Topic: Edirol R-44 - 4 Channel Recorder (Part II)

[Ozpeter]

the headphone monitor pre-amp seems low

Perhaps it suits certain headphone impedances/sensitivities best.  Here it seems perfectly adequate for someone wishing to preserve their hearing!  I was sitting about 6 inches from the PA speakers at last nights event but the headphone sound was entirely distinguishable from the ambient sound.

[ascouserinnewyork]

When did you place your order?

I ordered mine back in February when Sweetwater announced they would be getting it 'soon'. There list was $795 back then.... then the price went up - I dropped the 'price increase' post in the original Edirol R-44 thread - when I spoke with SW they said that they would honour the price I ordered at.

Do you know if they'll still match that price?

Not at all. 

[Rick]

Ok I finally posted a sample of the stock pre-amps for a "rock band". Sorry the band sucks 

http://rick.texastapers.org/sample.flac

Source:  Beyerdynamic MC930 > Edirol R-44 (24/44)
            DIN about 8' feet up, DFC hanging from the ceiling about 15' from the stage.
Lineage: Edirol R-44 > USB > Sound Forge 9.0 (24bit > 16bit) > CDWave > xACT

This was recorded at Momo's in Austin and is a smallish bar.

[digifish_music]

Ok I finally posted a sample of the stock pre-amps for a "rock band". Sorry the band sucks 

http://rick.texastapers.org/sample.flac

Source:  Beyerdynamic MC930 > Edirol R-44 (24/44)
            DIN about 8' feet up, DFC hanging from the ceiling about 15' from the stage.
Lineage: Edirol R-44 > USB > Sound Forge 9.0 (24bit > 16bit) > CDWave > xACT

This was recorded at Momo's in Austin and is a smallish bar.

Thanks for sharing, can you post up some of the 'quiet' between songs?

PS: the band wasn't that bad

digifish

[digifish_music]

Just for kicks here is a 192 kHz @ 24 bit recording from my R44 using a pair of Audio Technica AT3032 mics.

Target = Spanner dropped onto a concrete floor 

www.digifishmusic.com/public/sounds/196kHzSpanner.wav (ignore the 196, was 192 as pointed out by TSM    )

The highest harmonic I can see in my spectrum analyzer is ~45 kHz. This wont play in most players, you will need some audio editing software most likely.



...but it sounds much more interesting slowed 16X

http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=54265

digifish

[RobC]

I just ordered one
Hopefully it will be here tommorrow,  I will do a little at home testing,  than use it this weekend for some work this weekend

[TSM]

Just for kicks here is a 196 kHz @ 24 bit

You must have the R-44 mark 2 model because mine only goes upto 192KHZ......

Love the 16x speed sample !

 

[digifish_music]

Just for kicks here is a 196 kHz @ 24 bit

You must have the R-44 mark 2 model because mine only goes upto 192KHZ......

Love the 16x speed sample !

 

Woops Fixed.

16X slow, yes this is about the only reason I can think of using sample rates over 48 kHz is to transpose these harmonics down into the audible range. It does give the slowed sample a richer set of harmonics to work with.

digifish

[sonidista]

OK, here are some impressions after working with the R-44 for over 10 days in a film shoot, int and ext.

+ menu is easy and quick to use, kept simple, all you need. File and take numbering is relatively fast to use and really useful for film shoots.
+ display is nice, though hard to read in plain sunlight. I like the menu and display much more than those of Sound Devices recorders and such.
+ using SD cards was the greatest idea! The use is so fast and uncomplicated and silent! Unit can record wthin less than 5 seconds after powering up.
+ Headphone output (using a Sennheiser HD 25 which is closed and the loudest headphones I know) seems really good and loud enough.

- BIGGEST bummer was battery life. 4 hours my a**. I almost always used a preamp so I recorded one channel @ 48/24 without phantom and on first preamp level (-2 dB). Recording time with decent batteries never even got close to 4 hours, so I mainly powered it using the adaptor. I imagine that record 4 channels with phantom will last you less than an hour for a set of batteries. So start thinking about alternative powering options (I will power it from my portable mixer that has a big NP1 battery attached). The manual's note saying the used AA batteries because they can be bought everywhere seems like a bit of a joke in that way, because if I really wanna go record somewhere in the jungle for two weeks I will have to pack a whole bag of AAs, which is not so practical.
- preamps sounded a bit noisy when cranked up to -44 dB. Might be the mics, too (Oktava MK012). Still tolerable though.
- Not really a minus to me, but if you're going to use them, the internal mics are damn noisy! Unusable to my ears! More of a gimmick there, as well as the internal speakers that are pretty low level.

