Topic: Zoom F8

[stevetoney]

Well both recordings sound absolutely identical to me, and identically great at that. 

Argh.  Thanks and sorry about that.  I just finished uploading the corrected files.

 I'm sure you matched your levels well, so that part was surprising.

Not necessarily.  It was two - hour long sets and in the small room the dynamics were changing frequently since Poogie was hammering the daylights out of his drumset and drowning out everyone else then the next song he'd back off a little bit.  By the end of the first set I gave up trying to keep everything matched up and then I didn't spend hours mastering this up just to make sure every song has perfect balance throughout...that's why I linked to the whole set. 

[jbell]

Thanks for the comparison Steve!! 

[voltronic]

Well both recordings sound absolutely identical to me, and identically great at that. 

Argh.  Thanks and sorry about that.  I just finished uploading the corrected files.

 I'm sure you matched your levels well, so that part was surprising.

Not necessarily.  It was two - hour long sets and in the small room the dynamics were changing frequently since Poogie was hammering the daylights out of his drumset and drowning out everyone else then the next song he'd back off a little bit.  By the end of the first set I gave up trying to keep everything matched up and then I didn't spend hours mastering this up just to make sure every song has perfect balance throughout...that's why I linked to the whole set.

I get that.  Please don't think I was criticizing - both recordings sound really great - I just wanted to put a couple tracks through analysis to try and explain the differences I was hearing.  I've been listening to random tracks of the set, and I still prefer the PSP in the chain for what it does to the bass - it's almost as if the F8 direct track has a gentle LF rolloff on the lowest frequencies in comparison.  Note that I can only hear this through my sealed Sennheiser HD380 cans.  Other than that the sound between both recordings is very, very close.  The question is which one is more "accurate" to the sound you heard live?

I think you've definitely shown the pres on the F8 are high quality.  One thing for sure - this band is definitely awesome.  Never heard of them before - maybe they'll make it out to my side of the state sometime.

[stevetoney]

...

The question is which one is more "accurate" to the sound you heard live?

I'm not really sure. 

Like you, I hear little to no difference at all between the samples in the high frequencies.  While I would describe their character as close, I definitely prefer the PSP3 samples better as well.  The PSP3 sample has more air and soundstage.

In spite of the better air of the PSP3 samples, in some ways the non-PSP3 sample sounds more like what it sounded live.  As I was recording, my main concern for the recording was that the drums would dominate the recording and not let anything else through.  I know that my ears weren't hearing much else because the acoustic volume of Poogies playing was very loud.  On both recordings, the drums definitely dominate but less so on the PSP3 recording.

One thing for sure - this band is definitely awesome.  Never heard of them before - maybe they'll make it out to my side of the state sometime.

Unfortunately that's probably not very likely.  Jazzam has been a band for I think 15 years or so and they've always been based in Pittsburgh.  They traveled in the early years when the guys were young, but now they all have families.  I've always LOVED them and felt they deserved more recognition...alot more.  Their biggest gigs were All Good two years in a row...I think 2007 and 2008.  The band just never caught on real big, other than with a rabid group here in Pittsburgh.  I think when it didn't happen for them in the afterglow of All Good, a couple of the guys that were looking to make a life in music decided they needed to move on.  So, they announced and played their last gig with their best line-up on NYE of 2009.  Sniff...I still haven't recovered.  The drummer, keyboard player and singer have either moved away or are in different bands.  But the core of the band was two guys that now play in different projects, but those two guys, when they play together, will always consider themselves to be Jazzam. 

Jazzam made a comeback in 2012 as Jazzam 2.0 and they played around Pittsburgh somewhat irregularly through perhaps the end of 2013, but Marc the bass player was offered a full time gig in No Bad Juju (a popular Pittsburgh band that plays mostly covers and some originals).  With three sons and a wife, that gig paid the bills so Jazzam was once again put on the shelf. 

So, this recording was the first Jazzam set that's been played since I think October or November of 2013.   

