TascamDR-05 Portable Digital Recorder (Version 2)

Until 5-6 years ago there was a virtual void in high-quality personal digital recorders. Then the Zoom H2 came along, and numerous variations on a theme were soon to follow. I've owned both the H2 and the H1 and, though both have their strong points, the Tascam DR-05 has served me better than either. The H2 has pleasing 4-point sound and the H1, at half the size of the Tascam, works well for "stealth" as well as video recordings when mounted on a camera. But both recorders are more complicated than necessary, with tricky menu systems, excessive tiny buttons (6 on one thin side of the H1), and dicey build quality.The Tascam addresses these shortcomings with a machine that's a pleasure to use. There are no shaky, rattling parts, the controls are solid and instantly solved (easily manageable with a single thumb), and the wide-spread mic pattern is ideal for most stereo recordings of music (for dictation, I use a separate, small mic inserted in the topside input). The machine reminds me of the far costlier Sony PCM-50 in terms of ease and convenience of operation. The Tascam's 320 kbps MP3 recordings of a grand piano strike my ears as no less authentic and sonically "present" than its 96/24 WAV files, and tweaking is held to the absolute minimum. If you don't have $500 to spend and are looking for a woodshedding companion for day-in, day-out use, this is the one.

Wow, this is the best Songwriter's tool I've ever come across! I say this for numerous reasons. 1) First of all, it creates a new file when you press record. This means that when inspiration hits, you simply turn the unit on, press the record button twice and you are recording a new file quickly, simply, and painlessly. There is no tedious new song to create and thus ruin your inspiration like so many multitrack digital recorders require. 2) The unit has reverb even though the specs you usually see for it do not include this information. And the quality of the various reverbs are acceptable for songwriting inspiration etc. 3) You can do overdubs with this unit. I was very surprised by this because it was not "advertised" in the usual specs. It's not even described in the manual that comes with the unit. It is however described in an online manual you can find by googling it. The overdubbing is more like sound over sound recording that you can repeat for as many times as you like (I assume but I haven't tried more than 3 overdubs). By pointing the stereo mics appropriately and controlling the volume levels you have to sort of mix it as you overdub. To be clear it doesn't work like a multitrack. But, for basic songwriting, being able to add just one track is often very useful. 3) It is inexpensive and less expensive than the Zoom H2n and yet its case is of better build quality. I compared them in a store and the Zoom H2n feels very cheap when holding it in your hands. 4) The controls and interface are easy to use and the buttons work well. Incidentally my last unit was a first generation Zoom H2 and while I feel that perhaps the mics on the H2 maybe sounded a little bit better than this unit, the buttons were a nightmare. I bought the Tascam DR-05 simply for the better buttons and then was thrilled to discover both reverb and overdubbing capabilities which I did not expect. And the recording quality is still excellent with this unit. There are many other functions I have not mentioned. Overall I highly recommend the Tascam DR-05 and believe it to be an ideal tool for songwriters.

The TASCAM DR-05 has it where it counts: When you press record, you know it will make a faithful reproduction of the desired sound. The instructions are detailed but it only took a quick glance to get the basics of hold the power(stop) button to turn on, press record to put in stand-by, press record again to get it going. I appreciate the flexibility it offers and the information the settings provide. You get flexibility and convenience in the included 4Gb microSD card which I've found to provide plenty of space but allows for cheap upgrades if you need it. You know exactly what the quality vs file size trade off is when changing the recording settings as it changes recording time values as you modify quality settings. These settings provide multiple formats but so far I've kept it in a high quality MP3 for easy distribution to other people. The back is also threaded with a standard tripod mount so finding a way to prop it up is trivial. While it operates as expected out of the box with the built in mics and small speaker for monitoring recordings you also have the ability to add your favorite mic and plug in headphones or aux out cables. For getting at your recordings later you can always take the memory card out or just plug in a mini-usb cable. This port also doubles as a power input so if you have an aversion to AA batteries you can always provide it externally. I've enjoyed using the recorder so far and have made 8-10 half hour recordings without the battery indicator dropping a bar. Note that for recording an un-amplified adult speaking at about 8 feet I did have to change the microphone settings to be higher before I got a clean recording. Overall I'm happy with the purchase and look forward to getting some great content.