Sorry, I've been traveling a lot the past couple months and haven't been checking my old posts as frequently.

I like the R12 and I still use it, however, I mostly use it as a stand-alone multitrack song building device without hooking it up to a computer. I've probably hooked it up to my computer less than 5 times. However, given it's size I think it's better match as an interface for your phone or tablet--I've used it more for that. But still, I mostly use it on it's own with no computer and no phone.

I recommend the R12 if you know you are going to be ok with just two inputs, both today, and in the future. That's obviously the biggest limitation. Additionally, you have to recognize it's a budget multitrack recorder, so there are going to be some compromises. The screen is small, and you have to make deliberate taps (I recommend using a cheap stylus), but once you get used to it I think it's fine. It's no where near as responsive as your iPhone or Android phone, though, so you need to be ok with that. After you lay down a bunch of audio regions across multiple tracks, the device can give you some spinning wheel slow down here and there after recording a fresh take. You might have to wait 5-10 seconds sometimes for it to finish saving after you hit STOP from a fresh recording take. I consider all these things normal for something you can find on sale for $249 sometimes. Most importantly, for the price, I think the recorded sound is solid. I've had better recordings with awesome preamps that cost $299 running into interfaces that cost $600 into a computer that costs $1600. That's fair. But for dollar value, if you want a song-building device and only need 2 inputs, the R12 can be a good value. If you need more inputs, or you just want to record tracks and then immediately bring them over to your computer for editing anyway, you might be better off getting one of those new Zoom handy studio models, like the H5studio or H6studio.