Excellent! I had checked out the Edirol's in the past and then again tonight and couldn't find anything on their site about whether or not it worked with a Mac. Nice to know . . . except for the gas.
Thanks.
Thanks.
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Double Bass Small Affordable Recorder
- Thread starter Ben Rolston
- Start date
- May 6, 2003
- 5,272
- 160
- 64
- Disclosures
- Proprietor Fifth Avenue Fret Shop. Technical Editor Bass Gear Magazine
Uncletoad said:
Don't know the answer personally, but I am assured that it's just as true for windows machines.
Chris Fitzgerald said:
I have an Edirol R-1 (predecessor to the R-09) and use iTunes software on a WinXP PC for managing music. It works basically the same as a Mac. To the PC and iTunes the Edirol is just another storage device and you can drag-and-drop files with no problems.
The R-1 is also a great device, worth every penny.
Thanks Joe! I picked up that little Fostex and for $250 it's KILLER. No, doesn't have everything the $800 job has but about all it's lacking is a CD burner. I have that in my computer. Anyone thinking about a good little 8 track digital recorder, this is it.Bassist4Life said:
I'm thinking of checking out the new pocket-sized 4-track BOSS Micro-BR. It's more of a guitarist's demo-making box (tons of effects, etc.) but with outboard mikes it might work well for location recording- and it sure is tiny.
The r-09 just looks like a USB harddrive to Linux. I would assume it can work the same way with windows.Uncletoad said:
Hey Chris, my old MD may have given up the ghost after several years of faithful service.
2 questions about the Edirol are:
1) Do you use the on-board mic for recording gigs or do you use an external one or both?
2) How do you trackmark the recording? If you do it on the device, does it transfer trackmarked to your mac? That's of the things that bugged me about the MD.
Sounds great and is affordable. I like the looks of the Marantz too, but it's an extra $100 and I don't know that it will be that much better for me.
Too soon to tell the Zooms, but they don't look as durable.
Thanks in advance.
Troy
2 questions about the Edirol are:
1) Do you use the on-board mic for recording gigs or do you use an external one or both?
2) How do you trackmark the recording? If you do it on the device, does it transfer trackmarked to your mac? That's of the things that bugged me about the MD.
Sounds great and is affordable. I like the looks of the Marantz too, but it's an extra $100 and I don't know that it will be that much better for me.
Too soon to tell the Zooms, but they don't look as durable.
Thanks in advance.
Troy
Hey Troy - I use the built in onboard mics. They sound great, but you could always move upward from there if you like. Dunno how large a file your inbox can hold, but I can send you a sample mp3 if you wanna check out an excerpt or two. You trackmark very easily: press "record" once to put in record mode, twice to start recording. To put in a new track between tunes, I hit, in rapid succession, "Stop-Rec-Rec". Takes about one second, and you're rolling for the next track. There may be another way to do it as well; if there is, I haven't looked for it as this is plenty easy for jazz gigs.
I always use the onboard mics. One problem I am having is getting the levels right.
I find that I need to keep the levels high to get a good sound. But then when a louder song comes along, it is too high and clips. But lower it, and the soft songs are too low.
Do people post-process the songs?
I am mainly recording jams and rehearsals so I cannot pay much attention to the recorder. It also tends to be too close to the band since I want to keep it in sight.
But when it is right, it works really well. And I have already found it *very* useful to practice songs that are too far from the original to use as a reference.
I find that I need to keep the levels high to get a good sound. But then when a louder song comes along, it is too high and clips. But lower it, and the soft songs are too low.
Do people post-process the songs?
I am mainly recording jams and rehearsals so I cannot pay much attention to the recorder. It also tends to be too close to the band since I want to keep it in sight.
But when it is right, it works really well. And I have already found it *very* useful to practice songs that are too far from the original to use as a reference.
I usually turn off any compression or ALC that a recorder might have, then set the levels low enough to clip only rarely (or never). If there's a keeper or two in the bunch, I'll normalize to -3 or 4 db using Peak LE. For a real keeper, I'll do a quick and dirty master with peak and Ozone (a really nice plug in). Peak cost me about $100, but there are any number of free stereo editors like Audacity which can do the basic normalization on a keeper track. This way, you can record without distortion, then raise the level of any keeper tracks later on your computer.
Doh! I tried using the Amplify function in Audacity. That seems to really help. I mainly use Audacity as a practice tool.
As an aside, I implemented the "Always allow play" functionality in Audacity. But that doesn't mean I know how to use it
Anyway, I have an mp3 taken with the R-09 at a practice jam. These are just three guys getting together to have fun.
The room is long and narrow with the PA speakers and my bass amp at one end and me at the other. I am a good 20 to 25 feet from the speakers. The recorder is on top of my bunched up jacket on a chair beside me against the far left wall facing slightly up and slightly to the right.
A very professional setup
ftp://ftp.seanm.ca/jams/bluesman.mp3
If anybody is interested in a review of the R-09, I might be talked into it.
Still getting good results with the R-09, especially now that i have the case and mic stand adapter, which lets me position the device right in front of the bass. Invalid Link Removed a clip from tonight's gig with Dave Leonhardt of his arrangement of "But Not For Me". This little recorder continues to amaze me.
I'm listening right now -- sounds ****ing wonderful, your bass, everything. My quartet has been doing this tune, too, in recent months but we do it quite uptempo -- you wouldn't be able to sing it at the tempo we do it...
