Tascam CD-BT MK1 any good?
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highway_star
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Back top the original topic - I tried out my Bass Trainer tonight and was pleased. It sounds much clearer than my Pandora/Sony Discman setup. Plus, the tempo feature sounds less garbled than the Pandora. It's nice to have the trainer and CD in one package, although I like the Pandora's clip-on feature. I'll probably keep the Pandora for quiet practicing and use the Bass Trainer for copying lick from CDs.
If you think all is going well, you've obviously overlooked something.
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ken_swearingen
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Chris, I got to this thread late, but I'm glad you were pointed to the cd/bass balancing controls.
And I'm with you with regards to trying out new gear: If you have to resort to the manual to do something as simple as get the balance right then there's a big problem with the user interface design of the unit.
I too just got the beast, and I like it. And it has a stupid interface. Tascam equipment normally doesn't suffer from "The Roland Symptom", but even after you add unfriendly UI into the equation, I think it's still a worthwhile purchase for the money.
What it does well:
* Provides a headphone amp for you to practice bass through
* Provides a CD-player
* Allows you to change CD-audio pitch in whole tones or microtones or both (ever tried to play along with "Lovely Rita" in standard tuning?)
* Allows you to change the CD-audio tempo without affecting the pitch (sure, you get more and more artifacts the more radical the departure from normal, but it's a practice tool, not a recording preamp.)
* Allows you to change both of the above simultaneously
* Allows you to apply a highpass filter on the CD audio, letting you hear your bass more or less in place of that on the CD. (and that feature's on a nice discrete pushbutton for easy switch back and forth)
Those are the features I've made good use of.
What sucks:
* Not an intuitive UI: need to check out the manual a bit and try things out to get the hang of it (not so bad after that)
* Although it has "effects" built in, they all suck. I managed to get a mild room reverb but it still annoys me a bit.
* I'd read about the need for an AC adapter before I purchased. The place I bought from had a deal going on at the time in which they both undercut the going price by $10 or $20 USD, _and_ threw in an adapter. To be honest, I don't think this thing should be expected to last very long on battery: it spins that disc constantly so that your practice isn't constantly interrupted by lengthy seek times. It should be an AC-only device. Get the adapter.
What I'd Like to see:
* better UI
* fewer "toys" (get rid of the effects section, in favor of a more friendly UI if possible)
* a CD reader that can read MP3 CDs as well as CD-Audio
All in all, a useful device at the price I think.
my buck two ninety eight,
-G
And I'm with you with regards to trying out new gear: If you have to resort to the manual to do something as simple as get the balance right then there's a big problem with the user interface design of the unit.
I too just got the beast, and I like it. And it has a stupid interface. Tascam equipment normally doesn't suffer from "The Roland Symptom", but even after you add unfriendly UI into the equation, I think it's still a worthwhile purchase for the money.
What it does well:
* Provides a headphone amp for you to practice bass through
* Provides a CD-player
* Allows you to change CD-audio pitch in whole tones or microtones or both (ever tried to play along with "Lovely Rita" in standard tuning?)
* Allows you to change the CD-audio tempo without affecting the pitch (sure, you get more and more artifacts the more radical the departure from normal, but it's a practice tool, not a recording preamp.)
* Allows you to change both of the above simultaneously
* Allows you to apply a highpass filter on the CD audio, letting you hear your bass more or less in place of that on the CD. (and that feature's on a nice discrete pushbutton for easy switch back and forth)
Those are the features I've made good use of.
What sucks:
* Not an intuitive UI: need to check out the manual a bit and try things out to get the hang of it (not so bad after that)
* Although it has "effects" built in, they all suck. I managed to get a mild room reverb but it still annoys me a bit.
* I'd read about the need for an AC adapter before I purchased. The place I bought from had a deal going on at the time in which they both undercut the going price by $10 or $20 USD, _and_ threw in an adapter. To be honest, I don't think this thing should be expected to last very long on battery: it spins that disc constantly so that your practice isn't constantly interrupted by lengthy seek times. It should be an AC-only device. Get the adapter.
What I'd Like to see:
* better UI
* fewer "toys" (get rid of the effects section, in favor of a more friendly UI if possible)
* a CD reader that can read MP3 CDs as well as CD-Audio
All in all, a useful device at the price I think.
my buck two ninety eight,
-G
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learning_curve
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highway_star
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ken_swearingen
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