Digital audio recorders?

[Joe Barker]

Whats the best digital recording device to use for backup sound? I'm looking at purchasing something to use for backup sound as well as recording interveiws,with lav mic etc. I have heard many differant oppinions,Mini disc recorder, i river, i pod ,digital voice recorder etc.I have hired a Dat recorder on occations,but found it expensive and cumbersome .I am looking for something that's small,reliable and will record quality digital sound .What have you guys found works the best?

[Allen McLaughlin]

Originally Posted by Joe Barker

Whats the best digital recording device to use for backup sound? I'm looking at purchasing something to use for backup sound as well as recording interveiws,with lav mic etc. I have heard many differant oppinions,Mini disc recorder, i river, i pod ,digital voice recorder etc.I have hired a Dat recorder on occations,but found it expensive and cumbersome .I am looking for something that's small,reliable and will record quality digital sound .What have you guys found works the best?

I've been using a portable mini disc recorder for years and I'm very happy with it.

[Bruce S. Yarock]

Edirol R-09. It's fantastic.

Bruce S. Yarock
www.yarock.com

[Julian Fox]

I have a portable mini disc recorder but would like to know the best way of transferring the sound to a PC. I am currently using the XL2 for a digital pass through.

[Joe Barker]

Thanks for the information guy's.

[Glenn Davidson]

I use the HHB 500 minidisc and think it is great. I also have a Marantz 670 CF recorder that is nice. But I really want a http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...goryNavigation

[Jeff Phelps]

The latest generation of MD are able to upload to a computer in digital form. They also record in uncompressed format. They are called Hi-MD. The price of Hi-MD is lower than the Edirol and the quality is very hard to beat. IMO there is no competition for what you describe at this point.

The flash memory recorders that record in uncompressed format will likely eventually surpass the Hi-MD but at this point when you compare price and quality Hi-MD is the clear winner.

iRiver recorders are cheap when you can find them and they record pretty decent sound but they are not the quality of a Hi-MD. I have seen comments from people who own both and they say there is no comparison in quality.

I have a MD recorder. They are nice machines but they are very much inferior to Hi-MD. I expect to be getting a Hi-MD soon. I see Hi-MD recorders sell on eBay for under $100 on a regular basis. That deal is very sweet IMO.

[Allen McLaughlin]

Originally Posted by Julian Fox

I have a portable mini disc recorder but would like to know the best way of transferring the sound to a PC. I am currently using the XL2 for a digital pass through.

I use a Casablanca system and simply connect the mini disc via line out to the L-R audio input ports on the system. Presumably you could do the same if your PC audio card has phono/RCA inputs ?

[Lonnie Bell]

for dialog, i use a Marantz PMD670, records to CF cards - love it. get em on ebay for decent price (got mine there almost brand new). when used with highest recording settings 48k/16bit/pcm/wav and a nice low self noise mic (recommend a good condensor), almost zero hiss... better recording this way than by using the same mic into the xlr's of the xl2 (which are still pretty decent)...

but there's a little trick when you set up the 670 - if you're interested - let me know and i'll eloborate...

good luck

but if your budget can allow for it the fostex fr2, sounddevices 722, are superior...

[Andreas Griesmayr]

you could check out: http://taperssection.com/index.php ( must become member to view though. )

my view with minuses and pluses:

Hi-MD ( only Sony HiMD, don't even consider other MD recorders! ): very good quality recording (+), records to HiMD discs of 1 GB, must use Sony software for file transfer ( - )
iRiver H120/140 H320/340: with Rockbox firmware very useful recorder, live levels, life adjustment etc...but quality of analog/digital converter and preamp inferior to the HiMD (-), have inbuilt 20 or 40 GB (+)
Edirol R-09: the new love affair of the stealth recorders, very good quality recordings arguably same as HiMD ( + ), quite good inbuilt stereo mic ( + ), record to max 4 GB SD cards, prize high ( - )

[Andy Joyce]

You can probably find some good portable DAT recorders around, even on eBay.

I have had a nice Sony model for years. I use it a lot with my Sony parabolic microphone for bird recordings.

If you don't mind using another tape machine, they are fun to use and the sound quality is very good. I never liked the old 12-bit mini discs, but if they have a new higer quality version out now, that might be a way to go.

[Glenn Davidson]

Originally Posted by Lonnie Bell

for dialog, i use a Marantz PMD670, but there's a little trick when you set up the 670 - if you're interested - let me know and i'll eloborate...

Please tell us more. I like my 670, but I find the menus, options and defaults a little complicated. Any tips to improve it's use in the field would be helpful.

[Lonnie Bell]

hey Glen - been busy, but here it goes,
& some of this i'm sure you know, but i'll try and cover the bases...

i'm coming straight from my AKG into the xlr-in (L) on the PMD670...

Menu:
Algor/file:
Stereo/PCM/48/wav

Input Button Selections:
Input device and Channel:
to DLmono w/Mic input - DLmono records regular levels on the left
channel, and the right channel is reduced by -15db. this acts as a
safety, in case someone yells or levels get to high for channel one
(L).
Recording Parameters:
Stereo.

Here's the problem as i see it when people are reporting hiss... if you use DLmono, and use the "mono" setting (seems intuitive), regardless of whether you set it to record PCM/WAV/48, the recorder defaults to an MP3 (compressed) recording - more hiss... if you use "stereo" in conjunction with DLmono, it will record in the highest settings of PCM/WAV/48 (uncompressed) if you used these settings in the first place - hiss is almost non-existant...

and of course use a good condensor mic...

any q's, just ask,
Lonnie

[Chris Hurd]

Moved from XL2 to NHT.

[Tim Gray]

How did M-Audio's microtrack 24/96 ever pan out? The ~$350 flash recorder? Might make for a nice little backup recorder if it is half decent.

Tim