Recording - November 2009 - 56

BY NICK CASARES Line 6 Never lose a guitar idea again! With acoustic instruments and vocals the BackTrack + Mic operates the same way—the only real difference is recording with the built-in mic instead of the instrument input. For a unit this small I was impressed with the mic quality. It’s a lot better than microcassettes of yesteryear and certainly on par with other portable recorders on the market. For acoustic use the headphone jack is handy as it makes it possible to practice along with acoustic recordings. Computer connection Getting tracks out of the BackTrack is dead simple. Connect a USB cable and the BackTrack shows up as a remote hard drive on any Mac or Windows computer. Audio files show up in two folders, Marked and Unmarked—as explained before, any file that was marked during recording appears in the Marked folder and everything else is stored in the Unmarked folder. The tracks show up as .WAV files and can be dragged out of the BackTrack onto a hard drive for further editing. There is a small software utility that allows access to a few internal settings including bit depth (16 or 24), resolution (11, 22, 32, 44.1, or 48 kHz), mic sensitivity, and input sensitivity. There are also settings for controlling how much silence the BackTrack will wait for before creating a new track, and whether or not the BackTrack should automatically record when it senses a signal. Verdict: Yes For such a simple device the BackTrack actually delivers a lot of functionality. At first glance the BackTrack looks like a simple recorder, but under the hood it’s a powerful tool for practice and recording. Think of the BackTrack as a musical sketchpad for capturing your inspiration. At their very affordable prices it would be hard to go wrong with either, but I recommend the BackTrack + Mic simply because it offers quite a bit more useful functions for very little more money. Price: BackTrack, $99; BackTrack + Mic, $149 More from: Line 6, www.line6.com. BackTrack and BackTrack + Mic Line 6 makes it easy to record songwriting ideas and practice sessions, with the introduction of the BackTrack pocket recorders: Plug in, play, and all of your ideas get saved as easy-to-use digital files. No configuration, no software, and no wasted time when the inspiration strikes. The BackTrack comes in two flavors: BackTrack and BackTrack + Mic. The latter is the model I received for review. For simplicity’s sake, I’ll refer to the “BackTrack” generically and will only point out differences where relevant. The box The BackTrack package is roughly the size of a deck of cards and fits comfortably in the hand or clips to a guitar strap or belt. Connections include: 1/4" input and output jacks, power switch, buttons for Play/Fast Forward/Rewind, a playback selection switch, and a large Mark button on the top of the case. The unit recharges via USB or an optional third-party wall-wart power supply, and can record up to 12 hours of audio depending on the chosen bit depth and sample rate. The BackTrack + Mic adds a built-in condenser mic for capturing voice and acoustic instruments, but also has a 1/8" headphone/line output with volume control, and doubles the maximum audio storage memory to 24 hours. The BackTrack can be connected directly to a guitar output or the end of an effects chain. The former setup records a dry signal and the latter captures the entire effected sound (distortion, delay,RECORDING NOVEMBER 2009 etc.). The BackTrack is strictly a recorder and has no built-in processing. In use Using the BackTrack is really simple— just flip the power switch, plug in and play. A blue light indicates that the BackTrack is recording. Of course, being a Line 6 product, the BackTrack has a few tricks up its sleeve. At any time during recording the Mark button can be pressed and the last thing recorded will be marked. Once the BackTrack has been connected to a computer, marked files appear in a separate folder so it’s a great way to highlight those cool riff ideas on the fly. The BackTrack can play back any recording just by navigating recordings with the Fast Forward and Rewind controls. Playback can be limited to just marked files by flipping the marked-files playback switch. There are two potentially great uses for playing back files beyond just listening to what’s been recorded. First, the BackTrack can serve as a stand-in player so you can adjust amp settings with two hands. Anyone who’s ever tried tweaking amp tones and fretting a riff at the same time will really appreciate this one. Second, the BackTrack can be a practice partner. Play a riff in, play it back, jam along and get ready to watch the practice hours fly by.

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Recording - November 2009

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