Features:

  • Discontinued Model replaced by Improved DR-05X
  • Built-in omni-directional microphones
  • Stereo mini headphone jack for external stereo microphones (provides plug-in power) / External line input
  • Tempo change (VSA) function for adjusting the speed from 0.5 to 1.5 times (in 0.1 increments)
  • Chromatic tuner, Powered by 2 AA batteries, USB power or optional AC adapter (Tascam PS-P515U), MicroSD 4GB card
One of the best at this price point.

I'm very impressed with the build and audio quality of the DR-05. For those looking to get one, a couple of thoughts. First the one I ordered wasn't labeled as a version 2 device though that is what showed up in the box.Version two adds a couple of interesting features if you are into playing along with a previously recorded tune and recording the mix. It will also start and stop recording when the sound level goes below or above a specified level. You can also add marks and clapper tones if you are using this as the audio source when recording video. The TASCAM web site has a couple of freely downloadable files you may be interested in. For those who have an older version one recorder there are release notes and the software file to upgrade then older version to version 2. The release notes will walk you through it step by step to include validating what software version is loaded on the device currently. There is also what's called a reference manual which a much-expanded version of the features described in the paper owners manual that comes with the recorder. Both the owners manual and reference manual are PDF files so you can keep them with you on a phone or tablet when away from home and a question comes up. While many will be happy using the built-in mics for recording kids concerts and lectures, the mic input between the mics on the top also allows you to use this instead of a wireless microphone for video shoots and interviews. The recorder will likely record a much better version of the sound than your camera and with even an inexpensive Lav mic, you'll eliminate a bunch of background noise. Simply sync up in post. Even many inexpensive (or free) video editors will allow this. It may be too big to hide on a bride but for other less formal events it could fit into a pocket or waistband. I find that the mics will pick up the sound of my fingers on the device when holding it while recording. Better to place it on a table or better yet, use the tripod screw mount on the back to connect it to one of the little mini, flexible tripods available here on Amazon. Another cool feature is it's ability to use what it calls bus power. That is, the power from the USB cord. Paired with one of the many portable USB chargers also on Amazon, you'll be able to power the thing much longer than the AA batteries could ever hope to. Poweradd Slim2 5000mAh Fast Charging Portable Charger with Smart Identification for Smartphones For me, that is a much better option than the AC adapter. I need to get some more hands-on experience with the DR-05 but at this point it is a great choice at this price point.

The big dog, for the big geek!

I had used a borrowed DR-05 a few years ago to assist in audio recording for a local TV commercial, as the pure WAV or high-bitrate MP3 options outmatch the camera's mic hookup, as on-camera audio is compressed terribly into the video file, and there isn't much left to play with in the editing side. The only problem was that we could ONLY record from the built-in speakers, or from the line-in jack, but not both, and there was no way to use the studio mics without a mic-amp in between. So now I have this beast. Full 24-bit WAV capabilities, with two stereo recording streams, one from the Tascam's mics, and one for the two mic inputs on the bottom. Even better, the bottom jacks can handle amp-powered via a 1/4" pole jack, or condenser mics with the XLR plug (with phantom power, too)! You also have the ability to stick with one stereo mic set, and record on two volume intensities (so if one peaks you can fill in with the lower, for better quality), but I say if you record in 24-bit, drop the intensity until you won't peak, and then if you need to boost it when editing, 24-bit offers a HUGE range beyond the abilities of the human ear, and your audience won't be able to tell after the final output, which is usually down-sampled to 16-bit. Camera mounting is easy using a hotshoe adapter, or you can easily add a stand or tripod and move the wire mess into a more manageable position. Power is easy, with 3-AA cells doing the job. Using high mA-H NiMH batteries (I use Eneloop), you will see 8-10 hours on a single set, but for the paranoid, a wall USB adapter and the included cable will keep this running until the power company goes down (or you run out of SD card space). The audio produced by this recorder, and in truth ALL TASCAM products, are clean, without the hiss that even the most high-quality laptop PCs have, so there is no clean-up before editing. And of course this offers an amplified line-out, that can be fed into the camera, or you can attach a good quality set of headphones and hear exactly what the machine is recording. This is an audio studio for your pocket. Enjoy!

DR-40 vs H4n. And the winner is...

I seldom write reviews about things, but having fought so much with myself about which recorder to buy, I felt like I had to share. You should know, I decided buy the H4n first because of all the reviews. Sadly after a few weeks someone dropped it during a concert and the microphones got bent. Obviously this fudged up the stereo image so I had to break the enclosure to put it back. The capsules were fine but still, had to wait a while for someone to fix it since I was on tour. In a pinch, I decided to buy my second choice, the DR-40, because of the protective cage, and the lower price. It was easier to use than the H4n. Clear buttons for switching between the different modes and surprisingly rugged. I tested it out and it sounded great. I was listening to sound samples between the H4n and the DR-40, and the H4n preamps definitely sound quieter, but because I mostly record high-SPL sources, I found that the DR-40 was more than adequate for half the price. In fact it was way better than what I expected with a few extra features and ease of use. Conclusion: If you want an ultra-quiet recorder for wide dynamic range (classical music perhaps or ambient recording) then I'd probably go with more specialized gear (so neither one of these). If you want something to record weddings, concerts, conferences etc., then I recommend this piece of gear for it's ease of use, protective structure and low cost. Sorry H4n, I'll still probably use you for multi-tracking, but being on the road so much I can't afford your frail little mics to fudge up my flow. So there. Hope it helps someone.

Excellent recorder at an affordable price

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. 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.) 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.

