You're full of ideas; ideas that are bigger than just lyrics and a chord progression. You hear drums, three guitars, lush organs, maybe even a zither or two -- and no simple field recorder or 4-track is going to be enough to get your composition down. If you want to capture your biggest ideas before they flitter away back into the ether, never to be reclaimed, there's no tool more capable and efficient than the TASCAM 2488neo 24-track Recording Workstation.

The History Behind the TASCAM 2488neo

When TASCAM introduced their first Portastudio in 1979, they jump-started the home recording revolution. Suddenly, every musician could commit complex musical ideas to tape, layering multiple parts all by themselves. It put a power once reserved for select few artists into the hands of the masses. Capable of producing far more than just demo recordings, the TASCAM 2488neo represents the sophisticated evolution of the Portastudio, giving you all the tools you'll need to go from moment of inspiration to holding that finished CD in your hand. Yet this flagship Portastudio is still as simple to operate as the first cassette-based machines.

24 Tracks Let You Keep Your Options Open

Don't let track limitations keep you from doubling guitars, stereo-tracking piano or dubbing four more vocal harmonies to your songs. With 4-, 8- or even 16-track machines, you'd often find yourself having to bounce what's already been recorded to a stereo sub-mix to make room for more overdubs. Not only… read more does this add time to the recording process, it also commits you to a mix before you've tracked an entire song, and as any engineer knows, each new element can alter the overall sonic balance of an entire project. With the TASCAM 2488neo, you'll be able to keep more tracks separate when going into your final mix -- so feel free to add those extra cellos, accordions, and Tibetan singing bowls. Because the 2488 is a digital recorder, an additional 256 virtual tracks are available for recording multiple takes on each track. No longer do you have to commit to a "take it or trash it" decision after every take like you did on your old cassette recorder. And don't worry about running out of storage; the TASCAM 2488neo has an 80 GB internal hard drive. The huge track count, massive storage memory, and convenience of digital let you concentrate on the performance you're recording, not the logistics of the recording process.

Digital Effects And Editing

Recording on a digital Portastudio has other benefits as well. Thanks to its comprehensive editing tools and effects, the 2488neo lets you sculpt, shape and rearrange your audio with the ease only the digital realm can afford. Audio editing is clear and simple on the 2488's large, backlit LCD screen. View waveforms the same way you would on dedicated computer audio editing software, and splice, cut, copy and delete selections quickly with the top-mounted cursor buttons, marking controls, and jog wheel. If the edit functions on the TASCAM 2488neo are like its toolbox, the digital effects are like an artist's paint and paintbrush collection. High-resolution ambient effects like reverb, delay and chorus add depth and color to tracks, while indispensable utilities like panning, compression and EQ help to highlight and arrange select elements within your mix-composition. Multiple effects can be applied to individual tracks for precision sound-sculpting.

Beyond Demos: Mastering And Burning CDs

Every aspect of production, right through the final steps, is available with the TASCAM 2488neo. No production is ready for duplication or dissemination without first going through the mastering process. The 2488neo provides a suite of mastering tools, including a multi-band stereo compressor/limiter and mastering EQ that will help bring your final mix into sharp focus. Once you have your stereo master track, finish the production process by burning a CD master using the 2488's built-in optical drive. Not ready to commit to CD quite yet? Simply offload your tracks via USB 2.0 for further tweaking on a digital audio workstation.

Advantages Over Computer-Based Recording

While many musicians praise the virtues of computer-based recording solutions, the process of actually setting up and tracking onto your PC or Mac is fraught with obstacles. Is your interface compatible with your operating system? Is your RAM sufficient for your target track count? Is your motherboard optimized for your recording software? Have you partitioned your hard drive, calibrated your input level, organized your project folders, and suppressed any programs that might be running in the background? Who needs the hassle when the TASCAM 2488neo is ready to record straight out of the box? While studio owners will pony up thousands of dollars for a computer recording workstation that's reliably stable, TASCAM's proven and perfectly matched hardware and operating system are virtually free of latency, processing lag, and crashes, and for a fraction of the price. When you consider all the money you'd have to spend on plugins, recording software, outboard processors. and interfaces to get the same functionality that the TASCAM 2488neo offers, there's just no comparison.

For well under a thousand dollars, the TASCAM 2488neo is a complete music production solution. Full-band tracking, mixing and mastering are all at your command, and all in 44.1 kHz/24-bit resolution. For the D.I.Y. musician with the talent, the songs, and the will, the TASCAM 2488neo is the final piece that will transform you into a true recording artist. read less