Zoom comments

[Junior33]

I just purchased a Zoom mrs802B. (digital multitrack recorder) If you dont know, it contains effects processors and a drum machine as well. It is my first personally- owned stand-alone device of this kind. I'm starting a recording project. Can anyone tell me anything about Zoom? In comparison, how is the quality of Zoom products (i.e. effects and drum machines, etc.). Where does Zoom stand in the world of music perfomance/production? What are your experiences? Suggestions?

[bazzlad]

They do awful guitar pedals is all I know, and that I prefer Fostex stand alones.
But good luck with it, hope it goes well!

[billisa]

Originally Posted by Junior33

I just purchased a Zoom mrs802B. (digital multitrack recorder) If you dont know, it contains effects processors and a drum machine as well. It is my first personally- owned stand-alone device of this kind. I'm starting a recording project. Can anyone tell me anything about Zoom? In comparison, how is the quality of Zoom products (i.e. effects and drum machines, etc.). Where does Zoom stand in the world of music perfomance/production? What are your experiences? Suggestions?

I have a Zoom drum machine I'm very impressed with. Also, the reviews I've read on Zoom recorders have been very positive. Right now there's a very positive review of a 16 track unit in Recording Magazine. I have no idea regarding the build quality/durability etc. of Zoom recorders. Are you not sure about keeping it? Perhaps call a repair center and see what they think... They look inside these things all the time. Also, there may be a support forum out there. Perhaps a search on that would yiled some results.

[airdvl]

I did my first project with this and was really impressed with the sound.( see link below) I tracked 2 vocals, an acoustic guitar (gibson J-200), An electric guitar (Fender Tele 52 reissue, and used the drums and bass onboard. Also all effects, guitar sounds, and mastering were onboard. I didnt mix the drums high enuff in the mix but all in all it did everything I asked it too. The drums/bass were difficult at first to program but once I caught on it wasnt that bad. Drums are always the weak point I think. The vocals were thru an AKG C3000. Come to think of it the acoustic was also even tho I had a small diaphragm condenser available I tried the AKG first and it seemed ok. The onboard guitar sounds were varied and usable. I plan to eventually use my Mesa and mic it up but I was on vacation in a condo at the beach so I used what was available. Pretty amazing to be able to do that much at a kitchen table really. Nicely portable for creating on the spot. My main thrust with this recording was too learn the machine and not necessarily produce a great recording. I think Zoom makes good stuff. I wouldnt be hard on it but within reason it should hold up I think. More of what makes a recording sound great comes from the ability to use whatever you have to reflect what you are trying to say than the best equiptment in the world could ever add. Just use it and learn its abilities as well as your own and you`ll do some great stuff with it. Dont get caught up in the search for the perfect tools to the extent that you dont produce. Only once you truly know youve exhausted its abilities and outgrown it should you move on. (I keep telling myself this too!! )

~airdvl~

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp...=303123&T=4700

[johnnymegabyte]

How to you program the onboard drums and bass ?

Can you import midi files for this purpose ?

[grinder]

I own a Zoom 1266 and would never buy another Zoom product. It's not that it is a total POS, it's the company that sucks. As soon as the 1266 was discontinued, Zooms' customer service stopped answering questions about the 1266 and took the 1266 info off their web site. Look here for answers about Zoom recorders. http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/ZoomMRS/

[Danny B.]

I have a Zoom 1266 and when I first purchased it I was not a happy camper. The sound was muddy and distorted, and I thought I had waisted my money. I have owned alot of Zoom equipment and only one piece has failed me. As far as sound, learn to use an interface and you're sound will improve. I've never had any processor sound good out of the box. I have access to a good recording studio, who has a very good sound engineer on payroll. He had me bring my 1266 to him and we went over the machine. He also has a Fostex VF160, and he made my 1266 recordings sound as good as the Fostex. There are LOADS of secrets to recording. You need to work with your equipment, and use good quality monitors, cables, DI's and mics. Does my 1266 sound as good as his DAW Pro Tool mixes? Not even close. But it does sound a hell of alot better than it did when I started with it, and it will make good quality CD's fresh out of the box. Don't knock Zoom, they've came along way and just because it don't say Roland, Fostex, Tascam etc. on the box don't mean it can't produce good sound for you.


