Hey all
I purchased an Edirol R4-Pro when I decided to go freelance. I read around the comments and reviews before I decided to part with my cash, but the four mic inputs and the timecode functionality - for the price - made it a no brainer. Well, I am definitely having second thoughts now... Anyway, I desperately need some advise from people that had experience with the unit if possible please.
I wouldn't have second thoughts. Just spend some time learning your R4 Pro and you'll learn to love it. I had one for a couple of years and it was rock solid. Never gave me the slightest problem. My only complaint was that, as a live music taper, my gear goes out in the field and the finish on the R4 Pro is easy to chip. My unit looked like it had been through a war zone and I never took it out of my bag! The black finishing paint is very very sensitive to chipping from having other gear inside your bag coming into contact. If you want to keep your R4 Pro looking new, you'll really need to be diligent keeping it wrapped up 100% of the time except for when you're using it. I have my doubts even then if you'll be able to keep it from chipping. Since the consumer grade R4 didn't have this issue, this was pretty big Quality Control boner on the part of Edirol and as far as I know, they never fixed it.
1. I purchased the unit in October 2011. I am assuming that this is the new version of the R4-Pro with the revised mic pre components. But would anyone know how to tell the difference between the older version to the newer ones? By checking the serial numbers perhaps? Or is there anything new in the design that would give this away?
I don't know what this means, so I can't address this. I wasn't aware that Edirol changed the design of the R4 Pro at all. I do know that they released the R44, the was enhanced to have more sound characteristics of the R4 Pro, but I can't comment on any changes that might have been done recently to the R4 Pro.
2. Currently, the battery life is simply appalling; I am using a set of the 2900mAh Delkins and another of the 2850mAh Aansmans. I don't think I can record straight for more than an hour. I am recharging now to run tests about battery life. Should I begin to think that the unit is faulty in that respect? Anyone having similar or different experience?
On the same note, I just managed to play back sound file for 30mins before freshly charged Delkins died! I replaced the Delkins with some cheap Kodak Extra Life batteries and after 30mins only a quarter of the battery got drained. The unit has an option about what batteries you feed the machine and the unit was definitely setup in "Ni-Mh" while the Delkins were in and "Alkaline" when I replaced them with the Kodaks. Could it be that the Delkins are faulty or that there is something wrong with the unit?
This issue is easy to explain and is quite common with other gear that people have used here. It's annoying, but it's easy to explain. The issue really isn't a battery life issue. The issue is that NiMh batteries supply a lower voltage than Alkalines because they have a different chemistry. The R4 Pro has an internal voltage set point where it will cut out on low voltage. The reason you have that selector in the menu to choose between Alkaline and NiMh is to reset that setpoint so that you won't get a premature cut-out on low voltage when you switch battery type.
The problem is that that R4 Pro has a fairly high power consumption. Older NiMh batteries will fatigue quicker and draw down to a lower voltage quicker under higher load. That doesn't necessarily mean that they have gone bad, because these batteries will still probably have long run times if they're use under lighter load, but the voltage drops down quicker faster under heavier load and then the battery voltage flattens for the long haul at the lower voltage as it drains. There are articles written on the web about this...it's also been discussed quite a bit in the Remote Power forum in ts.com.
To get sufficient run times with AA's, you have three options...in order of preference.
1) Use Alkalines. (Note that the manual suggests using Alkalines for longer run-times
)
2) Use a rechargeable with a different chemistry that provides a higher voltage...for example Zinc rechargeables I think provide a higher voltage than NiMh and you won't reach the cut-out voltage as quickly.
3) Use new NiMh batteries (newer batteries don't draw down as much as old batteries).
NOTE: I never used AA batteries with my R4 Pro...not even once, so I had no experience with your issue. However, have you downloaded the firmware update from the Edirol website? Sometimes, the above issue will be corrected with the firmware update where the manufacturer will tweek the low voltage setpoint downward to enable your older NiMh batteries to have better run-times.
3. So, I am looking for an alternative power supply solution for the unit that could provide a days worth of juice while on set. From reading previous post here I understand that the general consensus has been a particular type DVD battery. It seems like a really good solution but I would rather like to use something more industry-standard. People have been recommending the NP1 type of batteries (which I am willing to go for if I must) and a shop has recommended me a dual Sony DV-Link battery solution which seems capable of providing more power than the NP1s. Has anyone use either type of batteries to power up an Edirol R4-Pro? It would be great to hear a first-hand experience.
