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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: igene on January 30, 2010, 10:38:17 PM
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Ok.
So I see this deck for sale and it looks to be a solid basic recorder.
No mics, just recorder. up to 320 Kps MP3 and 44.1k/16 bit WAVE
mic in / line in... boost and pad for recording...levels (adjustable)
SD recorder + Plug in USB flash memory and record to that.
Runs on 4 AA batteries (but how long)?
(no hold button)
Anyone have any info on this? looks good...
they sell for about $125.
here are the specs>
IKEY M3 Product Description
Portable digital recorder with color display, records from any stereo or mono line or microphone level audio source directly to supported USB storage devices or to the included SD card. Features 1/8" headphone/line output for instant playback & easy monitoring, 1/8" mic input, rotary volume control, 1/8” line input, records up to 320kbps MP3 files and WAV files. Download to a computer with the included USB cable. Batteries included.
Includes:
* USB Cable for connecting to computer
* (4) AAA Batteries
Features:
* Full color LCD screen
* Records from any MONO or STEREO line source
* Records 128, 256 and 320 kbps MP3 files and 44.1 WAV files
* Record direct to the included 1 GB SD card
* SDHC compatible
* Record direct to USB key drive (not included)*
* 1/8-inch (3.5mm Jack) headphone/line output
* 1/8-inch (3.5mm Jack) line input
* 1/8-inch (3.5mm Jack) mic input
* Input gain switch with 3 input gain levels – 20 db, 0 db and +10 db
* Adjustable record level with digital input VU
* Easily playback previously recorded media
* Rotary headphone volume control
* Easily download to a computer with the included USB cable
* Batteries Included
* Stand mountable (Stand not included)
* AC adaptor (not included)
* *Compatible with FAT and FAT32 format only
* Weight: 0.26 Lbs (0.11 kg)
* Dimensions: (W x D x H) 2.5” x 1.06” x 4.52” (65 x 27 x 115mm)
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/dd852ab8-8fa4-459e-b6fa-bdc7a9af625.jpg)
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/d804511c-cece-4c9d-9355-7d817009243.jpg)
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/bb309d74-252e-46bf-97ec-8131c10ae02.jpg)
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/baa5b8b5-2795-449b-8922-5c3159860cb.jpg)
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/93b8b615-dfb8-42b4-a5e4-f480507f963.jpg)
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/8cb8355f-94a7-42a7-937d-4b0fa097099.jpg)
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/74666801-1505-42c4-8793-5e77c07f883.jpg)
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/536c793c-3677-451d-b7da-7604a9b4c22.jpg)
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/3a96fc25-1ae8-4545-b5d5-811ec3439a7.jpg)
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/2d998006-c8bd-4477-bc08-eabfdeb5ef6.jpg)
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/19ec1be0-0b25-42ed-8a9f-ec6b00419f2.jpg)
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I saw this too....I wonder what kinda quality it has.....
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The best price I found on this deck is $106.20 / shipped.
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Just out of curiosity, but what about this deck attracts you more than, say, the DR-07, which can record at higher sampling rates and is about same price?
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dual media (SD, USB flash), Easy battery and media access, small size, basic layout
jacks are in a good spot for stealthing.
(don't care about 24 bit, 16 is fine)
Made by Gemini - so probably built pretty well.
New toy,
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Just out of curiosity, but what about this deck attracts you more than, say, the DR-07, which can record at higher sampling rates and is about same price?
Jack beat me to the draw. Get a DR-07. This looks better than the previous junk that iKey made, but I'd bet 1000-1 it isn't as easy to use and doesn't make as good recordings as a DR-07.
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I'm sure Tascam has their shit together...
I have a collection of small decks and thought this
was an interesting recorder.
It's so bare bones that it's interesting.
Seems pretty straight forward.
Granted, I've never seen it or tested it.
that's why I'm fishing for someone who's done a hands on test.
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dual media (SD, USB flash), Easy battery and media access, small size, basic layout
jacks are in a good spot for stealthing.
(don't care about 24 bit, 16 is fine)
All these bells and whistles won't mean a thing compared to the quality of the inputs. Good AD, low noise on the line in, clean gain on the mic-in - this is what counts.
Ikey has a poor track record for their previous products (use the search function here). I'd wait until I have solid proof that the M3 is better.
Given that you can buy a DR-07 for $130 right now, it's a no-brainer:
http://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-TAS-DR07-LIST
(BTW, I found the M3 for $96 if you're dead set on it: http://www.fadfusion.com/selection.php?product_item_number=20026700672)
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thanks.
