Yup, a Newbie Looking for User Friendly Recorder

[jeffs]

Hey all,
I know that this has been beaten to death before,but here's my
dilema.
I'm from the days of the Tascam porta 1 4 track cassete era,
and last year, I purchased the Zoom 1266.
Well, after many frustrating bouts with it,I put it back in my basement.
I feel like a total dumb ass for not being able to sort through all of the
menu items.Can somebody help me pick out a USER FRIENDLY recorder?
I'm a one man deal,and here's some personal specs I'm looking for-

Easy plug in and go when feeling the moment-
Usb Compatable for PC disk burning-
Phantom power-
A hard drive vs flash card?
Lot too big and bulky like my Zoom
Under 500.00

I have a PODXt for effects,so I'm not that interested in built in effects.
If anybody has a toddler, you know how inportant time is

Can someone hook an almost old guy?

You help is greatly appreciated!

Jeff

 

[Dogman]

Dear old guy,
I am 42, and last recorded on a cassette 4 track in the 80's, and then bought a digital 4 track. It uses flash memory, and works ok, but I would advise against this if you can get something with a hard drive. Just comes down to storage space. Mine will only accept 128 meg cards, which is ok, until you want to try many retakes. Then the card fills and you have to download it, which can break things up a bit. And with mine, it compresses things a bit, so sound quality is not always consistent. Can sound too processed. It also doesn't have phantom power, which at the moment I don't need, but when I get a better mic, I will.

Hope this helps a bit, and good luck, as someone with better knowledge can stear you in the right direction.
Ed

 

[Rokket]

Hey all,
I know that this has been beaten to death before,but here's my
dilema.
I'm from the days of the Tascam porta 1 4 track cassete era,
and last year, I purchased the Zoom 1266.
Well, after many frustrating bouts with it,I put it back in my basement.
I feel like a total dumb ass for not being able to sort through all of the
menu items.Can somebody help me pick out a USER FRIENDLY recorder?
I'm a one man deal,and here's some personal specs I'm looking for-

Easy plug in and go when feeling the moment-
Usb Compatable for PC disk burning-
Phantom power-
A hard drive vs flash card?
Lot too big and bulky like my Zoom
Under 500.00

I have a PODXt for effects,so I'm not that interested in built in effects.
If anybody has a toddler, you know how inportant time is

Can someone hook an almost old guy?

You help is greatly appreciated!

Jeff

Fostex Mr-8....


http://www.fostex.com/index.php?file=products/digital/mr8


$300.00. Records to compact flash card, but also has a usb out so you can transfer tracks to pc....

 

[A Reel Person]

Sorry to go against the grain, pal,...

but I'd recommend the topline Tascam 424mkIII Portastudio. Of course, it's cassette/4-track, but it's about as good as it gets in brand new analog equipment. It's still available as new/retail from Zzounds dot com for a mere $300 INCLUDING shipping, which brings the net cost to about $275,... which is a whopping good deal, and best value in new analog recording. The 424mkIII is very flexible in features, & sounds really good,... a significant cut above the "Porta One". The new analog recording equipment field is very, very small now, but that's another post. The 424mkIII's the best value. Tell'em Dave sent'ya.

If you are not adverse to used equipment, another topline unit is the Tascam 388. It's a fully loaded 8-track reel "Portastudio", but at nearly 90 lbs, Tascam wouldn't dare call it "Porta-". Find that by searching Ebay/Tascam.

More recommendations later!

 

[Beavis]

You can pick up a Tascam 788 on ebay for $350. I've had one for years and using the 'Operational Tutorial' you can be tracking in 15 minutes right out of the box. I liked it because you didn't have to know everything up front. Just use what you know and learn the rest at your own speed.

 

[A Reel Person]

Yes, good pick!

There seem to be deals on 788's, and they're more capable recorders than other 8-trackers in their class................... And, the 788 is a genuine Portastudio.

 

[Glenn Cimera]

Easy recorder...

Fostex VF80 w/CD burner...$499 @ Musicians Friend.

 

[jeffs]

Thanks guys for your experience and insight.
Lets refine this a tad more, if possible.
Flash cards take up space, so having a built in Hd seems to
be the way to go.
My next question is this- Say I lay down a song,like 6 or seven tracks, and want to burn it on a cd (cassetes are kinda old hat now).
Am I better off paying the extra $$ for a built in burner?
Why can't I use a usb port, and slighly refine and tighten things up on my
pc MSXP?
Reel, I notice that you really seem to hate the Tascam DP-01 vs
the older cassete analogs out there, and I appreciate your straight up
opinions.
Any other thoughts or opinions?

 

[A Reel Person]

Gosh, hate might be too strong of a word!

The DP-01 seems a bit stripped & inadequate for my needs, & for what I'd expect from a brand new high tech device.

Instead of being an upgrade from the likes of the 788, it's a downgrade, and the 788 looks pretty awesome, on balance.

So what, they put knobs on it! Otherwise, it's a simple "me-too" device that fits right along side all the other units of that class.

The input architecture is a throwback to the Porta 02, with no input side mixing whatsoever, and I don't know anyone who'd consider the Porta 02 a premium high end recorder.

The DP-01 is thoroughly inadequate when compared side by side to the likes of the 388, which is where I'm coming from.

But,... this thread is not a thread to bash the DP-01, or to showcase what I think of it.
----------------------------

If you did not like the Zoom 1266, you'd be hard pressed to be satisfied with any of the digital all-in-one'rs out there. They're all basicall the same, with few differences to distinguish them from each other.

For this reason, and high tech feature set & capability alone, I'll continue to recommend the 424mkIII. That's in brand-new multitrack recorders. Obviously, if you look to used or vintage recorders, the field is very much wide open.

Good luck!!

 

[CoolCat]

a digital/analog...upgrade?

jeffs.........under $500...but
Yamaha MD8,
is what i got, after having the exact same results with
the digital-do-everything-roland840 box.

input: save,suffer, and buy good sht....
go buy a nice TOFT ATC-2 ($800...damn she's pretty)
so you'll never have Analog withdrawls....
or go cheaper (like me...DMP3/RNC/ TC M300).
then plug this straight into an ADAT or HD24.
(you'l get to physically touch the buttons to ARM/DIS ARM tracks!)
take these outputs into a decent mixer....
and plop a Masterlink on the end. whoala...songwriter/arranging tool.

500bucks:
or give the PC a try....I looked at Powertracks and one of its screens looked clean. Haven't used it yet but will try it in a few days.
if it sucks, I'll probably start looking into a HD24 (~$1500)...
~$500 you can get a flyin' pc and load up some freebie software for try outs.
CD-R and ~mastering is included.....plug in some actives and put on some black spandex and sunglasses and your modern-deco-techno-gearhead...
with little blue LED's and sht....and probably 64 tracks at 24bit.

good luck.... do you have monitors???????

 

[DJL]

Can someone hook an almost old guy?

I hate to say this but... no, I don't think so. If you can't opperate your Zoom MRS-1266 I can't think of any other simple unit with your "personal specs". Are you sure you don't want learn how to work your Zoom MRS-1266... maybe your local music store can show you how it works?