Topic: Edirol R-09 release information

[Nick's Picks]

while this is a great looking deck, and i'm sure its cool as hell...and even if it sounds kick ass...it is still limited to 3 hours of 16/48 recording time given the current 2gb SD limit.  that sinks the ship for me.

and 24bit?  what good is that when you can only do it for an hour?

not a good concert taping deck, yet.

[eskin]

I guess it depends on your recording needs, its a perfect device for stealth recording of Irish pub sessions.

Well, on 2 AA Alkalines, I was able to record over 6 (!) hours. Interestingly, the last recording stopped exactly at 3 hours so I don't know if that is a firmware limitation or just a coincidence. This was recording 320 kbit MP3. 

Thinking about it, 6 hours is about all you can get on a 1 Gig card at 320 kbit so I'm pretty sure I just filled the card. There was still 1/2 battery left on the meter in the morning. This is quite impressive compared to my experiences with the MT or the R1 where I was happy to get 3.5 hours on a charge.

Now running a test of battery life with two 2500 mAH NiMH...

[aberg]

while this is a great looking deck, and i'm sure its cool as hell...and even if it sounds kick ass...it is still limited to 3 hours of 16/48 recording time given the current 2gb SD limit.  that sinks the ship for me.

and 24bit?  what good is that when you can only do it for an hour?

not a good concert taping deck, yet.

It looks like soon it will be able to use 4gb SD cards. It sounds like Edirol isn't going to put a stamp of approval on 4gb until they've tested it with the cards... my guess is that if you bought a 4gb card and tried it, it would work. I think this will be a great taping deck, but I'm going to wait to hear about this 4gb issue, and also whether the digital level adjustment is alright? Generally I'd be using this behind a pre and would adjust the gain using the pre, and have the levels on the R-09 locked in to 0db, but if there's a noise as you adjust levels, that might not be so good...

[pjdavep]

while this is a great looking deck, and i'm sure its cool as hell...and even if it sounds kick ass...it is still limited to 3 hours of 16/48 recording time given the current 2gb SD limit.  that sinks the ship for me.

and 24bit?  what good is that when you can only do it for an hour?

not a good concert taping deck, yet.

Actually, at 24/48, just over 2 hours will put you at the 2GB mark.  I agree that's still not enough time though...

Later,
   pjdavep

[live2496]

This sounds almost to good. 

Soundpro's Roland rep said:

When the new standard is finalized, and more manufacturers begin to 
release these cards, Edirol will test these. If acceptable, we will 
update the R-09 be fully compatible with the larger card format. If 
it looks like data errors or other issues could occur, we will not.

Dose this mean that no hardware modification is needed to run SDHC?

The cards should be electrically compatible. They would likely have to update their system software.

[hyperplane]

while this is a great looking deck, and i'm sure its cool as hell...and even if it sounds kick ass...it is still limited to 3 hours of 16/48 recording time given the current 2gb SD limit.  that sinks the ship for me.

and 24bit?  what good is that when you can only do it for an hour?

not a good concert taping deck, yet.

That's a good point, Nick... basically, as of right now, the R-09 is limited in the way a portable DAT is (3 hours at 16-bit, or 2 hours at 24-bit). The media is pretty inexpensive - I see 2GB SD cards cost between $50 to $60 brand new. But who wants to swap the memory card during the encore/set break?

Obviously, a 2GB seamless auto-split feature is very desirable, but even if the R-09 will simply recognize a 4GB SD card and can stop/start a new file fairly quickly (as with the R-1), then it will serve my purposes.

[Myran]

This sounds almost to good. 

Soundpro's Roland rep said:

When the new standard is finalized, and more manufacturers begin to 
release these cards, Edirol will test these. If acceptable, we will 
update the R-09 be fully compatible with the larger card format. If 
it looks like data errors or other issues could occur, we will not.

Dose this mean that no hardware modification is needed to run SDHC?

The cards should be electrically compatible. They would likely have to update their system software.

Thanks for the answer Live2496!

Now i think i will get me one of these baby's! 

[bassix]

Hey, Guys...

I'd like to throw in my R-09 info contribution...

I just did a battery test with Eveready NiMH rechargeables (slow charged), and they lasted 7 hours, 20 minutes, and 23 seconds!!!

I used a Sandisk 1GB SD (normal speed) and recorded one long file as an mp3@192kbps, which created a file size of 605mb.

I did not stop the recording manually. I let the batteries run down to see if the file would be saved intact, and indeed it was.

