Recommendations for a 4-Track Digital Recorder

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sk8brdZepp
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Sk8brdZepp

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Any suggestion for a quality 4-Track Digital Recorder, i would mic my drums with two overhead mics so therefore I would preferably like a 2-track simultaneous recorder with a 4 track playback. I'm looking around a $200 price range. This is what I have found so far:

- Boss Micro BR Digital 4-Track Recorder
- Tascam PocketStudio 5
- Zoom PS-04

If any you have used the above recorders or know of any really good quality digital recorders for personal at home use. I would most likely use it for recording drums (i play keyboard also!) I would GREATLY APPRECIATE IT if anybody can help me out!
 
I have the Zoom PS-04 (as you can see by my earlier posts). The recorder is absolutely fantastic. I used to have an MRS-1088 - a big 12 track digital recorder from Zoom that I bought for $1000. That thing did so much, but I barely scraped the surface of it. So when I hit the PS-04, it actually seems quite similar to ME - A NOVICE - except for the obvious less tracks. But you still get 10 virtual tracks - I play guitar solos mainly, so that works great for me. The added bonus of the PS-04 - portability is great. 4 double aa's - dopn't last too long but good for recording live gig and listening to it on your drive home. I bought a $9.99 ac plug at kmart - works find when you have access to outlet. The built-in mic is pretty decent quality for recording live believe it or not. You can record two tracks simultaneously (I believe that is the max though). I'm not a drummer so I dont know much about mic'ing drums or recording them, but I can tell you, for $200 I don't think anything could beat this.

The drawback - the memory - smartmedia cards are getting expensive. Thus, my post, wondering if anyone has seen/used an xd to smartmedia card converter which would allow me to use 128 mb xd cards instead of smartmedia cards - a device like this one. Any feedback is appreciated. And good luck with your recording.
 
if you don't need the ability to record more than two tracks at once and portability is'nt an issue, you should check out reaper. a small mixer or mic preamp, reaper, and some free plugins would be much more powerful than a all-in-one box, imo. on the cheap side, you could be running for $100.
 
Thankyou so much rockinbilly for your response, i truly do appreciate it. Anybody else have any experience/knowledge of the other two i listed or other cheap but good quality 4 track recorders? BTW can somebody explain to me a little bit more about exactly what a "reaper" is?
 
Zoom H4: stereo/4track recorder

Hello,

Zoom H4 is stere / 4track recorder. Curent price in US seems like $299~310, or so. This item has been just released and I am looking for its review.
 
yeah, I'd say go with the $50 mixer and FREE PC Studio ware.

KRISTAL is frkn great, simple and went up to at least 16tracks on my old intel 900mghz 128mram, 40gHD....and its a blast.

I bought a EMU dock, but the old sound card worked just as good which was stock.

You can then get edit/mastering software for FREE...and plugs but the more you add the more your pc will need upgrading.

You don't need much of anything for basic, recording. Mixer and mics and FREE ware on an old pc.

Remember the stuff we call "junk" now was in MIX magazine 10years ago as the high dollar "PROFESSIONAL GRADE".
 
I've had bad luck with those type of recorders. In my mind, unless you wanna go analog, is to go computer based. Somehow its a little easier reading a monitor than a little LCD! Get a descent M-Audio soundcard and some good software and you'll have a better usability, and the other great thing is that the files are right there on the computer for you to burn to a cd, or upload on the internet, or whatever.
 
You could try Boss Micro BR. Using a mixer and then connecting to it via LINE IN it would be possible to record drums with good quality.
 
I had the ZOOM MRS-4 It did the job nicely. I recorded some bands songs on it. We used a external mixer for the drums so we could get four tracks at the same time. It worked well theres just no mixing flexibility afterwards so you have to get the drums sounding as good as possible.
 
Quite a number of the USB audio interfaces now are under $200 and give you two inputs (XLR or 1/4") and also act as a MIDI interface. If you already have a laptop that might be something to consider?
 
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