Zoom R16.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Blue Mountains Radio Play
  • Start date Start date
B

Blue Mountains Radio Play

New member
I have a Zoom R16 on which I record Radio Plays with 6 mikes and 2 sound effect channels.
I am getting what I can only describe as "jumps"in the track, almost sounding like a needle skipping a track on a record. Usually only in the first few minutes of a recording, which usually last for 30 minutes or so.
I have replaced the SD card, didn't fix it.
I make sure that I set the zero point back to beginning before recording, didn't fix it.
The fault is in the original recording, not being created in a download.
Any suggestions as the the cause?

Phil Hammon
Blue Mountains Radio Players
Katoomba NSW
Australia
 
Can you post a short sample of the skip? Does it do it on all channels at once, or only on certain channels? Are you recording all channels at once, or doing things at different times.

I've got an R24 and I've done 6 hour straight recordings of 8 channels without having anything happen like that.
 
I tried to attach a sample of the skip, here is try No. 2. I am recording on all 8 channels at once. It may be doing it on all channels simultaneously, but being a radio play, characters are not usually talking over one another, and the cross talk is not loud enough to be able to see if that is the case.
 

Attachments

Last edited:
Here is a better sample of the skipping, and the script so that you can see what is happening. (Sorry its upside down).
 

Attachments

  • Skipping sample.mp3
    Skipping sample.mp3
    1.3 MB
  • Skipping script.webp
    Skipping script.webp
    1.8 MB · Views: 205
Wow, thats the first time I've ever heard anything like that from a Zoom recorder. If it was an audio interface then I would say that it was a buffer overrun. The only thing that comes from the top of my head is what is the speed of your SD card? It sounds as if the card can't take the audio fast enough.

If you have older Class 4 cards, it may not be able to write data fast enough. I use Sandisk Class 10 / UHD1 cards in my Zoom. This is what I got for my last batch of 10 cards. They work for both my R24 and my Sanyo HD camera doing 1920x1080 at 60FPS.
sandisk.webp
 
The card I'm using is Verbatium UHS-1 SDXC 64GB 600X Speed.
 
What bit rate and file type are you using?
Also, what are you using to listen to and save the recording?
 
It is set on 24 bit length. the 44.1 kHz cannot be changed. I can listen with headphones from the Zoom, skipping is there, download to Mixpad then to Wavepad. Skip is there too. Might it help to change bit length to 16?
 
I haven't used any 64GB cards in my system. I wonder if that's the problem. I don't know the exact spec differences between SDXC and SDHC, but there may be a difference in how the data is written. Its something to look at. Try an SDHC card. 16GB would be plenty. 4 hours at 24bit / 8 channels.

It may be that the Zoom operating system isn't designed to handle 64GB. I just looked on Zoom's website and I see this:

The R16 records directly to SD cards, with support for both standard SD and SDHC cards up to 32 gigabytes, for a maximum of 100 track hours. Using SD media for recording ensures increased reliability and means that you never have to be concerned about hard drive failure.
 
There is no sense whatsoever troubleshooting any further unless the card being used is of the correct specifications that the manufacturer recommends or requires.

R16 manual page 12:

• The R16 can use 16 MB – 2 GB SD cards and 4–32 GB SDHC cards

Specifications, Page 95:

Recording media SD card (16MB-2GB), SDHC card (4-32GB)

I'm not saying "this is the problem". But I would eliminate this as a possibility.
 
Last edited:
OK. I have replaced the card with a 32Gb SDHC one and changed the sample rate to 16bit. I then recorded a mechanical clock ticking for 30 minutes. I could not hear any drop outs in the first 8 minutes, so it looks like we might have found it! Next recording session last Sunday of March, so here's hoping. You can hear some of or work on Soundcloud.com. Search for BM RadioPlayers.
 
Blue Mountains Radio Play said:
OK. I have replaced the card with a 32Gb SDHC one and changed the sample rate to 16bit. I then recorded a mechanical clock ticking for 30 minutes. I could not hear any drop outs in the first 8 minutes, so it looks like we might have found it! Next recording session last Sunday of March, so here's hoping. You can hear some of or work on Soundcloud.com. Search for BM RadioPlayers.
Click to expand...
Great to hear!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top