I also researched and considered other models and prices of similar recorders from TASCAM, Zoom, Roland/Edirol before settling on the TASCAM DR-40.
I have been recording music from direct stereo outputs from my virtual pipe organ (live outs are 9 independent channels, but they mixed down to two outs for direct recording). Previously, I used an older model TASCAM Model 2488 PortaStudio. It did the job, but it is large and bulky next to an already huge virtual pipe organ console, and it is heavy to move between my upstairs editing "studio." It was more expensive than the DR-40 (though it was loaned by a relative who had given up the indie band business), older technology, and frankly had many more channels and editing capabilities than I needed, plus the whole recording and editing process was a steep learning curve, many-step, complicated process. For free, I shouldn't complain, but it was an important learning experience. Note that I am a physics teacher and also had several years' experience in radio broadcasting and in a high end government acoustic research lab.
I should also mention I first thought the included SD card was not installed since it was not visible, but I eventually found the slot is hidden by a removable cover (needed a small tool to pry it open and no tether on it to prevent loss). The SD card was there all right. The cover and necessity of removal is not in the documentation. I ordered a 32G HD card to go with this (it also can be used with my compact HD video camera) but have not formatted it for either device since the included card meets my needs. I record an hour or less, transfer it to iMac and delete the files on the DR-40 to reuse the space. Yes, it does eat batteries. I have learned to power the unit down between takes during preparation and rehearsals to save battery energy since it boots up very quickly.
Bottom line: this high quality, compact, portable relatively inexpensive device more than meets my needs and expectations. A professional might want or need to spend more money for higher quality and features, but I have no quibble with this one for my purposes. It is fairly simple to operate and requires fewer steps and less time to get music onto my iMac and iTunes than older methods. By the way, TASCAM is a well-respected, old (used to be TEAC) maker of consumer, prosumer and professional recording gear.
Bonus: I got a $15 end of year rebate from TEAC. Got the check in less than four weeks. Had to destroy the original carton to send in bar code. Understand why, but I would like to have saved the box.
Update: 14 July 2013
I see this is a very popular item for good reason. I put the 32Gig card in and formatted. Now I save raw files on the card after transferring to iMac as capacity is huge. TASCAM has published a free firmware update on their site which you should probably install. I found the auto file numbering got reset after the update, but it was not a big deal to me. I also decided to risk trying to power the device from one of the several compact Apple 5VDC USB power supplies I have and it works fine, no noise introduced, so as another reviewer advised, don't waste money on TASCAM's external brick. This was useful when I was transcribing hour long live concerts made in the 1960's from a refurbed TEAC reel to reel tape deck to the DR-40. This turned out to be a better workflow than my previous method of going from the tape deck to the iMac directly. I have more control and believe the TASCAM A/D converters are superior to the iMac's. Still delighted with this recorder.
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Compare with similar items
This Item  Tascam, 4 AD Converter, usb2.0, Black, DR-40 |  |  |  | |
| Price | $199.99 | $166.50 | $89.00 | $134.00 |
| Delivery | — | — | Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 24 | Get it as soon as Wednesday, Apr 24 |
| Customer Ratings | ||||
| Sound quality | ||||
| Battery life | ||||
| Value for money | ||||
| Easy to use | ||||
| Sold By | Audio Watt Store | Audio Watt Store | Amazon.com | Amazon.com |
| hardware interface | usb2.0 | sdhc, microsd | usb | usb2.0 |
| memory capacity | 2 GB | 32 GB | 128 GB | 32 GB |
| format | — | original recording | live | wav |
| battery quantity | 3 aa, 3 aaa, 1 lithium ion | 1 aaa | 2 aa, 1 lithium ion | 1 a, 4 aa, 1 aaa |
| weight | 0.21 kilograms | 63 grams | 0.7 pounds | 0.11 pounds |
| mic form factor | Built-In | Lavalier | Built-In | Lavalier |
| mic operation mode | Stereo | — | Stereo | Mono |
Reviews with images
Works great for very loud bands.
