Zoom R16? Any experience or opinions?

[Studiodawg]

I just got my R16 yesterday and was able to fart around with it for a few minutes. I'll need to read the manual on how to name tracks, etc. I got it as a songwriting tool to supplement my Edirol R9. I also have a bunch of other recording gear, but this thing looked like "the answer" to low maintenance/high mobility songwriting, not to mention a second 44.1kHz/24bit recording unit to have a redundant system for location recording(taking a split feed off Grace 101 pres)...the biggest thing with this unit is learning the scheme they use for track naming, assignment and bouncing.

[Shureman]

Got it a couple of hours ago.

First impressions:

Smaller and lighter than I expected. Like a latop keyboard.

Will need to be treated very carefully in the field, especially during transport. Needs to come with a gig bag, though a good laptop tote will do.

I'm from the old school as far as multi-track goes (ADAT blackface 8 track is my comfort zone). If you're not already versed in menu centered multitracking, expect a learning curve, that is, it's not immediaely intuitive for us old guys. Still, I've already made a quick recording and playback. I'll be sleeping with the manual for a few weeks.

I'll have a lot more to say in a few days.

Question:
I have a multi-voltage battery pack. Unfortunately the two closest choices I have are 4.5 volts or 6.0 volts (both at 1 amp). Is either one likely to be safe to use on the r16 which ideally needs 5 volts.?

[baoshu]

just received my zoom r16 too. can't wait to check it out tonight.
has anyone got more feedback to give?

thanks,

[solomix]

if we have done our research on the zoom r16 you will notice mentions of a power supply and usb cable and 1 gb sd card. but every site i go to doesn't mention all of these. recording mag's new issue even has two pages with this and samson tech list these. whats the deal did they change their mind at the last minute. the power supply runs 20 to 25. i plan on getting mine thru sam ash in indy. I will be very disappointed if i need a years supply of AA batteries. just my thoughts. i still use my tascam 424 mkIII as an interface. peace

[Schmenge]

No experience or opinions yet, but I just ordered one. Had I a brain I woulda waited for an online review from a reputable source before buying, but I haven't seen the wizard yet. BTW J&R is offering the same deal as everyone else is on this, but they are throwing in a gift card, which, assuming you get stuff you need with the card, amounts to a decent discount. FYI.

I'll post my opinions once I rack up some experience...

[Studiodawg]

My Zoom R16 came with a power supply, fwiw...

[AlexJ]

looks good, Zoom seem to be stepping up their game. That Q3 videocam thing doesn't look too bad (if you're a school or podcaster).

my mates got a H4N and uses it all the time, and i have to say i was impressed....dunno what the other Zoom products though

[Schmenge]

The English-language version of the Japanese Zoom website is so much cooler!

R16

Per this site - but maybe this only applies to Japan - you get a power supply (scroll down to the bottom)

[headwerkn]

What's the recorded audio quality like in 24/44.1? I don't expect it to sound like a RADAR as would be buying it primarily for songwriting on the go (the fact that it runs on batteries is brilliant)... but, I like the idea of being able to use captured moments of genius in 'real' productions.

Previous experience with ZOOM products hasn't been great in terms of sound quality, but that was some 10 years ago... I'm guessing they might have improved by now ;-)

[Schmenge]

Finally a review of some sort!

Zoom R16 Reviews | Sweetwater.com

...I assume this isn't propaganda posted by a shill, as it only gives the R15 three of five stars.

Scary stuff about being a CPU hog, molasses-slow USB, and less-than-stellar performance as a DAW controller. Here's hoping for driver and firmware updates!

[phonepkh]

all i can say is for the Money it is One of the best things I have brought, or used in a long time,
this is a winner for those who want to record 16 tracks fast and with ease, on 6 AA's( that last many hrs)
Built in Phantom Power/Condenser Mic's Stereo) and no hard drive crashes,or over weight,
just a little SD card( I put 32gigs in for around 60 bucks)
with the USB it works great with my notebook,
i have worked as an engineer for years,
and the Kids out there with their BAND's can now make great demo's NO EXCUSES,
I have a 16 ch mackie board for drums,
through that into ZOOM, Guitar & Bass Direct in ZOOM,
Push inputs to red light,
check levels,
push Play/Record done!!,
Rewind
Onward,
next 8 trks
this is so light about the size of a PC Keyboard,
and 10 yrs ago this would have cost 1000's ...so No excuses go get one!
sure you can go spend 1,000's ,( and Over 30 plus years I have) so those who Nitpick every feature, how much did you pay?...go buy Your Pro tools rig and spend all your time working ,and paying it off!!!
get 8 trks at one time!!!
Awesome price...$400
until you make a hit record,save your money ,
make your own CD/Mp3 put them out Quickly.
Good luck,
ZOOM R16 a GREAT TOOL for ANY MUSICIAN, that wants to play not read a googleplex of manuals to make it work.
Paul Hone

