I need help picking a side of the fence - Rodecaster Pro / Tascam Mixcast 4

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I need help picking a side of the fence - Rodecaster Pro / Tascam Mixcast 4

Post by PixelatedNinja »

I'm having minor panic attacks trying to figure out which way to go with this vital piece of hardware. I have both the Rodecaster Pro and Tascam Mixcast 4 sitting in front of me, been using both for a couple of days. Both have pros and cons to me. I just need some community advice as to which one will be best choice for the long run.

My main situation is Teams/Zoom meetings for work. A few hours a day I'm both on audio and video. Video side is working great, it's the audio I'm working on now. I have a Shure SM7B just below frame and a Oktava Mk-012-01 acting as a pseudo shotgun on the camera. I switch between the two depending on the situation.

Ok, so I won't go into the specific pros & cons I have, but the sticky points that I have. Hopefully ya'll have some thoughts!
  • The Rodecaster has been out for a while. Great because it's the king of the space, but is the hardware getting dated?
  • The Mixcast is newer, but not as polished. What kind of reputation does Tascam have for continual improvement. Obviously the Rodecaster has gone through quite a few improvements over time, will Tascam keep up with that or are they more of a "let's get it to a standard and move on" company?
  • Back to the Rodecaster being the king, I noticed that it's in the line of a lot of, what I would say, top-tier podcasters and Youtubers. That gives it credibility for sure, but is that just because it's been around longer?
Help please! I flip-flop every few minutes.
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Re: I need help picking a side of the fence - Rodecaster Pro / Tascam Mixcast 4

Post by resistorman »

Both companies are great. You're overthinking it. Pick the one you like working with most. Or flip a coin, no wrong choice.
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Re: I need help picking a side of the fence - Rodecaster Pro / Tascam Mixcast 4

Post by ceejay »

... well I have a Rodecaster and live in Oz so of course I'm biased ... but when I saw the Tascam, my immediate thought was "clone" ;)
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Re: I need help picking a side of the fence - Rodecaster Pro / Tascam Mixcast 4

Post by Drew Stephenson »

I've not used the Tascam but I have been using the Rode for the last three years or so. For me the reason that I'd go straight back to it again is that although it has plenty of deeper features, I can set up in advance and then let non-tech people use it. It's practically plug and play from that respect and that's worth a lot of time in the long run.
And as for stuff getting out of date? Mic-pres do the same job now that they did forty years ago and will do in another forty years. Faders fade. Buttons butt... well press, whatever. The point is that there's not much on the hardware side likely to need to changing and, as you point out, Rode have kept up on the software/firmware side.
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Re: I need help picking a side of the fence - Rodecaster Pro / Tascam Mixcast 4

Post by ceejay »

blinddrew wrote: Sun Apr 17, 2022 9:21 pm ... Rode have kept up on the software/firmware side.

... it's been a while since the last firmware update (July 2021) and I notice that stores here are now discounting it by 10% ... which kinda tends to suggest a new model might be on the way ...
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Re: I need help picking a side of the fence - Rodecaster Pro / Tascam Mixcast 4

Post by ceejay »

... and indeed the new model details have now been leaked ...
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Re: I need help picking a side of the fence - Rodecaster Pro / Tascam Mixcast 4

Post by ConcertinaChap »

You might find a review of the Mixcast 4 in the latest SoS. My own experience with Tascam is with the new Portacapture X8, which is getting upgraded firmware every couple of months at present. I see the Mixcast uses a large touch screen and I really liked how Tascam made use of one in the Portacapture so that's probably a good thing.

CC
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Re: I need help picking a side of the fence - Rodecaster Pro / Tascam Mixcast 4

Post by Mike Stranks »

ConcertinaChap wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 6:53 am You might find a review of the Mixcast 4 in the latest SoS...

You will! :lol:
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Re: I need help picking a side of the fence - Rodecaster Pro / Tascam Mixcast 4

Post by ceejay »

... full details of Rodecaster II https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhhxNqR34Cs
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