The 424 sounds as good as one might expect from a tape recorder. I use it to record miked drums and am very pleased with the results. I use the 424 in conjunction with Tascam's CDRW 700 recorder, Alesis' QS 8.1 Keyboard, AKG studio and drum mikes, Sennheiser 580 headphones, and I get better than industry standard recordings. Really!

I like the four XLR mike inputs. I wish it had six, but hey, it / they work.

I think the older Porta-Studios had better knobs. They were more sturdy. These new ones are a little wiggly, but I have had no problems with them functionally. Actually, maybe they are better 'cause they might take a little more abuse, if you are so inclined. The rest of the machine is very well put together, very sturdy and appears it will last a long time.

Worth it! Oh yayass. I might even buy another one "jus for fuh."

I spoke with Tascam techs on the phone before I bought their products and had good results. They were able to answer all my brainy questions without delay.

I would rather see it more box-like, like the older ones. It is somewhat difficult to grab with one hand, so you gotta use two, which is probably a good idea anyway. It is a neat-looking item though.

Tatal Chug-Yo-Mug, Classic Rot and Roll an' stuff.

This machine has a serious drawback for bands/groups intending to use a machine of this type (magnetic tape) if used for multi-session recording. Suppose you lay down a drum track(say 3 inputs) and a bass track first, then hope to get the vocals and lead/rhythm guitars on later after down mixing to two tracks. You will find that the required play/records and rewinds will cause a shift in key due to either tape stretch or motor speed or both! Your bass guitar will be out of tune with your lead guitar and eventually the vocals sound out of kilter. The only way to use this machine in my opinion is to do a "one-shot" performance using an external mixer, then downmix to the four available channels. However, unless you have a soundproof booth, it will be very difficult with the high noise level in your studio. The sound quality is otherwise very good but overall spoilt by this minute but very important speed/frequency change hence the 5 rating. This machine would be ace if it had a) 8 dedicated inputs at least and b) a purely digital recording medium using a solid state memory unit or equivalent. It would also rid the machine of tape hiss which is there even with the noise reduction circuits utilised.

Reasonably good quality, the design let down by the use of a magnetic cassette tape drive causing unacceptable tone shift due to tape stretch and/or the lack of a precision speed control circuit.

indie/rock

I will givw it a 6 because the sound quality is good for a tape recorder, but not excellent.