Please do me a favor...and do yourself a favor...go onto archive and choose one of my recordings from...oh 2008 and find a song named 'Time Flies'.  It's one of my favorite instrumental songs of all time...by any band. 

Then once you're finished listening to that, check out a 2013 era song named 'Prime Time (lost my shit)'. 

Love these guys. 

EDITED:

Check Track 1:  https://archive.org/details/jazzam2008-01-26.km140

Check Track 9:  https://archive.org/details/jazzam2013-08-02.m934b_24bit

EDIT 2:

If you like the above, some of the other really strong songs from the 2008 time frame; That Jazz, Bafangool, Seben, and Opus One. 

[bdasilva]

I have batteries in the holder... From the system menu  I can see 10.4V... but the unit won't run off of batteries???  Any Ideas? Am I missing something?  This Brick is the coolest thing I've ever owned.

[connloyalist]

I found this review, posted yesterday (15 September 2015):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3wQAJpzd8w

Regards, Christine

[Ozpeter]

Great link, I'm watching and weeping...  if any of you guys decide to give yours away, let me know!

[stevetoney]

I have batteries in the holder... From the system menu  I can see 10.4V... but the unit won't run off of batteries???  Any Ideas? Am I missing something?  This Brick is the coolest thing I've ever owned.

You probably need to go into the menu and change the minimum voltage for the AAs.  It must have defaulted to something more than 10.4v.

[stevetoney]

I found this review, posted yesterday (15 September 2015):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3wQAJpzd8w

Regards, Christine

Thanks for the link. 

For the most part, I agree with his conclusions.  He did get one thing wrong though.  He either says or implies that you can't mix without the IOS app.  That's flat out wrong.  A couple of the menu screens are used for mixing and there are a few input menus as well.  That said, the app is probably easier and quicker to use than the menu screens. 

He also said a couple of things that I kinda take exception to...or at least will comment on from my perspective.

He expresses concern about the size of the knobs and that there's alot on the face of the unit.  I don't really think there's anything to worry about there.  At first I was also concerned about the possibility of pressing buttons accidentally while adjusting levels, but it's not an issue.  Also, I have really fat fingers and the level knobs, while small, aren't too small for me.  I do kinda wish they were cylindrical shaped instead of the shape they are, but that's just preference.

Finally, they keep making issues about the headphone amp.  For what we do, the concerns expressed is simply a non-issue.  In fact, the headphone monitoring capability is far superior to anything I've ever used.  From the overall volume level, to the ability to isolate channels, to the ability to choose pre and post fader (and therefore pre and post limiter/roll off) I find the overall functionality for monitoring to be an awesome function of this thing.

[MakersMarc]

Pretty good review. This thing looks good, but my really sole issues are 1) apparently bright preamps, a personal deal killer. But I have to hear. Might work for some but not with 4022s, 2) having to buy new  xlr>1/4 cables to run  a pre line in, because I wouldn't be using the preamps. Enough to make it not to work for me.

[stevetoney]

Pretty good review. This thing looks good, but my really sole issues are 1) apparently bright preamps, a personal deal killer. But I have to hear. Might work for some but not with 4022s, 2) having to buy new  xlr>1/4 cables to run  a pre line in, because I wouldn't be using the preamps. Enough to make it not to work for me.

Here's some feedback you might be able to use...I'm not sure. 

For the show that I recorded and posted links to on the previous page of this thread on the 12th (Jazzam at James Street), it was pretty darn loud in that room.  The knobs were positioned at around 10 o'clock or so for the majority of the evening for the mics that didn't have the preamp in front.  I was using XLRs, so mic in.

I'm not sure how your DPAs compare in sensitivity to my Schoeps.

I don't think the preamps are bright, but I'm a Schoeps guy and you're DPA so I may have a natural predilection to brightness.  If you're familiar with the native sound of a PSP3, the straight up Jazzam comp I refer to above should give some good indications.  I've also posted a number of shows from the weekend of Summerdance onto archive that didn't use the PSP3 in front, but I EQ my sources to taste so I can't say for sure at this point which were tweeked and by how much.  I just don't remember what I did to every show.

