TASCAM DP-008 8-Track Digital Portastudio

by Tascam

Product Features

• 8-track digital Portastudio with 2-track simultaneous recording capabilities
• Records to SD/SDHC memory cards up to 32 GB in size; comes with 2 GB SD card
• Each track has its own row of knobs for level, pan and effects
• Built-in metronome and chromatic tuner for tight-sounding tracks
• Powered by four AA batteries or optional power supply

Product Details

Read the Tascam DP-008 User Manual [PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 11.8 x 6.8 x 4 inches ; 2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002YNY8GI
• Item model number: DP-008
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #898 in Musical Instruments (See Top 100 in Musical Instruments)
  • #6 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > External Components > Optical Drives > Disc Duplicators
  • #13 in Musical Instruments > Recording Equipment > Portable Recorders

Product Description

Concentrate on your music and not on the recording process with the easy-to-use Tascam DP-008 8-track digital Portastudio, which can capture CD-quality audio wherever you roam. Using a Secure Digital (SD) memory card, you can record two tracks simultaneously and work with up to eight tracks in a multi-track project.

The easily portable Tascam DP-008 eight-track recorder (see larger image).

Side view of the Tascam DP-008 (see larger image).

You can use built-in microphones to grab ideas, plug condenser mics into the XLR inputs or plug a guitar directly in to lay tracks. There's even a metronome and chromatic tuner built-in for tight-sounding tracks. The DP-008 also allows you to digitally bounce tracks to make room for more, and touches like editing and undo make recording stress-free.

Each track on the DP-008 has its own row of knobs for level, pan and effects, just like Tascam's classic cassette Portastudios of the past. The effects knob sends to a built-in stereo reverb processor with hall, room, stage and other effects. Each track also has EQ to tailor the sound for your mix. When your song is complete, mix it to a dedicated stereo track while riding levels and flipping pan as much as you want. You can export your mix, or even individual tracks, as a WAV file.

What's in the Box
Tascam DP-008, USB cable, 2 GB SD card, batteries, user manual

Features and Specifications

• 8-track Digital Portastudio
• 2-track simultaneous recording
• (2) XLR microphone inputs with phantom power
• (2) 1/4-inch line inputs, one switchable to guitar level for direct recording
• 1/4-inch footswitch input and Autopunch features for punch-in recording
• RCA line outputs
• 1/8-inch stereo headphone output
• Chromatic tuner and metronome features
• Stereo reverb effect on send/return path
• Level, Pan and 2-band EQ controls per channel
• 44.1kHz/16-bit recording resolution
• Records to SD or SDHC Card media, up to 32 GB supported
• USB 2.0 connection to computer for backup and track/mixdown export
• Built-in stereo electret condenser microphones
• Backlit LCD display
• Powered by four AA batteries (included) or PS-P520 power supply (optional)
• Up to 5.5 hours of battery life (recording, phantom power off); up to 6 hours of battery life for playback
• Measures 8.7 x 1.42 x 4.98 inches and weighs 19.7 ounces (without batteries)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

105 of 105 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally--an intuitive digital 8-track, January 18, 2010

By 

Mfragin - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: TASCAM DP-008 8-Track Digital Portastudio (Electronics)

After wanting a digital multi-track for a long time, I finally decided on this model, and I'm glad I did.

One thing that is not included in a list of specs is the usability factor. I've purchased my share of electronic devices for making and recording music over the years. Just looking at a dry list of specs has often been my method of deciding on what to buy. Well, on paper the DP-008 looks good, but it's not until you use this to cut a few tracks that you realize how well it is designed. I'm SOOOO glad I didn't buy the DP-004, as this model is clearly the results of Tascam eliminating the weaker aspects of the 4 track model just in time for the 8 track version.

I have seen a lot of digital multi-tracks that look good on paper, but to use them is a real pain. The fact that the DP-008 has all the individual track knobs means that you don't have to go flipping through pages on a menu or choosing the "hot track" in some other way. Here it's all laid out logically and makes tweaking the final stereo mix a piece of cake. Sure it would be nice if there were level sliders rather than dials, but these work just fine.

I use this model to record myself playing guitar and bass, run a Boss drum machine into it, and I record vocals with an external mic though a small mixer that has some helpful effects on it. You don't need a mixer, though, as the included mics are quite good. I am able to record several tracks, "bounce" them if I want to, and then write them to a stereo master mix. Then, I export that mix on the unit itself (sounds weird, but basically you're just creating a wav file that can be seen by a computer). The final step is connecting the DP-008 to a computer and merely dragging the song files over to the computer. I then use Audacity to convert it to an ogg file or mp3.

