Portable Recorders

krankguitarist

krankguitarist

Krankitupologist
I'm thinking that I'd like to pick up a cheap-ish (under $250) portable recorder for capturing ideas, listening back to myself as I'm doing vocal exercises, recording band pratices, etc, etc. It doesn't have to have multi-tracking capabilities, and would preferably have a built-in stereo mic.

Doesn't have to be pro quality, and to be honest, the cheaper the better, as long as it sounds *decent*.

Any suggestions?
 
Re: Portable Recorders

Well, I've got a Tascam Porta 3 that I'll sell ya for $150. It's tape. No built in mic and everything is hi-Z in.
 
Re: Portable Recorders

We use this audio interface keyboard plus an old laptop to record ideas:


http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOOZONE


1 mic preamp + 2 audio in + 2 audio out. Problem-free, easy as pie and produces decent sound. We used that with 3 or 4 DAW softwares (Cubase, Sonar, Audition, Audacity) and there was not any hiccup. Pretty capable of banging together a demo. If you gain some experience if audio processing, you may get great results with that. $160 new. I think they don't produce that anymore, used ones should cost even less.
 
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Re: Portable Recorders

What I'm looking for is not something to record demo tracks on site, I've already got a laptop and a TC-electronic Konnekt live for that. I'm looking for something to take down ideas.

What I'm looking for is something that requires NO setup. Nada, zip, zero except for turning the thing on and selecting record. Like I said: hand held. Spontaneous. Easy, fast, and most of all hassle-free. Something to record jams in band practice, or when I'm out on the road and doing my vocal exercises, or if I'm playing my acoustic and trying to come up with ideas for melodies or lyrics.

That Blue mic add-on for the ipod looks interesting, but I'd really prefer to be able to have a way to monitor the input levels on the recorder, so I don't go into the land of clipping and ****tyness. My 30 GB Ipod isn't quite capable of that...plus I dunno how much longer the thing's gonna hold out. I know that the battery doesn't hold much of a charge anymore.

The Boss BR unit does look interesting. A built-in drum machine might be nice, as well as the built-in effects, as well as the multi-tracking functions, but none of this is *really* necessary. It's only got a mono mic on it though. Still, it's got a stereo mic in jack, so it's not a deal breaker. I'll keep my eye on that one.
 
Re: Portable Recorders

The Zoom H2 is supposed to be pretty good and can be had for well under 200 if you look I think. I have an Edirol R-09HR, but that is like... $350. It sounds very good though, for the record.
 
Re: Portable Recorders

Hmm, after doing some research, I think the Boss Micro BR is the one I'm gonna get! Can be had real cheap on ebay. The drum machine/FX/multi-tracking capabilities will be nice features, and I can always add on a stereo mic later on for recording jams in band practice.

Gracias on the tip...though...If anybody else has got ideas, I'm still open to them! Man's gotta get money before he can buy anything. It'll probably be another week or two before that happens.
 
Re: Portable Recorders

The Zoom H2 offers big bang for the buck ! It records in 360 degrees or 120 or 90 depending how you set it. Wav. or mp3. With 4gb chip and 2 AA batteries you can record around 3 hours of 4 channel wav. files. With the AC adapter you can record in 128 Mp3 format all day long!! It also comes w/t a neat mic stand adapter, So you can place it in the sweet spot in the room. :D
 
Re: Portable Recorders

Looks like I got a couple of ideas so far :).

Well, the Micro BR looks cool, due to it's extra array of features and such, but I don't really NEED all those features. It might be something to get down the road as a little songwriting tool, but for right now I think I should look into something more straightforward.

Depends on what kinda price I could get on one though. I'm also looking into the Zoom H2 and H4, as well as the Tascam DR-01 and DR-07. You can get some pretty good deals on the former on ebay.

The Zoom h2 looks like a front-runner, as far as price is concerned. I like some of the added features of the tascam though...we'll see, we'll see.
 
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