Topic: Problem w/ my Edirol R-44

[One Cylinder]

While recording a show last night the "SD Card Slow!" error message made an appearance on my R-44.  :-(   This is the first time I've experienced this error, and while I understand what the message means I'm not 100% sure what steps to take to (best) ensure it doesn't happen again. I'm thinking the problem was due to the SDHC card I was using, and I should just throw this card away and use another one for my next recording session..   In addition to the SDHC card I used last night. I've got a handful of others. All of them are class 4; some are 16 GB and some are 8 GB. I'm really puzzled by last night's problem as none of my SHDC cards (including the one from last night) have ever misfired before. Lastly, none of my cards have seen heavy use. While I've used all of them, none have been used more than 3 or 4 times.

Have any of you guys experienced this "SD Card Slow!" error on your R-44? If so what did you attribute to the cause of the issue, and have you seen it since?

FWIW here's some more detail on last's nights recording debacle: I was recording on all four tracks @ 24/96. I was not using the R-44's phantom power for any of the four tracks. The SDHC card in my R-44 was a (branded) PNY: Class 4, 16 GB. I reformatted the card at the venue, a couple minutes prior to recording. I recorded three bands, stopping the recording for about 20 minutes between each set. (I stopped recording between bands but kept the R-44 powered-up for the entire evening.) A couple minutes into each recording the error message popped up on the R-44. (Unfortunately I left my spare SDHD card in my backpack, in my car - so I wasn't able to swap out the suspect card.) I just kept on recording and hoped for the best...    Upon playback of the recordings I noticed sections where the music seems to skip ahead for a few seconds. Unlike the anamolies I recall from my DAT days, there are no drop-outs or digi-noise. The f*cked parts sound more like the recorder was paused for a few seconds, and then re-started. I figure this "skipping" is a result of the SDHC card not being able to keep up with the music in "real time" and was periodically not recording little sections of the audio.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Paul

[sabre]

It sounds like your card isn't fast enough to cope with your recording rate.

I'd recommend getting a SHDC card that is higher than Class 4. Four tracks at 24/96 uses a LOT of data and therefore you would need a very fast card to keep up with the data rate.

Find out how much data Four tracks at 24/96 uses per second and then buy the appropriate card.

Class 2  - 2 Megabytes per second
Class 4 -  4 Megabytes per second
Class 6 -  6 Megabytes per second
Class 10 -  10 Megabytes per second

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital#Speeds

[One Cylinder]

Thanks Sabre. That's exactly what I was thinking - but at some point a few months ago I heard the R-44 was real finiky (?) w/ SDHC cards higher than class 4. Perhaps that not accurate. Is there any reason why the rR-44 would have issues w/ class 6 or class 10 cards? Obviously those SDHC cards are more expensive, but I'd rather pay a little more $ and have piece of mind than run into the "Too Slow" issue again.

Thanks again for your reply to my inquiry.

[aaronji]

This might come in handy:  http://www.sounddevices.com/calculator/

That page says that 4 tracks of uncompressed 24/96 generates 1.125 MB/s, so a class 4 should be fast enough.  Maybe fragmentation or something?

[One Cylinder]

"This might come in handy:  http://www.sounddevices.com/calculator/   That page says that 4 tracks of uncompressed 24/96 generates 1.125 MB/s, so a class 4 should be fast enough.  Maybe fragmentation or something?"

>>>> According to the R-44 manual, fragmenation seems the most likely. (Although the manual doesn't offer much in the way of multipe, possible causes for this error, so I'm not all that confident fragmenation was really the culprit.)  What's most puzzling to me is that I'd only used that card 3 or 4 times before the other night; I formated the card both at home (before heading out to the concert) and once I had set up all my gear at the show.

 

[kirk97132]

Do you format your card before each use?  Once I made that a habit I never had an issue. I had an issue a couple times with cards, didn't matter class 4, 6, 10 when I was only deleting the old files and then using the card.  As soon as I started formatting each time I used the card they worked flawlessly.  Class 4 is plenty fast for the R-44.  Hell I use class 4 in my DR-680 recording 8 tracks @ 24 bit with no issues. 

[cybergaloot]

Do you format your card before each use?  Once I made that a habit I never had an issue. I had an issue a couple times with cards, didn't matter class 4, 6, 10 when I was only deleting the old files and then using the card.  As soon as I started formatting each time I used the card they worked flawlessly.  Class 4 is plenty fast for the R-44.  Hell I use class 4 in my DR-680 recording 8 tracks @ 24 bit with no issues.

I've run several class 2 cards in mine with no problems. I do format mine often but maybe not each time.

[Fried Chicken Boy]

Thanks Sabre. That's exactly what I was thinking - but at some point a few months ago I heard the R-44 was real finiky (?) w/ SDHC cards higher than class 4. Perhaps that not accurate. Is there any reason why the rR-44 would have issues w/ class 6 or class 10 cards? Obviously those SDHC cards are more expensive, but I'd rather pay a little more $ and have piece of mind than run into the "Too Slow" issue again.

Been using a pair of PNY 16GB cards in my R-44 exclusively since I've owned it; one's a class 6, the other a class 10.  No issues whatsoever but I also record at only 48kHz as opposed to 96.

[One Cylinder]

Here's a thread from the Gearslutz site on the SDHC slow card error.  Not sure if all this information is making me more, or less, confident about my R-44! 

http://www.gearslutz.com/board/remote-possibilities-acoustic-music-location-recording/453290-r-44-sdhc-problems.html