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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

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

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).

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

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.

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

Herman wrote: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

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.

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

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

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