Decent field recorder?

  • Thread starter Thread starter bewildered
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A decent field recorder that has proven reliable...well...the Nomad Jb3 is about 180 bucks..it does 16/44.1 WAV as well as mp3, has digi in(and analog) and has a 20gig hard drive. Its what a lot of field recorders(band archivists, etc). I owned two of them, loved them, only reason I sold them is because I wanted to enter the 24 bit realm. They are discontinued, but a TON of people are selling theirs on www.taperssection.com (because they got the microtrack...a little premature, i think..the microtrack appears to have a lot of bugs) ..and you can still find them...I guarantee it will serve you well. I can probably name 100 people that I know that have used them. so thats my vote. creative nomad jukebox 3. Then when you are ready to upgrade to 24 bit, get the microtrack(itll be debugged by then im sure) ..but the jb3 is stellar , in terms of performance. goes for 150 or so to 180. has bit perfect digi in, decent a/d stage, etc...a lot of tapers use them for a reason. WHen you save up more dough, grab the marantz pmd 671(it does 24 bit, unlike the 660 which i believe does only 16 ??) my buddy doug oade offers a whole slew of mods for both of those recorders(as well as mods for the edirol r-1) that upgrade the analog section, a great deal. Doug is a legend in the taping community, and an electronics genius. www.oade.com . I bet if you call him he can tell you exactly what you need. Small stereo mic???rode nt4??(or is it 5>??) OR studio projects lsd2?? If you need 24 bit now,, id get the edirol r-1 over the microtracker at this time(maybe later after bugs work out, then the MT)....plus the r-1 can be modded with different op-amps, etc....certainly the MT is going to be a blessing for a lot of people. It just has bugs at the moment, and thats to be expected. ( i have a sound devices 722 and it had bugs too, but LOVE this thing now!)
yeah though..call doug oade...www.oade.com the guy is a genius with all things portable recording..

TRB


aspirin said:
Thanks for your excellent review of the MicroTrack.

I have one too, and I'm very happy with it so far. I was also looking at the Marantz PMD660 and also the Edirol R1, and it all came down to price and features that I really need.

You mentioned the lack of mono recording, that iritates me a bit as well. I'm sure M-audio will fix that in the near future, they have a good track record fixing bugs.

I do have some minor problems recording through SPDIF though. One is that I can't monitor the incoming sound, the other one is that the clip indicators are always in the red regardless of how low input levels are set. I contacted M-audio about it, and they reassured me they are working on the fixes.

I wish they included an SPDIF output though (like Edirol did). I'd like to digitally transfer my recordings to Masterlink and similar gear, bypassing USB/PC entirely. Oh well, can't have it all I guess.

The bundled stereo T mic isn't bad at all, but I'm also looking for a small good quality stereo mic to complement my Microtrack. Any recommendations?

Overall, I do think it's a very useful and versatile little recorder, and the sound quality is quite impressive.

Take care.
Click to expand...
 
aspirin said:
Thanks for your excellent review of the MicroTrack.



The bundled stereo T mic isn't bad at all, but I'm also looking for a small good quality stereo mic to complement my Microtrack. Any recommendations?



Take care.
Click to expand...

http://www.minidisco.com/single-point-stereo-mics.html
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/cat--Stereo-Microphones--2845

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=11254&st=0 :D

EDIT: OH and my wife uses the SP-PASM-2 from sound professionals to archive her voice lessons. it is battery powered and is a preamp/pair of omnis in one. they really are decent. Comes in two sensitivity options. high and low.
(psst a little secret, dont tell anyone...if you want a discount there...when you order from www.soundprofessionals.com , put taperssection in the coupon area. Dont tell them you heard it from me though. SP customer service is awesome too.

:)

trb
 
BigRay said:
http://www.minidisco.com/single-point-stereo-mics.html
http://www.zzounds.com/a--2676837/cat--Stereo-Microphones--2845

http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=11254&st=0 :D

EDIT: OH and my wife uses the SP-PASM-2 from sound professionals to archive her voice lessons. it is battery powered and is a preamp/pair of omnis in one. they really are decent. Comes in two sensitivity options. high and low.
(psst a little secret, dont tell anyone...if you want a discount there...when you order from www.soundprofessionals.com , put taperssection in the coupon area. Dont tell them you heard it from me though. SP customer service is awesome too.

:)

trb
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will check them out.

-aspirin
 
aspirin said:
Thanks, I will check them out.

-aspirin
Click to expand...

No problem at all man.

Good luck.

If you call SP, ask for Chris.

Great guy. OH and the number at Oade Audio is 229-228-0093

TRB
 
A few comments on the prior posts.

People have reported getting the microtrack for as little as $299 at GC. But . . .

For any of the compact flash recorders, don't forget to account for at least another $100 for media. The tiny cards they come with just give you a few minutes of PCM audio.

The Marantz units are primarily made for conferences and court reporters and hence the mic pre's suck, and not just by recording snob standards.

The Nomad Jukebox is out of production and has no useable mic pre (it has a digital pre simulator added as an afterthough through firmware, horrendous).

For under $200, your only good choice is Hi-MD. For under $300, choose between Hi-MD, a lightly used DAT, or NJB3 (if you can find) with an external pre.
 
Does anyone know what radio stations and news stations use for audio recording? Do they still use DAT or have the upgraded to something like the Fostex FR2?

The FR2 is one nice looking piece of equipment because of the versitality of it and and the options for very high audio quality. I would consider buying this IF CF cards were a bit cheaper. The recording times at the highest quality wouldn't get you far on anything less than a gig or two:
# A 1GB CF card offers 86 minutes of stereo recording at 16bit/48kHz and 28 minutes at 24bit/96kHz.
# A 5GB hard disk offers 434 minutes of stereo recording at 16bit/48kHz and 144 minutes at 24bit/96kHz.

http://www.fostexdvd.net/fxdvd_route/docs/product/fr2/fr2_feature_list.htm

So unless you have a computer nearby or an endless pocket to buy CF cards, you probably couldn't even afford to use the highest quality settings for very long at all. Most people probably don't even need 24-bit/192kHz uncompressed recordings all the time.

Another thing, check out how many batteries it requires: <b>eight</b> with a Power Consumption of approx. 5W.

Right now the M-audio microtrack is looking good, even though it lacks XLR. I read a few reviews of the Marantz PMD660 and for some reason, everyone hates it. Anyone like it a lot and it works good for you? It is my understanding that the m-audio microtrack is not meeting the expectations people have of it but we shall give it time. Everyone would want the all-in-one gadget but no company would want to make this because then there would not be any further updates to it. Think about it, you buy it for $1500 and never have to replace it because its everything you need. Why would a company want that. heh.

Even though the microtrack doesn't have XLR you could do 1/4" to XLR but its not as secure as an XLR connection.

I've looked at the Marantz portable CD player but this is not battery powered, I think and its probably intended only for tabletop settings, not slung over your shoulders.

So, I myself am debating between the Marantz 670 and the M-Audio Microtrack. The size to me does not matter since I won't be putting this is my little bitty good for nothing purse.

jsut my rambling thoughts...
 
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