cheap and cheerful portable recording device?

Spicy Lauren

mods feel free to move, i wasnt sure where to post this up.

quick question for ye all musos out there.

my mini-disk player is about to pass out for good and i've been using it to record myself at home and in practice rooms (and at gigs too come to think or it).
I'm looking to replace it with a new little machine that wont require a huge amount of cash.
looking for something handy to carry around as i like to have it ready to press 'record' whenever a good riff turns up out of the blue. I have the mic stand and condenser mic always set up at home.
any recommendations? mini disk players are on the way out arent they?
I've always been a bit behind with technology...

cheers,
lauren x

line6

this is a great yoke, i use it all the time - make sure you get a high speed sd card for it though if you want more memory than the built in one

http://www.thomann.de/ie/swissonic_mdr2.htm

cheers

tom

Spicy Lauren

nice one tommy. i see it has a built in condenser mic but i i have my own condenser mic, is it possible to plug mine in and get stereo effect i wonder? or is it necessary at all??

thanks so much! so tell me... where can i get that kind of deadly little swissonic thing??

lauren

nimbo

Hey Lauren
Try the Boss micro br. Fits in your hand and it has come down in price lately. Excellent quality!

Spicy Lauren

hey nimbo, thanks for that. It seems to have much more than what i'm looking for on that little micro br, basically all i need is something that i can just press play and record, and play back to listen to in headphones, without having to set up anything (beside battery powered conderser mic) so i can, for example, place it in the middle of the practice room to record a jam with full band and still have a decent quality. I understand the Micro BR can do that, however it has many other functions i dont really need (i'm already using a multi track recorder at home)...
i was advided by a friend to check out dictaphones... would a dictaphone be a good enough quality to record, say a full-on electric practice session in a damp room with shi8te PA and the likes?

Lauren

nimbo

Hey Lauren.
I use a dictaphone but only for rough vocal or voice sample ideas. It might work with your condenser plugged in but they are very poor in loud situations like electric full band set up. Try it though... Im using a sony digital one and its pretty good. 90 euro..

Spicy Lauren

nimbo... wud ya try it out and let me know if its any good? I dont really fancy spending 90 quid and realise its not really what i'm looking for..
md player was perfect alas its about to die..

any other recommendations anyone?

lauren

TelePaul

Zoom H2 or H4. Excellent pieces of kit and offer increased functionality if you fancy getting ahead of the tech curve at any stage. Dictaphone probably wont handle a band situation very well; it might all end up a bit 'Basement Tapes'.

Des Claypool

the zoom h2
http://www.thomann.de/ie/zoom_h2.htm

and the swissonic mdr 2
http://www.thomann.de/ie/swissonic_mdr_2demo.htm

both have built in stereo mic's, they are handy as hell but if you've already got a really good condenser mic and its mono then maybe the line 6 backtrack would suit ya better
http://www.thomann.de/ie/line6_backtrack.htm

hope we've helped

Nolberto

I second the Zoom H2 recommendation. Lightweight, sturdy, very easy to use, great recording quality to numerous formats/compressions.

If you're planning on plugging in your own mic I hear the input on the Zoom isn't great (haven't used an external mic with it before), but the onboard mics are very good so you're better off sticking with them anyway.

Can record in stereo or quad, so by putting the Zoom in the centre of your rehearsal space you should be able to get a good mix of all your musicians.

Rocky Racoon

I third the Zoom H2 - really easy to use, it really captures all sounds clearly with nice seperation. c. 100 squid on ebay. money really well spent

Spicy Lauren

thanks lads! Only noticed your reply now. I'm on the case!

Lauren xx