Danny B.

[elow]

im thinking of buying the zoom mrs 802...

it has eight mono tracks.is that the usual with most eight track machines?
and then the stereo mix down does that mean you can shift each track to left or right too?

the drum machine, can it take sample from recorded sounds on the hard disk?

and is there any real point in getting the one with the cd burner cause i have a good pc with a burner anyway?
thanks for the help
ste

[Junior33]

It has eight mono and four stereo. you can bounce mono tracks to stereo tracks. During the mixdown you can construct a customized stereo mix in which you can specify the pan location of each track including the stereo tracks.

[elow]

thanks junior,thats great....

and what about the usb connection anyone know how to get it?

thanks
ste

[JUSTIN MATHIAS]

I bought a zoom mrs802cd recorder used. It works perfectly for my demo work. However, when I played my first project back on my computer, windows media player detected the track data from the previous owners material instead of mine. I've looked through the owners manual and I can't seem to find any info on how to edit the track info I.E Album name, Track Titles, Artist, etc. Does anybody know how to delete the old information and edit the new information in its place. I deleted all of the old projects that the previous owner had left on the hard drive, but the track data seems to have remained. I am a professional songwriter and I send these demo's to many different people. I don't want the wrong track info on my demo's. Help?

[airdvl]

Justin
I havent uploaded to my computer from it yet but I plan on trying to find the usb card that allows yoy to do that because zoom has come out with a cheap peice of software that allows MRS zoom users to edit drims on the pc then download it back into the machine.

I also havent taken an album from the machine to cd tho I have taken one song onto cd and it was fine. Ive heard that data always may be recoverable from a hard disk even after you erase it but It shouldnt be doing what you describe as long as youve erased the access files or "projects" as zoom calls them, from your machine. Afraid I`m no help there. Maybe a good time to test zoom support techs.

An earlier question about drum and bass tracks asked if you can sample the existing sounds that are on the machine and the answer id yes. Measure by measure. If you just like one measure of the drum sample you can ask it to take the first, second, or whatever measure it happens to be and just use that much of it. Then its assigned a number and anytime you want to use it again in that project or another project you just assign it where you want it. Same holds true for the bass samples.

Come on zoom users! Lets keep a zoom thread going, if we can, and help each other out. If we get a thread long enuff thats productive and not just filler maybe we`ll get our own forum!

~airdvl~

[glimmer_doll]

IMO zoom is like bottom of the barrel stuff...

zoom is to pro audio as kraft singles is to real actual cheese

or

zoom is to pro audio as shopping cart is to fine automobile

that's just from my own experience with their products...i don't even bother with them anymore

[airdvl]

So what Zoom Multitrack machine did you use Glimmer-doll?

I think all in one machines can possibly mine a lot of raw talent out of the woodwork. I think some of the most talented people in music will never cross into "pro-audio" because of the ethics or interests dont coincide with popular music or ideas. Or even have the monetary access that it might take. The music industry itself is a virtual snakepit (I know from experience) and many gifted musicians wont go near it. I`ve heard a lot of stuff recorded recently by home studios and up and the biggest problem I hear is not production but content. Albeit production is a problem too.

Honestly. What qualifies Zoom, technically, to be the bottom of the barrell? LOL!!

~airdvl~

[JUSTIN MATHIAS]

I am a professional songwriter and I recently began using the zoom mrs802cd in my home demo studio. It is very easy to use and it is perfect for making demo's. It has enough capabilities to make very professional sounding cuts without becoming complicated. It is affordable, It doesn't take up much space, and I for one am very satisfied with it. If you'd like to hear a project I made with the zoom, Check it out on Acidplanet.com, Artist name Justin Mathias, Song "THE HOLE IN THE WALL" the search at acid is case sensitive.

