portable recorders and junk

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Tue May 19, 2009 7:41 pm

Brian wrote:Korg makes a 1 bit unit that is supposed to be sonically superior to anything else out in any other format.

the portable version gets some pretty bad reviews. It sounds like another case of "oops the drivers broken, and we arent gonna fix it"
Too bad, I was in love with it when I saw it at AES.

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Tue May 19, 2009 8:28 pm

i have nothing to add to this thread but it's nice to see some other DAP1 owners....mine just sort of gave up the ghost awhile back...served me well for years though.

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Tue May 19, 2009 8:32 pm

I did really like my DAP1. It wasnt super small, but it was super hi tech feeling with teh rubberized coating and all. It sounded good enough in most applications. I used it to record some pretty good environmental sounds.

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Tue May 19, 2009 9:39 pm

i used to walk around the city with it in my bag and two mics peeking out. just let it roll and see what i got...i remember the escalators at one train station had a nice rhythm to them...

ott0bot · Post by **ott0bot** » Wed May 20, 2009 12:22 pm

MoreSpaceEcho wrote:i used to walk around the city with it in my bag and two mics peeking out. just let it roll and see what i got...i remember the escalators at one train station had a nice rhythm to them...

like this?

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Wed May 20, 2009 12:34 pm

EXACTLY. except i didn't have a rad soulpatch like that guy.

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Wed May 20, 2009 12:43 pm

To be fair, I believe porta-brace is a brand name.
But more seriously. I made a little stereo rig with a couple LP mic claws, minus the claw part. I then used a bunch of epoxy and a shotgun pistol grip (which are illegal in CA!) to make the rig. It was fixed at a 90 degree angle so I could do the coincident pair thing with my Oktava MC012's or angle them out for a wider pickup. I also occasionally would lurk about in shady areas with a hypercardiod mic (think it was a beyer 69?) pointing out of my sweathirt pocket. Got some great crackhead arguements that way.

But more seriously, anyone use the H4n as an audio interface? does it suck or rule. Is the latency terrible?
I had a NI Kontrol one that I ended up selling because the latency was just untenable. It sounded really nice, it just couldnt function very well if I was trying to overdub.
If the H4n is reasonable enough I may purchase it by the end of the week or sooner. Please stop me before I make any more rash decisions!

ott0bot · Post by **ott0bot** » Wed May 20, 2009 12:53 pm

calaverasgrandes wrote:To be fair, I believe porta-brace is a brand name.
But more seriously. I made a little stereo rig with a couple LP mic claws, minus the claw part. I then used a bunch of epoxy and a shotgun pistol grip (which are illegal in CA!) to make the rig. It was fixed at a 90 degree angle so I could do the coincident pair thing with my Oktava MC012's or angle them out for a wider pickup. I also occasionally would lurk about in shady areas with a hypercardiod mic (think it was a beyer 69?) pointing out of my sweathirt pocket. Got some great crackhead arguements that way.

But more seriously, anyone use the H4n as an audio interface? does it suck or rule. Is the latency terrible?
I had a NI Kontrol one that I ended up selling because the latency was just untenable. It sounded really nice, it just couldnt function very well if I was trying to overdub.
If the H4n is reasonable enough I may purchase it by the end of the week or sooner. Please stop me before I make any more rash decisions!

I didn't use it as an interface, but isn't there any stores near you that have a good return policy so you can try it out?

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Wed May 20, 2009 2:06 pm

I dont really want to deal with;
a) paying 9.75% sales tax on a $350 purchase. (way to go Gov Schwartzenegger, brilliant idea of raising sales tax drives sales revenue out of state!)
b)return policies usually involve restock fees etc.
c) I am super busy and havent had time to even walk past a music store in months.

ott0bot · Post by **ott0bot** » Wed May 20, 2009 2:30 pm

calaverasgrandes wrote:I dont really want to deal with;
a) paying 9.75% sales tax on a $350 purchase. (way to go Gov Schwartzenegger, brilliant idea of raising sales tax drives sales revenue out of state!)
b)return policies usually involve restock fees etc.
c) I am super busy and havent had time to even walk past a music store in months.

yet somehow you have time to post here? haha

but yeah i hear ya. personally i don't know how a inteface that cheap wouldn't have latency issues but I couldn't find much info on that.

Found this though:
http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/audio/p ... omparison/

nice list. plus this guy has a review for the H4 too....apparently he liked it and the interface function. click on whichever recorder for a review.

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Thu May 21, 2009 10:04 pm

I do waste too much time on forums. Usually before I sleep or in between my gigs when I have 5-10 minutes to kill.

I decided to say fuggit and get the H4n.
At this point I care less about the audio quality and more about just being able to do anything at all when I am away traveling. I have to be in NYC 3 times this year and I am not gonna travel my main audio interface!
Hopefully it will be decent enough to get some usable samples and get some rough mixing done on my laptop. I hope the ASIO divers are decent!

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Fri May 22, 2009 5:26 am

Hey, my friend got an H4 and at the same time I got a Roland R4pro. They also make an R4 with an SSD (solid state drive) if you don't ned the SMPTE option.
Her H4 records in variable bit rate and she can't get it to stop without recording solely in wav mode. Sucks for extended recordings, but, for the money, what can you expect?
I'd get the Korg or the R44 for superior performance. The R44 records 4 channels of wavs at 24 bit up to 192khz and has 4 channels of mixing aes-ebu in and out, discrete in and out XLR, tape ins and out, USB 2.0 in and out and flash card ext storage can be used.
I think the R44 may be your thang, but, it is much bigger than the H4 and the Korg unit.
1 bit recording does sound superior to an other format. It just isn't utilized wide-scale anymore. betamax, 16/44.1, this is another "superior to the compromise" type thing.

calaverasgrandes · Post by **calaverasgrandes** » Tue May 26, 2009 8:38 pm

Well i got the H4N.
It doesnt sound fantastic, but its more to serve as a writing tool than as a field recrorder honsestly.
I havent put it thru its paces but I am digging what it is supposed to be capable of. I am going to try and see how much I can get done without having to bring it into my computer.
Is it possible to write a whole song soup to nuts with all the internal effects and bouncing?
Maybe I will stop into a music store and sample some basses and guitars with it.
It is a lot bigger and heavier than I thought it would be.
I'll pop back in with a more in depth eval later this week.

0xeneye · Post by **0xeneye** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:40 pm

Would love to see your full review, or a link to it.

vvv · Post by **vvv** » Sun Jun 21, 2009 10:31 pm

Loving my H2.

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