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I'm back at work where I finally have some free time, so here's a review of my fave new toy - not a guitar or amp for once.
ZOOM H4
I picked this up before Christmas along with a 2 gb SD card. It comes with a 128 mb card, an AC adaptor, tripod mount, and a copy of Cubase LE (if you want to also use it as a USB interface). This gadget is not much bigger than an IPod, runs on AA batteries and does multitrack or stereo recording, up to 96k/24bit wav audio, or direct to MP3.
This has to be the fastest, easiest way ever to demo a new song for bandmates to listen and learn. With a family, a job and a weekend band I don't have much time to monkey around with an elaborate home studio setup. For my first test, I plugged in a Strat and headphones and used the built in effects to dial up suitable tones for rhytm, bass and lead tracks. Then I overdubbed the vocal track on the built-in mics and bounced it all to a stereo wav file. I USB'ed it to the PC, compressed to MP3 and was ready to email it to the bandmates. The whole process took less than an hour.
This weekend I took the H4 to my bar gig (fits easily into a guitar case) and recorded a set direct to the built-in x/y stereo mics just to see what I'd get. After a few button clicks to set it to record direct to MP3, I pressed Record and let it run for an hour while the band hacked away. Again, amazingly clean audio throughout, including all the crowd ambience. We sounded every bit as terrible on MP3 as we do live! It also revealed that my mix was a bit off, so I made adjustments for the next set.
Cons: The user interface is a bit goofy and the LCD screen is a bit small. No big deal, considering everything this unit can do and the audio quality you get for the money.
The verdict? The H4 completely kicks ass!
ZOOM H4

I picked this up before Christmas along with a 2 gb SD card. It comes with a 128 mb card, an AC adaptor, tripod mount, and a copy of Cubase LE (if you want to also use it as a USB interface). This gadget is not much bigger than an IPod, runs on AA batteries and does multitrack or stereo recording, up to 96k/24bit wav audio, or direct to MP3.
This has to be the fastest, easiest way ever to demo a new song for bandmates to listen and learn. With a family, a job and a weekend band I don't have much time to monkey around with an elaborate home studio setup. For my first test, I plugged in a Strat and headphones and used the built in effects to dial up suitable tones for rhytm, bass and lead tracks. Then I overdubbed the vocal track on the built-in mics and bounced it all to a stereo wav file. I USB'ed it to the PC, compressed to MP3 and was ready to email it to the bandmates. The whole process took less than an hour.
This weekend I took the H4 to my bar gig (fits easily into a guitar case) and recorded a set direct to the built-in x/y stereo mics just to see what I'd get. After a few button clicks to set it to record direct to MP3, I pressed Record and let it run for an hour while the band hacked away. Again, amazingly clean audio throughout, including all the crowd ambience. We sounded every bit as terrible on MP3 as we do live! It also revealed that my mix was a bit off, so I made adjustments for the next set.
Cons: The user interface is a bit goofy and the LCD screen is a bit small. No big deal, considering everything this unit can do and the audio quality you get for the money.
The verdict? The H4 completely kicks ass!