Recording - October 2010 - 36

BY LORENZ RYCHNER

Alesis PalmTrack
New Tricks Add Value To This Handheld Digital Recorder
more distinct in feel—raised? rough to the touch?—as it’s too easy to hit it unintendedly. The screen is small, well lit but crammed with info—it never goes dark, but it dims after a user-definable interval. Two sliding switches work for Power On/Off and for Mic Gain High/Low. Two increment-decrement pairs of buttons control recording level and playback level. There are separate inputs for external mic and for line in, plus a headphone outlet—all accommodating stereo 1/8" miniplugs. Then there’s the USB port, and a 3/8" thread for standmounting, located next to the bay for the SD card; the back slides off for access to the battery bay (2xAA). My review unit came with batteries installed and with a 2 GB SD card; there’s no remote. There is a connection point for an AC adapter (not included, nor available from Alesis—it requires 3V DC, 500 mA, center-negative barrel connector with 3.2mm outer diameter, 1.3mm inner diameter). Keen to record As soon as you power up the PalmTrack you see levels and—if you are monitoring over headphones or earbuds—you hear input signals at all times—no need to go into Recording Standby mode for that. Setting up for recording is simple. Press Menu, and you’re at the “Recording Setup”. Select it, set the sample rate, 44.1 or 48, the file format—either WAV (choose 16- or 24bit) or MP3 at 320, 224, 192, 160, 128, 96, or 64 kbps, and select an input type. If WAV is your favorite format, be aware that the PalmTrack defaults back to MP3 when you turn it off and back on. The PalmTrack has four built-in mics (all invisible behind the grille), and it has separate inputs for an external stereo mic and for a stereo line input. You cannot record in mono, but you can play back just the left or right track if you wish. Choose “2 Mics” and you record in stereo from the built-in mics. Choose “4 Mics”, also built-in, and the website tells us, “for omnidirectional pickup pattern”. While set to “2 Mics” the PalmTrack disables the internal mics when you record from the line input. While set to “4 Mics” the PalmTrack also lets you record from the line input, and it mixes incoming line signals with signals from the built-in mics. You have no control over the balance on the PalmTrack. Still in Record Setup, turn Auto Gain on or off, and decide if you want to use the Vocal Enhance feature (see Extras below). Note that the external sliding switch for High/Low Mic Gain is active no matter whether Auto Gain is on or off. Note also that the Record Level tabs also control incoming line signals. Recording I returned home from recording a full symphony orchestra, from a good seat in an acoustically superb concert hall, where I had simply held the PalmTrack in my hand in front of me. I hooked the PalmTrack to my living-room stereo and was quite pleased with what I heard. While recording, the unit had been facing away from me, since the built-in mics sit behind the grille. To see what the levels were doing, I had to keep tilting back the PalmTrack so that I could peek over the top. Such movement, and anything you have to do that involves touching the unit during recording, will result in audible blemishes. The Auto Gain is quite forgiving and I rarely heard pumping, but that means that it can let signals go into the red—use the Mic Gain switch conservatively. I then took the unit to a local club where a reggae/dub band played at volumes far exceeding the loudest the symphony had produced, the orchestra’s large brass section and furious timpani-pounders notwithstanding. The Auto Gain was being overwhelmed. The lesson: Extra-low manual level settings and diligent monitoring are recommended in such super-loud venues. With no remote control, a good way to operate the PalmTrack with the built-in mics for any keeper recordings is to standmount it, carefully set levels, and walk away. Better still—use an external stereo mic, so that you can touch the PalmTrack during operation if needed. For optimal results use external mics with a mixer and bring the mixer’s stereo output to the PalmTrack’s Line input. If there is a mismatch in level, or if you have no control over the mixer’s output for whatever reason, remember that the PalmTrack lets you

The Alesis PalmTrack joins a number of pocket-sized handheld recorders, the kind that comes with built-in mics and a surprising number of features in a handy package. The PalmTrack stands out with a few tricks not seen on other units. Out of the box The box contains a PalmTrack, a USB cable, and a quick-start guide. Pick up the PalmTrack and you’re holding a dark-grey plastic device that felt just right in my hand—lightweight, measuring about 41/4" by 21/2" and just over an inch thick. A lighter-colored band runs around the narrow sides, and a grille dominates the top both on the front and on the back. Behind it are the mics and a tiny speaker. The control tabs on the surface are labelled in a faint grey, which makes reading them tricky in all but the best light, but there are so few controls, and they are so nicely spaced and located (as seen in the picture), you’ll remember them instantly and you’ll use them by feel, even singlehandedly. The Menu tab in the center of the 4-way control needs to be
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RECORDING OCTOBER 2010

Recording - October 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - October 2010