I was in the market for a handheld digital recorder and was having a lot of trouble trying to find any that explicitly stated that they could handle a VERY loud band. In my band we have a bass player who has a near pathological obsession with speaker cabinets. He has a wall of speakers featuring no less than 2 4x10 cabinets, a couple 18s and a couple 2x15s. In addition we have two guitar players running full stacks with Marshall and Verellen heads, and of course a drummer. I'm not saying this is the right thing to do, nor is it safe, but that's what we do. It gets LOUD. And even though I'm pushing forty, I know loud. We play stoner rock and sludge metal. This ain't your dad's cover band.After a bad experience with a previous Tascam DR-2d recorder that seemed to always be clipping no matter how low I set the input gain (it was stolen before I had the chance to see if the distortion was the result of a bad setting on my part), I was skeptical but hopeful that this one would perform better.It far exceeded my expectations. I couldn't get the Peak light to come on unless I was holding it right next to the drummer and he was really cracking the snare. I placed it in the center of the room, pointed it in no particular direction and set it to record. I set the input level all the way down and let it roll. We played through about four songs and then I went out to the car to see how things were sounding. I was blown away. It obviously doesn't sound like it's ready to be pressed to vinyl or anything, but it sounds AMAZING for a little handheld recorder. No distortion from the drums or the bass, you could hear all the instruments even though I didn't take any special care in directing the built-in mics toward one instrument or another. It basically created a faithful recording of what we were doing and allowed us to hear back our practice clearly so that we can refine our songwriting. This will be an indispensable tool for all future practices, and I might even record some live shows with it. Those tend to be even louder, so we'll see how it holds up. I haven't even tried the dual record mode yet, which is supposed to create a safety recording at a lower level.I'm going to upload a customer image of the levels from this recording so that you can see that nothing was clipping and there's still plenty of room left for me to increase the input volume.I'd also like to give some special props to Tascam for including a storage card with a *usable* amount of storage. Every digital camera I've purchased in the last 15 years comes with a tiny card that you can't do anything with. They include a generous 2GB SD card which is a ton of recording time in single track mode. Files are very easy to access via USB and recorded in WAV, which any audio editor will understand and easily convert to mp3 in seconds. My buddy has a BOSS digital recorder and we still can't figure out how to read its proprietary track format. Bad move on their part, and I'm glad Tascam didn't go that route.All this plus XLR ins with phantom power so I can use any mic that I want? (Though the built-in mics sound great!) I think I'm in love. Another bonus, it kinda resembles a tazer and you never know when you might have to scare away a crackhead who's giving your gear the greasy eyeball while you're loading your van.
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2012
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2018
Enter the Tascam DR-40. I got it at a great price and the DR-40 records at both line-level and mic-level, which means I will not need to use an external attenuator. It also means that I don't have to knock a signal down (with an attenuator) just to amplify it for recording. The result is that it makes better line-level recordings than the DR-05.
So far, I like everything about the DR-40. It's small enough to fit in a pocket, but big enough to have two XLR connectors. It will take both balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (1/4-inch) connectors -- both line-level and mic-level. It has a convenient input-level control on the side. The display is big enough to easily see. The record quality is excellent -- yes, you can get 24-bit, 192 kHz sampling in other recorders, but I can't hear the difference between those devices and the DR-40 (which does 24-bit, 96 kHz sampling). The Tascam DR-40 can record four channels, but I have not used it to record more than two. I've used the DR-40's built-in mics only a couple of times, but the sound seems pretty good through them. The unit takes 3 AA batteries and runs for many hours. And I like that the DR-40 uses a full-size SD card, unlike the Tascam DR-05's microSD card. (I hate the thought that I might not have a micro-SD adapter when I need one.)
April 4, 2020 edit: I've since used the DR-40 to record a couple dozen concerts, connected to the house mixer to get clean audio. And the audio has been great. If you search on "garnet rogers annandale arts", you will find a song called "Small Victory" recorded by Canadian folksinger Garnet Rogers. I recorded that video, using the Tascam DR-40 to capture the audio directly from the house mixer. It sounds great! (Good song, too!)
So far, the Tascam DR-40 is the perfect recorder for my usage: small, yet powerful and easy to use. And very clean. I recommend the Tascam DR-40.
Excellent recorder at an affordable price
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2018
I've had a Tascam DR-05 recorder for many years and it has been a workhorse for my low-budget professional video projects. These included recording music recitals, microphone audio for film production, concert audio and recording voice-overs for my many videos. I still have the DR-05 and it still works well, but it has one big failing: The DR-05 has only a microphone-level input and can't record line-level signals. That caused me some grief a couple of times when I used an attenuator to knock down line-level signals to mic-level for the DR-05 to record. Sometimes the results were fine but a few times they were not.Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2018
Enter the Tascam DR-40. I got it at a great price and the DR-40 records at both line-level and mic-level, which means I will not need to use an external attenuator. It also means that I don't have to knock a signal down (with an attenuator) just to amplify it for recording. The result is that it makes better line-level recordings than the DR-05.
