ProAudio Review - August 2008 - (Page 16)

BROADCAST | REVIEW By Mike Rivers TASCAM DR-1 Portable Digital Recorder TASCAM has loaded the 44.1/48kHz DR-1 with features particularly useful to the recording musician. The DR-1 is TASCAM’s entry into the burgeoning field of handheld 44.1/48kHz (dare I say, “standard speed”?) digital recorders. It offers all the common features: built-in stereo microphones, external mic and line inputs, headphone/line outputs, 16- and 24-bit PCM and MP3 formats from 32 to 320 kbps, and records to SD flash memory. A 1GB SD card is supplied with the unit, with SD-HC cards as large as 32GB accommodated when they become available, a nice bit of future-resistance (nothing is really “future-proof”). The DR-1 is more than a typical field recorder, however. Drawing on 20+ years experience with Portastudios and Trainers, TASCAM has loaded the DR-1 with features particularly useful to the recording musician. | FEATURES The DR-1 is a comfortable handful with all controls within easy reach. Bumpers on the back of the case offer a bit of vibration isolation with the recorder flat on a table, but it doesn’t stand well vertically nor is there a tripod socket or stand. Though we didn’t have one for this review, an accessory kit, which includes a snap-on cradle with a tripod socket, a desktop tripod with a swivel joint, and a windscreen. Since the recorder is just a bit too large to slip in a pocket, I’d like to have seen belt loops on its nicely padded slip case. In addition to the built-in mics, there’s the usual 1/8-inch stereo jack for an external mic (Mic 1) which, when connected, overrides the internal mics. A ?-inch mono jack provides an alternate external (Mic 2) input. Stereo line input is via yet another 1/8-inch jack. A dedicated menu selects the input source, engages Plug-In power for external Mic 1, switches Mic 1 (external or internal) to mono, and selects low, medium, or high mic gain. A thumbwheel provides continuous record level adjustment for the mics, however the line input level is fixed, requiring adjustment at the source to optimize the record level and prevent clipping. The external mic inputs don’t have much gain, yielding rather noisy recordings with many mics. With the high gain setting and the record level thumbwheel at maximum, Mic 1 input requires -41dBu to reach 0dBFS. Quiescent noise with inputs terminated with 150 ohms is around -57dBFS. Mic 2 input is about 8dB less sensitive than Mic 1, however noise under the same conditions is substantially lower, about ?72dBFS. TASCAM recommends using an impedance-matching transformer with the ?-inch mic input. This provides about 12dB of gain as well as a better load for a typical dynamic mic. There’s a 40, 80, or 120Hz low-cut filter, limiter or automatic record level control, and channel swap for maintaining proper left/right perspective whether the mics are pointing away from the front or back of the recorder. Power is from a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack or optional AC adapter. Charging is via the USB port or AC adapter. A charging station isn’t available (at least at this time) so spare batteries must be charged in the recorder. Battery life is estimated at 7 hours when recording in the MP3 mode with the built-in mics. I got a bit more than 3 hours out of a charge at 16-bit 44.1kHz, which is a good match to a 2GB memory card. So far this sounds pretty much like any other recorder in its class. What distinguishes the DR-1 is a plethora of musician-oriented features including a metronome, tuner, effects which can be applied to either playback or input, speed and pitch adjustment, loop playback, part (usually vocal) canceling, and sound-on-sound recording. With some care and patience, one could produce release-quality music with just the DR-1. | IN USE The DR-1 works just fine as a field recorder using its built-in mics. The mics swing through a 90-degree arc to aid in positioning. They’re a little on the bright side, reasonably “tame-able” with EQ. The stereo image is realistic, though the center gets weak at distances greater than about 30 feet. The recorder can handle a pretty loud source without clipping, so don’t be afraid to get close enough for good stereo. The limiter is on the output side of the mic preamp so it can only prevent A/D converter clipping, not preamp clipping. It’s effective for high level sources, but when dealing with material with a wide dynamic range, depend on your ears (monitor with headphones), not the meters, to assure a clean recording. The meter scale has no numbers (major divisions appear to be ?1, ?4, ?10, ?20, and ?40dBFS) so it’s difficult to tell when you’re getting into the danger zone. There’s an automatic record level mode, but I never found an effective use for it. TASCAM continues on page 18 ® APPLICATIONS Field recording, demo recording, woodshedding KEY FEATURES Self-contained, sound-on-sound recording, 44.1/48kHz, 16- or 24-bit PCM, MP3 recording, accommodates SD memory card up to 32GB PRICE $399 list CONTACT TASCAM | ¤ 323-726-0303 | · www.tascam.com 16 | ProAudio Review | August 2008 www.proaudioreview.com http://www.tascam.com http://www.proaudioreview.com

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ProAudio Review - August 2008 Contents Publisher's Page Broadcast News and New Products Yamaha Pocketrak 2G Olympus LS-10 Linear PCM Recorder Bench Test Marantz PMD620 Flash Recorder TASCAM DR-1 Portable Digital Recorder Tips From The Pros: Location/Production Audio Prosumer Portables in a Pro World Studio News and New Products Apogee Ensemble Solid State Logic Duende Mini FireWire DSP Live News and New Products Avril Lavigne's The Best Damn Thing World Tour Behringer Eurolive B412DSP and B415DSP Active Loudspeakers Gear for FOH Engineers — A PAR Contributors’ Wish List Contracting News and New Products Buyer's Guide Single Slice

ProAudio Review - August 2008

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