Topic: Best recording settings for Archos 404 at a gig/show and can i use external mic?

[Brisk]

Yo

I want to use my archos 404 to record gigs/music. I have done in the past and it seems okay... but i wondered if someone could tell me the best settings. The options are :

Format - WAV(ADPCM) or WAV(PCM)
Source - Microphone ( inbuilt ) Or Analog Line - In - If i knew how to use external mic i would use it..
sampling - 16 khz,  22.05 khz, 24khz, 32khz, 44.1 khz or 48khz

Also anyone know how i can use a external mic for even better quality?

thanks

Ed

[flintstone]

According to the Archos web page for the 404, the ability to record audio from an external source requires an adapter. Use either the DVR travel adapter ($70) or DVR Station($100).  These optional accessories let you record stereo in WAV format. 

Note that audio input to the 404 should be line-level, not mic-level. This means you'll need some sort of preamplifier between almost all mics and the 404.

The Archos 404 is pretty amazing.  Read about it here
http://www.archos.com/products/video/archos_404/index.html

Flintstone

[Brisk]

According to the Archos web page for the 404, the ability to record audio from an external source requires an adapter. Use either the DVR travel adapter ($70) or DVR Station($100).  These optional accessories let you record stereo in WAV format. 

Note that audio input to the 404 should be line-level, not mic-level. This means you'll need some sort of preamplifier between almost all mics and the 404.

The Archos 404 is pretty amazing.  Read about it here
http://www.archos.com/products/video/archos_404/index.html

Flintstone

thanks for the reply

would you say the inbuilt microphone that the archos 404 has it good?

know anything about what settings i should have?

Format - WAV(ADPCM) or WAV(PCM)
sampling - 16 khz,  22.05 khz, 24khz, 32khz, 44.1 khz or 48khz

[blindman]

would you say the inbuilt microphone that the archos 404 has it good?

The internal mic is good for recording speech... like recording lectures at school or keeping minutes for meetings etc...

get a set of mics, a preamp and the "DVR Travel Adapter for Generation 4 portable video" for recording music.

know anything about what settings i should have?

Format - WAV(ADPCM) or WAV(PCM)
sampling - 16 khz,  22.05 khz, 24khz, 32khz, 44.1 khz or 48khz

using the 48khz/PCM would be what would be considered the highest quality on the 404. I don't know what version of ADPCM the archos uses, you can always try it and see if you hear a difference... there are different versions of ADPCM, do a google on something like "ADPCM vs. PCM" or just ADPCM and you will find tons of information about it... short answer is it is a compressed format... kinda... anyway, I used an Archos Gmini220 for my first recorder and got some really nice recordings... I was only able to record in 44.1khz which at the time was great because I was able to just use Sony CD Architect on my original file and burn CD's from them in no time.

I found this to be a simple explanation of ADPCM ...

"How ADPCM works is that it looks at the last few samples and predicts the value of the next sample. The prediction error is then scaled (adapted to the average volume of the source), quantised and encoded. Since 4:1 is used, that's 4 bits per sample for a 16bit source, so the error can only take 16 values per sample, so that's where the quantisation noise comes in. How well this encoder performs depends on a lot of things, including the complexity of the source (higher complexity = worse predictability), the source volume, and other things." - tangent
from http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=1098

hope that helps.

good luck!
michael