Everything sounds so nicely balanced. You mention you've got the unit right in front of the bass. It sounds like a very acoustic sound -- is there much of your amplified sound bleeding in there, would you say? And where are the piano and drums in relation to the thing? The cymbals sound as good as anything I've ever heard -- but I'm the type that thumbs his nose at ultra hi-fi contortions. You're getting much better balance than anything I've been getting, so that's why I'm wondering about where everything is in relation to the recording unit.
Any post-processing on this track? I've learned that I have to record with low levels and normalize after the fact -- any other way and I get nasty digital clipping. I've been using a nice freebie VST mastering limiter in the last coupla weeks, too, and it's amazing how much air that sucker can breathe into the live recordings I've been making.
These little digital recorders are totally amazing, totally amazing. The cost/quality is at a point now where I think that, after getting a teacher and paying for some lessons, investing in one of these puppies is the next best investment you can make if you want to really improve your playing. It's been totally invaluable to me in my jazz immersion over the last 4, 5 years.
BTW, speaking of post-processing, does anyone know of a doohickey or process that can do anything at all useful with crowd noise?
Everything sounds so nicely balanced. You mention you've got the unit right in front of the bass. It sounds like a very acoustic sound -- is there much of your amplified sound bleeding in there, would you say? And where are the piano and drums in relation to the thing? The cymbals sound as good as anything I've ever heard -- but I'm the type that thumbs his nose at ultra hi-fi contortions. You're getting much better balance than anything I've been getting, so that's why I'm wondering about where everything is in relation to the recording unit.
Any post-processing on this track? I've learned that I have to record with low levels and normalize after the fact -- any other way and I get nasty digital clipping. I've been using a nice freebie VST mastering limiter in the last coupla weeks, too, and it's amazing how much air that sucker can breathe into the live recordings I've been making.
These little digital recorders are totally amazing, totally amazing. The cost/quality is at a point now where I think that, after getting a teacher and paying for some lessons, investing in one of these puppies is the next best investment you can make if you want to really improve your playing. It's been totally invaluable to me in my jazz immersion over the last 4, 5 years.
BTW, speaking of post-processing, does anyone know of a doohickey or process that can do anything at all useful with crowd noise?
We were set up really close with me near the end of the crook of the piano (with the piano on full stick and the harp/strings on my right), and the drums were pulled in really close on my left. The R-09 was on that stand adapter thingie literally about 18" in front of where the fingerboard starts. I purposely blocked the line of the amp speaker with my body so that I would be getting a pretty acoustic sound.
That's all I did here. I used Audacity to convert to mp3, and that was it.
I agree completely. Everybody wants to borrow this thing, or wants copies of the set if i bring it to the gig. These things are the ****.
It's so easy to hear all of those little annoying things in your own playing that you want to work on when you're sitting back with the "listener" hat on later on, and the lesson is just so direct that way...no words are needed.
YES.
Amazing little device. Got it to record music with quality anywhere & anytime without a bunch of trouble or gear. Took it to the "new-to-me" band(they've been together for YEARS, I'm the replacement bass player) to capture how I fit in AND those few little breaks they added/removed from songs that keep sounding "funny"('cause they ain't quite tight yet). Used the internal mics, limiter on, least sensitive input setting, mp3 recording onto a 2GB SD chip.
It did EXACTLY what it was bought for. You can hear everything clearly like being there. The sound quality is unreal for a fat-wallet-sized device.
Our teens use it to record their piano practicing & tunes. Dad(me) will bring it to ALL High School Band gigs and HS Jazz Band gigs from now on. The band directors get a CD from me for letting me set a camera tripod up with this thing sitting on it...
Invalid Link Removed
- May 6, 2003
- 5,272
- 160
- 64
- Disclosures
- Proprietor Fifth Avenue Fret Shop. Technical Editor Bass Gear Magazine
I wish you lived closer. I need more of that to rub off on me. I never get tired of your playing.
I amazed at that recorder.
I gotta find the scratch for that.
I'd really like to post some stuff but I'm not a recording kinda fella. That sounds pretty close n play.
I amazed at that recorder.
I gotta find the scratch for that.
I'd really like to post some stuff but I'm not a recording kinda fella. That sounds pretty close n play.
Thanks dude - and thanks for letting me put 749 clips up on your site...this summer, I PROMISE I'm gonna learn how to manage my own site re: sound clips.
I'm also lucky in my situation here insofar as Tyrone Wheeler is tied up on his regular gig and can't get free to play with some of these great players who come through town at the Factory.Exactly. It's kinda like learning any new piece of gear in that you need to learn what level to set it on and where to put it. But once you figure that out, it's so easy even a caveman could use it.
YES.
Amazing little device. Got it to record music with quality anywhere & anytime without a bunch of trouble or gear. Took it to the "new-to-me" band(they've been together for YEARS, I'm the replacement bass player) to capture how I fit in AND those few little breaks they added/removed from songs that keep sounding "funny"('cause they ain't quite tight yet). Used the internal mics, limiter on, least sensitive input setting, mp3 recording onto a 2GB SD chip.
It did EXACTLY what it was bought for. You can hear everything clearly like being there. The sound quality is unreal for a fat-wallet-sized device.
Did you get a chance to compare it to any other recorders? What kind of input sensitivity control do you get? I've thought about recommending this to students who can't shell out the bread for the R-09, but i haven't had any experience with the Zoom unit yet. Is this the one that also doubles as an audio interface for a computer? If so, it could be a great unit for a lot of the students at the U.
