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Gear / Technical Help => Recording Gear => Topic started by: tbone65 on February 12, 2023, 12:38:56 PM
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Just trying to reach out to other users who have this model. CENTRANCE r4 . I have this recorder and I love using it because how small and stealthy it is. Just wondering if anyone else out there uses it try to start a group of users that have this model.
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I still have an R4R that gets occasional use
small, easy to power and operate with decent mic preamps
I would NOT buy one now for my purposes though with other recorders out like the ZOOM F3
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R4D is newer than the R4R, has USB "C", slightly better battery life, and slightly different LED layout. I love both decks the R4R and R4D, they are great sounding tanks, but have to reluctantly agree with Darby, I find the Zoom F3 a better choice these days.
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I just picked one up. They have versions that record to SD card as well as phone, and also a version that is phone only (no SD writer).
- It's smallish, 8hrs of internal battery, 2XLR inputs with phantom power.
- New version coming out soon that has analog limiters too.
- Balanced outputs (1/8" connectors) that skip ADDA conversion (confirmed by the company president, who answers emails). So you can run it as a tiny self-powered external preamp. This is why I wanted it, as it's a lot smaller than a Shure FP24 to expand the MixPre-6 to channel 5/6.
- It's pro-durable unlike zoom. On YouTube, they have videos of running it over with a car.
But:
- Limited metering (just an LED light that tells you if you hit -6)
- I did blind A/B tests using matched stereo pairs of MK21 and also CM4 and OM1 on soprano voice, one mic connected to R4R and the other to MixPre-6, mic capsules within 3" of each other for each stereo pair. Identical cables, and both recording at 24bit/48khz. The soprano could tell with 100% accuracy which mic was recorded via Mixerface and which went through MixPre. I didn't believe it, so i swapped the mics and cables, and she could still tell. In all A/B tracks, she *slightly* preferred the MixPre (she described it as more full and less linear... I think that means converters?). For what it's worth, I cannot reliably tell the A/B tests apart.
- I should note that they have improved the pre's as well since Mixerface version I have.
I'll still run it as a stealth 2ch recorder+phantom+pre's.
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An Optical Limiter is not a meter
https://www.izotope.com/en/learn/an-introduction-to-limiters-and-how-to-use-them.html
In this case it to eliminate meter-obsessing and level-riding.
It is more like auto-compression or auto-level control, but sounds different.
We can assume that it is optimized for speech on a device like this.
Being digital, it can go very fast, so it may be fine
Play around recording complex, loud material and listen to the results
It should be interesting
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An Optical Limiter is not a meter
Of course. I was saying that all of their current units have limited meters (just 2 LED's that tell you if it's getting any signal and if you're breaking -6 i.e. in danger of clipping). You can get 'good' meters by connecting a phone and using the app interface.
Their new model, which has not shipped yet, has a new feature: limiters (they say they are optical analog limiters). All of the current/previous R4, R4R, R4D, etc. don't have any limiters.