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MGR/Terry « Tascam US-224 »
Published on 04/16/02 at 15:00I got this unit at Guitar Center for $229. It is essential a DAW or "control surface" that looks like a contemporary 4 track except it plugs in through your USB port on your computer, thus writing to your computer's disk, rather than to a tape like a traditional tape-based four track. Recording software (CUBASE VST, supplied) must be running on your pc to display the recorded tracks.
The 4 track unit itself is an attractive blue, sturdy, and very much looks like a four track. However, as the rest of my review mentions, thats where the love affair ends.
First of all, the manual sucks. This was obviously a rush job. Rather than a dummy's guide, it's written for the music store technician who has already installed numerous other products of this type. Being computer literate, it was all I could do to get the software installed. It took about 4 hours to get all the combinations right. Then, after installation, the software died either at loading up, or after trying to record one track. After rebooting the machine 10 times, I gave up. I have a PC with an AMD 333 megahertz processor, and 196K of RAM, running windows 98 plus.
Also, I was not impressed with CUBASE VST (I might add that this is version 1.0 given out with the product, so no wonder it constantly locks up).
Basically, I'm going to look at another product such as Protools (dedicated hardware) for the pc or the new BOSS digital 8 track (separate device).
Some web sites are saying the Tascam US-224 should have its own dedicated computer, high speed disk, fast graphics card, extra memory. If your going to spend all that money, why buy this unit?
The construction of the actually 4 track one would plug into their computer is excellent. Its just a pity the unit doesnt work.
I would say stay clear of this unit. Between the poor manual, the software locking up, and CUBASE VST (version 1.0 - look out)which is nothing to write home about, there is no reason to buy this unit. I'm suprised Tascam put their name on it.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com
The 4 track unit itself is an attractive blue, sturdy, and very much looks like a four track. However, as the rest of my review mentions, thats where the love affair ends.
First of all, the manual sucks. This was obviously a rush job. Rather than a dummy's guide, it's written for the music store technician who has already installed numerous other products of this type. Being computer literate, it was all I could do to get the software installed. It took about 4 hours to get all the combinations right. Then, after installation, the software died either at loading up, or after trying to record one track. After rebooting the machine 10 times, I gave up. I have a PC with an AMD 333 megahertz processor, and 196K of RAM, running windows 98 plus.
Also, I was not impressed with CUBASE VST (I might add that this is version 1.0 given out with the product, so no wonder it constantly locks up).
Basically, I'm going to look at another product such as Protools (dedicated hardware) for the pc or the new BOSS digital 8 track (separate device).
Some web sites are saying the Tascam US-224 should have its own dedicated computer, high speed disk, fast graphics card, extra memory. If your going to spend all that money, why buy this unit?
The construction of the actually 4 track one would plug into their computer is excellent. Its just a pity the unit doesnt work.
I would say stay clear of this unit. Between the poor manual, the software locking up, and CUBASE VST (version 1.0 - look out)which is nothing to write home about, there is no reason to buy this unit. I'm suprised Tascam put their name on it.
This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com