Topic: Initial Recorder Query

[Minburn]

Rather basic, but a new reg to this forum and I'm looking for some current opinions.

Looking for a flash recorder for predominately small scale, acoustic live recording (acoustic guitar and piano) within a home, but also to be used for recording wildlife out where I live.  I'm aware now of the Edirol R-09, Maudio Microtrack, Marantz PMD660, Zoom H4 as well as the older Edirol R-1 (found one of these new - seems that the general consensus was that this was/is a pretty good recorder).  To those that have used any several of these, care to offer opinions as to suitability of recording with the unit's microphones?  So many opinions over the last couple of years, many at odds with each other regarding, for instance, internal pre-amp noise and/or other internal noise.  I understand that pretty much all of them work very well indeed with outboard microphones (?).  I have a C1000 here but was also looking at perhaps picking up an economical mic that is perhaps better suited to wildlife.  If you haven't picked up, I'm pretty new at this.  But saying that, the acoustic sessions are the biggest concern.  To date, I've been using an older Marantz cassette recorder for most of the indoor work.

Pretty much looking for a current assessment of the bunch; this perhaps relative to what else may be coming down the pipe.  Appreciate any and all.

[flintstone]

Here we go again...

Recorder alternatives for less than $1000 include:

recorders with digital optical input, plus analog mic and line input
-- iRiver H120/140/320 with Rockbox software (discontinued, ~$150-$200 used)
-- Creative Nomad Jukebox 3 or "JB3" (discontinued, ~$100-$150 used)
-- Sony MZ-RH1 Hi-MD recorder (~$300)

recorders with digital coax input, plus Mic and Line
-- M-Audio Microtrack 2496 (~$375)
-- Marantz PMD671 (~$850, less at martelelectronics.com)
-- Tascam HD-P2 (~$850)

recorders that have Mic and Line input only, no digital
-- Zoom H2 (MSRP $200, shipping in Summer)
-- Zoom H4 (MSRP $300)
-- Edirol R-09 (~$375)
-- Fostex FR-2LE (MSRP $600, shipping by end of April?)
-- Marantz PMD660 ($709 with Oade ACM preamp upgrade )
-- Korg MR-1 (MSRP $700, records one-bit or PCM)

With the exception of the Sony Hi-MD, all allow drag and drop file
transfers to a PC.

All of these devices have been discussed in this forum, some extensively,
during the last few months.  There are fans of each of these devices here.
Use the Search function to catch up with people's experiences.

Generally, when you pay more you get sturdier construction, better
preamps, better metering, easier-to-use controls, and more features.

Flintstone

[petur]

Here we go again...

recorders with digital optical input, plus analog mic and line input
-- iRiver H120/140/320 with Rockbox software (discontinued, ~$150-$200 used)

only H120/H140 have digital in!

recorders that have Mic and Line input only, no digital

-- iRiver H320/H340 with Rockbox software (discontinued, ~$150-$200 used)

[rdvdijk]

Here we go again...

Recorder alternatives for less than $1000 include:

Maybe there should be a sticky post on the top of this forum with this info?

Roel

[flintstone]

Thanks, Petur, for the correction.
Flintstone.