ead Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Hi team I looking for a small and hopefully realtively inexpensive digital recording device for a bit of home noodling and maybe capturing band rehearsals. Spec doesn't have to be massive, maybe the opportunity to record 3 or 4 separate tracks and output as an MP3 file (or similar). A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away I used to have a Pandora's Box - did the job, menus very fiddly (I prefer knobs) though. Probably used 5% of what it could do but put off by the complexity of actually using it although I imagine that user interfaces have moved on a bit now. There seems to be a pile of stuff out there and I'm stuggling to really comprehend the capabilties of the various products against one another. I strongly suspect I will only use a fraction of that capability in any case, so for me ease of use and a degree of idiot-proofness (is that a word?) would score highly! I'd really welcome some pointers to good things, and also the don't go there type products too. Budget wise maybe upto £150? But I don't yet know if that's realistic. Thanks in advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Do you want to be able to record seperate tracks simultaneously? How many? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ead Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 In reality this would be unlikely. I can see the unit being parked in a corner during band rehearsals to capture ideas that might otherwise be forgotten and for me at home to use for practice (e.g. record stuff on a fretted bass and play along to on my fretless for intonation purposes) or to record my noodlings and such. Inbuilt microphone therefore a bonus! Could ask my son to record a few drum patterns for me to play along to as well I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldG Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 I like the Zoom H2 a lot. Very good sound quality, if a little lacking in bottom end.... I use it for general recording, miking vocals and guitars, recording from the desk,etc,etc. For an Idea of sound quality,I've attached an mp3 (recorded in mp3 format as the card was nearly full at the time) of my wife,a friend and myself jamming through Weller's Wild Wood in our dining room using the inbuilt mics... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheddatom Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 can you multi-track on the H2? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldG Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 (edited) Not as far as i know - but I got an 8 channel Fw interface for that. Think of it more as a decent quality location recorder with decent mics - that can be used as a USB interface if needed. Edited March 29, 2012 by OldG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ead Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 Thanks for that will put that on the short short-list that I'm compiling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ead Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 I've seen this tascam unit which looks about right, anybody used one of these: [url="http://www.soundsliveshop.com/p/Tascam_DP-004_Digital_4-Track_Recorder/TASC-DP004"]http://www.soundsliveshop.com/p/Tascam_DP-004_Digital_4-Track_Recorder/TASC-DP004[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vsmith1 Posted March 29, 2012 Share Posted March 29, 2012 Our Guitar Club has the DP004 - on my recommendation - it can record two tracks simultaneously. But there are 4 tracks in total, so you can do some overlays, bounce down etc. It has built in MICs (x2) as well as line inputs. I soon got an extra memory card, and usually use the PSU rather than batteries. [url="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/530791/Clotted%20Cream/21%20Sunshine%20of%20your%20love.mp3"]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/530791/Clotted%20Cream/21%20Sunshine%20of%20your%20love.mp3[/url] Also a friend had a Zoom H4n who recorded our band in the pub - so once he'd set it up it was largely left untouched: [url="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/530791/Set%201%20Smithy%20Nov11/The%20One%20I%20Love.mp3"]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/530791/Set%201%20Smithy%20Nov11/The%20One%20I%20Love.mp3[/url] So I'd recommend either. They all need some setting up with the right levels etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ead Posted March 29, 2012 Author Share Posted March 29, 2012 OK thanks for that. May need to investigate further in a couple of weeks time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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