Recording - September 2011 - 24

B Y M I K E M E T L AY

Zoom R8
Recorder:Sampler:Interface:Controller
The newest Zoom offers multiple functions in a compact package

The R8 can take an SD card of up to 32 GB capacity, and comes with a 2 GB SD card preloaded with loops from Big Fish Audio, including content from LA Drum Sessions 2 and from Elemental Studio Percussion (which I reviewed in our July 2010 issue). It’s also bundled with a DVD-ROM containing Windows drivers and a copy of Steinberg Cubase LE; it’s class compliant on Macs and doesn’t need driver installation before use. Workflow Working with the R8 is essentially identical to working with the R24; there’s a small but clear backlit LCD that displays all functions and menus, does metering during recording and playback (the R8 lacks the larger units’ meter bridge), and provides zoomable graphic editing of loop start and end points when assembling loops for song playback. As mentioned above, the user interface is essentially identical to the R24’s, with all the buttons and faders simply being smaller rather than doubled up or removed. Each mixer channel has a button to select Record/Playback/Mute with 3-color LED, standard Zoom style, and a tiny velocity-sensitive drum pad under each fader. Note that there are ten different drum kits with up to 16 sounds in each kit; the buttons are playable in two Banks, with the first Bank’s instruments named on the front panel and the second Bank containing mostly Latin instruments like bongos, congas, and shaker. When recording on the R8, you can build tracks in a variety of ways. The grid-style rhythm programmer is a little fiddly to work with due to the small display and lack of dedicated buttons, but it does let you build your own drum-machine rhythms, and it comes with a selection of nearly 500 preprogrammed drum patterns in a variety of styles and meters, with an extra selection of intros and endings. Even if you don’t set up a drum track ahead of time, you will want to set the tempo and time signature for the project so that bar lines make sense. If you prefer to work with audio loops, importing them and setting up an arrangement where they start and stop appropriately is done with the same sequencer-style editor as on the R24. Unlike the built-in rhythm sounds, these loops take up space as actual audio tracks in your Project. The drum pads light to indicate when looped audio is playing back and flash to indicate when loops have been cued to start playing at the next bar line.

We first reviewed Zoom’s R16 in October 2009. When it first came out, the R16 caused a lot of jaws to drop—here was a fullfeatured multitrack recorder with built-in effects, built-in stereo microphones, a proper meter bridge, and eight simultaneous channels of input, that could also act as a USB 2.0 recording/playback interface and as a basic control surface for DAWs, all in a compact and lightweight package that could run on batteries and was surprisingly affordable. Fast forward to our January 2011 issue and an even more jaw-dropping review of the R24. It added more simultaneous playback tracks, more phantom-powered mic inputs, an improved and streamlined operating system, a built-in rhythm machine with multiple kits of sampled drums, and the ability to sample audio and play back loops in addition to recorded audio and rhythm tracks, all in a package that was no bigger than its predecessor, and still surprisingly affordable. And now we have the R8, and yet another chance for jaws to drop. Meet the little brother The R8 does almost everything the R24 can do, in a considerably smaller package that’s
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ideal for the portable recordist or home studio owner who needs fewer inputs and fewer recording and playback tracks. Because the two units have such similar function sets and user interface, I will refer readers to my January 2011 review of the R24 for a lot of the details of what’s going on under the hood. The R8 looks at first glance like an R24 that’s been shrunk in the dryer and painted black. Weighing under 2 pounds and operable on the included AC power supply, USB native power, or four AA batteries, it offers two input channels and up to eight tracks of simultaneous playback (as a stereo mixdown). As a recorder, it can store 16-bit or 24-bit WAV audio at 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz; as a USB 2.0 audio interface it can handle sampling rates up to 96 kHz. The balanced input channels use combination XLR–1/4" TRS jacks, and the outputs are on unbalanced 1/4". There’s a 1/4" TRS headphone jack in the back, and a 1/4" TS Control In jack for a footswitch that can be assigned to effects patch changes, transport, or punch control. The two inputs have a global phantom power switch and can be set for Mic/Line input, the built-in microphones, or (on Input 1) a Hi-Z instrument input.
Recording - September 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - September 2011
