Topic: First Impressions on my NEW Zoom H4 Recorder.

[vegas06]

I have posted a few comments in the earlier Zoom H4 thread, but decided to start a new review feedback thread on the NEW Zoom H4 Recorder.

I received my H4 yesterday, and I did get a chance to play with it a little bit last night and this morning, not much as I would like as I had company come in from out of town. It looks to be very promissing and very well built, and it also looks like it will give my Edirol R-09 a run for it's money, and will be better than my Micrtotrack (Anyone want to buy a mint condition Microtrack complete with lots of custom (soundprofessionals.com dual 1/4 TRS cables: Dual Mono, Stereo, Wired for stereo AT822 mic, USB battery box and more.).

Anyway here's a quick synopsis:
1. The huild seems very sturdy. It's larger but more substantial than the Edirol R-09, and about the same size as the M-Audio Microtrack.

2. I like the quick push recording format buttons on the front of the unit. Makes for quick format selections. Once you start recording you can't change recording format, without stopping the recording process. (which is a good thing).

3. Recording is the same as the other units (R-09/Microtrack), push once to go into standby (button lights up and blinks) and once more to record (button stays lit). To stop recording you just push record again, and the file writes to the card. There is a slight 2 second delay to stop the recording after the button is pushed.

4. The menu, is more confusing than the R-09, but no more than the Microtrack.
You push the menu button to enter various modes. Here you can redo your recording format (default MP3 is 44/128), but you can change your bitrate in the menu to go up to 320 or VBR. It doesn't seem to allow you to select 48hz MP3. Also in the menu you can rename/delete files (easy to do), as well as setup your recording format (Stereo or 4 Track).

5. Press down on the menu button to enter your input menu. Here you can:
a. Select, mic source (onboard, Dual channel (2 XLR inputs)
b. Recording levels
c. Phantom power
d. Monitor (This is good. You can either have this set to OFF and you can only monitor the unit while it's recording, or select ON and be able to monitor your recording levels all the time, as well as setup your recording levels without having to put the unit in standby), Auto Gain (which I wouldn't use myself),
e. Mic Model (can only be set using the onboard mics. Select from 5 different manufactured mic characteristics)
f. Compressor/Limiter (As far as I can tell you can only use the built in limiters using the onboard mic).

6. The unit does have a HOLD "Key Hold" mode which locks most of the units buttons. just push and hold down on the Menu button to engage the hold and repeat to unlock the unit.

7. Onboard mics:
I like the onboard mics better than the R-09, as they seem to be less sensative (more directional) and produce less noise than the R-09.
I also really like that you have the ability to set the Gain with a flip of a switch (L/M/H) depending on your recording situation.
L (Low, is for loud situations of line in recodring), M (Medium, is for moderate recoding situations, and H (High, is for very quiet situations, and produces the most white noise). I would most often use L or M settings using the onboard for reception live music recording. The L setting is very quiet and the M setting is pretty quiet as well. I would normally use an external mic on a mic stand and attach the recorder to the mic stand as well.

8. The level meters seemed a bit sluggish, and maybe that can be fixed in a firmware patch.

As I said I haven't really had a chance to see how it handles very loud reception situations. But from my quick tests, it seems that it would handles them with flying colors. Especially since the unit has auto onboard gain, where you can do a quick scan of your environment (Live band sound test), and the unit will use the onbaord limiters to prevent clipping, (Very nice).

I hope to get a chance to try out the oboard compared to the XLR inputs using my AT822, and my matched pair of Rode NT5's (With 48v phantom).
You can't adjust independant L/R channels using the onboard mic, but you can when you use external mics.

I am also going to see if I can do passthrough (like the Microtrack) to my wireless using the line output 1/8 port.

[dallman]

3. Recording is the same as the other units (R-09/Microtrack), push once to go into standby (button lights up and blinks) and once more to record (button stays lit). To stop recording you just push record again, and the file writes to the card. There is a slight 2 second delay to stop the recording after the button is pushed.

Great job!! A nice heads up. It is great to see more competition in the market. It keeps prices down and keeps the manufacturers hungry for our business.

One small correction, on the MT you press record one time, and it records.
It is not a 2 press process, unless you are saving a file already recording and starting a new file.

Again thanks for a quick thorough intro and a new thread to follow.

[dkarDaGobert]

Hi
thanks for your review!

is it possible to make a 4track recording using the internal microphones AND the phantompowered external mics?
this would be very nice
is there a 2GB limit like on the MT2496?

what about Memorycards with 4GB-8GB?

[HeliBass]

Hopefully this will cause the price to drop on the R-09.