Convince me I should buy an Edirol R-4

[OFOTD]

I'd rather run a CF rig that a HD rig...but that's just my opinion, man.

Why?

Is flash media somehow more reliable than a hard drive?   Just because a HD with moving parts means its not as reliable as some media without moving parts?


R4 is a great unit.  Extremely versatile.  Extremely easy to use.  If you can get one for a real nice price i'd say 'yes'

[gtalife]

I too, at one point debated about spending big money on the R-4, that was a 18mo ago, no regrets here, just some damn fine recordings.
....just do it!

[sleepypedro]

Is flash media somehow more reliable than a hard drive?   Just because a HD with moving parts means its not as reliable as some media without moving parts?

yes.  removing a point of failure means a CF-based system is inherently more reliable.

granted, i'm still an R4 owner... but i've also experienced an in-field hard drive death.  (although to me it wasn't a big deal, i had a SD-based backup, and i simply popped open the r4 and replaced the failed stock HD the next day.)

[NOLAfishwater]

get the R-44

or else we are all coming looking for you. is that enough convincing?

[kcmule]

I'm thinking of upgrading my stealth rig R-09.  A local music store has a clearance model R-4 for $799 (and that's Canadian dollars, so no 30% premium!)

Should I do it?

I love mine.  Works great.  I prefer the HD based recorders due to my
terrible expierence with CF based recorders.  I've owned a FR2LE and
a MTII (both CF cards) and have had issues at times.  Never lost any
data but I feel much better with the HD.

I have no issues with the meters, I think they work fine and are fairly
accurate.  I use a DVD battery to run mine, never used the internals.

I don't think you'll regret buynig one.  I haven't.

[dorrcoq]

OK, thanks for all the input guys.  I just pulled the trigger!  Now I guess I need mics...

[kcmule]

OK, thanks for all the input guys.  I just pulled the trigger!  Now I guess I need mics...

Congrats.  What are you looking at for mics?

[dorrcoq]

OK, thanks for all the input guys.  I just pulled the trigger!  Now I guess I need mics...

Congrats.  What are you looking at for mics?

Cheap ones

[69mako]

I love mine.  Works great. 
I have no issues with the meters, I think they work fine and are fairly
accurate.  I use a DVD battery to run mine, never used the internals.

I don't think you'll regret buynig one.  I haven't.

X2

[dorrcoq]

I love mine.  Works great. 
I have no issues with the meters, I think they work fine and are fairly
accurate.  I use a DVD battery to run mine, never used the internals.

I don't think you'll regret buynig one.  I haven't.

X2

How do you like the Busman mics?  Any place for me to hear samples?

[tgakidis]

Good choice.  I was very tempted several months ago to move to the R-44 myself.  It's also well worth the money to ship it off to Chris at Busman for some Mods on the pre-amps.  If you are comfortable with computers, I highly recommend replacing the stock hard drive with a faster 80gig drive.  I did it and don't even worry about how much space I have or what bit/sample rate i need to run. 40gigs is big, but with 80gigs you can run 2 channels at 24/96 for roughly 40+ hours, no worries during festival season .  Also, make sure you reformat the drive instead of just deleting the files.  This ensures it runs smoother and won't get all fragmented.  All great aritsits start with an empty canvas.

[SmokinJoe]

I've run mine a LOT for the last year, and haven't had a bit of problems.  I keep the battery cable taped so it can't come loose... that's my only fear.  I ran mine stock for a while before I shipped it off to Busman.  It sounds fine stock.  If I were buying a new one now, I might think about getting the R44, but I have no reason to dump this R4... it's a workhorse.

I just looked up the exchange rate...  it looks like $799CA is something like $550US and that is a good price for new.  I've seen a few used for $500, but that's a good price.

What have you got for big mics Dennis?

[dorrcoq]

I just looked up the exchange rate...  it looks like $799CA is something like $550US and that is a good price for new.  I've seen a few used for $500, but that's a good price.

What have you got for big mics Dennis?

Hey, Joe!  Not quite that bad exchange wise, more like $615 or so. But yeah, I thought the price was pretty good, I know Nick (momule) was selling his used one for $500 a month ago.  Big mics?  That's my next outlay.   Distant Jay sent me a bunch of his recordings, and he uses the AKG C1000's.  Sounded really good to me, and I can get them locally (same place I got the R4) for $269 CDN each, which is around $207 US.  I'm certainly open to suggestions, though!

   

[69mako]

How do you like the Busman mics?  Any place for me to hear samples?

No complaints here.  Here are a few samples.

http://www.archive.org/details/HCR2009-02-06.bsc1-k1.flac16

http://www.archive.org/details/NMA2009-02-06.bsc1-k1.flac16

http://www.archive.org/details/northernroom2008-06-21.busman-bsc1.tmod-r4.flac16

[rowjimmytour]

I just looked up the exchange rate...  it looks like $799CA is something like $550US and that is a good price for new.  I've seen a few used for $500, but that's a good price.

What have you got for big mics Dennis?

Hey, Joe!  Not quite that bad exchange wise, more like $615 or so. But yeah, I thought the price was pretty good, I know Nick (momule) was selling his used one for $500 a month ago.  Big mics?  That's my next outlay.   Distant Jay sent me a bunch of his recordings, and he uses the AKG C1000's.  Sounded really good to me, and I can get them locally (same place I got the R4) for $269 CDN each, which is around $207 US.  I'm certainly open to suggestions, though!
When I got back into taping I used Studio Project C 4's for a while and had good results. Plus you get two caps omni and cards and they are pretty small SD's specially compared to 1000's