[MakersMarc]

Thanks for the info. A lot of people like to pair the dpas with bright pres, I've tried with v2>2k and v3 and grew to hate both. My ears have liked the psp2 148 and wmod661 best. And I'd guess this sound really nice with Schoeps no need for added warmth. I really need to listen.

[ricola]

Musicstore Thomann (Germany) told to have the Zoom F8 in stock tomorrow (21.09.2015)...so I'm looking forward to it.
However, I have some problems to find such an extern professional accu-pack with a 4pin Hirose connector?? With my Zoom H6 I can use nearly every extern accupack with a normal USB connector available at amazon (I use a Anker accu pack)
Is it not possible with F8??

[stevetoney]

Musicstore Thomann (Germany) told to have the Zoom F8 in stock tomorrow (21.09.2015)...so I'm looking forward to it.
However, I have some problems to find such an extern professional accu-pack with a 4pin Hirose connector?? With my Zoom H6 I can use nearly every extern accupack with a normal USB connector available at amazon (I use a Anker accu pack)
Is it not possible with F8??

The voltage from a USB connector is 5V, so you wouldn't be able to power the Zoom F8 from anything that connects to a USB port.  I plan to buy the hirose connector separately and make a cable to accommodate the batteries that I already have that provide at least 9V, since the spec at the hirose connector is for 9V to 16V input.  We have cable makers here on Taperssection that can make such a cable for you, or since you're in Germany I imagine there's a specialty electronics person or electronics repair person you could contact. 

Or if you're handy with a soldering iron and a multi-meter and you understand the concept of battery polarity, the diagrams you need to make your own cable are included in the manual.

[ricola]

Musicstore Thomann (Germany) told to have the Zoom F8 in stock tomorrow (21.09.2015)...so I'm looking forward to it.
However, I have some problems to find such an extern professional accu-pack with a 4pin Hirose connector?? With my Zoom H6 I can use nearly every extern accupack with a normal USB connector available at amazon (I use a Anker accu pack)
Is it not possible with F8??

The voltage from a USB connector is 5V, so you wouldn't be able to power the Zoom F8 from anything that connects to a USB port.  I plan to buy the hirose connector separately and make a cable to accommodate the batteries that I already have that provide at least 9V, since the spec at the hirose connector is for 9V to 16V input.  We have cable makers here on Taperssection that can make such a cable for you, or since you're in Germany I imagine there's a specialty electronics person or electronics repair person you could contact. 

Or if you're handy with a soldering iron and a multi-meter and you understand the concept of battery polarity, the diagrams you need to make your own cable are included in the manual.

Ok, I understand, thanks for the reply.
So, which kind of 12V DC Power do you use? And do you know a person who could make such a hirose 4pin cable for me that I can connect to the 12 V DC power output??
Do you mean such a cable:
http://www.markertek.com/product/hr4m-dcp21-03/hirose-hr10a-4pin-male-to-2-1mm-dc-plug-dc-out-power-cable-3ft

to connect it with such a powerbank:
http://www.amazon.de/RAVPower%C2%AE-23000mAh-Externer-Multi-Volt-Smartphones/dp/B00JGER8JW/ref=sr_1_16?ie=UTF8&qid=1442955159&sr=8-16&keywords=12+v+dc+akku

The external 12V accu that was shown at the Zoom F8 Video by Curtis Judd (Anton Bauer Digital 90 Gold Mount Battery) is really, really big and not portable for me...also quite expensive.
So I hope for a smaller and cheaper way to power the Zoom F8 for longer recording sessions.

PS: Btw, Thanks for the great Jazzam show with Poogie on drums, I saw him several times with his own Band here in different jazzclubs in Germany. Great funky (loud) stuff :-)