Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I did a lot of research before ordering the R24. I've owned other multi-track recorders, but this one looked different because of the amazing combination of features. Here's the break-down: The Good: + Excellent sound quality. + 24 tracks of audio. More than any home studio needs. + Portable, battery power option, and built-in mics. + Eight inputs for recording. + Good value. This is more recording power then Elvis or the Beatles ever had and it's available for a price the average musician can afford. The Bad: - Effects: Every type of overdrive and distortion sounds like the same digital garbage. Not even passable. - Dynamics: The recorder is very sensitive and unfortunately the noise reduction feature is useless. You will not be able to record single-coil guitars without a dedication NR (noise reduction) pedal. EQ and pan are tedious to use without a single dedicated knob. - Small display: Given the number of menus you have to go through, the tiny screen is torture. My 10-year-old iPod has a larger screen with more intuitive menu (and it's in color). - Built-in drums: The R24 (as opposed to the R16) is advertised as having a built-in drum machine. It does not have a built-in drum machine. What it has is a built-in set of electronic rhythm patterns and a USB stick with a bunch of samples. In order to use any of these to create actual drum tracks for actual songs, you must record one pattern at a time to independent tracks and then sequence them. One track per pattern. I cannot even imagine how much time, how many sleepless nights, how many pots of coffee, and how many tracks it would take to piece together an actual song with a realistic variety of drum patterns. The patterns also cannot have insert effects, dynamics, or EQ applied to them so-- while they sound marginal-- you cannot do anything to make them sound better. Overall, I'm unhappy with the R24, but no company is making what I *really* want. Ideally, I'd like an 8-24 track digital recorder with dedicated pan, three-band EQ with dedicated knobs (and at least a sweepable/parametric mid), a dedicated fader for each track, ability to run off battery power, SD or CF recording media (no CD or hard drive), and dynamics for each track (noise reduction, compressor, and limiter). I could live without effects or a built-in drum machine. Zoom, Fostex, Tascam, Yamaha, Alesis? Are you listening?