But I'd like to hear from someone who has actually played around with it.
All your points are valid, but for some reason I believe they've improved their product.
I saw the price at fadfusion, after shipping it's more. like $112 or something.
There is no rush on this, it just appealed to me, and I'd like to know more about it.
I have an R-09 for a stealth deck.
All my other small ones are DAT (D3,M1,D7 and a small Denon somewhere)
the others are much bigger - (R-01 and 660)
so... that's the deal.
someone must have tested one of these out.
It's been out for over 8 months. :o
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someone must have tested one of these out.
It's been out for over 8 months. :o
Answers your question doesn't it? ::)
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I have an R-09 for a stealth deck.
All my other small ones are DAT (D3,M1,D7 and a small Denon somewhere)
the others are much bigger - (R-01 and 660)
Are you saying you expect this to be better than an R-09 as a stealth deck? The R-09 is already a great stealth deck for loud sources and add an ST-9100 or UGLY and it's a great stealth deck for even acoustic performances (albeit a bit larger). If you want smaller than that, the DR-07 has been proven in the field.
I guarantee the I-Key is going to be junk and won't compare to a DR-07.
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I'm sure Tascam has their shit together...
I have a collection of small decks and thought this
was an interesting recorder.
It's so bare bones that it's interesting.
Seems pretty straight forward.
Granted, I've never seen it or tested it.
that's why I'm fishing for someone who's done a hands on test.
Looks like garbage, and i would venture a guess that no one here has used it, a dozen other choices for far better and a few in the price range, i would rather use a 6-7 year old ihp120 thats been sitting for 4 years than to pick up this POS
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Well, I guess that's what I wanted to know.
But still everyone is guessing w/o having tried the "POS".
I know Gemini is like a mid-line brand... but if you don't ask - you don't know.
I go by - "I'll try anything once" - so that's also why this peaked my interest.
It's real utilitarian looking, much different than all the other recorders out there.
I'd still like to know if anyone has any hands on.
Oh, BTW - I just want a small backup deck in case of problems.
My R-09 is a champ.
I just like to be prepared.
What about a Tascam DR-08 ? > ($150.+ s/h)
;D
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/TAS-DR-08.jpg)
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Well, I guess that's what I wanted to know.
But still everyone is guessing w/o having tried the "POS".
I know Gemini is like a mid-line brand... but if you don't ask - you don't know.
I go by - "I'll try anything once" - so that's also why this peaked my interest.
It's real utilitarian looking, much different than all the other recorders out there.
I'd still like to know if anyone has any hands on.
Oh, BTW - I just want a small backup deck in case of problems.
My R-09 is a champ.
I just like to be prepared.
What about a Tascam DR-08 ? > ($150.+ s/h)
;D
(http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z48/igene_01/art/recorder/TAS-DR-08.jpg)
I would blinly trust the tascam over that other "thing"
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I know Gemini is like a mid-line brand...
What about a Tascam DR-08 ? > ($150.+ s/h)
I-Key is not a mid line brand, at least as far as recorders-they've been junk.
Now you're thinking in the right direction. Very good chance of being a good product. I won't buy anything anymore until a few other TSers have tested and reported, however, since I blindly bought a Zoom H4 without hearing reports. This uses AA batteries which makes me wonder if the battery life could be less than hoped. They provide much less run time then AA's, so I'd want to hear reports. It's probably fine though, given Tascam's track record. I doubt if they'd use AA"s unless they could get at least 6-8 hours out of them, which would be enough for my purposes..
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someone must have tested one of these out.
It's been out for over 8 months. :o
Answers your question doesn't it? ::)
I don't get this. Ikey launched a bunch of stuff (incl. the M3) over a year ago at NAMM 2009, but they haven't bothered to update their website ever since. Granted that the new products only have been shipping since December:
http://www.ikey-audio.com/namm.html
No product page, no specs, nothing. And the welcome page says "Under construction - coming soon December 2009".
Kinda tells you what customer support you can expect from them. ::)
Anyway, here are two reviews for you. Not that they say anything useful though, just the usual marketing regurgitation...
http://translate.google.com/translate?js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=1&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazona.de%2Findex.php%3Fpage%3D29%26do%3Ddetail%26news_id%3D1093&sl=de&tl=en
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.player.de%2F2009%2F12%2F04%2Faufnehmen-und-abspielen-gleichzeitig-mobiler-digitalrekorder-ikey-audio-m3%2F
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Thanks for the bit of research.
Written poorly by non english speaking ad person.
