Handheld digital recorders ?

Started by bitewerksMTB, June 20, 2012, 03:44:43 AM

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Half Aborted

Zoom H2 has always served me well (though the first one I got stopped working quite early on, luckily I was able to get a replacement. It's a very basic piece of kit, but that's fine for my needs.

bitewerksMTB

#16
Just ordered the Tascam DR-07 MKII with adapter for $123 together. Good deal considering other places had the DR07 for $149 plus another $29 for the adapter.

First new piece of electronic gear I've bought in, maybe, 3+ years!

CANCELLED THE ORDER. AMAZON WAS TAKING TOO LONG TO SHIP.

martialgodmask

Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on June 20, 2012, 04:10:48 PM
Got mine today. Took it to work for a try-out, seems reasonable. Very easy to use, at least, and small enough to put in the pocket. It doesn't feel sturdy, it's true, but we'll see how long it'll last.

What's the recording quality like?

Andrew McIntosh

Very good. Picks up a lot from a wide area. The stereo panning is always worth-while. Good enough for micro-sounds - I got a nice few minutes of mineral water bubbling.
Shikata ga nai.

bitewerksMTB

Ordered a Tascam DR-05 from B&H Photo last night & already received a shipping confirmation. Looking forward to getting back to some new recording despite it being too hot to shove around metal in a shed...

B&H has the best price on this recorder if anyone is looking for one.

Nil By Mouth

Quote from: Andrew McIntosh on June 20, 2012, 04:17:00 AM
I'm expecting one of these in the mail soon (I hope) -

They have a four-track option but I decided on this because it was cheaper - can always edit at home.


I have it but I can't see the four-track option. Maybe is it related to another version?

bitewerksMTB

The 4-track is a different model.

Have my Tascam & pretty good so far. A couple test recordings sound good & clear; no sound from handling the recorder (borrowed a little skeletonstand-thing I can screw into the back of the Tascam). Definitely an improvement over the Sony MD I have been using for years (with the same 2 md's).


martialgodmask

So what are the thoughts now with a couple of months use of both the Tascam option (Bitewerks) and Zoom (Andrew)?

kettu

I have that little zoom in the picture. 80euros maybe and worth it. meaning if you cant afford a better one get the zoom. I havent got any experience on the fancier ones,exept dassum bought one and you could use the built in mics AND have line in xlr mics recording at the same time.thats a cool function for hardcore 3d ambience recing.

pros of the little zoom, good enough quality sound and if you brake it , its not the end of the world. I can only imagine the cussing when you drop a 400 euro machine into a cave or where ever.


martialgodmask

The Zoom H1 has been on my "interest" for a while, so that's good to know. How does it hold up to "live" recordings at volume?


As a slight deviation, as I don't know whether it warrants a separate thread, can anyone comment on this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-EM600-Machine-Modeling-Effects/dp/B00178LDW8/ref=sr_1_26?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1351002236&sr=1-26

Trying to find reviews or demos of this kind of gear used for noise/related rather than wanky guitar-based reviews feels a bit of an uphill battle, unless I'm looking in the wrong places.

kettu

when I used it to digitize tapes, or running a 4-track into it, those felt a little quiet but all the live recordings were plenty loud.

bitewerksMTB

My Tascam has been excellant. Very easy to use, doesn't eat up battery power in a heartbeat, & recording quality is excellant. Does not pick up much handling sounds, if, any at all. Recorded some machine sounds half a block away & sounds are good (at least, from listening with headphones). Bascially I have nothing negative to say about it.

pentd

so i just recently got my zoom H4n. i chose that from thomann's list cos compared to the other ones on the market this one came with a power source, adapter for mike stand, pop shield, and particularly in thomanns deal you could choose a bigger memorycard - and it was cheaper than with the normal 2gb?!?! so the tascam thing would have been cheaper, but no power adapter included.. or the other zoom, but no 4trak option.. in the end i thought "fuck dis crap" and just went for this one. after 13 years of minidisks, external mikes, power adapters, unreliable recordings (having it on rec, then play stop, md writes the table of contents, then -- ta daa -- "blank disk" aaarrrgghh wtf) i cant believe i didnt switch earlier.

still havent really gotten used to owning one. forgetting it at home, or forgetting i have it recording somewhere in the room. 

at 1st i was shocked cos i had good headphones on and walked around recording all kindsa test stuff... thru headphones i got lots of hiss and shit. i thought what a crapp. then i transfered them to computer, played back on genelecs -- almost fell on my ass. top quality mikes in such small capsules. no hiss. great separation. m/s option. looking through the manual it has too many options that i will probably never use. but who knows...

recorded recent noise gigs in helsinki at the merch table ca 6 or 7m away from amps at lowest input level. no clipping, nice separation, too bad some people were standing in front of it, moving around... high ends come and go... so not really the machine's fault, but yeah!!

so far only complaint is that with this 8gb card it takes 17-18 seconds to boot, so not a quick lightning starter. but quite a revelation, why did i wait so long. not the cheapest but for a reason!!

Zeno Marx

I tried to check if this was already linked, but I didn't find it.

Zoom H4n, Tascam DR-100 MkII & Olympus LS-100 Compact XLR Recorders Compared
http://www.photographybay.com/2012/03/17/zoom-h4n-tascam-dr-100-mkii-olympus-ls-100-compact-xlr-recorders-compared/
"the overindulgent machines were their children"
I only buy vinyl, d00ds.

metalpunk

I own Zoom H4 (the oldest model I think) for about 6 years and it's perfect for me.
A lot of my friends have other models of this brand, I think I saw all of them and every model is OK, but sounds a bit different.