TascamDR-05 Portable Digital Recorder (Version 2)

The media could not be loaded. I bought the TASCAM DR-05 because I wanted something smaller than my DR-100 MKII for recording while traveling and wandering around town. My DR-05 was labeled “Version 2 Enhanced Performance” on the box and shipped with a 4GB microSD card and USB cable. Performance enhancements appear to be minor internal changes (hence no "MK II" moniker): nondestructive overdubbing, reverbs, auto tone (sync with DSLR guide tracks) and a few more firmware tweaks related to auto record modes. This is a bare bones package with no case, handle or wind muff (dead kitten).APPEARANCE & BUILD: Styling and control layout are similar to the DR-07 and DR-40: dark gray plastic, raised buttons and pumpkin orange monochrome LCD. The small LCD is 1990s tech but readable in both bright sunlight and dark venues. Fit and finish appear excellent but build is light duty consumer grade and will not survive heavy rain or a drop onto concrete. It's considerably smaller and lighter than the DR-40 and DR-100 MKII, fitting comfortably in my medium sized hands.CONTROLS: Physical controls are basic but the important ones—record, stop, levels, pause, hold, etc.—fall easily under the fingers. The DR-05 may be held in the palm like a smartphone and controlled with a single thumb. Unlike touchscreens, physical buttons are raised, varied in shape and positioned so they can be operated by feel in the dark.Level adjustments are global—no individual channel adjustment—but may be quickly accessed on the arrow keys. Most other features are buried in the menus. You can set the limiter with the “Quick Menu” but will need to swim through a half dozen submenus to enable mic power, format or set a low cut filter.CONNECTIONS: Audio input options are twofold: built-in omnidirectional mics or a 3.5mm jack for a powered stereo mic. Once I enabled mic power in the menu, my Tascam TM-2X cardioid stereo mic worked flawlessly.Output consists of headphone/line out from a single mini stereo jack. Adapters are needed to interface with studio and home stereo systems. However, I suspect most recordists are like me: the Mini SD card goes straight into the computer for storage, playback and editing. The DR-05 has a mini-USB port for buss power or uploading to a computer, but is not enabled for playback, recording or battery charging.BATTERIES: Two AA batteries provide power. I use Eneloop rechargeables and they easily last through an all day rehearsal. If I need to track longer, I plug a USB battery pack into the USB port.SOUND QUALITY: I use the DR-05 to record rehearsals, lessons and ambient nature sounds. The built-in omnidirectional mics sound very good--clean, full range and accurate--and easily records sounds throughout the room. The DR-05 is not a good choice for reportage as omnidirectional mics pickup too much surrounding ambience for sidewalk interviews. A unit with directional cardioid mics is a better choice if audience or street sounds need to be reduced, e.g., DR-07 MKII or DR-40.Mics are slightly on the bright side but mellower and more diffuse than the mics on the DR-100 MKII and DR-40. The preamps have plenty of gain and I was able to record soft finger picked classical guitar with optimal levels at 75 to 80%. Unlike the DR-100 MKII and DR-40, the DR-05 lacks a gain sensitivity menu/switch but the default seems equivalent to “high” on the DR-100 MKII.Wav files recorded at 48kHz 24-bits or 92kHz 24-bits sound excellent and process easily in Bias Peak Pro or Apple Logic. For the best sound, guitar and voice tracks need a slight EQ boost in the lower midrange.LAST BLURB: The DR-05 is extremely portable and easily slips into a camera bag or pant pocket. It’s intuitive to operate and, indeed, tracks from the DR-05 sound great on studio monitors and headphones. Features are mainly aimed at musicians but it's also a good general use recorder for dialogue and DSLR audio in spaces where omnidirectional mics are appropriate. I’m pleased with this little recorder: most of the audio quality of the DR-100 MKII but at one third the cost and a much easier carry.

I have know about TASCAM recorders for a good while ever since I used to record bands for a living while living in another town, I had a TEAC 4 channel reel-to-reel 15-7 1/2 ips recorder (TC2400, I think) and also a number of the X series (X-3R, X-7, X-10R, etc.) These were all good reel to reel recorders and well worth having. I have been wanting a TASCAM portable recorder for awhile but the price always put me off. When I spotted this recorder I decided to get it based on the way the old systems worked. I'm glad I did but with a few exceptions. When I first rec'd it, I found that the recorder was set up as most digital recorders are with folders to store stuff in and like that. I'm used to dealing with time of storage media rather than size. (For example: a C-60 cassette records 1 hour, or 30 minutes a side or a MC-90 micro-cassette records 45 minutes a side, etc.) However, if one is dealing with a smart card or flash drive one deals with size of media. (Such as: 28 gig USB flash drive, or a 32 gig smart card.) So the first thing I had to do was figure out what the 4 gig smart card that comes with this recorder would do, etc. Well, the DR-05 default set is uncompressed wav files which take up a lot of room and if you need to record a large amount of stuff over a long period of time this won't suit your needs. I set it up for mp3 files as this seemed better for me. At this point, I must say something about the setups this recorder has. It's got so many ways to set up stuff that it's almost over-kill at times. One example of this is the recorder's recording settings for just providing limits to stop distortion when recording. This recorder has a peak limiter that is adjustable, a automatic level control with adjustments or no adjustments, and a high or low cut off limiter not to mention the standard manual adjustment just to mention some of the ways it can record. This for recording only. (It reminded me of the Ampex 600 Pro recorder I use to use.) The biggest problem that I ran into was figuring out what to set where. After playing with it awhile, I discovered another thing I didn't like....It can eat batteries if your not using the provided USB port cord from a powered PC port or power supply built for it. Once I got the power supply and started using it off that, this recorder started to shine a bit. I found that by putting the 2 AA batteries in the recorder and then when recording with it off the USB PS, if a power failure hit, the batteries picked up right off the bat and the only way you knew there was a power outage was if something running on AC cut off in the back ground. So this recorder recorded right thru 6 power glitches averaging about 20 to 30 seconds each without missing a beat and you could hear that on the recording. And it did so without using very much battery power at all. When you plug it into PC's USB port and turn on the DR-05, it asks if it's to be used for storage or USB power. If you select power nothing happens but your recorder gets power thru the port. If you select storage the USB port is "seen" by windows and access to it is given to deal with the files on it. This is great for moving file to an area they can be better worked on with. With all the settings and abilities this recording has it's great for what I use something like this for and it even has some options I wouldn't have even thought of. Overall, a very good portable stereo recorder with a number of uses!