Portable recorder recommendation?

[RCory]

I would like to record some ambient stereo recordings with a hand held portable recorder. Does anyone have any recommendations on a useful one? I'd like it to be able to record to flash or something that might show up as a hard drive to ease in transfering recordings. Battery powered?

Thanks in advanced
Cory

[Dwetmaster]

What kind of computer do you have? Is it a laptop? I simply bought a Sony MD Microphone and recorded directly to my laptop.

[bongo_x]

I want one too, but a while back I bought a mini disc recorder instead, mostly because they give them away now. I think I paid $30-40 on ebay for one. I got some good mics for cheap online. It's not as convenient as a new recorder, but much cheaper for what I need it for.

bb

[Jim]

Aw geez, I just recycled my back issues, but it wasn't more than three months ago where EM (Elecronic Musician) or EQ just did a shootout between all the latest little self-contained standalone recorders from Tascam, Sony, Edirol, Zoom, etc. Perhaps if you browsed the Archives on both sites, you could find the article.

They reviewed some of them very favorably, and some of them record at high sample rates and bit depths.

[RCory]

Cool! I'll look in some back issues that may be laying around.

Thanks!

C

[mhschmieder]

Best by far, of the affordable ones, is Korg's one-bit format. I think Yamaha is using this format in their newbie as well. Sound Devices is by far the best on the market but is megabucks. Roland/Edirol's stuff is pretty good but overpriced so search for bargains. But nothing compares to using one-bit format; especially for future-proofing. Battery power varies wildly between models and brands so read the specs; almost all manuals can be downloaded pre-sale.

Stay clear of Marantz unless you're primarily doing speech and radio work; that is their forte. They build good gear and were the first to do a rack design, but they have never focused on the music segment of the market, and this comes out in every review and shootout. Fostex is OK and apparently have improved reliability over the years (a problem when they started in the 80's with Tascam portastudio knockoffs).

Sony's stuff has come down in price a bit by now, and Tascam has the best sound quality shy of Korg and Sound Devices, for musical content. The Tascam gear may have longer battery life as they've tended to focus on robustness over most other traits.

There was a recent shootout maybe a month or so ago in one of the US trade mags; I forget which one. Ergonomics vary wildly between models and brands. But you might do best to first focus on battery power and overall sonic quality. For ambient, you need something that can handle high-gain input without distortion. This isn't necessarily the same as finding the unit that handles musical content the best.

[stephentayler]

I recommend the M-Audio Microtrack. It doesn't have built in mics, I wanted something I could connect any mics to, including my covert in-ear microphones, and my Sony stereo mics. It does come with a useful little plug in mic. It also has phantom power, and have used it with a studio mic for voice-over.

It is very simple to use, hardly any bells and whistles (unlike say the Zoom units)

Cheers

Stephen

[chucks]

It is very simple to use, hardly any bells and whistles (unlike say the Zoom units)

I have a Zoom H2 and really like it. Plenty of bells and whistles. Records to SD cards, shows up as drive on computer or can be used as a USB microphone audio interface, has a 4 channel surround mode (haven't tried that yet), 44.1/48/96K WAV both 16 and 24 bit, MP3, built in compressor/limiter . . . hell, it even has a metronome and tuner. Sweetwater just had a price reduction on these.

Here's a link to the article referenced above:
http://emusician.com/daw/emusic_studio_ ... index.html

[gearboy]

I recommend the M-Audio Microtrack. It doesn't have built in mics, I wanted something I could connect any mics to, including my covert in-ear microphones, and my Sony stereo mics. It does come with a useful little plug in mic. It also has phantom power, and have used it with a studio mic for voice-over.

It is very simple to use, hardly any bells and whistles (unlike say the Zoom units)

Cheers

Stephen

+1

I've had mine since 2006 and I've done a lot of quality live recordings, nature sounds, and demos with it.

Jeff

[daniel.sneed]

I'll second to the Microtrack.
Very handy and effective for live tracking. I set a pair of static mics in a convenient place, hit record at beginning of the show and here we are.
The file management is very basic. Don't think of it as an iPod.

[RDBDR]

I also use a Microtrack II.

I do live concert recordings using a Traveler connected to my MacBook Pro running DP 5.11.

I set up an emergency backup mix on the Traveler via CueMix and send it out the S/PDIF to the Microtrack. That way, if my computer crashes during the concert (never happened so far - knock on wood!) I still have a good recording of the complete concert.

Good luck,

---rick

[hswin]

Hey Guys,

I looked at several of those pocket recorders for, the size, battery, battery life, storage device, length of recording, etc. I finally settled on the Yamaha Pockettrax CX. I looked at it's younger brother (the SX) and it's audio response was slightly less than the CX and it was the same price! I settled on the Pocketrax CX and am very happy with it. I has two built-in mics in an X-Y pattern. You can also switch the input to line in and record from a line source. It has a new type rechargeable battery which lasts as long as a regular alkaline battery. If that battery fails, you can slap in an alkaline battery and continue. It uses up to a 4 GB micro chip, so plenty of room for conferences, etc. It also records in 44.1 Kbps wav files, or mp3. I have recorded several groups with it and those people are amazed! I am too! I plan to go to Africa soon and record several sounds there. Neat little unit.

[mhschmieder]

Let us know how it works out. There hasn't been much press on the Yammie yet, but it's been all positive. Battery life, mic pre quality, and connectivity can be key factors in the overall value of a pocket recorder, for sure -- especially in remote areas. I had heard fairly negative feedback on the Microtrack, Zoom, and even some of the Roland/Edirol stuff regarding battery life and mic pre's as well as appropriate connectivity for the task. I didn't want to say anything as there seemed to be a consensus here that those are all great devices; whereas I would personally only trust Sound Devices, Korg, and Yamaha (and maybe Tascam). The Yammie that you bought seems excellent value in that price range, so I hope it works out for you.

[RDBDR]

Hi hswin,

I'm also interested in how the YP CX sounds.

I settled on the Microtrack II because it has an S/PDIF input that I can connect to the Traveler S/PDIF output as a backup/emergency recording for live concerts. I've also used it's pres with DPA 4061 miniature microphones for spoken word (recorded books) and piano recordings. It works very well for both of these. Battery life can be a problem but I mostly use wall or USB power.

I'm also interested in what you hope to record in Africa! Care to elaborate?

---rick

[monkey man]

I've come to place much faith in Yamaha's build-quality standards over the years; I think its heavy involvement in live sound stood the company in good stead in this regard.

If I were going anywhere remote, I'd want to take the Yammie.