Portable digital recorders

Subject: Portable digital recorders
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 06:25 AM

I've been doing some shopping, looking for a reasonably priced small, portable digital recorder to record live performances of my group, and just as a work tool for myself to record songs. I'm wondering if any Catters have gone this route. There are several posibilities, ranging widely in price and features. The one that I'm most interested in is the Zoom H4 digital 4 track portable recorder. It sells for $300... about one third the cost of a similar Sony recorder. It has two built in condener microphones for true stereo recording and two additional input jack which can be used for additional microphones, or a guitar input. It records on to a 128 MB Secure Digital card, which comes with the unit. By upgrading to a 2GB SD memory card, you record up to 380 minutes of music.

I am somewhat trecnhonlogy challenged (although I've done multi-track recording on tape.) The reviews for the recorder from several customers emphasize ease of use. That's important, too.

Anyone have a small, portable digital recorder? If so, what is youre experience?

Oh yes, you can also record directly into your computer with the included software.

My birthday is coming up, and I may be in a position to buy this particular unit. Like most Catters, my budget IS limited, so this looks particularly interesting..

Jerry

Subject: RE: Portable digital recorders
From: GUEST,Keith
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 06:52 AM

You'll find this topic has been discussed only this week here, while discussing minidisk


thread.cfm?threadid=101996&messages=22

Subject: RE: Portable digital recorders
From: treewind
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 07:29 AM

I think the Zoom H2 is going to clean up, because it's so much cheaper than the competition.

The competition is:
* Zoom H4
* Edirol R-09 (I have one of these, excellent)
* M-Audio Microtrack

I think they all plug straight into your USB socket and look like an external disk drive, which means uploading music to your computer is a simple file copy operation.

Anahata

Subject: RE: Portable digital recorders
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 07:42 AM

Thanks, Anahata:

I haven't even come across the Zoom H2. The H4 is just $299.00, which is a great price. I did look at the Edirol R09... I'ts $100 more. I'll check out the features...

I'll also check out the minidisc recording thread. Thanks for the heads up, Keith. I haven't been able to stop in as regularly recently, so it slipped by me.

I appreciate all the imput.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Portable digital recorders
From: Midchuck
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 07:51 AM

I have the Edirol R-09. Sandy (Bigchuck) has the Zoom H4. The H4 is $100 cheaper, and they appear to be comparable enough that the H4 is probably the better deal. The Edirol is somewhat smaller if you want to record on the sneak, though.

Either one is a great improvement over what's come before. I'm also using the Edirol to convert tracks that I have on vinyl or tape to WAV files. I know you can do this directly from your stereo to your computer, but I have those things in different rooms, so it's handy not to have to rearrange everything.

Peter

Subject: RE: Portable digital recorders
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 09:58 AM

Hey, Peter:

Is Mudcat great or what? Where else could you get comparative shopping on two machines your considering, from the same household? I'll probably go with the Zoom 4H, in part because I have a larger Zoom recorder that I want to get back to figuring out, and it may be to my advantage to have two machines made by the same company.

Thanks so much.

And now, if I get the Zoom 4D and have a problem, I know an expert to ask advice from... :-)

Jerry

Subject: RE: Portable digital recorders
From: Anne Lister
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 10:49 AM

We too have a Zoom H4 and so far it's a treat to work with. We've recorded an interview (most unobtrusive) and some music. Controls are a little small and fiddly, but then so were the controls on the minidisk, and this has so much more potential. We did, though, immediately upgrade to a 2GB memory card, because the one that comes with the machine doesn't hold much.

For anyone reading this in the UK - we bought from the US via eBay and somehow or other the vendor managed to avoid us having to pay any duty on it. Which meant what we paid was a real bargain compared to UK prices (which generally seem to be the same as dollar prices and therefore twice as much).

Anne

Subject: RE: Portable digital recorders
From: erosconpollo
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 12:01 PM

There is also the Fostex MR8 which has been around a bit longer than these others. It is a tad larger but also uses memory cards and will run on batteries. Inexpensive, too -- I think it was going for around $250 last time I looked.

Subject: RE: Portable digital recorders
From: SouthernCelt
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 02:43 PM

I got a Zoom H4 about a month and a half ago. It was bought for quite a bit less than the list price by shopping with one of the electronics companies that partner with Amazon. It was bought for and by a historical society I'm secretary of primarily for recording meetings (to have an audio record to compare written minutes to later) and will be used for interviews, story-telling, and the like. Being an amateur singer of folk songs myself and since I have custody of the recorder as secretary, I just had to try recording some songs. Once you get the hang of the controls, it's about the easiest recording to digital files that I've ever done. I may have to buy me one to play with so I don't wear out the society's unit. ;-)

BTW, if you record in MP3 and want to download the files to a PC, you don't have to have the bundled editing software installed on the PC. You simply hook up the USB and use the H4 like a portable disk drive. Plus the H4 doesn't have to be powered up to use the USB connector; it'll run off the USB PC power. That saves battery life.

Although I've not had experience with any of the other portables, I think the H4 is a really good choice for recording when a full board recorder can't be used.

SC

Subject: RE: Portable digital recorders
From: GUEST,BIGCHUCK
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 03:08 PM

Jerry, I've had my H4 since Oct. and have had very good experiences with it. I've recorded a workshop at NOMAD and several gigs with the thing and had excellent results using the built in mics. The data is easy to get into my computer using the card reader (or a USB cable), and I have made some decent CDs. I find it very simple to use, although the included software (CubaseLE) is definitely not intuitive. Download Audacity which is free and more user friendly. The H2 is interesting, but has less capability than the H4. I work at a music store and have access to a lot of what's available and am definitely sold on the H4 at this point FWIW.

Sandy Morse

Subject: RE: Portable digital recorders
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 02 Jun 07 - 06:25 PM

Thanks so much, Sandy!

I looked at the Edirol R09 at Guitar Center this afternoon. (They don't carry Zoom and of course act as if it's a piece of dog turd on the heel of your shoe.) The Edirol looks good, although it doesn't have two additional imputs, like the H4 Zoom. I don't know important the imputs might be, but it at least gives me the option of miking my guitar and recording it on a separate track.

Ease of use is important to me, and from all the testimonies that I've read, the H4 Zoom fits the bill (so does the Edirol as far as I can see.)

And thanks for the tip for the software. I have Roxio 8 Easy Media Creator, which works beautifully (and I can understand it.) I think that I can imput the music from the Zoom directly into the Roxio software, and have all the resources for editing nad mixing it includes.

My birthday is around the corner and I expect to have a little extra to make the purchase.

I appreciate all the advice.

Good ole' Mudcat..

Jerry