Edirol w/o mixer, or Mixpre w/ cheap recorder, or Tascam 680??

J

Jackson Miller

Well-known member
Hi, so I am trying to figure out the smartest audio investments for the situation I am in. Currently, I don't need more than 2 tracks but within a year I very well may. So I have a few options.

1) Get the edirol/roland r-44. From what I understand this can be used without a mixer easily enough right? I don't need much fancy stuff, just ease of use and a clear level display with nobs to adjust each input. Would this be a good choice? From what I understand the tascam 680 has better pres but is the extra ease of use worth the loss in quality of the press?

2) Get the tascam 680. Supposedly has better press than the edirol r-44 (can anyone confirm this?) even though the edirol is more "professional." For now I could use it without a mixer because I normally just have one mic running at a time. I could add a mixer into the equation later. However I don't like that the tascam eats up batteries and I would have to add a tekkeon battery externally to solve this.

3) Get the mixpre-d and record in to the 2 track recorder I already own (a zoom, but I'd sell it and switch to a tascam dr-100mk2 because I hate the zoom). This option is the cheapest and the mix pre is great quality. I could buy or rent a tascam 680 later when I need three tracks and I could send in two through the mix pre and another straight into the tascam.


So what do you all think? Also, how would you handle a mix pre and a tascam dr-100mk2 as far as would it go in a bag or what? This could be the downside of that option. Could I rig it so it's convenient for run and gun?

Thanks for all of the help, you guys make this forum awesome.

JM
 
Regarding preamps, the DR680 is supposedly very quiet, and the R-44 is somewhat of a middle, or higher low-tier (noise may be noticable with quiet mics).
https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/type/ww...derList/docs/R-44_R4-Pro_FR2_LundstenMeas.htm
http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm

Also, the R-44 is somewhat heavy on batteries too, so an external option would still be good. You can check this thread for some insight into the R-44.
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...land-R-4-Pro-any-advice&p=2519344#post2519344


The general consensus on this board is that a mixer into camera or cheap recorder, is better than just a recorder, unless you really need the channels. If your budget allows for both, I would get a mixer now, and later rent a recorder until you know that you will need more channels on a regular basis. This way you could also try out different recorders to see what you like.
 
Interesting, I guess I'm leaning towards the mix pre d and tascam dr100mk2 then. How would you guys bag/rig this for run and gun though? Maybe velcro the recorder to the outside of the bag so all the important buttons (basically just record and stop), are accessible?


On a side note, this means I can sell the juiced link I have so I'll effectively only be spending 500 on the mix pre-d. Schweet.
 
Well, if by upgrading you can also sell of some other gear, that would be the way to go.

Regarding bag use I don't have any experience of that - I just wear the mixpre in a band around the neck or shoulder, going to a recorder in another bag or pocket - but if you have a dedicated bag for the mixpre then I don't think there would be any problem putting the recorder in a fold or velcroed to it (though this last sounds a bit dangerous to me if you were to accidentally bump into something).
 
I just happen to play around with my Edirol R-44 and pressed the noise-gate effect to my surprise, it was so clean that i wondered if one losses some audio quality through engaging the noise-gate. The reason i'm asking this is because i have been reading how clean the tascam 680 is in comparisson to the R-44.
 
Noise gates are not a good idea for acquisition... nothing there to be recovered if something want doesn't reach the threshold. Personally, I generally don't like or use noise gates on post either, I'll manually draw an volume envelope or use an expander.
Music is different.. but I still would not print a track with a gate.
 
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Jackson Miller said:
Hi, so I am trying to figure out the smartest audio investments for the situation I am in. Currently, I don't need more than 2 tracks but within a year I very well may. So I have a few options. 1) Get the edirol/roland r-44. From what I understand this can be used without a mixer easily enough right? I don't need much fancy stuff, just ease of use and a clear level display with nobs to adjust each input. Would this be a good choice? From what I understand the tascam 680 has better pres but is the extra ease of use worth the loss in quality of the press? JM
Click to expand...

I'm responding as a fairly longtime user of the Edirol R4-Pro, perhaps the big brother of the R44. I've used the R4-Pro without a mixer, and the preamps are pretty good. But a couple of key features of a high-quality location audio recording chain are missing: good limiters and full-time monitoring.

On my R4-Pro, with the limiters engaged, impact noise, shouts and similar result in a VERY audible depression of the audio level. It's so audible that I consider in unacceptable for any of the work I do. (I normally operate the R4-Pro with a Sound Devices 442 mixer in front, feeding the R4 with the direct outs.) The 442 limiters kick in when necessary, but they're not obtrusive, and they save the day in scenes where there's lots of shouting or emotion.

The other thing the R4-Pro lacks ( and I surmise the R44 may lack ) is the lack of monitoring when the recorder is not recording. The R4-Pro's headphone circuit is dead when it's not recording. If you're using it without a mixer, you have to be recording or put it in REC/PAUSE to monitor audio -- not great.

So, basically, you can use it without a mixer, but everything really gets better when you use a proper mixer between your mics/wireless receivers and the recorder.

All the other benefits like feeding another camera, a Comtek transmitter, etc, etc are just icing on the cake.

My $ 0.02

Stephen H
 
Stephen Hall said:
The other thing the R4-Pro lacks ( and I surmise the R44 may lack ) is the lack of monitoring when the recorder is not recording. The R4-Pro's headphone circuit is dead when it's not recording. If you're using it without a mixer, you have to be recording or put it in REC/PAUSE to monitor audio -- not great.
Click to expand...

You may also view this as a plus, as it probably saves battery life.
 
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