[phonepkh]

came with Power supply USB cable short as it should be, as it can cause problems over 6 ft, and SD card 1gig. Nice
Paul

Originally Posted by phonepkh

all i can say is for the Money it is One of the best things I have brought, or used in a long time,
this is a winner for those who want to record 16 tracks fast and with ease, on 6 AA's( that last many hrs)
Built in Phantom Power/Condenser Mic's Stereo) and no hard drive crashes,or over weight,
just a little SD card( I put 32gigs in for around 60 bucks)
with the USB it works great with my notebook,
i have worked as an engineer for years,
and the Kids out there with their BAND's can now make great demo's NO EXCUSES,
I have a 16 ch mackie board for drums,
through that into ZOOM, Guitar & Bass Direct in ZOOM,
Push inputs to red light,
check levels,
push Play/Record done!!,
Rewind
Onward,
next 8 trks
this is so light about the size of a PC Keyboard,
and 10 yrs ago this would have cost 1000's ...so No excuses go get one!
sure you can go spend 1,000's ,( and Over 30 plus years I have) so those who Nitpick every feature, how much did you pay?...go buy Your Pro tools rig and spend all your time working ,and paying it off!!!
get 8 trks at one time!!!
Awesome price...$400
until you make a hit record,save your money ,
make your own CD/Mp3 put them out Quickly.
Good luck,
ZOOM R16 a GREAT TOOL for ANY MUSICIAN, that wants to play not read a googleplex of manuals to make it work.
Paul Hone

[Studiodawg]

Finally had a few minutes to try mine out. My goal was to just use the internal mics, transfer recorded tracks to other tracks because you have to record straight to channels 7/8 when using the internal mics. I figured out the metronome speed first (156bpm), forgot to use the R16's built-in tuner, recorded acoustic guitar, moved the tracks to 1/2, recorded scratch vocal, moved the tracks to 3/4, recorded second guitar, moved the tracks to 5/6...didn't really like the scratch vocal so I recorded a second vocal...moved the original one to 15/16, put new vocal on 3/4...added a synthesizer voice effect on the first vocal track and pretty much got my ya-yas for about an hour. I don't need this Zoom R16 because I have a recording company with much gear, but I am also a songwriter and this little recorder lets me concentrate on laying down my ideas without having a set up delay. It also let's me get away from my "bread-and-butter" DAW. I look forward to transferring the tracks into my DAW to mix, master and crank out a CD...I recorded at 24bit/44.1...the R16 seems cool with the metronome & tuner that really lend to the "In Tune/In Time" mantra that we recording songwriters should try to live by.

[Studiodawg]

I was able to easily move the wav files to a PC. I put them in Reaper and set Reaper's metronome to 156bpm and was pleasantly surprised that it was in sync with the audio files! This is very good news for production, indeed...

[Shureman]

Any thoughts yet on how it sounds?


I have not had the chance to record outside my home yet, but am hoping to record a choir in a church this wekend. Hoping the pa's are on a par with the H4n's, which are quite satisfactory.

Anyone done an acoustic recording with high compliance mics yet?

[Shureman]

I'm a Zoombie!

Did my first in field recording today, and am listening to the preliminary mix now.

Recorded a traditional jazz band in a New Orleans church

First Impressions:

Ease of use:

Superb. Carried it there in a lightweight zippered music bag - perfect fit.
Parked it on one of the church's music stands with the stand desk laid almost flat. Solid.
Set up in the first pew, took up one seat. Inconspicuous, in no one's way.
Set up took ten minutes (only used a Shure midside mic and a vocal mic to keep it simple). Levels had to be set on the fly since the band showed up five minutes before showtime - this is New Orleans.
My guesstimates were very close, and only slight adjustments were needed. The ample headphone volume helped.

