Topic: Zoom H4

[muj]

stealthing has become so much easier now huh? heheheh

[mmmatt]

with a 2gb card size limit it isn't much more than a 16 bit recorder for what we do.  The lack of digi in makes it mostly only suited for stealthing, unless the adc and analog componants are high quality.  I'll be interested in seeing what this thing can do but I'm not throwing my dough out there for something like this unless it is proven.  Though a new type of product like this should be marketable on ebay for slightly less than the investment if it is a flop for what we do.
     I'll be interested to see how these things work out but I'm a bit pesimistic at this point.  With all the usless (to us) features crammed into this thing and the price point, I can't immagine it is going to be the holy grail of recording devices.  My initial interest in it was based on the "4-track" capabilities of it, but we already know it isn't a 4 track recorder.

Matt

[floete]

what would you do?  i just got the edirol r-09 and like it quite a bit.  but maybe the h4's going to be cat's-meow--x--4 better.  who knows?  that being the case, if you had thirty days in which to return the edirol would you do so and wait to see how the zoom product is?  i don't have a pressing need for a recorder like this at the moment, so either way would be fine w me.
   anyone have any idea about size differences?

[lbgspam]

Damn! Why didn't anyone mention this when I asked about what digital recorder to buy!
My Eridol R-09 arrives Friday.  Should I returnin  it within the 30 day return period to wait on what the reviews are on this unit?

[kgreener]

Damn! Why didn't anyone mention this when I asked about what digital recorder to buy!
My Eridol R-09 arrives Friday.  Should I returnin  it within the 30 day return period to wait on what the reviews are on this unit?

probably because nobody knows a thing about it yet, whereas the R-09 has been somewhat proven in the field.  i knew about the Zoom H4 in advance but still got an R-09 myself a few days ago.  I had the same concerns but decided to go with the Edirol as i read so many nice things about it.  Relax man...it'll all work out in the end.  if you want to return the R-09 in 30 days by all means do so.  i just got a notice from B&H this morning that said they're taking H4 pre-orders and it should arrive early October so maybe you'll have time to check out both.

peace and +t

[vegas06]

Yeah, I have had a pre-order with sweetwater.com for about a month now, and was told to expect delivery late Septmember or early Octobber.

[uglybassplayer]

Samson's website says that the H4 is capable of providing phantom power, but it doesn't specifiy whether it's 48volts.  They also say it can run for 4 hours on 2 AA batteries... I wonder if that's with phantom power engaged or not.

- Frank.

[lbgspam]

Damn! Why didn't anyone mention this when I asked about what digital recorder to buy!
My Eridol R-09 arrives Friday.  Should I returnin  it within the 30 day return period to wait on what the reviews are on this unit?

probably because nobody knows a thing about it yet, whereas the R-09 has been somewhat proven in the field.  i knew about the Zoom H4 in advance but still got an R-09 myself a few days ago.  I had the same concerns but decided to go with the Edirol as i read so many nice things about it.  Relax man...it'll all work out in the end.  if you want to return the R-09 in 30 days by all means do so.  i just got a notice from B&H this morning that said they're taking H4 pre-orders and it should arrive early October so maybe you'll have time to check out both.

peace and +t

Thanks for the calming words.

I guess for me it really doesn't make a difference. I don't need Phantom power, so unless the A->D and mic-pre are amazinglly better than the R-09, for my usasge it won't make a difference. 

[digifish_music]

Thanks for the calming words.

I guess for me it really doesn't make a difference. I don't need Phantom power, so unless the A->D and mic-pre are amazinglly better than the R-09, for my usasge it won't make a difference. 

I am definitely interested in the XLR connectors, these will be an order of magnitude more robust than the R-09 1/8th mini-jacks and will allow me to plug my Rode NT-4 straight in (balanced). This unit's design looks perfect and is long overdue. I'd expect the next generation of Edirol/M-Audio products to follow suit.

Regards Scott

[twoheadedboy]

I have to say I'm skeptical about this recorder. In my experience as a guitar player, Zoom has been the maker of cheap effects pedals in the flimsiest casings you've ever seen (contrast with Edirol, made by the same company that makes the indestructible Boss stompboxes), and the picture seems to indicate that this is the case. The feature set they're offering and price seems to be a little too good to be true. I'll bet those mics are crap, and/or the pre's are noisy, etc. I'll be receiving my R-09 next week and will have no doubts that it will be superior in every way to this recorder, other than lack of USB input, 96khz (which won't matter anyway if the pre's suck), and XLR jacks. MAYBE this will be a more effective bit bucket than the Microtrack, but that is my most optimistic hope for this device.

Believe me, I've been taping for 8 years, the R-09 is as close to perfect as a stealth recorder has ever come that was under $500 (my Oade mod PCM-M1 was awesome but darn pricey, and didn't do 24-bit ), and just by looking at the Zoom model, I can tell that's not going to change.

[eric.B]

I'll bet those mics are crap, and/or the pre's are noisy, etc. I'll be receiving my R-09 next week and will have no doubts that it will be superior in every way to this recorder, other than lack of USB input, 96khz (which won't matter anyway if the pre's suck), and XLR jacks. MAYBE this will be a more effective bit bucket than the Microtrack, but that is

hm... I dont see what noisy pre's have to do with sounding good at 96khz.. with "noisy pre's", I would imagine it would effect all bitrates/khz..    and..  well.. without a digi in, I highly doubt it..

[SClassical]

Don't understand why manufacturers bother to put cheap mics on these recorders. I doubt any serious recorder who records at 24/96 want to record with those mics. It's such a waste of money/space/resources putting mics on high end recorders. Having a digital in would have been better/cheaper/ and more beneficial for us and them. I guess they spent a lot of time/money researching and developing those useless mics. Could have made the recorder even cheaper and smaller by removing those mics.

[digifish_music]

Don't understand why manufacturers bother to put cheap mics on these recorders. I doubt any serious recorder who records at 24/96 want to record with those mics. It's such a waste of money/space/resources putting mics on high end recorders.

Well most serious recorders are in the minority compared to those who want to record lectures, meetings, jam-sessions or practice. I have sold 4 R-09s and 3 were to women and 1 was to a student (French Horn player). All were recording themselves playing their acoustic instruments 3 guitar players 1 French horn. By eliminating the internal mics they would be seriously limiting the market for their recorders.

Regards Scott
www.digifishmusic.com

[SClassical]

Don't understand why manufacturers bother to put cheap mics on these recorders. I doubt any serious recorder who records at 24/96 want to record with those mics. It's such a waste of money/space/resources putting mics on high end recorders.

Well most serious recorders are in the minority compared to those who want to record lectures, meetings, jam-sessions or practice. I have sold 4 R-09s and 3 were to women and 1 was to a student (French Horn player). All were recording themselves playing their acoustic instruments 3 guitar players 1 French horn. By eliminating the internal mics they would be seriously limiting the market for their recorders.

Regards Scott
www.digifishmusic.com

Totally understand, but those people can get a cheap little $9.99 mic from ebay. R-09 is good because the mics are sort of hidden or only take less than 10 % of the total recorder space. But the H4 mics sticks out as if it is a major part of the recorder. The MT doesn't even have a built in mic and I don't think that's M Audio's major complaint from MT users. I think users care about price and size more than built in mic feature.

[Jamos]

I can't take my eyes off of it.  The XLRs, P48V, 24 bit, the size, ........ the whole schnizzle.   

Yeah, w/the exception of the XLR's, it's got the same expectations as the MT 2496...

and of course we know what happened there...