Portable Recorder for practice,jams

[wigger thomas]

I saw this thing on line and it looks pretty useful. Condenser mics,inputs,4 tracks,portable........
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/445854-REG/Zoom_H4_H4_Mobile_Stereo_Field.html

Any thoughts? Aternatives?

[real_ss_budgie]

2 mates have just purchased recorders very similar to that......5 stars...i wouldnt mind one for recording ambient sounds to mess with.

[tryandgetme]

cool. though I went with a Korg AX300G and my mp3 player, a little more flexible for someone that only does guitar work and no singing. Far less portable though. ok damnnit, I'll probably end up buying one of those little things too.

[wigger thomas]

There's also this:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/480163-REG/Zoom_H2_H2_Ultra_Portable_Digital.html

There's some guys on a music forum using both of these but they don't talk about them all that much. This has a little better accesories but you can't plug the guitar straight in. Probably w/ a jack adapter though.

[tryandgetme]

There's also this:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/480163-REG/Zoom_H2_H2_Ultra_Portable_Digital.html

There's some guys on a music forum using both of these but they don't talk about them all that much. This has a little better accesories but you can't plug the guitar straight in. Probably w/ a jack adapter though.

you'd probably need at least a guitar with active pickups (most accoustic pickups count), need some kind of pre-amp. recording straight from my passive pickups doesn't give much usable sound.

[wigger thomas]

you'd probably need at least a guitar with active pickups (most accoustic pickups count), need some kind of pre-amp. recording straight from my passive pickups doesn't give much usable sound.
I have a Takamine classical acoustiic w/ a built in pre-amp. You think I would lose a lot reducing a guitar chord to a small headphone with an adapter? It's almost a dealbreaker. I think the differance in price winds up being 50.00 when you ask for a better price from that electronic store.

[K-Man]

Wiggs, do you have an iPod? If so, there are attachments that allow you to make digital recording to it. I bought one for mine and use it with the provided microphone, and via its mini-jack input. Only one track (not stereo), but for $30-40 it might do what you want if you are just recording guitar output.

[wigger thomas]

Wiggs, do you have an iPod? If so, there are attachments that allow you to make digital recording to it. I bought one for mine and use it with the provided microphone, and via its mini-jack input. Only one track (not stereo), but for $30-40 it might do what you want if you are just recording guitar output.
I've got a 20 G I-Pod. I will look into it for sure.

If I were more liquid,it would be easy to pull the trigger on one of these Zoom recorders though.

[K-Man]

I've got a 20 G I-Pod. I will look into it for sure.

If I were more liquid,it would be easy to pull the trigger on one of these Zoom recorders though.

Roger all that.

[tryandgetme]

I have a Takamine classical acoustiic w/ a built in pre-amp. You think I would lose a lot reducing a guitar chord to a small headphone with an adapter?

without running it through a mixer or an amp? yeah, a little. my girlfirend records from her active accoustic straight to her computer without an amp, does sound a little thin without an amp, but it works. Putting a mic on the guitar and running the mic into the computer works better. The guitar electronics run through my little battery powered Vox DA5 amp then into the computer sounds GREAT though. That's probably the best guitar gadjet I've bought all year...metal jams around a campfire!

I bet metallica recorded St. Anger that way...;)

[jerman]

Do you have a Mac Wigger? Because if you do or have access to one you may be able to record your guitar straight into Garageband and then manipulate the recording. Think all you need is something like the Griffin iMike.

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic

[wigger thomas]

Well,the PC is 4-5 years old and showing signs of aging. Next will be a mac.

My daughter made some poor quality piano tracks on her I-Pod w/ an add on condenser mic. Not real impressive.

These zoom recorders are super portable which is a big plus. And the condenser mics are getting raves. Again,the issue is the slightly more expensive one being more guitar friendly. But the included equipment w/ the lower end is a bit better.

I have a Pignose 30 rechargeable amp. Battery lasts forever but really only sounds good clean acoustic far as I can tell. I play classical at a hippy school for 3-5 year olds through it.It can cut through a lot of noise. Like towers of blocks crashing. When I get a few more songs I'll do breakfast background music at nursing homes.

[tryandgetme]

I can drown out an accoustic pretty easy with my DA5, I was pretty impressed. Other cool things like 11 effects, 11 amp models (it's a modeling amp), line in for playing along with an mp3 player, mic in that works GREAT with an accoustic, and the line-out emulation is so good it's what I record off of even when I'm near my AC30. Screw that rockband game, I can have my own rock band with that little amp. I really should get a portable recorder, one would fit nice inside the battery compartment.

[K-Man]

Do you have a Mac Wigger? Because if you do or have access to one you may be able to record your guitar straight into Garageband and then manipulate the recording. Think all you need is something like the Griffin iMike.

http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/imic



Anybody out there in Forumland have any experience with the iMike? How about the Final Vinyl software that comes with?

Was thinking of investing in iMike or something similar to convert some of favorite LP's to a digital format. It's getting tougher to fire up the SL 1200MK2 and dig thru the crates, now that I have gigabytes of digital music amassed (or maybe I'm just getting lazier).

Huh, huh, he said amassed. :D

[wigger thomas]

Anybody out there in Forumland have any experience with the iMike? How about the Final Vinyl software that comes with?

Was thinking of investing in iMike or something similar to convert some of favorite LP's to a digital format. It's getting tougher to fire up the SL 1200MK2 and dig thru the crates, now that I have gigabytes of digital music amassed (or maybe I'm just getting lazier).

Huh, huh, he said amassed. :D

Definately get your vinyl converted. A friend was doing a lot of that. If I talk to him I'll see what method he's using.