Great for recording yourself playing music

My father is an avid guitar player who is also a very difficult person for whom to buy gifts because he seems to already have pretty much everything. I don't know enough about his gear preferences to safely buy him new amplifier/speaker/etc. gear but I did know that he did not have a high fidelity audio recorder. After doing quite a bit of research into the best recorders in my price range (below $200), I settled on this one. My dad says he loves it. He uses it to record himself playing then plays the audio back to help him work on improving his technique. He has also used the recorder to lay down multiple tracks of him playing the same song with different guitars to then edit them back together into one multiple-instrument recording all played by him. He has played me some of these resulting recordings and while his taste in music is not the same as mine, I cannot deny that the audio quality sounds like a CD you would buy at the music store. My father did comment that the sound quality is better if you are in a room with good acoustics and that you should not bother trying to use this if there is a lot of background noise (like someone mowing the lawn or vacuuming the carpet nearby). It also works better if placed on a tripod with rubber feet so it does not pick up so many of the vibrations through the surface you place it on. Finally, please note that this requires a micro-SD card. I did not realize that when I ordered it and mistakenly gave it to him with a regular sized SD card. I gave this as a gift in December of 2012. He is still using it to this day. I do not know if a more updated version is now available.

Very pleased using it to record live music

I've never previously owned a recorder so I was jumping in the deep end with this after doing some homework. I used it for the first time this past weekend to record my band at a live gig, and I couldn't be happier with the results. I watched a few tutorial videos on YouTube, and read some of the manual so I was familiar enough to use it without a lot of effort. I also bought a 32 GB SD card, and an adapter so I could connect it to a mic stand. I recorded roughly three hours and forty five minutes of music (WAV, 24 bit, 44.1 khz). Since I wasn't sure how large the files would be, i recorded each set on three different SD cards. Each file was about 1.3 GB's. Using dual mode it recorded a separate backup file so 2.6 GB's x 3 for close to 8 GB's total. So, as it turns out I would've been fine just using my one 32 GB card. Using only the built in mics in A-B mode we turned the input level down to 26, raised in on a mic stand about 8 ft in the air level with the PA speakers about 10 feet away in a relatively small room. The crowd was loud, but didn't drown out the music at all, and there was no clipping either. Levels for each of the instruments were recorded well. I could hear drums, bass, guitar, vocals cleanly. Based on this first time experience, and the ease of use/learning curve, I'm very glad I made the purchase and would recommend it to someone else looking to use it to record live music.

Simple and reliable for recording practice sessions

I purchased this recorder for recording our church-band practice sessions and performances after briefly considering a DR-22WL. After reading about reliability issues with the WiFi functionality and considering the much higher sales of the DR-40, I decided to go with the DR-40. After using it a few times I am glad I made this purchase. It is EXTREMELY flexible and has a nice peak-limiting feature that sets the input levels really nicely. We use it with the wired remote and that is more than adequate for our needs. The menus are easy to navigate and you have a lot of flexibility with using external mics. I really like the dual-track mode that allows you to record a backup at a lower input level. One thing to consider is the owner's manual that comes with it is more of a quick-start summary. To get the full user's manual go to the manufacturer's website and download the full 'Reference Manual' for the DR-40. This manual will answer just about any question you have about using this recorder.

Don't let the low price fool you - this is perfect for VO work

I have been looking at this for a while. When AMAZON recently cut the price again I decided to try it out. I could not be more satisfied. I use it for one purpose only - Professional Voice Over recording. Recording is easy when at home with my big $$ mics and super quiet studio, but I travel a lot and all the USB mics I have tried are so noisy that they are useless. Maybe more my laptops sound cards fault than the mics, but doesn't matter as useless is useless. Just finished Chapter 1 of an audiobook I am working on and it sounds great if I do say so myself. The author loves the sound and approved it right away. Since it is not even hooked up to a computer when recording the sound at home in the studio is pretty much identical to the sound in a hotel room if you take a little time and figure out where to put the pillows and blankets. More than close enough in sound to punch in corrections. This is great for my productivity when traveling. No doubt the purists will be shocked to know I use the auto level setting which gives me a slightly compressed file with zero clipping normalized to 0 Db. Add a very little bit of EQ, some noise reduction (the S/N ration could be a little better) and limit it to -3 and it is ready for prime time. I added a fur sock and folding tripod for about $30 and it will now travel everywhere with me, Amazingly immune to picking up mouth noises with the sock on so file cleaning time is very minimal. I could go on! Amazing results for the price.

solid handheld digital audio recorder

Wonderful little toy. I bought it less for any serious or specific purpose, and more as an experiment for getting into soundscape recording, or possibly for recording interviews with people. For any of these purposes, so far it has worked well. Of course, I have no doubt that one COULD use it professionally (such as with an SLR, or an external audio rig), I'm just not a pro myself. In Japan, I used it alongside a plugin separate USB battery (which I rubber banded to the recorder), and this worked just fine. It also was handy to attach it to a tiny little tripod, which doubled as a grip. Battery life with AA's was pretty good, but I can't recall how many hours they lasted. It wasn't an issue, even with a few hours of use over several days. Plus, AA's are easy to find everywhere. The unit is a bit "plasticky", which is a bit of a letdown for its price, but the quality of the audio it records (from the built-in mics) is excellent to my ears. I've done no digital manipulation, nor have I connected separate microphones, although eventually I'll do both. I keep it in a case to protect it. I've never dropped it outright. I'm doubtful it would survive a waist-high fall onto concrete, but most electronics won't. For now, with a muff over the built-ins, it records clear audio in a variety of situations. I recorded some street festivals in Japan with remarkable results. It does very well with voice reproduction, sounds pretty life-like. I'm sure it'll do even better when paired with a quality external microphone. This unit was an excellent price, and produces exactly the results I expected, without a lot of hassle.

Full Reviews