Mobile recording gear

[Herman]

Untill now I record my guitars just by plugging a mike into the soundcard of my computer. Cheap and fast, but not very rewarding. I'm thinking of buying a digital recorder like a Edirol or Zoom.
There was a thread about it 2 years ago, but I guess there are new things on the market to be considered. I think of something around $200-250. It should do great on recording 1 guitar and should be usable when jamming with my friends in the garage.

What do you use or think is worth the money?

Herman

[Woody OKeefe]

Hi Herman,
I have always used a Korg digital mixer recorder. It's not mobile but a excellent recorder.I have a friend who used the Zoom for blues guitar and celtic harp. He also used it for jams. He says it is awesome (his words).

Good luck

[mjmeehan]

I've been using the Zoom H2 for a couple of years and love it. It's very user friendly and has four condensor mics that can be set to record 360 degrees. I agree with Woody's friend... Awesome. (and affordable).

[Ken C]

Herman,

My Christmas gift last year was a PCM-M10. It has been a nice little recorder to have around. I have recorded solo acoustic stuff with it as well as when my band gets together. The ease and quality of sound is amazing from such a small portable device.

Ken

[Ken Hundley]

I have used the Boss MIcro BR

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

Great little device for recording on the go. Onboard mics are stereo, but sound quality isn't great. Better off getting a good quality mic with 1/8" plug. like a camcorder mic. You get much better sound out of it. Does digital processing and mixing right on board, then can export right to MP3. Get a good sized memory chip, and have lots of batteries on hand or get a plug from radio shack....it does not come with one.

[seanbig]

Herman,

I use the EDIROL UA-101 it is a little out of the price range you are interested in, but it is well worth the $500.00 you can get it for (maybe less now). I've used it for the past five years or so. It's got 8 microphone channels (with phantom power if needed) that can be recorded at once. (It has other inputs, but I haven't ventured into using them other than midi occasionally.) I use it with Sonar Cakewalk, but you could use it with Logic or other software if you like.

It was easy to set up and it is easy to use. I would recommend it to anyone thinking about recording more than one channel. It's external so you could use it in conjunction with a laptop and take it anywhere. It takes up half a rack if you want to keep it all together with your effects and preamps.


Sean

Untill now I record my guitars just by plugging a mike into the soundcard of my computer. Cheap and fast, but not very rewarding. I'm thinking of buying a digital recorder like a Edirol or Zoom.
There was a thread about it 2 years ago, but I guess there are new things on the market to be considered. I think of something around $200-250. It should do great on recording 1 guitar and should be usable when jamming with my friends in the garage.

What do you use or think is worth the money?

Herman

[Dan Bejnarowicz]

Hi Herman,

I also wanted a better way to record, both at home, lessons and in session. But... didn't have the numbers for a nicer pcm digi recorder. So, I did what all folks do looking to save money... went to eBay.

Actually found the stereo dictation machine from Olympus work great for me. I use the digital voice recorder DS-30; it came with the stereo mic on top, and then i downloaded some shareware audio editor; in business! My mp3's sound very good. Cost? about 40 USD.

You can check out these things at Office supply stores as well; see what you like.

[klooker]

I just got a Sony PCM-M10 from B&H for around $225.

I've only used it a little but so far, I'm pretty impressed.

Kevin Looker

[deadedith]

I've had great results with the following signal path: Electrovoice 967 DYNAMIC mike - not condenser - around $200 and the reproduction is accurate and warm, and very directional; into a $30 behringer analog-digital unit; into my little netbook.
I have used a lot of gadgets and pickups - at one time going the entire Sunrise plus internal mic plus UST into a 5 band Pendulum parametric eq into an Alesis quadraverb effects unit for compresssion, de-essing, a little 6 voice chorus, a touch of delay and more- into a great power amp and then to a Daedalus speaker cabinet- I had a buddy over to hear a new Phil Keaggy solo I had learned; he listened and said : "that is one of the most beautiful sounds I've heard; but it does not sound anything like an acoustic guitar" - so the gadgets are mostly gathering dust and are all for sale! - but IMHO a good mic is the best pickup there is, and if you download a freebie like Realtek you get a nice set of 'verbs and a little eq, and there you are.
I am not prepared to fight over this!! :-) Just my experience..
Dave B

[Herman]

I've not decided yet, but this gives a little insight on the alternatives.
Thanks guys for your input.