Been looking at the Zoom H4, H2 and various others by Marantz, Yamaha, Tascam, etc...
Anyone here use them? I would love to see a comparison of these, a shootout comparing the built in condensors, etc...
I need something to record gigs with. I bought a Yamaha AW16g to do a demo for my cover band, and had considered taking it to gigs and running an 8 channel snake from the board (when we use our own) or setting it on a table somewhere in the rear with a pair of condenser mics, but that seems a bit cumbersome, seems one of these hand held deals would be perfect for what I need.
We have a zoom H4 at the studio. Brilliant idea, great sound, horrible execution. The user interface is absolutely terrible. My studio partner and I, neither of us slouches when it comes to recording, spent hours trying to figure out how to multi-track with it, going back and forth between the device and the manual, pressing all of these annoying "soft" buttons. The sound was good when we got it going, we recorded some acoustic guitar from a few feet away and the sound was well above par for the price, around $200. It could be a very handy practice recorder, or for recording shows. However, we have never gotten past the fiddly interface. It's just too difficult to get it to do what we want. Consequently, for more than a year now it has sat idle on a shelf.
Don't know about any of the others.
I have a roland Edirol R-1 that I've had for a couple of years now (bought it when it was first released). It's an excellent unit and gives fantastic sound quality even through the built-in stereo mics. I use it a lot. No multi-track facility, but that's not why I bought it, I simply wanted to be able to record rehearsals/shows etc and get good sound quality, and it does all of that.
Thanx guys. I just found out that Zoom has released the H4n. It addresses the interface issue (which prior to reading Chargers response I had read complaints about in nearly EVERY review. Chargers assessment merely cinfirms it).
Bad part is, AMS won't have any more until the 7th of March. I kind of wanted one for the string of shows ending February.
The four units I am considering after several hours of reading specs, reviews, etc... are:
The Zoom H4n (would settle for an H4 if I found one for a steal), H4n is supposed to have improved condensors and external mic preamps, as well as a much improved interface, sturdier feeling construction. One huge plus is the external mic inputs, the other contenders on my short list do not have them. If AMS had one in stock, I would have already ordered it $349
The Sony PCM D50. Really, mainly want it because I have read that the mics were really good, and, well, it's a Sony. I think they are currently around $399
The Zoom H2 - Stripped down from he H4, not early as many features, but I only need it for recording, any editing I would ever do I would do on the DAW. Two biggest pluses are the 4 mic capsules, great to set in the center of the room at a jam. I read and heard a recoding on a guys site where he was actually able to get great spatial seperation of a group of instruments. The price, $179, is a huge plus.
Korg MR1- supposed to have fantastic sound quality. These puppies were $999 a year ago, can be gotten now for $400. That alone is kind of a big incentive, but, something about it, nothing in the specs or literature, something about the form factor, really puts me off.
Olympus - LS-10. From what I heard on the Orielly media site, as well as what the guy had to say about it in his extensive review, this one would be a great contender. I really might have bought one of these last night, but, I didn't see one on the AMS site. $399 anywhere I have seen them though.
I guess I am just going to hold out for the Zoom H4n. I had considered just saying fuckit and getting a good stereo condenser and using the Yamaha AW16g to record our shows, and I still may borrow a couple condensers and do that for the next few. I may run an 8 channel snake from the live desk at the shows where we use our own board, and see if at the others I can run a stereo feed into the Yamaha. Both of these approaches carry their own set of headaches though.
I think though that I am really going to like using one of these hand held jobs better, plus they offer the added benefit of being able to record other peoples shows surruptitiously.
With the Zoom, I could set it up to use the internal condensers as room mics, then run a direct feed off the board to the two XLR inputs. Of course there will be that ever so slight latency in the mic feed compared to the direct feed, but I can sync it up in the DAW later. What great tech we have at our disposal compared to even our fathers generation.
Spa,
I heard a clip the other day in the Barber forum that was done with a zoom, and it sounded surprisingly good!
Thanx Howie, I think in March, when the H4n becomes available at AMS, I am getting one, til then I will just lug around the Yamaha.