Contemplating a second DP32sd

Findlay

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I've had so much fun during lockdown recording and mixing on my DP-32sd that I am realising more and more how catastrophic it would be if anything happened to it. I back up the files on the PC but I would hate to go back to using a DAW. I'm wondering if it is madness to buy a second machine for safety while they are still in production? One wonders if they will continue to be made. I'm not awash with cash but recording is very important to me. Any thoughts anyone? It goes without saying that I think the quality of the recordings on these machines is absolutely outstanding and thanks again to Phil and everyone else for all your help.
 
I'm a little embarrassed to admit it - but a couple of years after I bought my DP-32SD I happened to be poking around at Musicians Friend and just happen to catch the DP-32SD briefly on sale for $395.00. I had the extra $$ and decided to snag it.

Then... a year or two later I discovered that a forum member at VSPlanet.com had a mint condition (he didn't even finish one song with it) DP-24 that he was dumping cheap. So I grabbed it too.

:rolleyes:
 
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I think the world has seen the last digital Portastudio from Tascam. So I would say if you like the machine and want to continue to be able to use it no matter what happens, a spare machine is neither extravagant nor strange, but even necessary.
 
Thanks for the link David! A great price but I'm in the UK and shipping is very expensive as we have to pay customs duty and 20% VAT tax on the item and the shipping costs..... The best price I have seen over here is £450 (about $620).
 
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For a brief moment, I was considering selling my DP-32 (the original with MIDI and the CD burner). My friend interviewed me for his podcast and I used the DP-32 to record the interview with 3 mics. I've been using the X32 and Reaper but I realize that there are some things that you just cannot do without a DP-32. I would say that it's the best portable digital recorder there is.
 
I agree that if you want or need to do everything stand-alone "in the box" - this is the best currently available option.

With the right skill level (aka recording chops) - you can make a high quality demo with just the DP assuming you have some decent mics and decent musical ability.
 
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It really would be an interesting experiment - would it not?

Find a respectable, capable, competent music act: rock, pop, country, whatever. And then turn them loose with a Rick Rubin, or a Bob Rock, or a Brendan O'Brien.... and maybe a Bob Katz.... and a DP-32.

It'd be fun to see what they could do with just this one unit (and it's preamps, compressors, effects, and mastering tools).




Or give one of these to Sir Paul - and see what he could do with it.
 
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I've recorded anything and everything for years with my faithful Akai DPS-16, but switched to DAW (Cubase) about 10 years ago. I kept the DPS, and even bought a spare one, but in fact all I used my Akai for since is to take .wav tracks from projects that I wanted to be future proof.

I never really worked with the standalone anymore, but I'm still glad to have it. The point I'm trying to make is: before moving on to a new system, make sure that you have full-length tracks as wave files of all your projects. Whatever the new system will be, if you have the raw tracks you can always rebuild the old project.
 
Arjan: ...before moving on to a new system, make sure that you have full-length tracks as wave files of all your projects
Agree 100% with Arjan. This means running the Export function on all tracks within the DP and backing these up. Simply copying the card or the song folders is perfect for everyday backups while you have a DP, but the ZZ track 'fragments' can only be pieced together by a DP. It's not impossible to do it manually but you'd need a lot more patience than exporting them!
 
It really would be an interesting experiment - would it not?

Find a respectable, capable, competent music act: rock, pop, country, whatever. And then turn them loose with a Rick Rubin, or a Bob Rock, or a Brendan O'Brien.... and maybe a Bob Katz.... and a DP-32.

It'd be fun to see what they could do with just this one unit (and it's preamps, compressors, effects, and mastering tools).




Or give one of these to Sir Paul - and see what he could do with it.

You have voiced my thoughts exactly David! I've been thinking this for a while now. What with mjk's comments I think the result would be pretty much indistinguishable from studio recordings using very expensive gear. I think the preamps are great, for example, and I would be interested to see if many people could tell the difference between recordings using these and top-end kit in a blind test. I have listened to analogue (2 inch 16 track) and digital studio masters and think I can get the same sound with the DP32. PS strange you mentioned Paul, have just done a take on Back In The USSR! Have come to appreciate him even more on bass and vocals as well as everything else.....
 
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Findlay I'm in Ireland, and I have seen one or two for sale on a certain site here, at the moment there's a dp32 for 400 Euros, brand new with carry case.

Hi all, haven't been here for a while. Is it just me or maybe it's expectaion bias, but I haven't done a firmware update for a while, and yesterday I did to the latest. Sounds Great thanks Tascam.
 
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Thanks Brian. I've just snagged a new DP32sd from Andertons at - £449 but they threw in a couple of XLR leads, which was good of them, free delivery too. I thought I had better be quick as I have a feeling they are going to be hard to get soon - thinking of he Nikon are stopping production of a number of cameras for example and not exporting much at the moment to the UK. Which update is that? - I may have missed it too!
 

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