Help choosing small recorder?

Dyke Corson · Post by **Dyke Corson** » 3 Sep 2007 6:48 am

My wife has started a new teaching job and wants a small recorder to record parts and songs for her students to practice. Something without tapes, cds or mini disc, that could be hooked up to a computer to burn the CDs. The key word here is EASY operation. I see lots of ads for Zoom, Sony, Edirol, several of them out there, what's a good one? Seems this might be a cool thing to take to a steel show too? If I buy one for her she might let me barrow it!! Thanks in advance!!

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 3 Sep 2007 11:52 am

The Zoom HR2 gets my vote. Click Here

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 4 Sep 2007 2:31 am

Dyke, we could go on endlessly about these little recorders but in the scheme of things they are all very good and can do the task at hand. Edirol R-1 or R-9. Zoom H4 or H2, MAudio Micro track , I guess the Sony's, and even the Boss Micro BR all perform in a similar manner.

They all can do what you are asking and they all can do something just a bit different as well.I would suggest to visit the manufacturers websites and take a good look at what each can do, see if it is aligned with what YOU want to do and go from there.

I have an Edirol R-1 and the primary difference with this unit is that it uses a Compact Flash memory rather than an SD card.

Most use SD cards and AA batteries, some use a proprietary battery, just keep that in mind.

Brad Sarno · Post by **Brad Sarno** » 4 Sep 2007 11:38 am

Zoom H2.

Brad

John McClung · Post by **John McClung** » 6 Sep 2007 3:05 pm

Dyke, spurred by the great feedback from this forum, I've done a lot of research the past few days. I haven't tried any of the recorders personally yet, but my needs are very similar to your wife's, I need to record steel guitar group lessons, then just trim, edit, split into segments for easier navigation, and post online so students can download the audio files.

I'm buying the Zoom H2, it does amazing things, some online samples I heard were really good, and it has a built in metronome, a tuner you can calibrate, and it has a tripod socket so I can place it between myself and the group and hopefully catch all sound pretty nicely balanced.

The H4 has no tripod socket, it's bigger, and it is designed more to be a portable overdubbing 4-track recorder, and has guitar effects and amp modeling, none of which I need in the device, and feel a laptop is way more suited for that job anyway.

So I'll post back here after I've experimented a little, but guys that already have one rave, and if my buddy Stu Schulman claims it's great, then it IS!

I checked out the Edirols, they seemed limited and clunky in comparison, at least on paper.

Randy Cordle · Post by **Randy Cordle** » 17 Sep 2007 7:08 pm

Hi, Dyke. Randy here..
Check out my little mini-studio at:

http://www.angelfire.com/music2/construct/pageMR8.html

You can get the Fostex MR8 with a built in mic and flash based memory for less money then the HD version, and it's completely portable using batteries. I can drop you off a copy of an entire CD I did with the MR8-HD...
I can recommend the MR8 if size is not a big issue for her.

Jordan Sayers · Post by **Jordan Sayers** » 15 Nov 2007 4:45 pm

Randy Cordle wrote:Hi, Dyke. Randy here..
Check out my little mini-studio at:

http://www.angelfire.com/music2/construct/pageMR8.html

Hey Randy,
That's a really helpful link. I've been thinking about getting a digital recorder and with those quick-and-easy instructions on your website, I think maybe the MR8-HD is the way to go.

Bob Martin · Post by **Bob Martin** » 16 Nov 2007 9:00 am

Dyke, don't forget to check out the BR-600 with built in stereo condenser mics. The width is around 10 inches and depth is about 7 inches and it's only 1 inch or so thick and it weighs right around 1 pound.

I just happen to know someone who has one for sale

I'm trying to sell mine to upgrade some other equipment.

Bob