2488, 2488mkii, 2488NEO, DP24 - Which is best?

[Numerov]

I'm a Tascam newbie - so have lots of questions on the following 24-track machines - 2488, 2488mkii, 2488NEO, DP24.....

When recorded flat to a track - which machine "sounds" the best?

Which machine is easiest to use?

Which machine has drum machine?

Which Machine has tone generator?

Which machine has virtual tracks?

Which machine has most effects?

Which machine has best effects?

How many mic-preamps does each machine have?

Which machine records largest number of simultaneous tracks?

Thanks

Numeov

 

[old man roland]

Hey Numerov all the info you need can be found by surfing around the net. Music Radar, Home Recording Forums.com , and Sound on Sound online reviews were very helpfull before I picked up my DP-32 . All the machines you mention are basically the same with some features added and some dropped with each new model. The biggest difference is now the DP series uses SD cards while the previous ones were hard drive . I am very pleased with mine , easy to use , sounds great and you have the option of taking the SD card to a friends DAW for more advanced editing etc...

 

[Barkyboy]

From what I can tell , The 2488 Neo does not have the Drum machine as in the MKII. I am a little disappointed with this, because I am a terrible drum programmer. I am attempting to work around this issue by syncing via Midi to a Roland DR-770 drum machine. Still, I hate the mechanical feel of a drum machine , but learning to live with it.

 

[jrwfoxx]

2488, 2488 mkII were great it their day but now their mechanical parts are getting OLD! Pots and sliders don't age well no matter how much deoxit you throw in there. Even Neos are a couple of years old now so they are getting scratchy too. And hard drives are always destined for failure. Plus the 2488 doesn't like vibration much. If you can tolerate that sort of nonsense, buy one for cheaper on eBay.

DP24 and 32 offer you newer, less mechanical and unfortunately, a bit less than the 2488 experience. Still a good value if you must have hands on stuff. But you may have a quieter experience if you use DAW.

This is a great forum! Keep it up!!!

 

[Don Taylor]

Hello Gang, I had dl'd an article from here back in '09 when someone asked about the 2488neo. Well I got mine from Guitar Center in July of '09 after putting it on lay-away AND getting the $35 rebate TASCAM gave back then. I popped my multitrack cherry in 1980 w/ the TASCAM 1st 4-track, traded a Leslie 925 for the 2nd version thinking I could hook the 2 together (that didn't work 'cause they each had different Noise reduction, if I remember correctly 1 was Dolby the newer 1 was Dolby Something); anyway, I loved them both until the Fl heat rotted all the rubber parts. Then in Dec 1990 I went ''big time'' and got an 8-track MiDi 688...wow...until the rubber grommets melted--I still have it in my closet-clean as new in case I need a midi mixer.
Now come to the reason I am here...drum roll please...my TASCAM 2488 is WONDERFUL, sounds really good and no rubber parts to rot away makes my day. I am currently RElearning how to use it because I had to put it aside while I beat throat cancer this year. i suffer from what the Dr. calls ''chemo-brain" so i tend to forget a lot. At 66, I used to call it "Old Farts disease." Anyway, Thank God i am now in remission just having to retest every 90 days as well as work on getting my singing voice back (42 radiation treatments knocked out my taste buds AND my once nice voice). But I have faith. I treat all my equipment like 'GOLDEN CHILDREN." I'm just now getting the strength back to create some decent cover tunes of my fave music from "Stardust to Star Wars" as I used to sell myself.
Again, I'd like to thank you all for keeping a TASCAM users group alive & well. I suspect I'll be here a few more times in the future. Anyone who bought the "...NEO" I believe made a damn good investment. I've made recordings that I've used in my solo act AND i always got people who would not believe it was all ME. They instead wanna think I cheat using Karaoke --many times that hurts, yet I simply smile & say..if you think it's so easy why don't YOU try it ! & I take a breath while silently cursing their ignorance in my mind. Thanks for reading me. Happy Thanksgiving from Florida's Treasure Coast, Don

 

[TimmyT]

I bought my 2488mkii over five years ago. Still going strong. developed a workflow that really works for me.
I just bought the dp24sd recently and have both products side by side.
I liked the 2488 monitor mute where you could mute monitor speakers and listen to headphones only. Also I like how you can mix with master channel compression on with 2488. Maybe you can do this with the dp24sd. I just haven't figured it out yet.
I haven't really achieved a great sound with the dp24sd yet.
I have a lot of questions to ask in the future, and thankfully for this forum, there is a bunch of kind people here who offer their time explaining these consoles.

 

[DASCAMAN]

2 years ago and Im just replying i know LoL !! I have the lovely 2488 MKII and the lovely NEO and have them side by side and also have "sync'd" them together which has given me 16 inputs and 48 TKs !! Im not knocking anyone who has a DP24/32SD but they do NOT supercede the 2488's in fact they are stripped of plenty of the great features that were on all 3 of the 2488's !! I bought a brand new DP32SD just last week to see what I thought of it, mainly cause i liked the color display Lol !! Got it in, kept it barely one day,shipped it right back to the seller and got my money back. I had heard that Tascam themselves said that this was gonna be the last hardware multitrack portastudio that they would manufacture. Well, they could of at least went out with a bang instead of a disappointment. It was toy compared to the 2488 NEO for sure. They even left out MIDI and a really biggie for me, they left out "Enter" and "Exit" buttons !! Very plasticky and light compared to the NEO. If Tascam would build another portastudio and pattern it off of the NEO, with just a few refinements, it would be a BIG success !! First, have a choice of hard drive (starting at 160GB) or SD (starting at 64GB) have a 32TK version, a couple stereo returns (instead of using channel inputs) 12-15 dual mic/line inputs, a bigger and color display and an option to hook up to a VGA monitor screen via a cable, 2-4 headphone outs on the front !! Oh yeah, put the MIDI instruments (tone generator) back in it like the original 2488 had !! Or maybe have a choice where you could have one with or without a drum arranger !! Ok Ive ranted enough and nobody will probably read this anyway LoL !!
Kim