Topic: Edirol R-44 - Solid State 4 channel recorder

[ascouserinnewyork]

Dropping the update in here - 'cause this is the first thread I posted in - I decided to go with the Zoom H4 recording from the Shure FP33 field mixer (I already own the FP33) until the R-44 comes in.  Mostly due to the ability for true XLR inputs to the H4 unit and the 'breakaway' jack inputs on the R-09.  Cost also comes into play, but not as much.

Thanks to all - this forum is a tremendous resource and look forward to inwardly digesting the knowledge further.

Will update - as I am sure numerous others - once the R-44 is delivered and played with.

[thegreatgumbino]

Just checking in to track the news.  Looks to be a cool box!

[Gutbucket]

Well now that I've half talked myself into one of these, I wish I jumped on the first wave of orders.  I'm planning on running 4 channel for Suwannee Spingfest at the end of March and assumed there was no chance these would ship before then.  Anyone know of anyplace that I might contact that might ship before then? If I miss that window, I have no great rush and will wait until this summer to see how it plays out. 

If not I plan on running two R-09's and trying the sync in post thing.  I'm hoping the clocks of the two identical recorders will be somewhat close, though I'm not fooling myself into thinking it will be simple to sync, regardless.

[OFOTD]

If not I plan on running two R-09's and trying the sync in post thing.  I'm hoping the clocks of the two identical recorders will be somewhat close, though I'm not fooling myself into thinking it will be simple to sync, regardless.

Absolutely the best feature of the R4/R4 Pro.  Not having to screw around with lining things up in post is worth the price alone.

[sygdwm]

fwiw, i have run two 671's and the clocks were perfectly in sync. just had to line them up once. so, its probably the case with two r09's.

[Ozpeter]

FWIW too, I've used two different models of Hi-MD reorders on a job and was amazed at how they held in sync throughout a classical string quartet performance.

[easy jim]

fwiw, i have run two 671's and the clocks were perfectly in sync. just had to line them up once. so, its probably the case with two r09's.

FWIW too, I've used two different models of Hi-MD reorders on a job and was amazed at how they held in sync throughout a classical string quartet performance.

I'd attribute that to either (1) a relatively short performance, (2) not looking looking for the drift at a sufficiently zoomed-in level of detail, or (3) pure luck.  You two probably just had very little drift, to the extent that it was not audible to your ears at the beginning vs. the end of the show.

The assumption that two of the same type of recorders' clocks will drift less than the clock of two different kinds of recorders is probably a safe one; however, it is a bad assumption that the different clocks of two of the same type of recorders will not drift.  My experience has been that there will always be at least some drift between the clock of two different recorders (of same or different types), and I usually see it on the DAW as soon as 5-10 minutes into the show when zoomed in sufficiently (at ~ the detail of milisecs or even samples level of resolution).

[sygdwm]

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,99539.0.html


im going to have to disagree with you on this one. the performance was not "short", i opened up both files in wavelab5's montage, zoomed in, started them at the same time. rendered. done. listen for yourself. the only luck i have ever had was bad.

[easy jim]

http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,99539.0.html


im going to have to disagree with you on this one. the performance was not "short", i opened up both files in wavelab5's montage, zoomed in, started them at the same time. rendered. done. listen for yourself. the only luck i have ever had was bad.

It seems you were lucky this time IMO    I look forward to checking that out.  How long is that electric set? 

A drift of < 10 milisecs may not be noticeable expcept to the most OCD - unless you're looking for it - over the length of a 1-2 hour set if you happen to be lucky enough to have two recorders with internal clocks that close to each other.  It doesn't change the principle, however, and my point is that it is not a safe assumption that there will not be drift just because two sources came from the same type/model of recorder.

[sygdwm]

the electric set was just over an hour or so. looks like i am going to get a lotto ticket asap. 

[Ozpeter]

Yet another thing I need to sit down and test carefully - one day...

[ascouserinnewyork]

Unclear, but does the R-44 support both SD and SDHC cards?

[dennisrtyler]

Unclear, but does the R-44 support both SD and SDHC cards?

from the R-44 homepage
"R-44 employs SD cards or large capacity SDHC cards as the recording media."

[ascouserinnewyork]

What threw me off was:

"Supports SDHC large capacity media"

being listed independantly without reference to the SD media.  Many thanks though, Dennis.

[BayTaynt3d]

fwiw, i have run two 671's and the clocks were perfectly in sync. just had to line them up once. so, its probably the case with two r09's.

FWIW too, I've used two different models of Hi-MD reorders on a job and was amazed at how they held in sync throughout a classical string quartet performance.

I'd attribute that to either (1) a relatively short performance, (2) not looking looking for the drift at a sufficiently zoomed-in level of detail, or (3) pure luck.  You two probably just had very little drift, to the extent that it was not audible to your ears at the beginning vs. the end of the show.

The assumption that two of the same type of recorders' clocks will drift less than the clock of two different kinds of recorders is probably a safe one; however, it is a bad assumption that the different clocks of two of the same type of recorders will not drift.  My experience has been that there will always be at least some drift between the clock of two different recorders (of same or different types), and I usually see it on the DAW as soon as 5-10 minutes into the show when zoomed in sufficiently (at ~ the detail of milisecs or even samples level of resolution).

QFT.

As someone who's synced all sorts of crap, audio, video, different recorders, different videocams, etc., the only thing that's "safe" to assume is that you will have drift for anything more than an hour. Whether it's audible or not will depend of course, but don't assume you'll still have sync at the tail. Also, if you're not careful, you'll end up with crazy weird phasing somewhere in the set, but you might not notice it until after listening to the whole thing again.

FWIW, I usually sync the head, then check the tail for sync, and stretch (using a good editor of course) one of the sources if needed to get perfect sync throughout. Another approach is to try syncing at the midpoint of the wav file, that way if you are drifting, it'll only drift half as far at the two ends as it would if you synced just the head of the wav.