[Junior33]

Really? tell me more about this zoom software. and let me know about it if you can find the USB card. Yes I agree we need to keep a good thread going. Zoom is not by any means beneath professional standards. I like the comment someone made about the music industry being a huge snake pit. I couldnt have put it better. The more I use my Zoom, the better the results are, and its not the machine thats improving. I find that it has all the quality and range that I need to make my songs sound great.
~lets get a zoom forum in here!

[junplugged]

Originally Posted by JUSTIN MATHIAS

I bought a zoom mrs802cd recorder used. It works perfectly for my demo work. However, when I played my first project back on my computer, windows media player detected the track data from the previous owners material instead of mine. I've looked through the owners manual and I can't seem to find any info on how to edit the track info I.E Album name, Track Titles, Artist, etc. Does anybody know how to delete the old information and edit the new information in its place. I deleted all of the old projects that the previous owner had left on the hard drive, but the track data seems to have remained. I am a professional songwriter and I send these demo's to many different people. I don't want the wrong track info on my demo's. Help?

Is the file an mp3? If so, you can edit the file info details. If it's another format, then I don't know how to do it.

[junplugged]

I've been playing with the Zoom ps04, it's pretty amazing for the price and especially the size. I am on the road a lot and have some layovers and I brought my junkiest electric guitar with me and the time flew for a couple of hours jamming some blues and learning how to work it.

Then I set up a single condensor mic to preamp to the ps04 and it sounded lo-fi, like a cheap old drum machine, but I like it. Not for producing anything really, but a heck of a lot of fun and great for writing.

Then I used the internal mic and an effect preset for vocals and sang into it and it sounds pretty darn good for that. Not lo-fi like the drum track.

For $40 I got a bigger memory card and that helps a lot. I have some rechargeable AA cells and bring an extra set w/ me.

It seems very innovative and it's the first Zoom thing I ever got. I would consider them for other stuff. BTW, no noise, and loads of effects, a drum machine, bass machine, it's packed w/ stuff.

I did a 12 bar blues thing and picked my drum patterns, kept the bass patterns they had w/ them, then chaned the chords for the 3 chords, then copied the 12 bars 3 times, and the changes I made went with it, then jammed over it. I wish I had this thing many years ago. I'm not in any need of it now though, it would have helped in earlier development, but is still a blast out on the road.

I might post some track samples some day soon, when I figure out how to transfer to pc. I have a card reader, but not sure what the format is, maybe I'll just mix down to my MR8.

You MRS 8 users, look over in the Fostex area for MR8, b/c it looks like it's a similar unit and may have some info over there that you might find useful. One thing that looks the same is the track layout of 4 mono and 2 stereo tracks. But Zoom is nicer b/c it has virtuals and a drum machine. Does it have bass too?

I'm figuring it would since the ps04 does.

Those are my Zoom comments, I'd like to check out the 16 track one of these days....

[EdWonbass]

First let me say hi. This is my first post on this forum. I have been lurking for a bit and thought I would chime in. I have been using a MRS 1044 non CD version for about 3 years now. I have never had a problem with it. I can get some pretty good recordings on this thing. Of course, my last recorder was a Yamaha casette 4 track so you can imagine how much of an upgrade this was. For what I'm doing now this unit is working great for me. I will probably some day get into computer based recording but for now I like using a stand alone with all the effects built in. I will soon experiment with recording real drums into this thing. So far it's just been me, my guitars, my basses, my voice, and the internal drum machine.

[airdvl]

Sounds good Ed! There are many of us just getting started and these all in on wonders are just the ticket to do acoustic recordings, get yer feet wet with drum /bass programming, effects, etc. etc. While a lot of us have bee musicians for years we have just never had the opportunity to record much before. Much less be the sound engineer! Post a link so we can here some of your stuff! Dont be shy. We all suck to some degree...lol.

~airdvl~

http://www.acidplanet.com/artist.asp...=303123&T=4700

[dinofond]

Well they do have several HDD recorders out on the market, a forum would be sweet.

Viva la Zoom Forum!

