¿Which digital portable recorder do you prefer?

[Lucky Epstein]

Hello everybody! I'm a new newbie here

I like analogue recorders but now I'm thinking on buying a better portable digital recorder, so I thought it could be a good idea to ask in this professional forum


This is my "list" (you can add more models if you want!)

"Cheap" models:

- Zoom H2 - records 44.1/48/96 Khz @ 16/24 bits - T

- Zoom H4 - "" "" ""


Not so cheap models:

- TASCAM DR-1 can't record at 96Khz, but...it's a TASCAM recorder however!

- EDIROL R-09 can't record at 96Khz, only 16/24 at 44.1/48Khz but seems to be a good machine.

- MARANTZ PMD 620 can't record at 96Khz but... it's a Marantz!

Expensive models:

- SONY PCM-D50 this is a high level portable recorder, expensive. Records at 96/24 and it looks like a professional handy reporter professional machine.

- SONY PCM-D1 Very expensive, luxurious and retro (it has analogue vumeters).

-------------------

In this moment I have a portable digital recorder, a Sony ICD-SX67 which records in a Sony propietary format (LPEC) but is a very good portable machine in my opinion, and has a low power consumption (two AAA alkaline or rechargeable batteries)


So my first question in this important Forum is: ¿Which of these machines do you prefer, and why? You can talk about other machines not listed here if you want

Thanks in advance

 

[Hakea]

Hi,

I have a Zoom H4, and it does exactly what I need it to. I can't comment on how it compares with the others on your list because I've not used them.

No doubt the decision would rest on what you actually want to do with it, and which aspects are more or less important to you. The Zoom H4 won out for me for the following reasons:


a) The quality of the recording is more than good enough for my purposes (home hobby recording).

b) It was very good value for money at the price I paid.

c) It's very versatile. It does about four jobs that I could have separate gear for - i.e. It's fine as a stand-alone recorder that will do a good job when I want to take time and trouble over a recording, but it's also good for those times when I simply want to press a button and get something 'quick-n-dirty'. It's also handy as a card reader for transferring data to the computer. However, I currently probably use it most often as an audio interface to connect my own microphones and guitars to the computer for recording into Cubase, GB or whatever.

d) It was actually available locally, so I was able to discuss it directly with people who had hands on experience with the product.

It's not for everybody - the batteries don't last for ever (I mostly use it plugged in), the screen is fairly small and the menus and buttons need to learned) but that hasn't been difficult. It's easily portable, and will slip into a pocket, but it's still not tiny. In other words it's not likely to live permanently in my trouser pocket (I don't wear coats) but it's still small enough to be carried there if I need to travel with it.

Zoom are also about to release a new version - the H4n, which has a bigger screen, and various other changes. So that might be worth checking via Google too (there's a few pre-release reviews around). I think that you'll be paying more, but getting some 'improvements'. I can't give you any details though. Good luck choosing.

Cheers,

Chris

 

[The Green Hornet]

Yo Epps:


Yamaha AW1600. Great sound. The price is reasonable. There is a Yamaha 101 recording program to read.

The 1600 has a reasonable amount of "reading" to get you recording very good CDs. Also, the "other" forum for the 1600 is totally made to assist folks who need help.

One feature of the 1600 will let you burn a "full" list of songs on a CD and get it done in about 22 minutes or so. And, the unit will fill 100 complete songs. After that, you need to back-up the songs or delete. I did about 93 full songs in about 3 weeks or so. I'm busy.

The AW1600 can do "all sorts" of programs and features; one just takes one part of some features and learns or omits certain features that are not necessary.

At any rate, the AW1600 is high quality and lightweight.

Second choice if I wanted a unit for back up, I'd used the BR1600--funny, same number-name on the Boss unit. {Roland}

Cheers Epps,

Green Hornet

 

[Lucky Epstein]

Hello!

Thank you very much Hackea and The Green Hornet for your friendly words! Thanks also for sharing your personal experience in this Forum!.

Hackea, I know that the Zoom H4 it's a very good machine, by the moment and thanks to your message, it's my favourite in the list!. Thanks for the information about the incoming Zoom H4 new model, The H4 is a very successful recorder worldwide so I'm sure that Zoom will introduce very good improvements in their new model

Thanks to The Great Hornet for showing me these two recorders, Yamaha and Boss. I did'nt know them because I was only looking at stereo portable recorders, but I will add this models to my list off course!

I think that these multitrack recorders could be perfect to record live performances professionaly.

Cheers!

 

[Liason21]

my first digital recorder was a roland 1680 (circa 1998), recorded countless hours of music...it had an external cd burner that connected via scsi! burning one four minute song to a cd-r took about 2 hours! great machine though, still have it!
i've moved on since then but a friend of mine owns a Boss BR-1200 that he raves about. built in effects etc...i think around $800 brand new. good luck!

 

[clevodrummer]

korg D-888

I own a Korg D-888 which I purchased new from GC for $599.00.

It is a very good deck. the sound quality is exceptional... the preamp trim knobs are tricky and after getting used to the gear it wont be a problem. If you dont have any front end going into it you really have to crank the trims and its tricky to get a good sig w/o clipping.

unfortunately it has zero send/return for effects except for the internal effects which is just reverb choices but they are decent.

It comes with Cubase software, but I mix down to a masterlink and dont bother with it. The knob descriptions are tough to see as its all light white paint against a grey frame.

But what I love is the direct outs on all eight channels for mixdown into my mixer. Really a great feature not on any other decks I know of.

All in all its a good solid deck and for the price definetly worth checking out especially re the zoom decks.

 

[Rokket]

Fostex MR-8.

No longer built, but you can still buy them. Very easy to use.


Fostex MR-16HD. For the money, it's really easy to use, but like all Fostex multitrackers, the pre amps are pretty bad. You will need a good pre amp or a mixer to go between your mics/DI boxes in order to get a good sound level.

 

[jdier]

I have an Zoom H2. I prefer it only because it is the only one I have used.

If you hit www.youtube.com/jimdier and check out any of the bottle rockets videos you will be able to hear raw audio (married with someone elses video.)

On etree you can also hear a better version of that an also a show by centro-matic from Schubas in Chicago.

It does 6 hours of 44.1/24 wav and I have never had so much as a glitch.