Tascam Model 2400

Tascam’s new recording mixer is the most flexible Model‑series console yet.

I reviewed Tascam’s Model 24 in SOS February 2019 and the smaller Model 12 in SOS December 2020. With new and improved features, the latter addressed many of the issues I raised when assessing the Model 24, and the Model 16 then added more channels. Now, Tascam have released the flagship mixer in this range: the Model 2400 includes almost all the Model 12’s improvements and introduces more features. Larger and heavier than the Model 24, it has more channels and more analogue I/O, but it remains portable enough that it’s easy to stick in the car.

Overview

The Model 2400 is, at heart, an analogue mixer, with one‑knob compression on 12 of the 22 input channels, and a three‑band EQ on all of them. There are four stereo subgroups, five aux sends (three pre‑fader, one post‑fader, one switchable pre/post), a stereo digital effects processor to which you can send from any track, and a separate stereo digital EQ and compressor for the master bus. There are insert points for 12 input channels and the master bus, and an array of other facilities that I’ll cover below. But what makes the Model 2400 different from most mixers is its 24/22 (in/out) channels of 16‑/24‑bit and 44.1/48 kHz A‑D/D‑A conversion. This makes possible recording standalone to an SDXC card (up to 512GB) or, over USB, to Mac, Windows or iOS/iPadOS devices.

For Mac and iOS you don’t need drivers for USB interfacing, but there’s a useful ModelMixer app whose main purpose is to provide more extensive metering than the hardware. Windows users also have this app but need the ASIO/WDM driver; both these drivers can access the hardware, so two apps using the same sample rate can communicate with the mixer simultaneously. With five‑pin DIN MIDI out and in sockets on the rear, the Model 2400 can act as a USB MIDI interface. It can also output MIDI Time Code and Clock. The USB connection also allows you to transfer files to and from the SD card, to back up data or load stored projects.

The ModelMixer app provides more metering options than can be found on the hardware — and on a bigger screen too!

Recording

Recording standalone or to a computer, the 24 inputs are for the mixer’s 22 input channels plus the stereo mix, while the 22 outputs are routed back to the main input channels, just before their insert point (or for those without one, the compressor). As with the Model 12 and 16 (not the 24), a button above the channel compressor/EQ sets the point in the signal path sent to the A‑D converter: before or after the processing stages, by which I mean anything patched into the insert, as well as the onboard compressor and EQ. A simple touch, but it makes the mixer more versatile than the Model 24: you could record a clean signal post the preamps and HPF, while using the inserts, compressors and EQs for a cue mix or live performance; or use the processing and commit what you hear to ‘tape’. Whichever’s the case, you can break a mix back out onto the mixer and use the insert and processing stages again. This welcome A‑D routing flexibility is as on the Model 12, but many more input channels have an insert point (12, compared with the Model 12 and 16’s two), so integrating outboard is a much more realistic proposition.

When I don’t have to look at a screen while making music I prefer not to. And the simple fact of having so many tracks with inserts available makes working this way much more attractive.

The standalone recording process is also pretty much as on the Model 12. You can create a song, set up a click track, and change the tempo and time signature. Each track has a record‑arm button so you can record anything from a single track to all of them. Some more advanced functions make good use of the screen, the Multi Jog push/twist encoder and buttons, such as manual or automatic punching in and markers — if you fluff a note or two, you can flag that up, or sing along and drop in a better part rather than retake the whole performance or rely on edits and pitch‑shifting later on. Since you can also import files from the SD card, you can prepare backing tracks on a computer for use on standalone sessions (or as live backing tracks). Computers make so much possible, but when I don’t have to look at a screen while making music I prefer not to. And the simple fact of having so many tracks with inserts available makes working this way much more attractive.

Still, some prefer to use a DAW, and as well as being an interface the Model 2400 can serve as a basic HUI or MCU controller. For example, the mixer’s transport buttons control your DAW transport, the Multi Jog becomes a scrub wheel, you can create and navigate to markers, and the 16 record‑arm buttons arm your DAW tracks. Notably, there’s no fader control, but you can still use all the channels of the USB audio and MIDI...