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Times have changed.
I used to think cutting-edge portable recording technology required some fashion of metal-coated mylar orbiting around a magnet. Optical media, such as CD-R and MiniDisc, took a step away from the magnet, but there is still that motor in there, spinning around and making noise. Now, we are entering another new age of recording media technology with no moving parts. Non-volatile read write memory (NVRWM, or flash memory) devices are already in widespread use, most notably for digital cameras, MP3 players and USB memory sticks, but the memory limitations have only recently been lifted to the point where useful quantities of high-quality audio can be recorded. There are already a number of handheld audio flash recorders on the market, but they rely on severely compressed recording formats that limit them to the same fidelity level of the now-endangered microcassette recorder. Professional quality, removable media flash devices are now upon us, however. Edirol's R- 1 and M-Audio's MicroTrack 24/96 units were both released last year to mixed reviews. (See Craig Anderton's review of the R-1 in our Dec. '05 issue versus Scott Colburn's review of the MicroTrack in March '06, both of which compare the flash recorders to the redoubtable Sony MZ-M100 MiniDisc recorder.) The former, however, only handles up to 44.1kHz in WAV format, while the latter handles a more respectable 96kHz. Portability and affordability are great, but overall capability is lacking.
Now we have the TASCAM HD-P2, which records up to 192kHz/24-bit and offers many of the same features as the R-1 and the MicroTrack. I had the opportunity to pick up one of these while visiting Seattle and it has been a faithful companion since. The HD-P2 has served well in a variety of situations, including interviews, nature/ location recording, live performance recording (ranging from high- SPL noise shows to semi-ambient, acoustic performances), as well as tracking sessions...