Topic: Zoom F8

[goodcooker]

If anyone gets one of these and DOESN'T like it give me a shout out. I'll take it off your hands.

I get the opportunity to do multichannel sometimes and this deck plus a 6 channel TRS snake looks like the way to go.

Only bummer for me is that the only two things that require external power for me in my current rig (the Reference Audio Designs Preamp and the DR60d) both take 5V so I'll have to pony up for new external power. When I do multitrack I usually have acccess to AC mains so not that big a deal.

Anyone run it off AAs yet?

[hoserama]

One of my concerns is with the level knobs--looks easy to knock around, especially when you're not able to secure it in best location. Is there a software way to disable the knobs? I thought I saw something like that in the manual but don't quite remember.

Anybody get a chance to give the bluetooth controls some real practice?

[jbell]

I've been thinking about the F8 for 4 channels or more!!  I think I'll wait a bit and see how it plays out for the early adopters.  I don't trust my 70d and don't expect tascam to rush to fix the card issues.  Look forward to hearing more recordings with the F8.

I'm on Pro Sound's wait list... can't believe I'm about to be a Zoomie but hey, the times are changin'...

I could've used that BT level monitoring twice this week, too.

I wondered if you'd gotten it yet.  Yeah, I hear you about the mental hurdle of actually buying a Zoom product, but seriously that whole thought process goes away almost immediately after you get your hands on it and fire it up.  If nothing else, all those pretty lights it makes are so much fun to watch in the dark!

Yeah -- I emailed Justin at Pro Sound right after going through your PMs about it. It just seems like the right fit as long as it works. I'd love to have a Sonosax/Aeta/SD machine, but SD doesn't really make something current-generation that does what I want it to do, and the there's also the cost. I can buy Aeta and Sonosax pres in the YS and still save $$$ over their units....

[WiFiJeff]

One of my concerns is with the level knobs--looks easy to knock around, especially when you're not able to secure it in best location. Is there a software way to disable the knobs? I thought I saw something like that in the manual but don't quite remember.

Hardware: you push stop at the same time as one of the pfl buttons to disable all the level knobs, push 'em again to re-enable.

[Brian Skalinder]

Hardware: you push stop at the same time as one of the pfl buttons to disable all the level knobs, push 'em again to re-enable.

I could definitely see myself not quite pressing them at the same time and stopping my recording.   

[Jhurlbs81]

Hardware: you push stop at the same time as one of the pfl buttons to disable all the level knobs, push 'em again to re-enable.

I could definitely see myself not quite pressing them at the same time and stopping my recording.   

Seriously, I would be terrified of using that!

[stevetoney]

Hardware: you push stop at the same time as one of the pfl buttons to disable all the level knobs, push 'em again to re-enable.

I could definitely see myself not quite pressing them at the same time and stopping my recording.   

Seriously, I would be terrified of using that!

I'll double check this and report back.  The pfl buttons have a very definite click to them so i think that might be the key to not screwing this up.

[voltronic]

If they have this function, then it seems logical to me that they could easily introduce channel ganging.  This could be done in the menus, but it seems like a quick shortcut could work also.  Here's how I would do it:

Hold PFL for the channel that will be the master control of your ganged channels.  (... and in the darkness, bind them.)  Holding a certain number of seconds will pop up "channel gang mode" on screen and the PFL switch may then be released.
Press and release the PFL for each slave channel  (ex.: Hold channel 1, press and release 2, 3, and 4 and now those four channels are controlled by the channel 1 gain pot.) 
To un-slave channels, repeat the above steps toggling the slaved channels off.

Regarding the STOP + PFL shortcut, why couldn't they just use PLAY + PFL instead since hitting PLAY on its own while recording probably wouldn't do anything?

[stevetoney]

I checked a couple things out tonight.

The level hold function...it can only be implemented before you hit the record button.  It won't work once recording is started. 

I tested the continuous save feature.  It turns out its not a true continuous save.  The unit will write data up to within the last minute of losing power.  So for example, what i did was played the F8 for 58 seconds and unplugged power.  Nothing was saved.  I repeated and this time let the recording go for 63 seconds and the second time 60 seconds was saved.

[stevetoney]

Under the F8 main menu item entitled 'SD Card', there are three options 1) Information 2) Performance Test and 3) Format.  For the performance test, there are two choices 1) Quick Test and 2) Full Test.  The quick test takes perhaps 20 or 30 seconds to perform and the full test takes around 47 minutes per 16gb card. 

I did the quick test on all of the SD and micro-SD cards that I own and here are the results.

SD Cards
OK - PNY Premium 32gb Class 4
OK - Sandisk Ultra Plus 16gb Class 10 (40mb/s)
OK - Lexar Plantinum II 64gb Class 10 (200x)
OK - Sandisk SDHC Card 32gb Class 4
OK - PNY Premium 16gb Class 4
NG - Patriot LX Series 128gb Class 10

Micro-SD Cards in an SD Card adapter
OK - Adata 32gb Class 4
OK - Sandisk 16gb Class 4
OK - Sandisk Ultra Plus 64gb Class 10
Invalid Card - PNY 128gb Class 10
OK - Sandisk Ultra 8gb Class 10

In the past couple of years, I've purchased two fake micro-SD cards.  I was curious how the F8 would read those.  In one case, it wouldn't even recognize that an SD card was inserted into the slot, in the other case it returned the 'invalid card' message. 

It's interesting that the only two cards that didn't pass were the 128gb cards.  For what it's worth, both of these cards were the cheapest cards I could find when I mail-ordered them (one from Newegg and one from B&H).  There's probably a lesson there.  I use the PNY micro-SD card in my Fiio X3 player...the card is close to being full and it seems to function fine in my player so I'm not sure why it showed as an invalid card in the Zoom, say rather than the unit testing the card and returning a NG result.

I'd love to hear other owners' results, especially which 128gb cards you might be getting an OK test with. 

[voltronic]

In the past couple of years, I've purchased two fake micro-SD cards.

While maybe too late for you, these links may help others:

http://www.ebay.com/gds/FAKE-SanDisk-Ultra-Secure-Digital-Cards-Exposed-/10000000001254879/g.html
http://rmprepusb.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-faster-test-for-fake-sd-cards-and-usb.html

[df]

This is a long thread and I haven't read it all, but does the recorder have any backup features, or issues with saving files in case of power failure/batteries?

[acidjack]

This is a long thread and I haven't read it all, but does the recorder have any backup features, or issues with saving files in case of power failure/batteries?

Short-short answer, yes, Steve tested that. It has to run for at least 1 min I believe before the backup starts working...

[404 Not Found]

On a different note, anyone notice the price increase for the F8 now that the pre-order is over.  WOW!

[jbell]

Still $999 on B & H and Sweetwater!

On a different note, anyone notice the price increase for the F8 now that the pre-order is over.  WOW!