Support
Looper's Delight
|
Support |
|
|
When my R-09 fell apart a while ago I bought a DR-03. It has a couple of nifty features the R-09 didn't have, but then time has marched on quite a bit since the R-09 first came out. I often use it in the car to listen to lectures, so one thing I like is the ability to increment the play speed by 10% intervals. This is handy if I've listened to a lecture but didn't put my full attention into it and then listen again at say 140%. Another feature that at first I could see no need for, but later found out could be very useful, was made clear to me when I went to a concert of a singer songwriter. There is a pre-record function. I can put it in record pause while the performer is futzing around and tuning, but not have to worry about missing the start of the tune because it records 2 seconds BEFORE I hit the record button!
Negatives:
Infuriatingly, it does not have a pause button. This actually made me decide to pay to get the R-09 repaired instead of throwing it out. When I'm composing, I might stop and think about where I'm going or try different chords. Without a pause button, every time I stop it creates a new file. This also seems to be a "feature" of most digital movie cameras these days. I don't understand the logic of this at all. Also, there seems to be only one speed to fast forward or review. At least you can go backwards past the beginning of a file to the previous file, which you cannot do on the R-09 (at least not on my version -the original). However, the R-09 would go faster the longer you held the FF or REV button. Listening to lectures, I often want to hear one sentence again. I often don't hit it just right and it goes to the beginning of the file (another infuriating thing). If it is a 1/2 hour or 45 minute file, it takes forever to find the place I was just listening to.
I've got both the R-09 and the DR-03 with me on this trip to America (as well as my RC-2, to stay relevant). I just have to say that these devices have changed my life. If I have an idea in the middle of the night, instead of having to boot a computer, turn on mic pres, mixers, wait for the DAW to fire up and then save a file before I can even record, I just turn one of these guys on. Four second boot up time for the R-09, seven seconds for the DR-03. Love 'em. Saves heaps of space too because I just keep all my ideas as mp3s in iTunes.