So far, I like everything about the DR-40. It's small enough to fit in a pocket, but big enough to have two XLR connectors. It will take both balanced (XLR) and unbalanced (1/4-inch) connectors -- both line-level and mic-level. It has a convenient input-level control on the side. The display is big enough to easily see. The record quality is excellent -- yes, you can get 24-bit, 192 kHz sampling in other recorders, but I can't hear the difference between those devices and the DR-40 (which does 24-bit, 96 kHz sampling). The Tascam DR-40 can record four channels, but I have not used it to record more than two. I've used the DR-40's built-in mics only a couple of times, but the sound seems pretty good through them. The unit takes 3 AA batteries and runs for many hours. And I like that the DR-40 uses a full-size SD card, unlike the Tascam DR-05's microSD card. (I hate the thought that I might not have a micro-SD adapter when I need one.)
April 4, 2020 edit: I've since used the DR-40 to record a couple dozen concerts, connected to the house mixer to get clean audio. And the audio has been great. If you search on "garnet rogers annandale arts", you will find a song called "Small Victory" recorded by Canadian folksinger Garnet Rogers. I recorded that video, using the Tascam DR-40 to capture the audio directly from the house mixer. It sounds great! (Good song, too!)
So far, the Tascam DR-40 is the perfect recorder for my usage: small, yet powerful and easy to use. And very clean. I recommend the Tascam DR-40.
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Top reviews from other countries
El Tortas
Perfecto para iniciar en el cine o audiovisuales en general
Reviewed in Mexico on December 31, 2018
Cliente Amazon
Perfecta para grabar sonido de muchas formas distintas
Reviewed in Spain on November 29, 2018
Pablo Aladino
Ottimo registratore multitraccia portatile
Reviewed in Italy on August 28, 2018
Pablo Aladino
Reviewed in Italy on August 28, 2018
Il Tascam DR-40 offre la possibilità di registrare dai due microfoni incorporati (soluzione ideale per registrazioni al volo in esterni), ma è anche possibile sfruttare i due ingressi microfonici e di linea. Ha l'alimentazione Phantom per l'utilizzo di microfoni a condensatore.
Il registratore dispone di varie modalità operative: registrazione mono; stereo; dual; 4 tracce simultanee su 2 canali; overdub. Quest'ultima funzione è particolarmente interessante, perchè utilizzando la modalità "Overdub separate" si può sovraincidere un numero virtualmente illimitato di tracce editabili in post, e senza distruggere ne la traccia originaria, ne tutte quelle successive. Sostanzialmente la funzione Overdub Separate permette di ottenere risultati simili a quelli che si avrebbero utilizzando un classico registratore a tracce separate. Questa funzione risulta particolarmente preziosa per elaborare bozze compositive o registrare brani completi.
Il DR40 registra su schede Sd-Sdhc-Sdxc files WAW e BWF con risoluzione fino a 24bit/96Khz, ha integrate funzione basilari di editing sui file e un mixer per correggere pan, livelli ed effetti prima durante le riprese o per il mixdown.
Attualmente sto utilizzando il TASCAM per lo studio, la composizione e la produzione professionale, e lo trovo davvero ottimo. Si tratta di un dispositivo dotato di un interfaccia comoda e intuitiva. Dopo un breve, ma necessario studio del manuale si riuscirà a sfruttarne a pieno tutte le qualità.
Al momento dell'acquisto ero indeciso fra il TASCAM, lo ZOOM h4npro, e il BOSS microbr. Ho scelto il TASCAM (dopo avere avuto modo di provare gli altri due) sia per il prezzo (il DR40 costa attualmente 60/80eu meno degli altri due), sia per la filosofia progettuale che c'e' dietro. Il TASCAM è un registratore multitraccia portatile che integra alcune comode funzioni aggiuntive, mentre ZOOM e BOSS sono due veri e propri studi di registrazione tascabili, con numerosissime funzioni di editing, mastering, simulatori di effetti e amplificatori, accompagnamenti elettronici e molto altro. Tutto questo rende l'interfaccia più ostica macchinosa - e in definitiva (almeno per me) inutile, dato che trovo più pratico importare sulla DAW del PC le registrazioni fatte col DR40, e da li fare il mixing e mastering.
In definitiva mi ritengo molto soddisfatto del prodotto acquistato, e posso consigliarlo a tutti quelli che hanno necessità di registrare per esigenze di studio, composizione o produzione.
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Pierre L.
Qualité d'enregistrement et simplicité d'emploi
Reviewed in France on August 13, 2018