This came up in my feed and it looks intriguing. I love the idea of being able to record my synth stuff without having to drag my laptop around. Seems like it would be awesome for band practice/practice space. Also works as a straight up audio interface as well. Price seems pretty good for everything it can do. Not sure if there are similar products out there.

https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/digital-mixe ... rders/r20/

turnbullac wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 9:42 pm This came up in my feed and it looks intriguing. I love the idea of being able to record my synth stuff without having to drag my laptop around. Seems like it would be awesome for band practice/practice space. Also works as a straight up audio interface as well. Price seems pretty good for everything it can do. Not sure if there are similar products out there.

https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/digital-mixe ... rders/r20/

I own the previous model, the R16. it's had a lot of use over the last 10 years. I've used it to record my band practises, live shows, or record a band in whatever space they feel most comfortable. R16 even has two internal mics if you just want to get some ideas down quickly and haven't got your microphones. Interface mode works fine, although one of the main reasons I have it is to avoid having to have a computer with me at all times. I was expecting to have to use external pre-amps, but the ones it has are acceptable for the price. In Euros at least, it seems this R20 is available for less than what I paid for my R16 ten years ago.

Only issues I could forsee are A. It looks like it records eight tracks at a time like the R16, might be an issue if you record a band with a drummer who expects at least two mics on every drum (I usually only use 3-4 tracks for a whole kit in this situation). B. Check your jacks are a standard size before you put them in the multi-purpose XLR/Jack sockets on there, I got a non-standard size one stuck in it.

turnbullac wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 9:42 pm Price seems pretty good for everything it can do.

Dunno if this would be more suitable or not, but the R24 seems to be a similar price.

https://zoomcorp.com/en/gb/digital-mixe ... rders/r24/

Johnny Doglands wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 1:38 am

turnbullac wrote: Tue Dec 14, 2021 9:42 pm This came up in my feed and it looks intriguing. I love the idea of being able to record my synth stuff without having to drag my laptop around. Seems like it would be awesome for band practice/practice space. Also works as a straight up audio interface as well. Price seems pretty good for everything it can do. Not sure if there are similar products out there.

https://zoomcorp.com/en/us/digital-mixe ... rders/r20/

I own the previous model, the R16. it's had a lot of use over the last 10 years. I've used it to record my band practises, live shows, or record a band in whatever space they feel most comfortable. R16 even has two internal mics if you just want to get some ideas down quickly and haven't got your microphones. Interface mode works fine, although one of the main reasons I have it is to avoid having to have a computer with me at all times. I was expecting to have to use external pre-amps, but the ones it has are acceptable for the price. In Euros at least, it seems this R20 is available for less than what I paid for my R16 ten years ago.

Only issues I could forsee are A. It looks like it records eight tracks at a time like the R16, might be an issue if you record a band with a drummer who expects at least two mics on every drum (I usually only use 3-4 tracks for a whole kit in this situation). B. Check your jacks are a standard size before you put them in the multi-purpose XLR/Jack sockets on there, I got a non-standard size one stuck in it.

+1 to all of this. Love the heck out of the R16. James started using one for Police Teeth stuff ~2012, and he recorded the first SEMINARS tape on it. He also did the most recent SEMINARS record on it, though I know he had some external preamps in that case.

I use it for band practice like Johnny, and it's fantastic. I usually set it up near where I'm stationed and run XLRs from there so I can hit record super quick when things are sounding good or we want to capture something.

R20 looks cool though you don't have the dual jacks on each input in case you wanted to bypass the preamps, or needed to record more than two things direct.

Just to point this out...

FM Bubber has the "Tascam..." equivalent of this.

(Talking about it kicks in on page seven...)

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=69797

I've thought about getting something like this just to keep next to the couch because that's where i do most of my mindless guitar playing that yields the most ideas that I forget as soon as I stand up. Be rad to just have this and a mic sitting on the side table to grab at a moments notice.

Kniferide wrote: Thu Dec 16, 2021 9:48 am I've thought about getting something like this just to keep next to the couch because that's where i do most of my mindless guitar playing that yields the most ideas that I forget as soon as I stand up. Be rad to just have this and a mic sitting on the side table to grab at a moments notice.

Sofawave

I've considered this sort of thing a million times, but it always works out more expensive than an old dell e4300, reaper and (for example) tascam us1641, which will fit in a record bag and has the obvious advantages of YouTube, Spotify, can record more than 8 simultaneous tracks, can use phone as remote, can mix without losing your mind etc

Doesn't that touch screen look like it'd drive a person mad in short order?

With the R16, I usually just leave it at the practice space, and take the SD card home, dump it on my computer and mix in Reaper. Never tried to do any mixing in the machine itself.

This looks sweet, and might be relevant for me over the coming year.

Couple thoughts for you, FM turnbullac:

- If you ever want to go the super cheap but still very quality route for non-laptop recording of electronic or electroacoustic stuff, or start there, you can start with a battery-powered field recording device with a line input, used. I have used an Olympus LS-5 for everything I have done (three of them actually), all recording, in 24/96 WAV, for the past five years. I record computerless and then assemble records in Logic when I've accumulated all the material I want. Requires you to "get things right in the mix" more or less while doing initial recording and doesn't leave you having to deal with tons of multitrack/multifile recordings when assembling things, which for me also means anxiety-free accumulation of large amounts of material, experimentation etc. for relatively simple collaging later without any big steps in between (like first mixing down jamming sessions).

- You could also use something like the EHX 95000 to record, store and export three stereo tracks of long-form audio (only one stereo pair at a time) per memory spot (of 99 I believe) in WAV, with all the added functionality of maybe the best desktop looper out there. I have one and use it for this as well as live performance.

- Check out 1010music's Bluebox mixer/recorder too, as a comparable alternative to the Zoom. Has the added advantage that it can be power-bar powered.