Link for the NP1 batteries: www.hawkwoods.com/products/np1_solutions/batteries/batteries.php?mainMenuItemToSlide=5
Link for the DV-Link batteries: www.hawkwoods.com/products/details/details.php?code=dv-F970&mainMenuItemToSlide=4&asi=dv-mc4&asi2=dv-sqn
Personally, I can't imagine powering this unit from AA batteries. As you said, the run times you get from 8 AA really aren't going to be all that great...I think 2 hours is what the manual suggests you can expect. External batteries is the only way to power the R4 Pro, as far as I'm concerned.
The R4 Pro operates on variable voltage...anything between 9 and 16 volts will operate it fine. I've never been really all that particular about my power supplies...to me a battery is a battery. As long as you have back-ups to cover situations where you run out, then you're covered.
I used a 5400mah, 9V battery and that would give me about 7 1/2 hours of run time. 5400mah / 7.5h =
720ma. That's running 2 channels with the backlight off and phantom power on. When selecting a battery, you should be able to use this power consumption as a good basis for estimating the run-times you'll get with each battery.
The bottom line is that any of those batteries that are on the sites you link to will operate fine as long as they provide between 9 and 16V, but obviously the smaller the capacity, the shorter the run-time you'll get.
Whatever battery you choose, you'll probably want to dedicate all of your battery arsenal to that particular design because you'll want to pay attention to the type of connector the battery uses. The R4Pro uses a 4 pin locking XLR at the R4 Pro end, but on the opposite end, you'll want to use batteries that are consistent connector type or else you'll need multiple cables for connecting your different external batteries to the unit.
Also in my attempt to understand which battery is best, I stumbled on this Watt calculation formula: W= mAh/1000 x V
I do get the equation but what I don't understand is this: both the NP1 batteries and the dual DV-Link system yields to a 14.4v power supply. The Edirol R4-Pro external supply menu settings give the option from 9V to 12V with half step increments in between. By connecting such a battery to my unit, I am running the danger of destroying it?
No. Absolutely not. Your R4 Pro operates between 9 and 16V. READ THE MANUAL! This setting is the Final Voltage Setting. The final voltage setting is the cut-off voltage for your external battery cut-off. It's simply a calibration setting for the R4 Pro to give you a 'battery low' indicator.
If you use batteries with their own low battery indicator lights, you don't need to worry about using this setting. I used external batteries 100% of the time and I never bothered messing this setting.
4. Another thing about the Edirol R4-Pro is that once the limiter is engaged, high frequency hiss kicks in. Why would that be? Bad components surely, but I don't understand the electronic principle of it... And is it true that the limiter is post ADC?
I never use the limiter and never will use a limiter. I really don't know why you'd ever use the limiter either.
I suspect the high frequency hiss is simply the natural by-product/artifacts introduced by the limiter, but I have no idea. My suggestion is to never use the limiter.
There is a block diagram in the back of the manual if you want to see where the limiter is installed...pre or post ADC.
5. I am reading about the Busman and the Oade mods, and it seems a lot of you guys have gone for them, could you share with me your experience? Apart from the mod in the preamp, is there anything available for the limiter and the headphone out? I just need to get some hard facts because I decide to ship the unit to the US (London, UK here)
I am really sorry about the long text. I would really appreciate any help demystifying the above.
Thanks
I bought my R4 Pro directly from Doug Oade and had the Ambient Mod installed into in before I ever got it from the beginning, so I can't say what it sounded like before and after. Best to listen to sound samples that you can find out there and judge for yourself. I can offer this to you...even with my Oade modded R4 Pro, I still preferred the sound of the higher end external preamps to the modded R4 Pro. The Oade modded R4 Pro is probably one of the best sounding units available for a modded unit though.
If you're planning on using external high quality preamps, I'd say save your money and don't get it modded. If you want the option of running the unit as an all-in-one, then get it modded.
As far as your question about the limiter, again not sure why that would matter to you. Forget about that and never use it. There's not a limiter made that is worth using, IMHO. My feeling is that it's just better to operate with your peaks conservatively set between -6db and -12db and never worry about whether or not the limiter is needed. ALWAYS record in 24bit...that goes without saying.
The gain on the headphone out could be better on the R4 Pro. During a loud show, I couldn't hear what my recorder was sounding like, so I bought a cheap external headphone amplifier and used that to bump the gain on my headphone output so I could get better on-location volume out of the headphone jack. You can get a decent headphone amp for anywhere from $30 up to a million, but something in the $100 should be everything you'd want to have as far as sound quality and gain.
I hope this all helps!
Topic: Edirol R4-Pro woes (Read 7684 times)