Used fresh alkalines, set at 44.1/16, fairly high gain, headphones maxed, three channels. Ended a one hour and fifteen minute concert with all three bars on the battery indicator showing. No need to plug into the wall. No 60 cycle hum to worry about - I've that problem with my H4n when using the AC adapter.

This a lot easier than carrying around an ADAT, preamps, and mixer.

Preamps are a little thin on bass, but extemely quiet and natural sounding even with a big bass boost in the mixdown. If you record trombones, you know they often sound buzzy. The pre's handled this band's bone player at full tilt at about six feet from the mic. Round, and sweet.

Mixing down was interesting because I can't load my Cubase LE4 into my 64 bit computer (anyone else having this problem?). So I analoged out from the main outputs of the r16 into a couple of its spare channels. Sounds amazingly good. May not even bother doing a digital mix.
Punching in and out was a breeze with no audible traces.

This baby is the best bang for the buck I've ever purchased.

[Jamon]

For those of you familiar with the H4, they basically took that and mutated it into a multitrack recorder. If you tried using the H4's 4-track mode you already know the main problem is the user interface, not sound quality. There is a deep menu tree to navigate to do the most basic tasks, and a lot of the design decisions are for making the developer's job easier, not the user's.

When the H4 was first released it was pushing new grounds, but felt beta quality. They slowly fixed a lot of the major problems with firmware updates, and eventually made the H4n. It's the same story this time around. The R16 is the H4 of the portable multitrack world. It is pushing new grounds. There is no other 24-bit multitrack recorder available that uses flash media, let alone anything this cheap with 8 inputs and 16 channels.

So, for right now, it is relatively great, mostly because there's no competition. But I have many complaints, and it is nowhere near the machine I would've designed. You can read more of my thoughts and see some video at my Zoom R16 page.

Overall if you're into this kind of stuff you should buy it, if only to support the company. Like the H4, it is a swissarmy knife that will eventually come in handy, and is cheap/small enough to take and throw around with you. I expect firmware updates to fix a lot of the major bugs, and they'll have feedback for fixing the design in the next hardware version. Until then, there's nothing else like it on the market.

[videoracer]

>>If you tried using the H4's 4-track mode you already know the main problem is the user interface, not sound quality. There is a deep menu tree to navigate to do the most basic tasks, and a lot of the design decisions are for making the developer's job easier, not the user's.<<

You wonder why Zoom gives you something as lame as Cubase LE with the unit instead of making a fully menu'd DAW onscreen that would replicate the unit without the need to navigate through a menu tree, at least not any more menus' than any other app.

Another opportunity they missed was giving it a port so you could use the the RC4 remote control unit they designed for the H4n. Still, nothing comes close to this unit for the price.

It's funny that Tascam is celebrating the 30th anniversary of the PortaStudio, and and when you look at the miserable offerings they're putting out today (DP-004, DP-02CF, DP-02), the R16 blows them all away. Personally, I think the Tascam offerings are a complete embarrassment compared to the original PortaStudio!

[Speeddemon]

The only one that had it right, user-friendlyness wise, were Korg.
And even they screwed up...

I had a Korg D16 for ages; really small, 8 inputs (2 XLR/TRS combi, the rest TRS, no phantom power though), TOUCH SCREEN!!!!, 1 aux send, and great internal effects.
The Yamaha's and Rolands have less effect routing possibilities (although the Yamaha's have the channel dynamics, which the Korg lacks), The Rolands couldn't record uncompressed on that many tracks, while the old D16 already could do 24 bit (4 tracks simul. and 8 tracks max).

Korg solved some D16-issues with the D1600, by adding phantompower to 4 inputs, a decent HDD (the D16 had a measly 2.1Gb), an internal CD burner, but the machine got a little bigger too.

If Korg and Zoom could marry the R16/HD16 to the D16(00), we'd have a near perfect low/mid-end machine.
Benefits for Zoom adepts:
-a LARGE touch screen.
-insert fx, master fx AND final fx, all real time accesible.
-ease of use.
-aux send for outboard fx (maybe add a 2nd aux!)
-seperate master and monitor outputs, with volume control for monitor out.

Benefits for Korg adepts:
-good harddrive and/or flash media recording (both would be awesome!)
-USB connectivity
-phantom power for all channels.
-better amp modelling (I prefer Zoom's take on that over Korg REMS stuff).
-individual track bar graphs! (very big plus! Look at Yamaha AW4416!)

