AudioMedia - July 2008 - (Page 56)

Edirol | R44 EDIROL R 44 Portable Recorder PAUL MAC finds a case in point where bigger might just be better, where four tracks might be better than two; and Edirol’s R-44 seems to make perfect sense in this respect. t might be a bit unfair to associate the Edirol R- with the surge of low-cost portable recorders that is currently pouring into the audio pool. For one thing, it’s got four tracks, whereas most of the others have only two (or even one). I’m not sure if its significantly more expensive to produce a four-track recorder than a two-track one, but the sense behind it is undeniable. Given that we’re talking about location recording, and that what many recordists want more than anything are options at the post stage, four tracks (or more) is most definitely the way to go. If your headphones deceive you into selecting that particular mic for the side channel, or the coincident pair as opposed to the spaced pair, or the bridge as opposed to the fretboard, a stereo recorder leaves you with no where to run. Four tracks let you hedge your bets slightly. This might be the over-riding pulling power of the Edirol R series (I include the R Pro in this) – low cost access to flexibilit y on location. Or there may be more to it I THE REVIEWER PAUL MAC is the Editor of Audio Media magazine. The Rticks all of the construction boxes – the case is solid and confidently weighty; if you drop it or knock it the casing will hit before the controls or sockets do (assuming there are no stones or pokey-out things), and nothing looks ready to snap or disintegrate. The controls essential to recording are all on the sloping front panel, along with the display. All the other stuff (menu, playback, power, effects, and so on) is on top. The only one that might have polished off the front panel nicely but instead is on top, is the Mark button, and this is only really relevant where the top is not easily accessible. Also on top are small recessed switches for individual channel phantom power on/off, plus universal lowcut, and limiter switches. The analogue inputs are XLR/ Jack combo types on the right side of the unit, and the digital I/O, SD card slot, USB connection, RCA analogue outputs, sync connector, and power connector on the left. The four analogue outputs can be set to either put out the four corresponding tracks, or a repeat of whatever the monitor output (headphones or internal O ver view speakers) is currently looking at. The Monitor output level control doubles as a push button to step through monitoring options, which are combinations of tracks and L/R routings. The route to record is pretty direct with the R- . As long as everything is set-up correctly, you just hit Record. Or, if you prefer, Record/Pause, and then Record. For level settings, four dual concentric knobs – one for each channel – each offer a stepped sensitivity control, plus a variable level control. I do like this approach to setting levels – the equivalent of a gain pot and a fader. The only thing I found I had to keep on top of were the various record settings, effects settings, and so on. There’s no way of storing set-ups as presets, so when you change your connections or when the requirements of the project change, you have to make sure you haven’t left the input or sample rate selection unchecked, or a record effect in place, for example. To help matters, the Effects button light comes on when you go into record or play and you’ve got an effect in place (though when you go into record it might be too late) and sample rate/bit depth is displayed on the screen all the time. Those record options include input select (combinations of analogue, internal mic, and digital inputs), sample rate (up to kHz), bit depth (up to -bit), record mode (recorded file types – a number of mono files, one or two stereo files, or a -channel file – all WAVs), Pre-Record (zero to . seconds, upper limit dependant on other settings), Project Name, and Limiter Link (combinations of channels to be limiter-linked). A project name can be either a date stamp or a user-definable project name, plus sequential numbers. If you’ve selected to record more than one file simultaneously, a folder is created and numbered tracks are written inside that folder. There are several effects options inside the R- , but you can only select one at a time, and again there are no user presets for storing commonly used settings. You > 56 AUDIO MEDIA JULY 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of AudioMedia - July 2008

AudioMedia - July 2008 Contents Recording Post Broadcast What's Up UK Geofocus: France For the Record Special Report: Develop Preview SE Electronics 4400 Sennheiser MKH800 Twin Tubetech Club Final Cut: Wanted Smart AV Tango Doctor Who Made in America DSP Roundup Product Sampler: Summer Hits Edirol R44 Video Guide AMSR Fame - Le Musical Waves MaxxBCL Yamaha AD8HR Special Supplement

AudioMedia - July 2008

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