TASCAM 4-Channel Portable Audio Recorder for Videographers, 4 Combo XLR/TRS Inputs, 2 Internal Mics, Limiter, HP Filter (DR-70D)

This thing rocks my world. I record a podcast on it. Each speaker gets a track, so people with bad mic technique are easy to fix in post without messing up everyone else's sound. I don't have to carry a laptop with me to make it work. I haven't really used the built-in mics, but they seem as good as anything else you find on recording devices.On a per-track basis, you can control gain with the knobs, a separate customizable gain boost in the menu, panning, phantom power, recording on or off (no wasting disk space and battery to record silence from empty mic ports like on the Zoom H4N), and probably more that I'm forgetting.Battery life is okay, mostly I use it plugged in. One weird quirk: powering it with third party cables may not work properly, but the one that comes in the box works fine. Switches to battery power if it comes unplugged (but don't let it jiggle in and out or it can shut off). Mic ports are super secure, in fact so secure that I worry I might damage the device if I'm not careful in unplugging mics.Build quality feels about medium-durable. I've read that the tripod/camera mounts aren't well built and can damage the device if used roughly, so I don't use them and I treat the whole thing with kid gloves. The little circle thing on the top rattles, which is bad, but I cut off a thin slice of foam from the packaging and stuck it under and now it's still and silent. The knobs are a little hard to control individually, but if you have small to medium hands you'll be fine (mine are dainty and womanish). The battery compartment is fiddly but okay. Date and time resets when you change the batteries, but all other settings are stable.Formatting time on a 32 gig card is faster than my H4N on an 8 gig card. Sound quality is excellent. Having a headphone port and a separate line out is really nice. The device confirms phantom power usage whenever it's switched on, which is great (easy to forget you turned it on for a track).For the price, there is no competition. Fancy mixer interfaces still need a separate computer to work. Nobody has it cheaper than Amazon, at least not right now. Treat it gently and accept the occasional little bump in the road, and you'll love it like you've never loved a gadget before.

I come at audio for video with a pretty strong audio background. Tascam has a reliable reputation in the audio industry so when I needed an audio recorder I favored the DR100 mk2 over other brands like say Zoom that have tended to be sort of cheapo equipment in that other industry. The 100mk2 had several major flaws:1. It's form factor and construction - though great for a handheld audio recorder, it was super awkward to mount with camera hardware, wireless mic receivers, etc... on top of this it had sort of cheap feeling construction2. It's gain attenuator switch applied to both recording channels instead of having individual controls which created all sorts of havoc working with microphones with radically different gain expectations3. The inability to partial use of onboard mics along with external was annoying too.The reason I list these issues is because the DR-70D handles all of these problems and more. It's form factor could not be more perfect for working with other video gear. Even if you don't use the feature of screwing it into your camera's tripod attachment (which is genius btw), you can use that feature bolt the d70 into a camera strap or use the screen guards as a convenient attachment for other shoulder straps. Plus it's built tough! The 70D has very discreet controls for each recording channel. You can freely assign inputs and input gain. On top of all that, they've added combo connectors so quarter inch feeds off of a sound board don't need to be converted to xlr, there are 2 more connectors and corresponding tracks, and there are a bunch of other bells and whistles like safety track recording and stereo mapping. The onboard controls are very intuitive too. Finally, the fact that the device outputs 4 discreet audio files when you transfer files to your editor is a nice touch. The simplicity of being able to just drag and drop the files into an editor without splitting them or having to worry about pan settings and whatnot was a great piece of forethought on the engineers part. All this and it's a really inexpensive device! All this is to say that I am very impressed and Tascam is fully redeemed in my eyes.

I purchased this to capture individual tracks from the mixer when my guitar/vocal duo performs. 4 tracks is perfect. I own a DR-05 that I've used to capture audio of practices and performances and it has worked VERY well for me for the 5 years that I've owned it. With the success of the DR-05, I figured I'd stick with Tascam for a multitrack digital recorder.The form factor is great. It's sturdily build with a metal chassis. The buttons feel solid. The level controls for each channel are a little tight, but not a big deal. It is easily set up and pretty intuitive. I was able to remove the mount on top since I won't be using this with a DSLR. They even give you little rubber plugs to plug the holes if you choose to do this. Sound quality of the recordings is fantastic. I am recording 4 individual mono tracks at 16bit/44.1kHz.Beware that it is very picky about memory cards. I had purchased a 128GB PNY card to use with it. It is the same card that has worked wonderfully for me in my Canon HD camcorder. With this card, the DR-70D would record for an hour or so and stop with a "file write error". This happened numerous times and with multiple cards. I decided to try a SanDisk card from Tascam's recommended list. This works perfectly fine.