the
largest possible), very nice and sensitive built-in stereo mics,and
something you can use to create an excellent mini-demo, then this will
definitely do the trick.
TIP: Purchase a PSP-100 power adaptor.
It is made for the Sony Playstation and is identical to the more costly
PS-P520 Tascam says you have to buy (i.e., 5V, 2A, correct plug and
polarity). I paid $5 for mine, not $30!
