Re: [LAU] Portable Digital Recorders

Howdy Kevin,

You should search archive.org's live music archive (either directly or by
googling for terms + site:archive.org) for the various recorder models you
are considering, to get a sense of the quality of their work when recording
in the field. You'll get a nice selection of mic recordings as well as
direct board mixes.

I use a Zoom H4 to record my band's live shows before chopping them up and
doing some EQ in Audacity, posting to archive.org. We're probably not the
best use comparison for you, as we usually end up jamming the device into a
nook or in the ceiling of the club (acoustic crap-shoot), or handing it to a
friend to hold (shaky recording and lots of "hey how are you?" and "another
heineken please" comments over the music :) ).

Good luck,
Luke

-----
Luke Peterson

On Mon, Feb 1, 2010 at 8:38 AM, Frank Barknecht <fbar@email-addr-hidden> wrote:

> Hallo Kevin,
>
> as I have just bought myself a mobile recorder, maybe some of my research
> is of use to you as well. This is a very good introduction for potential
> buyers of mobile recorders:
>
> http://www.theatreofnoise.com/2009/11/summary-of-portable-digital-audio.html
>
> http://www.theatreofnoise.com/2009/11/which-portable-digital-audio-recorder.html
>
> It lists the popular devices like this (ASCII on)
>
> POCKET DIMENSIONS VOL MASS PRICE XLR MIC EIN
> ------------------- -------------- ---- ---- ----- --- --- ---
> Sony MZ-RH1 85 x 84 x 15 107 106 $ 350 - - 124
> Olympus LS-10 132 x 48 x 22 139 165 $ 300 - + 122
> Olympus LS-11 132 x 48 x 22 139 165 $ 400 - + 122
> Sony PCM-M10 114 x 64 x 22 161 187 $ 300 - + 122
> Marantz PMD620 102 x 62 x 25 164 170 $ 400 - - 112
> M-Audio MicroTrack II 109 x 63 x 28 174 192 $ 200 - - 106
> Korg MR-1 120 x 64 x 24 184 200 $ 500 - - 117
> Edirol R-09HR 113 x 62 x 27 186 166 $ 300 - + 118
>
> HAND DIMENSIONS VOL MASS PRICE XLR MIC EIN
> ------------------- -------------- ---- ---- ----- --- --- ---
> Tascam DR-07 151 x 81 x 35 212 130 $ 170 - + 113
> Samson Zoom H2 109 x 64 x 33 230 172 $ 190 - + 99
> Tascam DR-1 135 x 70 x 27 256 208 $ 250 - + 115
> Sony PCM-D50 154 x 72 x 33 365 366 $ 450 - + 126
> Samson Zoom H4 153 x 70 x 35 375 190 $ 300 + + 114
> Samson Zoom H4n 156 x 70 x 35 382 280 $ 300 + + ?
> Tascam DR-100 151 x 81 x 35 428 290 $ 380 + + 113
>
> SHOULDER DIMENSIONS VOL MASS PRICE XLR MIC EIN
> ------------------- -------------- ---- ---- ----- --- --- ---
> Marantz PMD661 165 x 93 x 36 552 410 $ 600 + + 125
> Marantz PMD660 184 x 113 x 47 977 700 $ 550 + + 120
> Sound Devices 702 209 x 125 x 45 1176 1000 $1900 + - 130
> Fostex FR-2LE 206 x 132 x 57 1550 907 $ 600 + - 129
> Marantz PMD671 264 x 185 x 55 2686 1300 $1000 + - 125
> Tascam HD-P2 260 x 200 x 63 3276 900 $ 700 + - 127
>
> Another good comparision is at wingfieldaudio.com:
> http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-reviews.html
> They also check battery life, which is where the Zooms seem to suck big
> time.
> http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/portable-recorder-battery-life.html
>
> A device not in these lists is the new Yamaha W24.
>
> All of these devices will work with Linux, as they are USB-storage devices.
> If
> you really need 4 channel recording, you don't have much choice: Zoom H4 or
> Tascam DR-100 or bankruptcy. :)
>
> Personally I chose the Sony PCM M10 in the end although I'm usually a SEGA
> guy.
>
> Alternate choices for me have been the Yamaha W24 and both Olympus devices.
> The
> Sony has very good battery life, little noise, nice mics, small size and
> weight
> and okay prize. I like portable recorders to actually be portable without
> power
> cords. I usually don't record 4 channels on the go. For Ambisonics that
> would
> be necessary, though.
>
> In situations where I'd want to use better microphones with XLR and more
> channels than 2, I probably also wouldn't care about battery life or weight
> so
> much and then I could just take my small laptop with a good USB card with
> me.
>
> Of course that was just my reasoning when doing the choice. YMMV.
>
> Ciao
> --
> Frank
>
> Kevin Cosgrove hat gesagt: // Kevin Cosgrove wrote:
>
> > I'm interested in getting a portable digital recorder, something
> > that can run on batteries or ac power (presumably through a
> > wall-wart?), that has built-in stereo mics, and something which
> > will take 2-4 line external inputs. I've seen a lot of such
> > things come on the market in recent years. Many have SD or SDHC
> > cards for their audio memory, which is fine with me as I have
> > an SDHC card reader in my computer. If I get one with a USB
> > interface it's my _requirement_ that it operate with Linux over
> > USB. The same would go for firewire, though I haven't seen any
> > of those. Some units record only in lossy compressed format
> > only, while others have uncompressed formats available. I would
> > prefer the uncompressed format to be available. I'd also need
> > at _least_ 4 hours of stereo 44.1kHz at at least 16-bit, with
> > something like 24-bit being more desired by me.
> >
> > I'll be doing remote recordings, then bringing the audio home to
> > chop up with Audacity and/or Ardour, then authoring the result to
> > CDs.
> >
> > So, what works well with Linux and works well in general?
> >
> > Thanks people!
> >
> > --
> > Kevin
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Linux-audio-user mailing list
> > Linux-audio-user@email-addr-hidden
> > http://lists.linuxaudio.org/listinfo/linux-audio-user
> >
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Received on Mon Feb 1 20:15:01 2010