[honedawg]

I have the Zoom 1266 and am very pleased with it. I initially purchased it because of my limited budget and it's numerous features. The thing I have found is that a lot of people expect to just plug in, hit record, and have a CD that's comparable with a commercially produced one. This WON'T happen but you can get some great results. The main thing is to devote the time to learning how use the ZOOM (or any other DAW) just like you learned to play your instrument. I don't think anyone was playing 'Eruption' the day after they got their first guitar. YOu can check out some of my first projects at:honedawg
The thing I find lacking in the ZOOM is that they don't offer a tutorial video like some of the others (Boss, Yamaha) have. This would greatly improve the learning curve. I spent many an all-nighter when I first got mine trying to figure things out.

[zim]

hey y'all...

well, here's my story:

i started out with a yamaha 4-track, too (MT3x, analog tape) and 'moved up' to digital with a zoom MRS-4 (4 track w/virtuals, efx tho not much, bouncing etc.) & a zoom MRT-3 drum machine... while at the same time i purchased a Korg D8 (digital, 8 tracks...)--i'm an ebay whore, i admit it. anyways, i liked the zoom way better--it wasn't as deep, and i find it best in the studio to work as easily as possible--bottom line, the korg sucked. so i got rid of it on ebay (though i marketed it well and made a killing off of it, heh).

with the zoom machine, although only four tracks and the fact that it only records at 33khz, it's not a bad deal. when i end up mastering it through the p.c. with the software mentioned, i just convert into 41 or 44khz or whatever .mp3's read at... along with the drum machine, it works very well for someone (like me) who was just jumping into the digital realm. you can bounce, and end up with a clean sound; although not professional in my opinion. some of my music is here:

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/9/zimmusic.htm

i was really happy with it when i got it, and i guess i still am. the unit uses compact flash instead of a hard drive, but it's portable and easy to function--backlites even (the korg didn't even have this)! all in all, it's my favorite multitracker i've had, but i've got an analog yamaha MT8x coming next!! so we'll see if there's a huge difference in the sound, or not...

i've also looked for a good deal on ebay for a zoom PS-02. this is the model made before the PS-04--it's 3 tracks to record on, along with a track for bass (programmable) and a track for drums (programmable as well)--5 tracks in all, with bouncing, efx, etc. all this in a walkman-size unit.

i've also used the zoom efx products--the 505, which i'm learning is really not that great. the distortions are so digital that i'm afraid to lay a track down using it anymore. BUT, i also have an old zoom 2100--more efx, which are actually better than the later-made 505, but the big thing on this is the sampler/looper--up to 32 seconds! plus, great delays--up to 10 seconds, lasting forever... it's a great little unit and i suggest to anyone looking to get into the looping field, and can't afford a boss or boomerang, find one cheap on ebay and you'll love it.

that's my tirade. i'm not really happy all the way around with zoom, but for my wallet size, it's shown me more than any other company. i know their tech support is known to suck, but they've been very innovative in their products, albeit cheaply done most of the time.

it's good to see this thread--the pros out here probably don't even lurk around in here...

ZIM

[Gabriel_0]

Just picked up the Zoom MRS 1608CD and so far having a blast with it. I also would like to see a forum dedicated specifically to Zoom. So much to learn...so lil time ...hehe

Gabriel

[EdWonbass]

Originally Posted by Gabriel_0

Just picked up the Zoom MRS 1608CD and so far having a blast with it. I also would like to see a forum dedicated specifically to Zoom. So much to learn...so lil time ...hehe

Gabriel

Is that the machine with the 8 XLR/ 1/4inch inputs?
If so, I want that machine.
I love my MRS 1044 but would like to have more mic inputs and the ability to record 8 tracks at one time.

I imagine it's as easy to use as the 1044 but I will say that it took me some effort to understand it.
I found the best way to learn how to use it is to record something you allready know instead of writing a song because you will quickly lose your creativity trying to figure it out. That's just my experience. I have A.D.D. so trying to concentrate on anything complicated can be a chore.