i will be having one of these within a week.
i knew 32-bit float was coming to the H6 soon and now it’s here.
i have the F3 and absolutely love it. the h6 will also soon be mine!
that’s what i came here to recommend and see you’re already seeing it. it definitely does what you want it to do and fits the $bill$
Hmm not sure if it can do playback and recording at the same time, if you’re looking to layer, I should give it a shot but I generally grab everything in one go. Also worth mentioning there are versions of the h6 with a softtouch finish that gets sticky eventually and version with the sort of textured camera plastic which is quite nice, avoid the soft touch (I think you can only get it used with that)
*h6 essential is the newest incarnation, drops the recording level knobs but seems to make up for it in features, I would probably go for that.
I have the Tascam DP 008ex and have enjoyed it… but it can be menu divey… but that’s kind of our world tbh
I have the Zoom R24 and its the bees knees. But you want something smaller which makes it hard to suggest anything.
I think your best options will be in the handheld recorder space. Any small footprint digital mixers with USB baked in don’t do multitrack recording until you increase the physical channel size. Even then, you’d need either a laptop or iOS device to connect it to record the pre-fader inputs. The benefit to this would be having a mixer for your setup. Some basic EQ/FX etc. on top of pre-fader recording. The cost can likely be met but the footprint and requirement for an additional device to do the actual recording, would push me towards the handhelds.
I don’t think they’d all be that convoluted to use. My Zoom H5 is pretty ‘set and forget’. The menu diving is really only to setup preferences. And, as you’ll be recording the same setup most of the time, those preferences shouldn’t really change.
I got the Zoom R4 a couple of weeks ago… loving it so far. Feels like using a cassette 4track.
I just read it dropped the level knobs because not only is it 32bit float it uses 2 dacs per track to achieve an ultra clean recording so you don’t need pre gains. Pretty cool and affordable…
I have a Tascam DP-008ex and highly recommend it. The sound is great, it’s very easy to use, it’s incredibly portable, and it’s very cheap to find used these days. There is a little menu diving but it’s mostly for editing tracks, not really recording. It’s a great way to get into multitrack recording and not need to deal with a DAW. A nice bonus is that the built in mics actually sound really good. I’ve used them to record vocals at times, and I have many other dedicated mics that cost much more. Also nice that they are a stereo pair. It’s sort of a sleeper unit these days. Highly recommended.
How fast is it in your experience to get stems off it?
I rarely exported individual stems so I’m not sure. I would just mix and bounce down the stereo file. Then when you connect it to your computer, you just copy and paste it over. I think there’s a process you have to go through to export stems but I don’t remember. Either way, it’s not hard or complicated. Much simpler than using Elektron gear. These are made so that a 16 year old kid can use them without much effort. It’ll take you all of 20 minutes to learn the whole workflow. There’s really not much to it.
This has been a good thread. A bit over a year ago, I picked up a Tascam Model 12. I expected it to be more straightforward than it is, and it takes up more space than I’d hoped. I’m almost certainly going to put it up for sale one of these days.
That said, I was really interested when Zoom announced the R4. The impressions of the R4 in this thread were interesting to read, as it hasn’t been out for very long and hasn’t wound up all over YouTube. I’m also considering the DP-008ex. Again, thanks to y’all for posting your thoughts and experiences.
I’m happy to see so many models being tossed around and all the thoughtful posts.
I’m seriously considering the R4 since I’ve been reading how great workflow its workflow is and so on.
Well, I’ve been researching, and currently it’s between the R8, R4, and DP008EX. Heavily leaning towards R8…
I am avoiding the newer R12 and R20 because I read several bad reviews.
I’d also consider the R16 but at this point I’d be afraid of getting one that had problems. I had the R24 long ago but it was too much and some of the inputs had issues.
The H6essential could fit better because of the inputs being on the sides but I worry that it’s gonna be fiddly / complicated.
Really wish there was a recorder with the form factor of DP008EX, all tracks were stereo, lots of effects, digital mixer controls, recorded directly to WAV, and had USB-C. TASCAM or ZOOM should really hire me I tell ya.
Any thoughts?
Get the R24 for a bit more. Way better built than the R8(which smells a bit). Mine has lasted 10 years and has no issues. Think you got unlucky with your last.
Smells bad eh?
I’d prob get the R16, the R24 made it too tempting to try to produce an entire album on it and really I just want a glorified sketchpad…
Its a cheap gummy plastic.
I’ve had an R24 for probably a decade now, and it has been invaluable in terms of capturing hardware jams, if only for the purposes of later dragging those tracks into my DAW…
Trust me when I tell you, while it is an excellent multitrack recording solution, once you’ve gotten to grips with the basic workflow, you will not be tempted to produce an entire album on it.
Cheers!
It just released to the public on March 5th. Wait for the reviews to come out. I’m tempted to get one to track my live Buchla and 808 sessions.
No smells from my R8 
it’s been a handy device to have around but I definitely consider selling it every so often