Also, I did adjust the input gain settings while recording, and there is NO zipper noise while adjusting the digital gain!

The quality of the recording is very good. Better audio quality than the R-1, and better stereo separation.

By the way, I have used both Sandisk and Lexar cards with it and I have had no problems with either brands.
The timestamping is a nice addition, and you can see the current time in the bottom right corner of the home display.
While recording, one can see the remaining/available time left on the media...and while in playback, one can see the current location time in the file.

I love the OLED hi-res screen! And this baby is FAST!
It is VERY quick & easy to stop the recording, and quickly press the Record button twice to make a new audio file...in less than a second!

I'll keep testing, and post more info as I learn more myself...

[hyperplane]

Thanks for that input, bassix.

Can someone test their R-09 battery runtime while recording in WAV (16-bit) format? It will be less than the battery runtime for MP3 recording, since WAV recording is more taxing on the processor (as I understand it). But I'm very interested in knowing how long the R-09 will record with 2500 mah rechargeables, with normal alkaline AAs, and with lithium AAs.

[Rick]

Thanks for that input, bassix.

Can someone test their R-09 battery runtime while recording in WAV (16-bit) format? It will be less than the battery runtime for MP3 recording, since WAV recording is more taxing on the processor (as I understand it). But I'm very interested in knowing how long the R-09 will record with 2500 mah rechargeables, with normal alkaline AAs, and with lithium AAs.

The problem with that is you can only record 3 hours cause of the SD card

[tapers_are_geeks]

this machine looks pretty promising considering the cost of sd cards going down.  would prooly need about 4-5x 2gb sd cards for a three day music though un less you have a lappy to store data. prolly 2 for a regular 2 set +encore show.

how is the pre on this thing? will it need a pre in front of the unti? i like the compact size indeed as well.

has anyone made any line-in or mic-in recordings?  thoughts?

it would be nice to get pre levels like a sony dat. would also be nice if some firmware comes along that allows low-passs freq

i have about 16 2250mah batteries, so i wouldn't be so much worried about battery issues although the running life on 2 batts seems pretty nice....

dieing to hear more on hand testing from you cats that already have one....

[bassix]

tapers_are_geeks....The R-09 allows you to see the pre-levels with one touch of the Rec button. Once the levels are set properly, another touch of the REC button puts the unit into Record.

Also, there is a low cut filter switch on the back of the unit, as well as High/Low mic gain, ext. mic stereo/mono switch, and the AGC (Automatic Gain Control...which auto sets the record levels) switch.

Hope this helps...

[Per]

Also, there is a low cut filter switch on the back of the unit,

Any specs on the low cut? (Hz?).

[hyperplane]

Thanks for that input, bassix.

Can someone test their R-09 battery runtime while recording in WAV (16-bit) format? It will be less than the battery runtime for MP3 recording, since WAV recording is more taxing on the processor (as I understand it). But I'm very interested in knowing how long the R-09 will record with 2500 mah rechargeables, with normal alkaline AAs, and with lithium AAs.

The problem with that is you can only record 3 hours cause of the SD card

True, but I've done tests with my R-1 before where I set an eggtimer and as soon as the timer went off (at the 3h8min mark), I went to the R-1, deleted the WAV file, and resumed recording.

[aberg]

Hey, Guys...

I'd like to throw in my R-09 info contribution...

I just did a battery test with Eveready NiMH rechargeables (slow charged), and they lasted 7 hours, 20 minutes, and 23 seconds!!!

I used a Sandisk 1GB SD (normal speed) and recorded one long file as an mp3@192kbps, which created a file size of 605mb.

I did not stop the recording manually. I let the batteries run down to see if the file would be saved intact, and indeed it was.

Also, I did adjust the input gain settings while recording, and there is NO zipper noise while adjusting the digital gain!

The quality of the recording is very good. Better audio quality than the R-1, and better stereo separation.

By the way, I have used both Sandisk and Lexar cards with it and I have had no problems with either brands.
The timestamping is a nice addition, and you can see the current time in the bottom right corner of the home display.
While recording, one can see the remaining/available time left on the media...and while in playback, one can see the current location time in the file.

I love the OLED hi-res screen! And this baby is FAST!
It is VERY quick & easy to stop the recording, and quickly press the Record button twice to make a new audio file...in less than a second!

I'll keep testing, and post more info as I learn more myself...

That's great about the lack of noise while changing gain... what I'm wondering now is does it show the amount of gain applied? 0dB? 5dB? etc etc.... or is it just like "level 1, 2, 3, 4, etc..."