Before I buy any new electronic product I always spend some time scanning the reviews on the Internet, paying special attention to the negative ones to find out what can go wrong. Having done that for the pocket digital recorders now available, I stand by my recommendation for Roland/Edirol. It turns out that the R-09 is no longer available new, and there are now two different models. The entry level model is labeled R-05, and it fairly closely approximates the R-09 in that it does only single (stereo) track recording, but with 96 kHz sampling, playback with tempo change and some automation added. The 16-hour battery life is outstanding. The much more expensive R-26 does 6 channels (i.e. 3 stereo inputs) at once, adds phantom power for external mics that use XLR cables, and throws in a software package to edit your recordings. It does not look like it does overdubbing, though :-( These Roland units don't seem to draw any substantive negative comments from users, while! all the models from Zoom or Tascam seem to have problems that would send me elsewhere. Even the very expensive Marantz PMD661 David mentions below failed badly for one user. Fostex apparently does not make a stand-alone recorder – their most portable system is much larger and still requires external mics. Regards, Daniel
---------- Original Message ---------- From: David van Ooijen <davidvanooi...@gmail.com> To: Lute List <lute@cs.dartmouth.edu> Subject: [LUTE] Re: Re Portable Recorders Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2012 22:00:03 +0200 For 'professional' recording - somebody mentioned 'cd-quality' recording - one needs to be able to set the gain manually. A lute is considered a soft instrument, but I think it's better to see it as an instrument with a very wide dynamic range: infinite nuances from ppp to mf. If your recording device has an automatic gain setting, the mics will turn themselves to maximum gain and pick up all the background hiss when you're playing ppp, but will automatically turn the gain down when you're approaching mf. Evening out all your dynamics in the process. So much for playing dynamically ... So it's important to be able to set the gain in order that your maximum volume will almost reach 'red' in the gain meters, and your ppp will still be audible without too much background hiss. I would strongly advice against buying any recording device that has no manually adjustable gain. I have two Marantz recorders, a PMD660 recorder with two XLR inputs and pre-amps which serves me well when combined with a 'proper' mic for home recordings (I never trusted the internal mics of the PMD660 to use them for anything more or less serious), and a smaller PMD620 (it's my wife's!) with two build-in mics that works miracles in concerts. Both have settings that allow for manually adjustable recording levels. For some time now Marantz has a new product combining these two devices, the PMD661 with two XLR inputs with preamps as well as the internal mics. I'm sure other brands will have similar products for similar prices. I believe in the US Fostex is the brand to go for. David On 17 June 2012 21:33, WALSH STUART <s.wa...@ntlworld.com> wrote: > > Andy, > > I have an 'old' Zoom H2. Is your workaround (below) intended to get a > recording with less noise? > I'd like to try it. I can see how to record at 24bit wav but I don't > understand the rest. > > The gain settings are L/M/H. I have it set to M (mid). I've put up the > volume control (on the left hand side) to 100. > > I use an old version of Audacity for editing on the computer. I usually just > bring in a wav file and 'normalise' it to 95%. You say 'in editing, boost > the levels'. Is that the same as 'normalise'? > > > (I may have completely misunderstood you!) > > > Stuart >> >> >> My workaround (H2) is to record at 24bit wav and set the hi/mid/lo >> sensitivity >> switch to avoid overload. (with the digital vol control set always to 100) >> Then when editing to 16bit CD format I boost the level. >> (it *is* possible to do that within the H2 afaik, but as I have pro >> editing on pc I haven't tried) >> >> >> >> andy >> ps >> Essential accessory for these portable recorders is one of those little >> camera tripods. >> ( I got mine from Poundland) >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> David van Ooijen wrote: >>> >>> Do the new Zooms have manual gain setting? Indispensable. >>> >>> David >> >> >> >> >> To get on or off this list see list information at >> http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > he H2n is actually connected to a good old potentiometer, > -- ******************************* David van Ooijen davidvanooi...@gmail.com www.davidvanooijen.nl ******************************* --
