Zoom MRS-4

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I'm looking for a piece of equipment which I can do the following with:

Copy an instrumental mix that I made at home on my pc to this unit, go to let's say the band's practice room, record some vocal tracks to the unit while playbacking the instrumental track, do some bit by bit recording and basical editing (to get a decent vocal track), get back home and copy those tracks to the pc to mix it with the instrumental tracks.

now my question: would the zoom mrs-4 be the right choice - it's just the first unit I saw ;).
or are there others? maybe cheaper (zoom is about 400 bucks here)? I'd also prefer more tracks instead of a bunch of effects that I won't need anyway.

i also thought about a "real" 4-track... but the digital way of punch-in and stuff like that really suits me ;).
 
Why not just bring the computer? Spend the cash on a better soundcard or mic.
 
why not the computer? maybe because

- the monitor weighs 40 pounds
- there are a dozen cables
- the systems gets f*cked up when there's a scanner (printer...) installed but not connected
- the transport isn't as easy as it is with a unit that fits in a rucksack
- there's not too much space left in our practice room
- i want to do this kind of thing regularly maybe once a week...

maybe I seem lazy, on the other hand I don't want to know what my computer (and even myself) looks like after 2 months which would mean 16 transports and 16 installations... WORN?

why do people buy laptops? because a normal pc is just everything but mobile, really.
 
I thought I read that the mrs-4 only goes up to 32Khz sample rate. If you want to record vocals that you hope to keep, you might find that sample rate limiting.

As to why not use a "real" 4 track: because getting the analog signal onto the computer isn't the easiest thing to do. It's much easier to transfer the tracks from a digital system.
 
i've got the zoom mrs-4 and so far it's been really easy to use but MAKE sure you get a bigger smart media card if you're gonna be recording a lot of tracks. it only comes with a 32 mb card and i filled that up with one 4.5 minute song that used 4 tracks. you want a 128 mb card if you're gonna be recording a band on separate tracks, bona fortuna, flo
 
thanks for your input, guys...

yeah 32 kHz sample rate sounds a bit weak... gonna take some vocals thru the soundcard with this setting to see how it sounds.

as for the flash-card - i have a 64mb for my digi-cam, that should do the job.

a reason not to buy it that still remains is the price: here in switzerland it's still about 400 bucks which is - at least I guess - about twice as much as it should be.

... and if I bought it it'd be 100$ a month later. I know it ;) - it's always like that!
 
oh yeah, I forgot...

fanito, could you explain that "8 virtual tracks per track". i really don't get it.
 
You need a smartmedia card, not a compact flash card.

And you really need 128mb card.

As for 8 virtual tracks, the Zoom is a 4 track recorder, but each track has 8 virtual tracks which means you can record up to 8 separate takes on one track, then choose the best take for your final mix. You can also use a virtual track to bounce up to 4 tracks onto one track.

Example 1: You record a 4 track song
Track 1 Take 1 Acoustic Guitar
Track 2 Take 1 Electric Guitar
Track 3 Take 1 Keyboards
Track 4 Take 1 Vocal

On each track you can record alternate takes (Tracks 1-4 Takes 1-8) and choose the Take from each track you like best. You can record alternate takes until you run out of memory. That's why you want the 128 mb card.

Example 2: You record a 4 track song as in example 1
You can bounce the 4 tracks onto, say, Track 4 Take 8.
Then you can record 4 more tracks on take 2 of each track, and bounce those four tracks to, say, track 3 take 8. Then you can bounce takes 8 of tracks 3 and 4 onto take 8 of track 1, and that is your finished song. Again, that is why you need a 128 mb card.

Hope that helps.
 
thanks for the explanation

hm... another card, 128mb... gets expensive. ok - it can do a lot but it's a lot I don't need it to do.

what do you guys think of getting a used laptop with a decent soundcard to do the job? I think even a 200 mhz cpu with something like 64mb ram would be enough to record a mono-track while playbacking a pre-mixed stereo-track.

and the recording quality should be better than the zoom's if the laptop has something similar to a soundblaster live.

always remember: I don't need mutt lang stuff, just some recordings that sound OK.
 
six said:
thanks for the explanation

hm... another card, 128mb... gets expensive. ok - it can do a lot but it's a lot I don't need it to do.

what do you guys think of getting a used laptop with a decent soundcard to do the job? I think even a 200 mhz cpu with something like 64mb ram would be enough to record a mono-track while playbacking a pre-mixed stereo-track.

and the recording quality should be better than the zoom's if the laptop has something similar to a soundblaster live.

always remember: I don't need mutt lang stuff, just some recordings that sound OK.
Click to expand...

A laptop like that could do it (I was able to do 4- and 6-track projects on a 133Mhz PC), but the soundcards built into laptops are generally pretty poor quality and may well yield a worse recording than the Zoom unit.

A slightly newer laptop (at least 300mhz pII--I have one of these so I know it can do it) with a USB sound interface (like the two-in two-out cable based USB unit by Edirol) and something like a little Behringer mixer or similar could give you a pretty flexible set up, but there are some possible drawbacks:

1. Cost may end up being worse than the Zoom and a big SmartMedia Card. That Zoom is awfully expensive over there.

2. You still have to buy some multitracking software for the laptop--additional cost.

3. While the LCDs don't cause nearly as much interference as a regular PC monitor does, laptops often have small, persistently noisy fans that will end up being captured on your recordings.

4. The learning curve for sorting out how to set up and use all this gear is a lot worse than it is for something like the Zoom unit. The other side is that this setup can probably do much more, especially with the addition of a USB CD Burner to the laptop. Editing is typically a lot easier on a PC, too.

OB
 
Here's what you need.

DAW
I'm the seller the reserve is $400. This system has done me right.
I recorded the song "in transit" with it here.
 
no, that's definitely not what I need...

"mobility" is the keyword.

furthermore I don't want anything shipped from the states. do you have a clue how much this costs???
 
I'm still searching...

It doesn't have to be that zoom thing... any other suggestions?
 
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