All user reviews of 5/5 for the Tascam Portastudio 414

This four-track recorder was given to me as a gift almost three years ago. It's in almost every music store and catalogue around, and currently sells for around $299.



If you want to perfect your playing by jamming along with your own grooves, or record demos of your own songs, but don't want to spend a grand for a digital recording system, go with this high-quality four-track. This may surprise you, but some four-tracks can't record four different tracks simultaneously. This one can. Each track has two effects sends and its own EQ. There are also two stereo inputs and stereo line and monitor outputs. The 414MkII, which is the most current model, also includes two XLR inputs (sweet)! I'm pretty convinced that this is about as good as four track tape recording gets. Using my Portastudio, I have cut two demos for my band, a demo of my own solo project, and dozens of side projects. And when I'm not recording, it comes in handy as a mixer as well.



The instructions can be a bit confusing if you don't know alot about recording. You will probably gain a better understanding of the unit if you just work with it for a little while, but definitely read over the instructions first or you will be lost. Also, I have found the DBX noise reduction to be pretty useless. I recommend leaving it off at all times to acchieve the cleanest, purest sound possible, or you may find yourself missing some very important parts of an instrument's tone.



My Portastudio has seen all kinds of dust, bumps, drops, etc., and it's still working well. One time, my dog even pulled it off of the table and it landed face down on the floor. I'm amazed that it's survived this long, since the outer shell of the unit is made entirely from plastic. The only thing that had to be replaced was the AC adapter, which burned to a crisp one day after having the four track about two years. Other than that, if you clean the heads and the pinch roller regularly, you shouldn't have any problems. Make sure you use the right cleaning solutions (Tascam sells their own, by the way.)



The Portastudio is a great four-track. The 414MkII has everything you need, and it's pretty compact. There is also a 424MkIII, but it's much more complicated, and sells for about a hundred dollars more. I would encourage any developing musician/songwriter to get a four-track. I believe you will find it to be a great learning tool.



This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Used for 5 years, 3 via burned mastering this bike, this 4 track K7 is a true off-road registration. I love its excellent natural dynamics. Obviously since I have tasted of digital is more convenient but less realistic (the cooler).

Very good price / quality ratio, in addition it is the only model that resists recorders on the market and have been for many years. A reference, then!

Excellent instruction manual showing the many possibilities.
Line 4 inputs, 4-track recording and playback, stereo inputs plus or ability to insert effects loop, double frame rate (better dynamics), Dolby, sync (but it eats a track).
Punch in / out effective Locator not very precise, sturdy unit K7, nice faders, Meters per track, clearly visible external plug transformer, one master fader, equalizer track bass / treble but no midrange, CUE function, headphone jack, variopitch ....

In short, this bike is not a digital 16 000 bullets but for the price, you can learn to cheap recording / mastering analog and achieve very good MODELS !!!!!!!!!!

- How long have you use it?
It's been over 6 months since I bought this OCCAZ multitrack, and I am very happy to tell the truth

Perhaps I did not loreille fine enough to detect wow and flutter, but there have been several times in several ways
The last one was a Yamaha digital consoles and O1V while four separate tracks on the tascam, apart from the premix on the yamaha that was not necessarily perfect, it begins, the rendering is very good, check out the song " loose control "on myspace.com / bambooltakouech to the idea, knowing that the reverb on the voice I added after the fact and it may be a little abused, m'enfin

I play reggae, and dub, and have four analog tracks, with two outputs for the effects it royal for beginners low prices and small square

I may be getting ahead of myself because of my early experience, but I would do the same choice at the moment, without hesitation, although to over hefty suit me better

This does not please me, however it is the EQ too settled and not very clean

flew