Re: looking for: a cheap portable digital audio recorder

[3nki <3nki@modaldub.net>]

hi,

first off, thanks Ian and Art for your comments and suggestions. i  
think the one Art mentions is more what i am looking for. i've seen  
various models i can't recall at the moment that seemed great, but  
they're usually over $500, sometimes even over $1,000. that's just  
too much for what i am considering. i did see something just now that  
looks pretty good:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/HiFi/A/V/Equipment/Home/Audio? 
sku=244762

a Sony Pro MZ-M10 Hi-MD Portable Audio Recorder. it comes with a good  
stereo mic, records a gig on removable media, has high quality/ 
fidelity, is physically small and, being Sony, most likely well-made.  
and it's only $300. still, i was really think of something under  
$150, much closer to what Art mentions. i am living in Brazil and  
want to have something i wouldn't be too upset about loosing or  
having stolen, that i can carry around and whip out when, as often  
happens, i am surprised by some great music or ambient sounds. and of  
course it would be much nicer if there was a digital out, as opposed  
to analog, so i could dump to computer easily for clean-up and/or  
manipulation of the recordings.

i have seen Olympus and others with sub-$100 audio recorders, but  
often they don't have either a digital connection or even half-way  
decent sound resolution. another option is a digital camera or  
cellphone, which often record pretty decent audio and have a digital  
connection, but these are usually too expensive - i.e, i wouldn't  
want to flash one around in many of the places i am thinking of  
recording.

so thanks again for the tips and ideas! i'll let you know what i end  
up with and how it works out ;)

-3nki



On Mar 28, 2006, at 7:35 AM, Ian Popperwell wrote:

> Hi,
>
> The trouble is that you don't say what "cheap" means for you -  
> neither do you say which "non-cheap" models that you've seen that  
> might help us.
>
> Whether cheap or expensive, I have an Edirol R-1 (about £300). It  
> records to Compact Flash cards (although only comes with a tiny  
> one). it has built in effects (including various "mastering"  
> programmes which are multiband compressors, it also has a limiter  
> which is additional to the effects. It records directly to WAV or  
> various resolutions of MP3. Goes straight into USB and doesn't need  
> any of it's own software. I have a few small gripes: fiddly level  
> control, you can only monitor levels in record pause mode, not when  
> recording, the screen is very faint. But I like mine, I've recorded  
> gigs from the desk and with the built in mics, I use it for  
> recording practices too and loads of other jobs.
>
> There's also a similarly priced M-Audio one and a much highr priced  
> Marantz with XLRs and fantom power.
>
> I have an Iriver MP3 player which records - IHP120 - but as has  
> already bee said, the built in mic is rubbish+ it picks up hard  
> disk noise, also quite fiddly to work with.
>
> Hope this is of some use.
>
> Ian.
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "3nki" <3nki@modaldub.net>
> To: <Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com>
> Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 8:43 PM
> Subject: looking for: a cheap portable digital audio recorder
>
>
>> hello list!
>>
>> i am looking for a cheap and portable digital audio recorder.  
>> i've  seen some nice ones, but they aren't cheap at all. perhaps  
>> some  people on the list have ideas? ;)
>>
>> important qualities:
>> - built-in mic
>> - USB or Firewire connection to computer
>>
>> desirable:
>> - built-in compression
>> - decent audio quality
>> - stereo recording
>>
>> thanks for any advice!
>>
>> -3nki
>>
>>
>
>
>
>