Tascam Model 12 All-in-One 12-track Digital Multitrack Mixing and Recording Studio, Mixer, USB Audio Interface and DAW Controller

An excellent multi-use mixer with MIDI sync capability and multi-channel USB audio
This is not only a solid mixer with physical EQ controls on every channel and nice sliders, but a digital multi-track recorder, a multi-channel USB audio interface, a remote DAW controller to keep the physical mixing feel if/when audio moves into the computer, and it has MIDI in/out. The MIDI ports can act as a USB to MIDI interface from the computer, but they can also be used to send clock and transport signals to MIDI gear.I work a lot with groove boxes and other sequencer-heavy units, from Volcas to Elektron boxes. Many of the smaller / less expensive groove boxes only have stereo output. Using the MIDI feature on the Model 12 (which is not present on the slightly older/larger Model 16 and 24), I can have my device(s) start playing immediately when I hit the record button. This makes it easy, using track-muting features on the groove boxes, to separately record synth, drums, and kick sequences into separate tracks on the Model 12. I don’t have to try to manually hit ‘play’ at just the right time, or try to fix the timing later in a DAW.The MIDI sync alone was a deciding factor in choosing the Model 12 over the similarly spec’d Zoom Livetrak 12. I also chose this over the Zoom for the larger presence of dedicated EQ buttons on each channel, which comes at the cost of size – the Model 12 takes up some valuable real-estate in my home studio. Much bigger than the Behringer 1202 very-basic mixer I was replacing. The size is also worth it for the ability to use the Model 12 as a remote DAW controller for Logic. Although I must admit – I often find myself doing my mixing right within the Model 12’s multi-track recorder itself.I still feel more comfortable recording to tape or to simple stereo programs on my computer, to later integrate into Logic X. The Model 12 suits me nicely here with that built-in multi-track recorder. It makes it easy to capture multi-track recordings of my electronic gear without having to set things up in Logic on my aging Mac mini. I can just record, and pull it together later. The Model 12 provides many options for that ‘later’. It is easy to produce stereo mixes inside the Model 12 and just load those files on the computer, and the separate track recordings are there too. There are multiple options for how to record onto those tracks. The default being to record the raw post-gain / pre-compressor sound, allowing you to shape sound later. But there are options to record post-compressor and even post-eq on individual tracks if desired. You can do in-mixer bounces and move audio between tracks. Overall, really solid.I’ve been using it for about a month now. The build quality is really solid. I like that it’s a mixer first – it’s probably the best mixer I’ve had in 20 years. After years of low-cost Behringers (which were fine, they just suited a different need for me than what I need now), it feels good to have a really solid mixer again with good EQs, etc, all immediately usable. It has two mono AUX busses and a submix bus, with separate outputs.The fact that this mixer can also pull duties for multi-track recording, multi-channel USB audio, DAW control, and MIDI clock/transport master, just make it a very very solid add to a small home studio – especially as those latter two options are not available on the larger Model-16 and 24.For downsides – for me, I don’t really need 8 channels of XLR inputs with phantom power. I would prefer maybe only two such inputs/channels, and have the rest be stereo-pair capable inputs. In the same space, that would turn this box into a 14 channel mixer and would be perfect for my collection of instruments. I am surprised that with the popularity of electronic music hardware over the past decade that there aren’t more mixers geared to this market. The MIDI ports on the Model 12 are a nice feature for such users – I love that synchronized ‘hit record, and all the machines start running’ feature. But more stereo tracks and less XLR/mono tracks would be even better.

Great product, easy to used, like the old 4 track cassette.Amazon pricing very excellentHowever I was very lucky that it was not stolen in my front door.

Excelente muchas gracias !