I appreciate any bits of info everyone has supplyed so far...
but I don't want anyone to think I have no idea what good recording
decks are. I've been taping since '87 and have owned many good decks
(most of which I still own).
I just didn't know anything about Ikey-audio other than being aware
of their USB recorder device.
I'm not totally convinced it's a POS, but I'm not buying it as of now.
I still want someone to say - "hey, I bought it and love it" or "this thing just sucks ass..every time I ..."
>you know what I mean.
too bad Casio doesn't make decks anymore.
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someone must have tested one of these out.
It's been out for over 8 months. :o
Answers your question doesn't it? ::)
I'm just saying Sun, that a site like this where basically any piece of gear that works decent or above for recording has been tried, this piece has not even been touched. IF I were looking at gear and no one here had tried it I'd pass over it based on that alone
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fair enough.
Just trying to get an assessment.
Never even knew this existed.
just had to poke around.
[you never know!]
I've been looking at the DR-07, is it basically like an R-09 by Tascam?
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I've been looking at the DR-07, is it basically like an R-09 by Tascam?
Yup, they're quite comparable:
http://www.wingfieldaudio.com/compare-full-view.html
Many users prefer R-09HR, based on lower noise, smaller cubic footprint and 96kHz sample frequency. But if you're willing to settle for less, the DR-07 is still great value for money.
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Hey, I think I can help answer some of your questions...
I bought an M3 on Musician's Friend about a month ago. I've been using it at my band's rehearsal space along with a Sterling Audio condenser mic into the Line Input. With this setup, recording as a 16-bit, 44.1 kHz Sampling, we get some really good audio... definitely demo quality with just a single room mic. I've also used it to record my DJ sets, where I aux send into the M3 input... I usually do this on 320 kbps MP3... These come out really excellent, partially because it's just capturing audio that's already recorded, but it also has good transparency, as the recordings sounds REALLY close to their original recordings...
And for the price you can't beat this thing. I was looking around for a while and decided to give this thing a shot just based on the price. I am very happy with it. So happy that I'm thinking about picking up an HDR7 which is a similar unit from Ikey but with 24-bit and 96 kHz sampling with built-in X/Y condensers...
As for customer service, I can't really answer this because I haven't had any problems with my unit where I need to call them.
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Since I started this post, I have yet to buy a backup deck.
I still have a desire to get the M3.
Thanks for the review, it helps a lot.
You may want to look at the Tascam DR-08
It just came out. Around $160 - $175 range.
Built in mics that position into different patterns and they are directional mics.
lots of cool features - like a record timer. Set it to start whenever, and no battery drain.
http://www.tascam.com/products/dr-08.html
http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/category.cgi?item=TAS-DR-08&type=store
good luck.
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I bought an M3 on Musician's Friend about a month ago
With this setup, recording as a 16-bit, 44.1 kHz Sampling, we get some really good audio...
And for the price you can't beat this thing.
Actually, you can. Medeli DR2 (AKA Alesis Palmtrack) is retailing for $99 these days, and does 24/48 instead of Ikey's more limited specs. Not to say that the Palmtrack is a great device, just pointing out that there's fierce competition in this price bracket.
Or if you want to compare 16-bit recorders, pick up an Iriver on ebay for $80 or so. the Ikey doesn't stand a chance. ;D
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actually, since the last post - I bought a TEAC VR-10
It's the size I want with the same specs as DR-08 (w/ rec. start timer) 16 - 24 / 44.1 - 96
int. mics sound good and specs say 6 hour REC. time onto a microSD (takes up to 32GB card)
$150. from sound prof.
:headphones: :cheers: :coolguy:
SOLD :smash:!!!
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Don't buy the Ikey Audio M3!
I just got one from B&H on Friday. I used it for the first time today. The first recording stopped on its own after 1 minute. It recorded on the second try, but then the back-light on the screen shut off. I tried again a couple hours later and I couldn't even get it to power on. It did power on by itself about 30 minutes later since I mistakenly left it in the on position. It appears to be working properly again now, but I'm sending it back for a reliable unit.
In regards to power:
The batteries that came with it were dead. Ikey doesn't make a power supply, but I was able to buy one that fit the spec from radio shack. Kind of annoying.
I can't really speak to quality since the source might not have been the greatest. I did not like the user interface at all. It was clumsy with very few options or controls. I did discover in the manual that the controls can be locked by holding down the time and format buttons at the same time. The controls over all are very poor in quality and not very intuitive. The construction is overall cheap and the lcd screen was installed crooked.
After reading what others have said I think I'm going to spend another $30 and buy a Tascam DR-07 instead. I guess this is what I get for trying to be cheap.