2488 Digital Portastudio - Reviews

25 years after inventing the world’s first 4-track Portastudio, Tascam has announced the 24-track equivalent. But, asks Keith Gemmell, is there really cause for celebration?

Price: £999.00
Manufacturer: Tascam
Website: http://www.tascam.co.uk

Back in the late 70s Tascam made history with the introduction of the world’s first 4-track cassette recorder, the Teac 144 Portastudio. Until that time, most musicians creating multitrack recordings at home were overdubbing and bouncing tracks on analogue 2-track machines such as the famous Revox A77 and B77. When the Portastudio appeared many of them sold their cherished reel-to-reel machines and replaced them with the new-fangled Portastudios. They did so not because the actual quality of the cassette-tape format was any better than the 1/4-inch reel-to-reel alternative, but for the sheer convenience of being able to simultaneously record four tracks and mix them afterwards. Tascam’s Portastudio has been a favourite with musicians recording on a tight budget ever since. In fact, Tascam has sold over a million of them and there are still three models in production.

Score: 8

This review first appeared in Music Tech Magazine issue 19
Filed under Hardware, Hardware DAWs

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Tascam 2488 Digital Portastudio

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