IMPROVEMENT SUGGESTIONS
: Routing shortcuts would be nice (see Sound Devices Recorders), e.g. press stop and play at the same time to toggle number recording tracks.
: Also one thing that could be fixed: Why can't I record 1x Stereo and 1 mono or 1x Stereo and 2xmono?
: As said by others before, more monitoring options would be nice.

I have yet to use my R-44 for music recording, but so far, even with the little flaws mentioned above, I must say I love it! For the price it's definitely unbeatable!

[sonidista]

can someone post a link to the ominous "DVD batteries"?

[digifish_music]

- preamps sounded a bit noisy when cranked up to -44 dB. Might be the mics, too (Oktava MK012). Still tolerable though.
- Not really a minus to me, but if you're going to use them, the internal mics are damn noisy! Unusable to my ears! More of a gimmick there, as well as the internal speakers that are pretty low level.

Nice summary, thanks...

-44 dB is the maximum level I can run without noticeable hiss, above that it is definitely audible in comparison to a MixPre.

Agreed about the internal mics, they seem as bad as the R09. I hoped they would be better.

EDIT: What were you recording BTW spoken voice?

digifish

[Ozpeter]

I imagine that record 4 channels with phantom will last you less than an hour for a set of batteries.

I'm sure I got more than two hours in that situation - maybe the post was in the previous R-44 thread, on the last page or so.  Rather depends on the batteries and the mics.  Here I use 2650mAh rechargeable Duracells.  And a compact "Tevion" external lithium polymer battery pack*, which seamlessly hands over to the internal batteries when it shuts itself off near discharge.  So far on concert recording that combo has easily met my needs.

Why can't I record 1x Stereo and 1 mono or 1x Stereo and 2xmono?

  Indeed.  Because of the monitoring constraints it would be handy also to be able to record on channel 4 without recording on channel 3 (when doing stereo plus one mono, recorded as 3xmono).

the internal mics are damn noisy!

Heh, I discovered that for myself yesterday when using the internal mics for a test of sync vs a Zoom H2.   The H2 built in mic recording was significantly quieter than the R-44 built in mic recording.   They'd be better than nothing in some situations though - eg the other day I had to record an interview where the interviewer had spent weeks researching the subject, and there was only one chance - in a cafe - to get the recording, and time was very tight.  My "plan B" was to use the R-44 and the H2 at the same time, plonked on the table using their own mics, and that way I would be covered if one or other recording got corrupted or whatever.  In the end I was able to plug a couple of Naiant lavaliers into the R-44 so didn't have to use its built-ins (but still ran the H2 as well).

As discussed above, I don't have any issue with preamp noise on the R-44 - as far as I'm concerned, working with classical music, the chances of having to use high enough gain to show the noise in practical situations are zero.  You'd have to be doing nature recording in the middle of nowhere for it to become a real issue IMHO.

*Tevion model ABS-102 Portable battery pack, 8800mAh, 7 voltages, sold by Aldi stores recently in Australia, now I think out of stock.  If you see them resurface, check them out!  http://www.unisupport.net/lang/au/portable_battery_pack.html has details.

[mfoley]

- BIGGEST bummer was battery life. 4 hours my a**. I almost always used a preamp so I recorded one channel @ 48/24 without phantom and on first preamp level (-2 dB). Recording time with decent batteries never even got close to 4 hours, so I mainly powered it using the adaptor. I imagine that record 4 channels with phantom will last you less than an hour for a set of batteries. So start thinking about alternative powering options (I will power it from my portable mixer that has a big NP1 battery attached). The manual's note saying the used AA batteries because they can be bought everywhere seems like a bit of a joke in that way, because if I really wanna go record somewhere in the jungle for two weeks I will have to pack a whole bag of AAs, which is not so practical.
- preamps sounded a bit noisy when cranked up to -44 dB. Might be the mics, too (Oktava MK012). Still tolerable though.
- Not really a minus to me, but if you're going to use them, the internal mics are damn noisy! Unusable to my ears! More of a gimmick there, as well as the internal speakers that are pretty low level.

Try Eveready e-lithium...you can get close to six hours of record time with 4 channels of phantom activated...

[vegas06]

can someone post a link to the ominous "DVD batteries"?

You also may want to take a look at the Tekkeon myPower Batteries.  Although on the expensive side, they should last you a long time.

http://tekkeon.com/site/products-mypowerall.php

I used to use these with my R-4 and it would run for over 12 hours.  So I figure the R-44 should run even longer being SD driven and not hard drive driven, as it requires less power draw than the R-4 did.

[Rick]

can someone post a link to the ominous "DVD batteries"?

5400mAh - $39.99
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/375503-REG/Initial_RB270_RB_270_Universal_Rechargeable_Battery.html

8000mah - $49.99
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/480307-REG/Impact_BPD8000_BPD_8000_Universal_Portable_Li_Ion.html