Tascam DP-006 6-Track Digital Pocketstudio Multi-Track Audio Recorder, Built-in Mics, Songwriting, Battery Operated

UPDATE: I originally said the manual did not list the power consumption of this unit. That is not correct, I noticed that it does -- it lists the power consumption as 1 Watt maximum. That means the power adapter has to be 5 volts with no less than 200 milliamps.-----I have an old Tascam Porta 05 4-track tape recorder that I bought new in 1987. Yes, it still works fine after all these years. Hopefully the Tascams these days are as well made, we'll see! I bought this DP-006 to replace it, along with a 2x2 USB audio interface for use separately with at DAW. I got both of these together for a small fraction of what that old Porta 05 cost me back in the day.It's a great little machine. The manual is very good and thorough (don't lose it!). It had me up and running in no time. I started downloading and installing the DAW software for my USB audio interface, and this always takes forever -- these are multi-gigabyte downloads. Add to that the time it takes to install and update the drivers for the USB interface (which gave me trouble), and it easily can (and did) take pretty much the whole day. And then you have to learn the DAW. Meanwhile, while the downloads were going, I had plenty of time to go through the Tascam manual more than once, learn its features, and even put down a six track recording (vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, bass, drum machine, and ukulele). It even happened that one of the ground wires inside my electric bass had come lose, and I resoldered it -- got it all in before the DAW (mine was a 30-gigabyte monster).So, it does take a little time to learn the features of the Tascam, but when you put in perspective, it hardly seems too much to ask.The great feature of this Tascam is its extreme portability. Also, it's great to lay down basic blues, rock or jazz rhythm tracks to practice soloing and improvisation, for example. Or also to record yourself conveniently so you can listen back from the observer perspective and notice things you might not pick up on when you're concentrating on performance. It's very handy.Others have remarked about the power cord, well this is one thing that SHOULD have changed over the years. It was a bad deal back when the Porta studios cost hundreds and hundreds, but even worse when you have a $79 unit. They still price them at $40 a piece. You can get cheaper non-Tascam ones, I paid $9.99 for mine (hasn't arrived yet tho). Disappointingly the manual does not list the power requirements, but rooting around on the Internet I found the specs of Tascam's adapter.They are: 5V 2000mA 10W Max Tip Size: 2.5mm x 5.5mm (Inner diameter x Outer diameter). The pin on the connector is positive. So the adapter is capable of putting out a lot of current. I doubt the DP-006 uses the full 2 amps at any time, but as a rule you don't want to run anything under-amped. You do need a 5 Volt adapter. Having more amps available than necessary is fine, but you don't want less.That's asking for trouble, so unless anybody can say what the actual engineered current draw for the DP-006 truly is, I wouldn't recommend running any adapter on it that's not 5 Volt, 2 Amp. That's a change for the worse, my old Porta 05 4-track did list out these kinds of specifications in the manual. [UPDATE: The manual DOES list power consumption after all. It's listed as 1 Watt maximum. That means you need to have 5 volt adapter that can handle at least 200 milliamps.]This thing does put down its own filesystem on the SD cards, one that Windows or OS X can't read. So, there is a conversion step that has to happen when you export your songs or tracks to the computer. People have complained that it takes too long. I tried it with my one recorded song, and I didn't think it was too bad. But I did mix and master it on the DP-006, as we do on the old Portas from before the age of the DAW. So I only had the finished song to export, no biggie, not six separate tracks.I saw some comments where people said the onboard mikes weren't sensitive enough. You can set their level, though. They have three sensitivity levels: low, mid and high. Default is low. I had them on low, and I found them to be more than adequate. Quite nice actually. In fact, the air conditioner unit kicked on outside when I was doing my vocal track. It doesn't make a lot of noise, just a new low hum. I didn't think the DP-006's mikes were going to pick it up, but dang it they did, had to re-take it.I tried out a few additional features, the metronome and the chromatic tuner. The metronome is useful, helping you synchronize things. It will appear in your headphones, but not in the recording (unless you tell it to show up in the recordings). I couldn't get the tuner to work, but I didn't give it too much time, this is undoubtedly user-error. I don't really need it. Still operating off the trusty old 440 A tuning fork here.I think it's a great piece of equipment. Well worth it.

I have a band. I write all the material. For 2 years now I have been presenting my ideas with single track guitar/vocals with phone recordings. It works and the idea gets out there.DP6 allows me to present the exact drum, bass, guitar plus solo track, vocals and back up vocals. I send the guys the recording 5 days before jam day and everyone shows up knowing just what to do.No brainer

These are GREAT little units! I've owned a Tascam DP-008EX for a couple of years now, and though it'll do everything this DP-006 will do (and more), the 006 has two distinct advantages, at least in certain situations: (1) It's SMALLER and even more important (2) It has a TRIPOD MOUNT (or with a special adapter, can be attached to a mic stand. I don't know why the 008 doesn't have a mount, but it doesn't. Maybe it's because Tascam feels the additional weight of the 008 would make it more prone to damage with a tripod mount? I don't know.The internal condenser mic's are AWESOME. You might not expect a cheap lil' unit like this to give such an great ambient recording, but it will; just set your levels so it's not gonna clip and you're good to go. And wherever you place the unit, whatever your ears are hearing is EXACTLY what you're gonna hear when you play back, and that's even BEFORE you do any mixing down or Mastering. This includes the LOW registers; The specs don't say what the internal mic's frequency response is, but the output's rated at 20Hz, and I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they'll capture down to that level.If you happen to have both units like I do and want more tracks, you can just pop the SD card out of the 006, stick it in the 008, and keep going.However, there are a few negatives, imho:(1) Maybe it's just me, but I don't consider operation of either unit to be as "intuitive" as it could be. Even with the Owner's Manual, I found myself jumping around all over the place, rather than being able to go through the Manual straight from page 1 to the end. Still, once I got the hang of the unit, it's quite easy (though Importing/Exporting are quite time-consuming; they happen in real-time).(2) I realize this is a smaller unit, overall, than my Tascam DP-008EX, and there's simply not enough room for 1/4" phone AND XLR inputs. But since you can ASSIGN inputs, if you had one of each, you could record a simple instrumental/vocal song without need of an XLR adapter.(3) And a glaring omission, LINE OUT RCA PLUGS. They call the headphone mini-plug a "line out" and sure, you can still patch into a Stereo receiver using the headphone jack, without having to export the tracks. But gimme a break! A couple of RCA line outs would make more sense; there's enough room on the exterior housing to accommodate this. Since I already own a 008, I didn't even think about this; I kinda assumed this unit would have 'em too, but no dice. I have the luxury of getting home from using the DP-006 and popping the SD card into my 008 (which I happen to be doing right now). Still, you shouldn't have to spend a coupla hundred more dollars to do that; I just happen to have needs for both units, depending on the situation. The 006 is better for remote recording but if you're planning on multi-tracking, the 008EX will suit you better.All in all, I think Tascam digital recording equipment is a GREAT value. And remember, Tascam is part of the TEAC family of products; there is not a more trusted name in the recording business. They've been around since the beginning, and you can't argue with that!