Topic: Digital recorder wishlist wanted

[soundpro]

Hello:

The engineers at Tascam in Japan have contacted us through their local rep and they are looking for recommendations for new products or tweaks to existing products. I thought I would run it by you folks before I answer them......

Suggestions?

Chris Carfagno
The Sound Professionals

[capnhook]

rca spdif in     

[OFOTD]

rca spdif in

+1  and preferably on their handheld digital recorders

[sunjan]

+1, QFT. RCA digi-in is the single most important feature that the bulk of the recorders on the market are missing.

Other features:
Mic in with 9V PIP (enough current to power Church Audio mics or similar).
Line in with as low self-noise as R-09HR and M10 
30 sec pre-recording just like the Iriver (IIUC some of the Tascams do have pre-recording, but not all models, and not as long)
Customizable GUI would be nice to have (Rockbox REP style) with rolling histogram, level bar scale, font size etc.
Less plasticky (not crucial though)

This said, I haven't owned any Tascams myself, just had them demoed for me at trade fairs.

Thanks a lot for doing the legwork, Chris - much appreciated. I'm positively surprised that Tascam bothered and figured out a way to tap the TSKB!

[pafnuzzi]

Same opinion

9V mic in plug in power combined with as good preamp as r-09hr or pcm m10 for this I could live without internal mics so the piece can become smaller

[Jhurlbs81]

RCA SPDIF

[H₂O]

- Balanced inputs on hand helds (i.e. Korg MR-1)
- Fix 8GB Lockup issue on the HD-P2
- Large Touch screen display (similar to iPhone) - with lock
- Longer battery life (i.e. Sony PCM-M10 - 24hours record time on single pair of AA's - 24 hours is over kill but at least 12 hours on 2 AA's)
- Ability to record in DSD formats
- +60v/+7v unbalanced mic level input (i.e. to run Schoeps active KCY directly into it - i.e. VMS 02ib/Lemosax/etc) 
- NO BUILT IN MICS!
 

[page]

I'll echo a lot of the comments here, and even order mine in priority/desire.

- STABLE!!! (One of the great reasons the MT2496 and MT2 are disliked)
- SPDIF in (bit accurate & syncs to the clock from the external source)
- No noise/drop outs when adjusting volume/settings.
- standard AA/AAA batteries
- able to handle a hot signal on line in (to the order of +24dbu)
- Gapless/sample accurate new file splits.
- a Hold/Lock feature (includes volume adjustments).
- True 9V PIP
- balanced in

I don't care about built-on mics, ship a seperate one that plugs in (like a T-mic that just plugs into the deck like small bug antenna) if they like. In short, take a Sony PCM-M10 and add the SPDIF and I'd compromise. I'd personally pay up to the area of $450 for a unit that had all of the above.

[Belexes]

I don't care about built-on mics

+1

I know we are not likely the target market for these, musicians likely are, so that's why the built-in mics are there...just make one model without them.

[page]

I don't care about built-on mics

+1

I know we are not likely the target market for these, musicians likely are, so that's why the built-in mics are there...just make one model without them.

Or ship all of the recorders with the following, it would probably be just as good in the grand scheme of things:



Oh, I almost forgot, flash card based and not hard drive based. 

[fmaderjr]

Mic in with 9V PIP (enough current to power Church Audio mics or similar).

This would be a big plus and I believe a true 5 volt rating would be enough for our purposes in most cases. I know it's enough for the Church mics and even the DPA 4060 series.

I have no desire to pay a lot extra for a spdf because I don't plan to use a pre with a built in ADC. I'd just like a good ADC converter in the recorder. But obviously the recorders going for say $500+ or so are going to need a spdf or they will lose a lot of their potential market.

[sunjan]

- a Hold/Lock feature (includes volume adjustments).

To emphazise this, make sure the hold switch isn't joint with the on/off switch (like the design flaw of the DR-08 which goes "Hold>On>Off". After switching from "hold" to "on", there's a risk that you overshoot and switch the unit off!)

I don't know if the Tascam units of today have this, but Safety AGC (à la rockbox) would also be nice.

Talking about which features to get rid of:
 - I don't need USB transfer, strictly speaking. If you can upgrade the firmware via the flash card, that's good enough for me.
 - I don't need to charge the batteries while inside the unit. I'd use my external charger anyway. It would still nice to have a DC jack, for external powering, but you could eliminate any built-in charging ciruit.

[page]

Talking about which features to get rid of:
 - I don't need USB transfer, strictly speaking. If you can upgrade the firmware via the flash card, that's good enough for me.
 - I don't need to charge the batteries while inside the unit. I'd use my external charger anyway. It would still nice to have a DC jack, for external powering, but you could eliminate any built-in charging ciruit.

Ditto on both, I don't need a USB slot with removable media, and I don't need a charging circuit with AA batteries (and I'll echo the remark of a DC power jack to use external power would be nice).

[it-goes-to-eleven]

Better a/d and line-in performance when used with external pre-amps.  Closer to what the 722 provides.  That includes audio quality, lower noise levels, and better handling of hot signals (+25 DbFS).

As far as digi in goes.. I really don't care much because there aren't many good portable a/d's available.   But more alternatives to the mt are needed.

[kirk97132]

Make standard the ability to accept AND pass through various clocking hook ups regardless of the audio input to the deck.  IE the same feature that the HD-P2 has.  So you can sync clocks while using a separate audio input.