4.5 stars based on the value for the price, the ease of use, very good sound and the inspiration that it provides for creativity. I have used it primarily for recording synthesizers (Yamaha Motif XF, Korg Kronos) and a little vocal recording. I am using it as an all-in-one recording workstation after a decade of using a DAW and synthesis software on my computers, I’ve wanted to return to a simpler means of recording ideas and putting together demos. This digital recorder has eight individual inputs (mono, stereo, line/vocal/guitar) and 24 playback channels, making it very easy to build a recording in layers. I read the Quick Guide section of the owner’s manual and was able to record 8 tracks, punching it a few corrections along the way, and then mix it down to stereo, master it and burn it using the build-in CD-RW drive within hours of opening the box. I was up all night playing with it and at sun-rise I created another CD of songs for a good morning present to my wife.

The sound is very good, I found it important to get the input levels up to produce the best sound. I carefully compared the sound sources to the final recorded sound and found it very good considering the really modest price, the recordings were definately suitable for demos and possibly more. It was intuitive enough that I only occasionally had to pause to look up some details in the manual.

The color LCD screen is small, but large enough to be easy to read and the dedicated controls for channel EQ and panning are great, but I would like to have solo/mute buttons on each track (it requires you to select the mode and then select via the record buttons). Virtual tracks allow me to record several takes of a synthesizer lead (for example) and then keep the one I like best for the mix. The DP-24 comes with a demo studio recording that uses most of the 24-playback tracks and provides an easy way to get the hang of mixing and applying various effects.

Everything is recorded on a Flash Card. The DP-24 came with a 2gb Flash Card, I also bought a SanDisk Extreme (Class 10 SDHC) 32 GB Flash memory card on which I have recorded a couple of hours and it is working perfectly (will hold about 7-8 hours total).

I have used the MIDI interface to syncronize the timing for multi-tracking. It does provide a much easier method for recording than my computer system, and I was still able to transfer the data to my computer using the USB port and also created backup files of my recordings.

Many years ago, I had been delighted with the 4-track tascam cassette recorder and had found that wonderful for recording ideas and doing simple multi-track recordings; the Tascam DP-24 was like that but 60x more (250 virtual tracks). Not a doubt that it was worth the money. I’ll update this review as I gain experience with the unit.

The Tascam DP-24 table top all in one portastudio is a blast to use, both fun and pretty easy…
The good news is The Operations Manual is a snap to follow and it’s laid out brilliantly.
I say that right away because that was precisely The Last Thing I Expected.
What I expected was a complicated device with a nonsensical operations manual and ultimately, frustration.

So here’s what I got:
First of all – It’s LARGE
Do not be fooled by the cute images, if you’re going to try and shoehorn this beast into a crowded work space – forget it
It’s approximately 21 wide x 16 deep x 4 high – it’s about the size of a 16 channel mixing board – go look at one of those in your local music shop

NOTE:
with a full compliment of XLR cables plugged into the back = add 4 inches to the depth
So you’re going to need to clear some square footage – but the user layout is so nice you’ll forgive it the girth and come to love the logical space it creates

Before you get started:
* You will need a 16 or 32 gig card / the supplied 2 gig card is silly and unusable

First things First:
I spent time familiarizing myself with the considerably wide array of buttons, sliders, jog wheel, knobs, video screen layout and rear panel input configurations
All of this is well approached in the Manual (on page 24) called “TOP PANEL names and functions” and it walks you through the recording desk layout nicely

Then:
I think of what I want to do – like – Record a mono track or Record a stereo track or Create a song or Delete a track or Experiment with the built in guitar effects (whatever it might be)…
Then I just flip to the TABLE OF CONTENTS in the manual (page 5)
Find where it’s covered in the Manual
And walk through the process
One step at a time
Done

Results:
Easy – works great – makes great recordings – very logical manual to follow – simple and understandable steps

Stuff will be needed:
What you’ll also probably need:
An assortment of cables 1/4 jack and XLR’s and Mini-jacks – give some thought to what you’ll be connecting into this device and load up on cables

In Conclusion:
My experience with the DP-24 has been FUN and PRODUCTIVE and it sounds great
BONUS: Not at all frustrating – in fact enjoyable
and you can’t say more than that about a tabletop Recording studio

I bought this unit and was very impressed with the ease of use and the professional sound quality. I was able to make a recording within a couple of hours out of the box. The problem I had was that at some point during either recording a track or playing back a track, the unit would completely freeze and produce a heavy static sound. There was no place in the manual that talked about how to reset the unit and the off button wouldn’t even shut things down. The only way to shut the unit off was to pull out the power and then plug it back in. Once powered up, if you tried playing your track, it would freeze and produce the loud static. So, when I pulled out the plug and powered up again, I figured out that I can undo and go back to the last recorded track before the unit crashed. Therefore, you would lose whatever track you last worked on which was obviously frustrating. I tried buying a 2nd brand new sd card from tascams recommended list and the problem still existed. I wanted to give it a second chance since I liked this unit so much, so I decided to buy a second one, figuring this particular one was just defective. Now, to be neurotic, I bought a second unit from a completely different website in case this one was part of a bad lot. The problem still existed with the second unit purchased and a third SD card that I tried in hopes that it was purely the SD. I returned both units.

Clearly there is a software/firmware problem. I called Tascam to alert them of what I experienced with 2 brand new DP24’s from 2 independent web sites and they were not very helpful. They basically told me to return both units and wait for a software/firmware update. They could not tell me a general idea of when that would be but said sometime in the future. However, they admitted to being aware of a problem with this model.

Bottom line: wait until they resolve this issue and then this will be a great model. Has anyone else experienced this and have you figured out a work around?