I use Linux and the process of transferring songs to the computer is very simple. In the past you would have received a useless cd-rom with a crappy "song transfer" program and maybe some crapware to go along with it. I'm glad that Tascam has decided to treat the customer right and state it clearly: There is no need for special software. Once you export the song, it will show up as an external storage device and you can simply transfer the files over to your computer, whether it's a PC running Windows or Linux, or a Mac.

60 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars an engineer scales down and gets back to recording, April 15, 2010

By 

Mark T. Schlipper "transient mark" (Seattle Wa) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: TASCAM DP-008 8-Track Digital Portastudio (Electronics)

So just as a point of reference, I'm an audio engineer. I went to school to be one and had my own ADAT based project studio for a while afterward. I was trained on buttons and knobs. Prior to, during, and after all that I had home gear that ranged from a boombox to 4-track cassettes, to the aforementioned ADAT, to PC recording. All the while as a musician as much as engineer.

That said ... I love the 008. It's not perfect, but I love it.

Features:
Brilliant. Compact, all the input options you'd need including phantom power, excellent decisions on what to have dedicated controls for vs. being menu items (save for the EQ, but that's a space hog, so I'm willing to accept the compromise), and potentially infinite memory.

Interface:
Considering my background, I'm generally not a fan of PC recording, I prefer the tactile nature of buttons and knobs over mice and pointers. And the 008 has instantly recognizeable tape transport control buttons. And clear single function knobs. Plus an aray of buttons that are mostly all clear and simple. So the familiarity with the basic controls makes things comfortable and easy. There are still somethings you have to scroll through menu items on the LCD for. But again, if you're at all familiar with the tools and terminology of recording, for the basics, it's simple, clear, and intuitive.

Sound:
Using the built in mics on just me and my acoustic guitar, I got a practically flawless sound. Seriously. On playback in decent headphones, my guitar sounded pretty much just like it does to me acoustically. I haven't tried the built in mics for a full on band recording. But I imagine they'd do fine so long as you placed it well, and kept the levels reasonable. As a preamp for a pair of large condensers, it worked equally well. This is how I got full band recordings. With a pair of room mics (strategically placed) running into the 008 I got a solid, accurate sound. In our quieter moments, the kick drum was actually one of the better sounding I've gotten in my years recording. Louder, things got a bit mushier, but still maintained it's quality. And that type of thing is more often the room than the recorder :)

After tracking:
This is where that one star gets lost. The 008 is designed as a multitrack recorder, not a field recorder. So overall these next steps make sense. They're just not intuitive, and despite being fairly easy to learn and eventually do, it required cracking the manual, reading and rereading, and sussing out some fairly non-intuitive practices. Essentially you need to 'export' your recorded stuff, whether individual tracks or after doing an onboard mixdown (which they call mastering) to a seperate partition on the memory card itself and then you can transfer that 'exported' file to a computer for putting to CD or MP3, etc. A clunky process, but again, it's designed as a multitrack, so the expectation is that you'll need to mix it down or get the raw tracks first.

Overall, this thing is a winner and most importantly it's convenience and ease of use will inspire me to record more. The best tools a musician can have fascilitate and inspire without taking over your time and energy. The 008 falls into that catagory.

Any issues I may have with it may be rooted in my more traditional background, and someone new to the art may not experience them because they aren't set in their ways. But either way, those issues are small, and definitely aren't deal breakers.

I can think of improvements for sure, but they'd just add to either the physical size or cost of the device. And really, the 008 falls squarely in that narrow gap of everything you need for a price you can afford.

34 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tascam, you've come a long way baby, January 1, 2010

By 

John Simmer "simmerin1" (minnesota) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: TASCAM DP-008 8-Track Digital Portastudio (Electronics)

My first Portastudio was a cassette tape Tascam 244 circa 1980/81. It was great for it's time and I used it so much the record head actually wore down. I moved on to an updated version of the cassette portastudio years later then got away from recording.

Now I'm back into music and recording so I thought I'd give Tascam another shot. I started with the 4 track DP-004 and loved it so much I immediately returned it and ordered the DP-008 which was a wise decision. This is simply an amazing unit in every way.

At first I was concerned that the menu driven system with a jog wheel would be cumbersome and slow but I was very pleasantly surprised. It's intuitive, fast and powerful. As a former portastudio user the learning curve for me was short.

The ability to easily import/export tracks and swap SD cards between DP-008s (even a DP-004 to a DP-008) is nice. The built in reverb is good and the condenser mics are excellent. Although you can mixdown and master your recordings on the DP-008 it's pretty easy to export the tracks and master them on a computer using Audacity or Soundbooth.

Best of all the price is simply amazing for all that you get. I highly recommend this for casual to semi-serious recording.