Topic: EDIROL R-44 (PART IV)

[NOLAfishwater]

Tried this same question on the Team R-44 thread with no luck.

Any comments on the sound of any of the mods from owners who have had their R-44s modded? Thinking about getting it done on mine. Just curious on the sound difference between the Oade's or Busman mods. Any favorites amongst the mods? Much of a difference between Busman and Oade?

first off, unless you bought your deck from oade, he will not mod it. busman will do modifications to a unit that was not purchased from him.

[aaronji]

I think Oade is now offering upgrades to machines he didn't sell.  Except for PMD661s...

EDIT:  Looking at the Oade site, it appears that he will upgrade R-44s purchased elsewhere.  The only two he says must be purchased from him are the PMD661 and PMD620.  http://www.oade.com/digital_recorders/hard_disc_recorders/upgrades.html

[NOLAfishwater]

I think Oade is now offering upgrades to machines he didn't sell.  Except for PMD661s...

EDIT:  Looking at the Oade site, it appears that he will upgrade R-44s purchased elsewhere.  The only two he says must be purchased from him are the PMD661 and PMD620.  http://www.oade.com/digital_recorders/hard_disc_recorders/upgrades.html

looks like he increased his prices. didn't he sell the modded R44 for $900? now it is listed at $1045

[Nick's Picks]

Anyone here use any of the on board effects while recording ?
I tried the "emphasis" effect for a set last night.  Its like a small compressor or something, it really made a difference in the presence.  I can see this coming in handy.

i

[Gutbucket]

I'm worried I'd #$%$ up a recording with an effect that isn't reversible.  I'd use a straight channel delay effect if that was available though.

[kirk97132]

Anyone here use any of the on board effects while recording ?
I tried the "emphasis" effect for a set last night.  Its like a small compressor or something, it really made a difference in the presence.  I can see this coming in handy.

i

Do tell more.  I have not used any effects and as a rule do things in post but I am curious how it made a difference in the presence? 

[Nick's Picks]

its in the kickdown.  kimock 7-8-9

[Myco]

My Busman modded R-44 is shipping tomorrow. 

[Nick's Picks]

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,124251.new.html#new

you can check out the "emphasis" effect, which was engaged in the first set.

in the car, it sounds superior.  cuts the chatter almost, really brings the loudest sounds very forward.
on the main system, it still sounds good.  set two almost sounds a bit flat w/o the effect in place.

[kirk97132]

Thanx, did the DL but haven't had a chance to listen yet.  Is this something you could see yourself using regularly? 

[Nick's Picks]

unsure.  certainly will try it again though.

[sonidista]

I recently stumbled upon someone writing in another forum about the Timecode "capabilities" of the R-44. Since I haven't found anything about his point in this forum (correct me if I'm wrong) but find it quite interesting, here it is: If you record BWF files, you get a tagged freerun Timecode. With a video camera that can record freerun TC and an editing suite that can read it (Final Cut Pro and Avid can do it) you should somehow (I didn't figure out how exactly though) be able to sync all of the video with all of the audio by adjusting the audio with the video TCs (should work with any slate clap).
I opened one of the BWF files recorded with my R-44 in Quicktime, pressed Ctrl+J and activated the Timecode bar. That way I get the freerun TC (though it doesn't look like a real day time code).
This seems to be an important feature for audio for video production.

[kirk97132]

unsure.  certainly will try it again though.

I assume that you are referring to the enhancer effect(pg. 59 of manual).  Gave it a listen and it is an interesting effect, no doubt.  What did you have the settings at? IE: sense, level & mix.  Just the default setting?  So it seems the effect adds a phase shifted signal to the input.  Could that could account for the lower crowd noise due to a canceling effect by out of phase signal?  I listened to the crowd chatter at the beginning of set 1 track 1 and set 2 track 2 and there is a very distinct difference between them.  And there is a very obvious difference between running the effect and no effect.  Maybe someone smarter than I can explain the pros and cons of adding a phase shifted signal?  Is it a totally out of phase signal or are you controlling how much the phase difference is by the menu settings?  And what is the difference between the sense(sensitivity) setting and the level(volume)?  That is the one thing I've noticed about the R-44 manual is that sometimes the descriptions of things seem a little vague. 

[Nick's Picks]

very vague indeed.
no difference in perceived volume really, the gain was set the same for both sets.
the effect does not make the recording out of phase, while it may adjust the way those OOP signals are handled, but it does not completely reverse it.

I was thinking it was a slight compression / limiter / mid range boost.
but the manual doesn't really specify exactly what is happening.

One thing you can do is add the effect to the raw recording for playback only.  that way you can preserve the master as raw, and then see what the effect does or doesn't do for you.  the downfall is that I dont think you can apply the effect to the raw recording after the fact.   Not w/o doing a real time transfer w/the effect engaged.

[sanaka]

...Not w/o doing a real time transfer w/the effect engaged.

Which might be worth doing on a sample of something. That way the raw vs. enhanced signal could be analyzed in software to see what exactly the effect is doing. From there, one could probably hack a decent simulation of the effect via their software and be able to apply it in post if/when desired. I may even get out of my armchair and try it sometime...

Peace,
Sanaka