AudioMedia - July 2008 - (Page 57)

Edirol | R44 Card Sh a r p The biggest shift for the R- compared to its other Edirol brethren is the SD card storage, rather than hard disk. Many people prefer the idea of solid state storage for a portable recorder as there’s nothing mechanical to go wrong. There are, though, a couple of general points to watch out for Firstly, SD cards are not infallible and get fragmented just like mechanical digital media. Fragmentation normally means slower access – and on an SD card this can be very noticeable. It’s interesting how many people assume that their camera cards, audio SD cards, and even USB pen drives will simply take care of themselves. Regular back-up and formatting is the easiest way to prevent failure when it’s least welcome. Secondly, not all SD cards are created equal. The R- can use up to an GB SD HC (High Capacity) card, though Edirol still asks that you check its website for qualified cards. There is, you see, the matter of the speed class of SD cards. When you buy a card you’ll notice a class number on it – this refers to the minimum access speed that card should provide (though many exceed this). SDHC cards, for example, are split into three classes (, , and ). Class six is the highest with a minimum speed of MB/s. You might also get a maximum speed rating such as you get with CD media (x, x, x etc) that relates to multiples of kB/s – though the qualifying access operations are not standardised, so this rating is far less reliable. The R- has a couple of tricks up its sleeve for dealing with SD media. First, there are all the standard file utilities (renaming, erasing, formatting, and so on), plus a file repair utility – just in case. The other more impressive facility is a bargraph meter on the main display that shows the SD card write buffer. When this fills up, it means the SD card can no longer keep up with the speed at which the R- wants to write data. An increasingly full buffer is a good indication of the deteriorating condition of the card (format required, normally). Having said all this, at the time of writing I couldn’t find the list of qualified cards on the Edirol website, so I scouted around for a reasonably priced, GB Class  SDHC card with a better-than-Class  spec from a well known make. Out of sheer paranoia I always re-format the card when I offload audio, and this card has given absolutely no problems since I bought it. Even the buffer refuses to budge much above  percent, however hard I stare at it. be adverse to putting it in where safety was paramount – it’s one of those great pleasures, being able to trust your limiter. > simply choose from the list of effects (three-band EQ with parametric mid, six-band graphic EQ, noise gate, enhancer, compressor/de-esser, or MS-Mic) and decide how or if you want the four channels linked, plus whether the effect is for record and/or playback for each channel. The only small inconvenience is that you can’t monitor an effect during record without actually recording it; that is, you can’t apply the effect just to the monitor path. You can however monitor the effect in record-pause, then turn it off for the actual recording. With an GB card you get up to minutes of four tracks at / – at higher rates you’re restricted to two tracks. Of course, you could always connect two R s together via the sync connection and effectively run an eight-track recorder. Most of what the unit went through during the review was basic instrument miking, though I did try the internal mics. These put a fair amount of noise in the resulting file, so I would reserve them for note-taking or interviews and so on where transcription was its destination. On the other hand, there was absolutely nothing wrong with the main analogue signal path – mic or line these pre-amps are very quiet. I n Use “All through this, I was actually surprised at how good the front panel metering is. It may be small, but it’s distinct, and the peak lights are obvious.” To be honest, I was expecting that. Most people now know that you can trust the R Pro pre-amps (a step up from the R ), and apparently it’s those that are in the R- . I pushed both sensitivity and gain up to their limits, but the big hiss didn’t come. One interesting point came up with a plugged straight in and pointed at a wirestrung acoustic guitar. I got the sensitivity up to the lastbut-one click – no pad on the – which could either point to a well-judged or a slightly safe gain range, depending on how you look at it. And the converters are well up to the job – even when I pulled back the gain and plunged the incoming levels down to no-shows, listening back to the result had the program clear, clean, and unopposed by a noise floor. It definitely makes the most of the -bits. All through this, I was actually surprised at how good the front panel metering is. It may be small, but it’s distinct, and the peak lights are obvious. You can see all four tracks and the stereo output, and together with the stepped sensitivity, I was almost immediately confident about the levels and the headroom. Even the limiter is trustworthy. I pushed it quite hard, and while you can hear the clamp when things get out of hand, I certainly wouldn’t This is a lovely little recorder. Yes, it has a couple of quirks, but what doesn’t? What you really need from a four-track recorder is good pre-amps, reliable metering, and easy access to the result – and that’s what you get. I can’t think why almost the entire market for low-cost, portable multi-track has been left to Edirol, although I can’t imagine the monopoly will last for long. Any wannabe competitors would have to be something very special to dent its position though. The R Pro keeps popping up everywhere I go – talking to games designers, classical recordists, outward-bound Foley Editors, and more, it seems four tracks are definitely better than two and the price is undeniably excellent. I’d guess that the R will have as much impact, if not more. ∫ Conclusion I N F O R MAT I O N £GB£499.00 (inc.VAT) A Edirol Europe Ltd., Power Road Studios, Studio 3.4, 114 Power Road, London W4 5PY T +44 (0) 208 747 5949 F +44 (0) 208 747 5948 W www.ediroleurope.com E info@edirol.co.uk A Roland Systems Group, 425 Sequoia Drive, Suite 114, Bellingham, WA 98226 T +1 360 594 4282 W www.edirol.com E sales@edirol.com AUDIO MEDIA JULY 2008 57 http://www.ediroleurope.com http://www.edirol.com

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

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.