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Recording Devices


MitfordRI

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Hello:

 

I am taking the CEE course with Chris Stevens (fab teacher) in Boston. He asked if we all had portable recording devices. I said yes, thinking he was asking about dictaphones (for transcription). What he meant was small digital recorders that we could use to practice (mangle) assigned tunes.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

Many thanks,

 

 

Lucy

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Hello:

 

I am taking the CEE course with Chris Stevens (fab teacher) in Boston. He asked if we all had portable recording devices. I said yes, thinking he was asking about dictaphones (for transcription). What he meant was small digital recorders that we could use to practice (mangle) assigned tunes.

 

Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

Many thanks,

 

 

Lucy

I've had very good results using Sony's MiniDisc recorder. You can find them at various sites. I've had good luck and good prices from the following link.

http://www.minidiscaccess.com/

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I recently got an Edirol R9 for my wife to use in her linguistic research. My daughter out-law (soon to be in law) also got one for Christmas to use in her training as an opera singer. It looks like a worthy successor to the Edirol R01 I use for recording sessions and classes so I can review what I'd like to learn. The R9 is smaller and somewhat easire to use than the R01 was. Sound quality is excellent and downloading to a computer (including a Mac, which is important for me) is easy. Files then can be massaged using Audacity. You can get CD quality recordings that way. Edirols are, however, rather expensive.

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Hi

I've used a Zoom H4 for recording concertinas. It is both complex and simple. It is simple in that to record you switch it on press 'record' to put it in 'standby' and 'record' again to start recording. Play-back is just as simple. It is more complex in that it will also work as a 4 track recorder with a whole lot of effects such as various mic profiles, various reverbs, and various amps ( guitar inputetc.) it uses ssd cards but you would need at least 2gig cards. runs on 2 AA batteries which give about 4Hrs recording time.

I don't work for Zoom even tho it may not be apparent from the above :D

chris

 

I think that they are cheaper than the Edirol but a bit bigger

Edited by chris
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Also consider a digital voice recorder from Sony or Olympus, which will likely be less costly than any of the options mentioned above. Until it was stolen from my car, I had a Sony model ICD-ST25; I believe the current model is ICD-SX25. For ~$125 you get a pocket size device that can record in stereo and slow down tunes by as much as 50% without changing the pitch. The tunes can also be transferred to a computer, though with most models you will have to use supplied software to convert the sound file to a computer-friendly format such as WAV or AIFF.

 

The sound quality is not as good as that of a minidisc but it's more than adequate for tune-learning. The slow-down capability is invaluable. In 2005 I was at a concertina workshop, and during breaks people with minidiscs would gather 'round my humble recorder (which had a built-in speaker) so they could hear the tunes played at slower speed.

 

See this previous post for a review of a similar Olympus device.

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Also consider a digital voice recorder from Sony or Olympus, which will likely be less costly than any of the options mentioned above. Until it was stolen from my car, I had a Sony model ICD-ST25; I believe the current model is ICD-SX25. For ~$125 you get a pocket size device that can record in stereo and slow down tunes by as much as 50% without changing the pitch. The tunes can also be transferred to a computer, though with most models you will have to use supplied software to convert the sound file to a computer-friendly format such as WAV or AIFF.

 

See this previous post for a review of a similar Olympus device.

 

 

Thanks for the info. I am looking to limit my expenditure on this as electronics are of less interest to me than concertinas I can't afford. I should mention that I have a MAC. I've heard that not all the sonys interact with the MACs so will do some research tonight on the model you propose.

 

Thanks for all the responses. Much appreciated!

 

 

Lucy

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I am looking to limit my expenditure on this as electronics are of less interest to me than concertinas I can't afford.
Years ago I got a Panasonic QR240 digital voice recorder which works *great* for recording sessions for learning tunes. It's the size of a small stack of credit cards and can hold up to 4 hours - and you can organize your recordings into folders, outputs WAV files, mono only, runs for months on two AAA cells. I use it a lot (doubles as a pocket watch too).

 

You can still get that model (it's well out of production) on places like eBay where you can pick one up for about $30. I just checked and there's one up for grabs now.

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I have an "Olympus WS-300M Digital Voice Recorder and Music Player ". It records up to 8 hours of music into its own memory. You then take the cover off the USB plug and stick it in your computer's USB port. It records in WMA format, so Windows Media player immediately fires up to play the recordings. I then convert them to mp3s with a shareware utility.

 

This is a tiny device, and you can leave it on the table in a folk club and record the whole session. I think minidisc has had its day now for computer / mp3 users.

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Guest Peter Laban

I am using the Edirol R-09 very easy to work with, using SD memory cards up to 2GB and depending on the file settings used capable of very high quality recordings.

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I am looking to limit my expenditure on this as electronics are of less interest to me than concertinas I can't afford.
Years ago I got a Panasonic QR240 digital voice recorder which works *great* for recording sessions for learning tunes.

 

You can still get that model (it's well out of production) on places like eBay where you can pick one up for about $30. I just checked and there's one up for grabs now.

 

 

You are my new boyfriend!!

 

(Don't be scared. I'm harmless, if hyperbolic.)

 

Many thanks. Have placed a bid and will know whether or not I am the proud owner in a mere four hours or so. Very, very kind of you.

 

 

Lucy

P.S. Am on your wait list for a Ceílí. :-)

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Bummer. Outbid. Sniped at the last minute.
Yup. Went for 41 bucks. To keep things like that from happening I just bid early the max I feel comfortable with. I rarely get disappointed that way and never spend more than I want to.

 

I Googled around a bit just now to find that some places still have these guys in stock! But that they sell for about $120! Keep checking in with eBay and another will be along soon. Good luck!

 

-- Rich --

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I am using the Edirol R-09 very easy to work with, using SD memory cards up to 2GB and depending on the file settings used capable of very high quality recordings.

We all have our favorites. I have only three things to say:

 

1) Edirol R-09

2) Edirol R-09

3) Edirol R-09

 

:D

 

Mac - Win, doesn't matter; it appears as a USB mass storage device.

Or transfer through a SD card reader.

 

Good, good thing.

 

/Henrik

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Henrik, Peter,

 

How does the Edirol R-09 perform as a learning device in the field?

Does it have a slow down and pich adjustment feature?

Can it play loops of designated segments?

Practical battery life?

 

Your comments appreciated.

 

Greg

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