^^^
That's a cool feature I've always thought should be included in a digital recorder targeted at musicians. I used to use two walkman recording decks and a DIY cable to bounce w/overdubs from cassette to cassette and build songs a couple decades back in college. The equipment and phones fit easily in my book bag but the sound was dirt.
-opinion follows-
Chamber music benefits from relatively sensitive mics and preamp stages with clean gain and low noise levels. It's not especially loud which works in favor of a small all-in-one. But if you are trying to record symphonic music or band with big percussion you've got one of the more difficult tests of recording equipment because you also need huge amounts of dynamic range when the music goes from a few whispers of rosin to a the thunderous 70 musician climax. That's a bit more difficult to handle. Don't bother with sampling rates over 44.1 or 48k with any internal mics and mic preamps, I don't use them even with better outboard gear though I do record 24 bit files (even if I'm really only getting maybe 18 or so).
You mentioned the tonal quality of the samples you linked to above. Most of the tonal quality of the recording will come from where you place the microphone regardless of its type. As a gross over-generalization, many mics in inexpensive recorders tend to lack deep solid bass, transparent clarity of the midrange and highs and extension up top. But if anything I find they often sound more bright than bass heavy. Ugh, verbal sound descriptives..
A lot depends on what you are tying to do. Are you a performer/instructor/friend recording rehearsals? recitals? concerts with paying patrons? Do you have access and permission to put the recorder or mics where they would get the best sound or are you quietly recording from your seat, unannounced?
The older Edirol R-09s that I currently use to record both large and small scale classical (among other things) via the line-in with external mics and preamps do not have internal mic preamps that are quiet enough to get good results without external gear, but hey are great with some inexpensive Church Audio preamps and good sounding mics. The new R-09HR version reportedly has cleaner mic premps and sounds better with the internal mics. I haven't heard the Tascam's internal mics, but I trust Chris's and SparkE!'s ears and experience. I've heard neither. If you definitely need a single piece solution I'd look at the Tascam or the Sony. Or you might ask Chris Church about his mod that replaces the internal mics in the Edirol with some higher quality mics of his if he does that on the new quieter HR. The slightly larger Sony PCM-D1 supposedly has quite nice sounding mics but is priced accordingly, it's probably the best sounding all-in-one available using internal mics.
As for simple single-point mics that just plug in to the recorder, I can't make a suggestion but others here can. The advantage there is that you can use a generally much better microphone than what comes included in an all-in-one for not much more money, and it's probably easier to get it in a good location and pointed correctly. Here's an offbeat idea in that vein- I just
dug out this link that I came across this many years ago and remembered it because it seems to fit what I imagine are your requirements. James Boyk is pianist in residence, founder of the music lab and lecturer in music in the EE dept. at Caltech. He is somewhat of an authority when it comes to piano and recorded sound and developed a simple single piece stereo microphone for piano departments and students that was simple to use (just plug into any recorder) but designed to sound very natural. No idea what it costs or if he is still making it, but it's a smooth contoured wooden baffle with two mics and integrated preamp that can be placed on the floor or table and plugged into a recorder.
If you have a DIY streak you can also try improving the sound of the internal microphones by creating a baffle between them. Most of the small recorders use closely spaced omni mic capsules and making a baffle can improve the imaging. Check out the
second post of this thread where I made a simple cardboard baffle for the R-09, later in the thread are photos of an all-in-one I made that incorporated the recorder, external preamp, external mics and more advanced hemispherical baffle all in one unit I could carry in my guitar case. Not inexpensive, but quick and easy to use and fulfilled my temporary requirement for a high-quality all-in-one.
Whoa, too many words. Hope that helps..
Topic: Good portable recorder - does the Edirol R09HR make the grade? (Read 8566 times)