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MGR/DON (AKA GuitarRanger) « Tascam MF PO1 Portastudio »
Published on 05/22/02 at 15:00 Bought at Guitar Center, May 2002 for $100.
As a guitarist/songwriter, I needed something to work out new songs and arrangement ideas on. I also have a Roland VS2480 (very complex unit), but I needed something SIMPLE & EASY to use to develop musical ideas.
Super easy to use & sounds surprisingly good if you use a decent microphone (I am using an ATM 63 dynamic mic--similar to a Shure SM57 in performance). The trick is to saturate the tape somewhat (i.e. record each track pretty LOUD) and monitor with the master monitor volume around 6 or higher, so the prerecorded tracks can be monitored easily as you record new tracks. If you record tracks too soft, they are not as easy to hear well, as there is no way to raise the individual track volume of previously recorded tracks while you
record a new track. So let that VU meter go pretty HIGH as you put down your tracks, and there will be no monitoring problem.
Overall, very easy & fun to use.
Nothing--It does what it is supposed to do quite well. Just be sure to record your tracks (especially the 1st track or 2) nice & LOUD, as described above.
If this unit had 2 MORE TRACKS, but remained unchanged in every other way, it would be absolutely incredible--I hope Tascam decides to do this--I would buy a 6-track version of the MF PO1 IMMEDIATELY!!
And I bet a lot of other folks would as well.
Seems well-made & durable for an item in its price class.
A great product!! As a 50-year old guitarist/songwriter, I would have KILLED for one of these units back in the early 70s when I 1st started writing songs. The musical kids of today don't know how lucky they are to have such cool, cheap technology available. This is a great gift for any musically creative person.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
As a guitarist/songwriter, I needed something to work out new songs and arrangement ideas on. I also have a Roland VS2480 (very complex unit), but I needed something SIMPLE & EASY to use to develop musical ideas.
Super easy to use & sounds surprisingly good if you use a decent microphone (I am using an ATM 63 dynamic mic--similar to a Shure SM57 in performance). The trick is to saturate the tape somewhat (i.e. record each track pretty LOUD) and monitor with the master monitor volume around 6 or higher, so the prerecorded tracks can be monitored easily as you record new tracks. If you record tracks too soft, they are not as easy to hear well, as there is no way to raise the individual track volume of previously recorded tracks while you
record a new track. So let that VU meter go pretty HIGH as you put down your tracks, and there will be no monitoring problem.
Overall, very easy & fun to use.
Nothing--It does what it is supposed to do quite well. Just be sure to record your tracks (especially the 1st track or 2) nice & LOUD, as described above.
If this unit had 2 MORE TRACKS, but remained unchanged in every other way, it would be absolutely incredible--I hope Tascam decides to do this--I would buy a 6-track version of the MF PO1 IMMEDIATELY!!
And I bet a lot of other folks would as well.
Seems well-made & durable for an item in its price class.
A great product!! As a 50-year old guitarist/songwriter, I would have KILLED for one of these units back in the early 70s when I 1st started writing songs. The musical kids of today don't know how lucky they are to have such cool, cheap technology available. This is a great gift for any musically creative person.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com