Pocket Recorders for Sessions

Tony McGinley · Post by **Tony McGinley** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:26 am

OK - OK!! I know this subject has been covered
on several occasions in the recent past. But there
have been many new machines come onto the
market by Olympus and others.

What I am interested in is a dictaphone type machine
with good enough sound for music that has a USB port
and can transfer the sound directly to a PC or MAC.

The Olympus DS2 was highly praised on these boards,
what I am wondering is; if there are newer models of
this type of machine, maybe with slightly longer
recording time but with the same sound quality?

Has anyone played with some of the newer macnines,
and can give a small review?

Thanks,

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 6:31 am

And here I was, about to suggest a Pink Ivory Sopranino Recorder with real Ivory bands that I know of for sale..... Doh! Man, that thread title is misleading......

Loren

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 6:40 am

Loren wrote:And here I was, about to suggest a Pink Ivory Sopranino Recorder with real Ivory bands that I know of for sale..... Doh! Man, that thread title is misleading......

Loren

Loren, this is OT and probably one of those stupid questions that in retrospect will be so obvious I will be embarrased for having asked it; however...

How did we come to call the recorder the recorder?

It seems like all the other deprecated names make more sense and are more descriptive, like flauto dolce (sweet flute) or flute a'bec (flute with a beak) or even blockflute....

Who started calling the thing the recorder?

Tony,

I can tell you what not to get. I got a little MP3 player that has voice recorder capability, made by SanDisk. Cool MP3 player and very inexpensve, but the recording quality is abysmally bad.

--James

fearfaoin · Post by **fearfaoin** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 6:55 am

As I said in this thread, I like my Olympus WM310M. It's also an MP3 player.

peeplj wrote:How did we come to call the recorder the recorder?

I've wondered about this for years.

EDIT: I finally looked it upon the Onling Etymology Dictionary:

recorder ... The musical instrument is attested by this name from 1430, from record (v.) in the obsolete sense of "practice a tune."

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 6:59 am

James, the answer is not so concrete. Rather than give you the short answer, since I know you have a serious interest, here's a link to a page which answers the question at length, more or less.....

http://www.recorderhomepage.net/medieval.html

Loren

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:05 am

I have been considering the Edirol R-09

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:07 am

Tony - I use the Edirol R1 portable field recorder and really like it a lot over the past year. Michael Eskin may pop up here - he has a lot of good info on this topic. There's a similar recorder that I think he prefers, the M-Audio Micro Track. The Edirol has built in mics that worked really well when I placed it on the front of a stage at a Cathal McConnell appearance.

Philo

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:10 am

Loren, thank you! That's a page I'll be going back to again and again.

I thought it really odd how many medieval recorders have been recovered from ancient latrines...

--James

Tony McGinley · Post by **Tony McGinley** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:43 am

Aw Cheeze Guys give us a break here!!
Like I am Irish after all and you lot are
muttering about semantics.

Wooden tin whistle with extra holes,
as used by ancient music players and a few Germans

I was not looking for advice on wooden tin whistles!!!!

Loren · Post by **Loren** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:56 am

Let's see, you're griping about getting wooden tin whistle advice (none of which has actually been given here), in a thread on recording devices, which probably belongs in the pub, rather than the whistle forum anyway? Have I got that right?

Loren

Bretton · Post by **Bretton** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:07 am

I use an M-Audio Microtrack 24/96. However, the only reason I use it is because I was able to purchase one for work (and use it on the side for recording sessions/tunes). I probably wouldn't have purchased a $400 device just for sessions/tunes. Having said that, it's a very high quality recorder and with the mic I bought for it does a wonderful job. Battery life isn't very long though (about 3 hours).

The Edirol R-09 looks good (also $399), and if it's built in stereo mics are good then that's probably what I'd get now if I were going to spend that much. If the built-in mics aren't that great, then I'd probably still go with the M-Audio.

I'm sure there must be some cheaper alternatives out there that would do a reasonable job.

As for more expensive options, if I ever win the lottery, I'll be getting one of these: Sony PCM-D1 Stereo Recorder ($1,850!!!). It's a beautiful device.

-Brett

Adrian · Post by **Adrian** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:13 am

I find Sony Minidisc recorders are superb and not terribly expensive.

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:27 am

Peter Laban wrote:I have been considering the Edirol R-09

Looks nice; I guess I haven't been looking because I already have the R1. I'm seeing the newer incarnation at $399.

Philo

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 10:36 am

Where does one buy such devices? I've
been calling various outfits in St. Louis,
music stores, stereo stores, electronics,
and they know nothing.

PhilO · Post by **PhilO** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:00 am

jim stone wrote:Where does one buy such devices? I've
been calling various outfits in St. Louis,
music stores, stereo stores, electronics,
and they know nothing.

Amazon.com, Musician's Friend, B&H Photo....just do a search with the product name input, Jim, and a bunch should come up, including the manufacturer's site (Roland).

Philo