By Andrew Liszewski
When I went to school the only options we had for recording audio in the field were portable DAT and Minidisc recorders. They worked well enough but while they were both digital formats there was no way to simply dump the recorded audio files onto a computer for editing. Everything had to be run through a mixer then captured into a computer in real-time and besides being a pain it also resulted in one generation less of quality.
I would have far preferred to wander the streets with the Roland Edirol R-09 Wav/MP3 Recorder instead. As the successor to the company’s already popular R-1 model the R-09 doesn’t have the extensive lineup of internal effects as the original but it makes up for it in being half the size. The R-09 has a built-in stereo mic (plus mic and line audio inputs) and can record directly to uncompressed 24-bit wav files at 48kHz (or 44.1kHz) or directly to MP3 files at up to 320kbps. The R-09 uses SD cards for storage and most importantly will transfer audio files to a computer over USB 2.0.
The Roland Edirol R-09 is available from various online music equipment retailers for about $399.
It would be even more interesting if this wasn’t vaporware at this point; supposed to be on sale this week, but now delayed to August. . . or even later. Meanwhile, the M-audio MicroTrack has been doing the same thing, and more, for quite a while now. Really, not virtually.
when i went to school… there were compact cassette tape recorders, the size of a shoebox. and there were no computers. period. and yes, i’m still waiting for the SD to take over world domination. it’s about time we get rid of crappy DATs and CDs.
Just got it this week. I haven?t had time to test it yet. First impression is that it looks very small and I have the feeling that it doesn?t stand too many droppings on concrete floor. Second: I have a deep mistrust on any built-in small microphones like these. But display looks nice and I believe that connected to proper microphone and maybe a field mixer it beats the hell out of old minidiscs and DATs. Just wait and see…
Why would running the audio into the computer from a DAT or minidisc result in sound quality degredation? Haven’t you ever heard of a DAT or minidisc with a digital output and a soundcard with a digital input?
Not all MD players have digital output (as I stated “old minidiscs”). Just a matter of opinion but I usually like drag-and-drop features more than real time transfering – digital or not. OK, there is Hi-MD which I haven?t tried. Still, too much moving parts for my taste.
Marko, we are using the R-09 at our radio stations now to record clients for spots. The built-in mic is so good, in fact, that not only do we not ever use an external mic, but we don’t even need to bring clients to the studio to record anymore. The R-09 is nothing short of revolutionary.