I've got an Edirol R-09, and more often than not I end up just using the onboard mics. Don't like them all that well unless they're pretty close to the source, hence my question.
These days I see that there are portable digital recorders with different mic configurations, from m/s, to surround to a combo of omni/cardiod.
For someone like me, that wants to simply place the unit in the room using the onboard mics, what units would you recommend for the most natural, dimensional sound. Sometimes I'm in close proximity to what is being recorded, but more often than not I'm in rooms of varying sizes, some with considerable natural echo.
Yes, I'm in the camp of people who think pretty much all internals are "crap",
with the caveat that it depends what you're recording. As noted above, with quieter material (i.e., not amplified rock) these things like the M10 and others can probably do a decent job. There's nothing inherently wrong with inexpensive omnidirectional mic capsules like what are in the R-09HR and the M10; heck the Church Audio mics everyone fluffs endlessly are themselves based on a very inexpensive mic element.
BUT Church Audio and other low-cost mics used for taping modify those inexpensive components or add appropriate other modifications to the signal chain to make them acceptable for recording amplified music. They can actually take high sound pressure levels (SPL). Ignore the published specs on these recorders; they won't tell you anything (i.e., if it says it can take 110 or 120dB SPL, it's lying).
Placed properly, if they aren't overloaded, some of these recorders can do a fine job. Onstage jazz, for example. Or there was an acoustic show I went to a few years ago, with my Schoeps back by the board and some other guy running an M10 up closer to the stacks. Haven't heard his pull, but if people near him were quiet enough, his pull might well be better than mine.
But if you intend to record amplified rock, these internal mics will almost certainly distort.