Hello everyone. I’ve been fiddling with electronic music forever but have zero knowledge of multitrack recorders, especially in the year 2026.
A close friend who I’ve been encouraging to make music asked me to help him find a simple multitrack recorder. He used to be in a band in the 80’s and so making music via multitrack is what he knows.
I asked him what he’s looking for, and these are really the only requirements so far:
inputs for both instrument and mic
he wants to record tracks and then slow them down to play on top of them and then speed things back up. When I told him that would screw with the pitch he didn’t care. Is this a common offering in multitrack recorders?
He’s hoping for something under $500
That’s it! I’m researching but thought I’d turn to the brain trust here because you folks R smart.
EDIT: I have been searching the forum also, but I haven’t found specifically this info, particularly about being able to slow tracks down as needed.
Sounds like the portastudio/4-track tape recorder workflow which seems to be rising in popularity right now and I’m totally not looking for the same thing…
Slowing down, speeding up, overdubbing, playing over etc. are all major traits of these devices and damn do they sound wonderful doing it.
Not hardware and not exactly simple but the closet thing I can think of would be a laptop running Reaper and an interface. Reaper allows you to set a master project playback rate (faster or slower) with a single knob
Most non-tape multitracks don’t let you change speed like you’re a describing, BUT you could use a looper like an Electro Harmonix, BOSS, or Line 6. They have enough memory these days that you can easily use them as multitrack recorders. And the EHX ones tend to have faders, which might help your friend feel more comfortable.
I have an EHX 2880 (the oldest crappiest one) which I use for tape-style multitracking like you describe. It has 4 tracks (plus a stereo “mixdown” track to bounce stuff to), 2 inputs (both 1/4" TRS), mixer-style faders, an optional footswitch, and uses an old-fashioned CF storage card. Sound quality is good but not amazing. Certainly usable. You can use an XLR-to-TRS cable to plug in a dynamic mic like an SM58 (because dynamic mics don’t need preamps or phantom power).
The 2880 can only hold one loop/song at a time (then you have to offload it to a computer or swap in a new CF card if you want to save it) but the later ones can hold more.
There’s also the Line 6 looper, made famous by Reggie Watts. Not sure how many inputs that has though.
Lots of looping stations out there, you should be able to find a used one for under $500.
The now-old Roland VS series allow you to turn down (or up) the speed of the playback. Yes, it changes the pitch too. Anyone who is accustomed to tape is accustomed to this.
As much as I love the Roland VS series, it has some learning curve. It’s a powerful platform and with it comes some complications. It’s also probably super-easy for someone who just wants to record a number of inputs across a number of tracks, reads the manual, and uses the presets.
They can be had for $75 to $150 these days … but not a strong buy. Some models in the VS-16xx series have capacitor issues. I’ve found the VS-880ex, VS-890 and VSR-880 to be solid. The analog trim pots are probably scratchy on any of them now.
These eventually became the Boss BR series, so maybe have a look for those too. Not sure if they can do the Varispeed slow down / speed up.
It’s also a Herculean task to get audio off of them in digital form … this is where your Zoom and Tascam units of today totally kill older tech.
It’s funny because when he asked me about this, I was thinking, “wow this would be rad functionality in a desktop unit but I’m not sure that’s just some normal function of a modern multitrack. I can finally give my Quasimodo fantasies a real-world experimental attempt.”
It’s a bummer too because I just sold on the big mega-looper Boss unit I had been given. I wasn’t using it. Alas, timing is indeed everything.
He also was quite keen on it needing to be simple to use (he’s 63 and not really interested in learning anything new, recording tech-wise. He’s just hoping to reignite some old neural pathways in as simple a way as possible, it seems.
It’s starting to sound like we should seek out the actual tape multitrack he used to use and see what those go for, including media. Maybe we’ll get lucky and it’ll be some unicorn unit that oversaturated the market, sold terribly, and is available cheap by the boatload.
TASCAM make (or made, not sure if they’re still in production!) a couple of simple digital multi-track recorders based on their portastudio range: the DP-006 and the DP-008ex. I’ve had one in the past and I remember the built-in microphones actually being pretty good! I don’t recall if they let you repitch and track at alternate pitches like the tape machines, though.
You can find them second hand at pretty decent prices.
EDIT: I’ve had a look at the manuals for both devices and it looks like neither let you alter the playback speed. There’s only a fast-forward/rewind function that changes the speed in fixed increments.
Roland SP-808 (EX), 4 Track Multi-Track-Recorder and Sampler with Pitch and Tmestretch Functions and a lot of awesome COSM-EFX. Nowadays you can swap the zip-drive with a reliable SCSI to SD-Adapter.
Yeah it seems like people are replacing the belts on the Yamaha MT50 type of units and keeping them running. I have a friend who does that. Tascam started making the good cassettes to use with them again, which is amazing.
1010 music bento has 3 stereo ins and 3 stereo outs ! So you can have mic and guitar and anything else going in and separate outs too if you wish for individual monitors + it have live looping - scene control, synths, sound beat synced loops which stop start in the right place ( mostly ) I love mine I have put it in case with batteries underneath - it’s like a mini porta studio in a little box - I’m thinking adding Antares autotune pedal headrush vx5 and I have the akgc1000s all this is battery operated ( garden beach Forest etc ) with the torso as well I can create and play for hours literally 6 possibly more - and can create whole songs with this set up. And very nice transitions between scenes - It the case on the right hand side - I can operate all this quite easily at 57 years old - I wouldn’t been keen on trying to negotiate portastudio with the level of technology you can have at your fingertips - embrace the tech jump in - swim around a bit
This would be easy to do with the SP404mk2. Just think of a bank as a 16 track tape deck. Resampling is the exact same thing as bouncing down your tracks on a portastudio
jump in - swim around a bit