[radioactive]

Greetings slutz,

I've been asked to help a band choose a multitracker - their budget seems to just cover the R16. But, they can't afford more than an extra dynamic mic for the time being (hence the R16 or H4N as contenders).

SO, for drum recording, those R16 mics - what set-up are they configured in? They're too close for a spaced pair, but too parrallell for X/Y recording, do you think they'll sound a little bit mono as Drum overheads? Anyone had any good results?

Regards,

rad.

[itcamefromiowa]

It seems like getting the unit overhead would be a pretty big problem, especially if it's plugged into other things. I've done weirder things with duct tape though.

[radioactive]

Good point. Hence the H4N might be a better option. Although, I've got great overhead recordings at shoulder height with X/Y mics. A table and a music stand, no prob.

Not like when I duck taped a U87 to the ceiling over a drummers head in figure of 8 pickup as a snare shotgun mic.

The drummer was like "what happens if that falls on my head?" I pointed out his concussion would (probably) heal but I'd loose a good mic "we all make sacrifices in the pursuit of rock my friend".

(he was out-voted by the band). Good recording, no fatalities. What more could you want eh?

[dme5]

Hi,

This is my first post.

Does anyone know about the R16 and 64 bit OS problems? I read the manual and noticed this:

R16 Audio Interface System Requirements

Windows; XP/SP2 or later/ Vista SP1 OR later

* USB 2.0 compatible port.
* 64bit operating system is not supported.
* USB hub is not supported

Does any one have a 64 bit version of Windows and is using the R16 without problems. I wasn't sure if this issue might be related to Cubase LE 4 after looking at a 'What's new in Cubase 4.1 supplement pdf that has this quote:

Windows Vista 32-bit and 64 bit Ssupport

Cubase LE 4.1 now fully supports windows vista (32 bit and 64 bit). Running on a 64 bit Vista system, Cubase LE 4.1 (32-bit version) supprts up to 4 gb of ram. XP64 is not supported.

Thanks for any help.

[Jamon]

In Windows 7 64bit with a Core i7 processor the drivers do not install.

[dme5]

In Windows 7 64bit with a Core i7 processor the drivers do not install.

So did you find a work around to use as an audio inferface or controll surface, or did you decide to live without those features until zoom updates the drivers?

[Jamon]

There doesn't seem to be a workaround. I manually extracted the .cab file from the drivers CD, and edited the .inf to work on Windows 64bit, but after installation it won't actually use the driver:

"Driver is not intended for this platform."

It seems to be more than just a needless restriction. The drivers themselves don't seem to be compatible. The Zoom H-series ASIO drivers also do not install. There is no obvious solution right now other than to wait for Zoom to release 64bit drivers.

[Studiodawg]

I finally got a chance to run some audio through some preamps and an Avalon U5 ...this R16 is a songwriting badass. If you have an acoustic guitar, song ideas and a limited budget...the R16 is the answer to your dreams. All you need to do is learn a handful of basic operations (tuner, metronome, track assignments, file transfer to PC etc.)...I'm not interested in using it as an interface or controller, so as a $400 multitrack recorder, the R16 does fine...no mousing or screen fatigue...back to song arrangements, tuning and metronomes! FWIW I have an Edirol R9 as well and use it all the time...the R16 fits in my laptop case (cool).

[itcamefromiowa]

ok. I got mine yesterday. Have had limited time to work with it but so far so good. I agree that it's definitely something to be treated delicately. So far that seems like its biggest drawback. I just did some recording with the Hi-Z input and the stereo mics last night. Spent half of the time screwing around with the effects, some of which actually seem usable, which was a pleasant surprise to me. It's cool to see some stranger effects like ring mod built in and editable. No complaints so far besides wimpy knobs, sliders, etc. Thanks for all the input here. Cheers.

[Ricos777]

Originally Posted by Studiodawg

I finally got a chance to run some audio through some preamps and an Avalon U5 ...this R16 is a songwriting badass. If you have an acoustic guitar, song ideas and a limited budget...the R16 is the answer to your dreams. All you need to do is learn a handful of basic operations (tuner, metronome, track assignments, file transfer to PC etc.)...I'm not interested in using it as an interface or controller, so as a $400 multitrack recorder, the R16 does fine...no mousing or screen fatigue...back to song arrangements, tuning and metronomes! FWIW I have an Edirol R9 as well and use it all the time...the R16 fits in my laptop case (cool).

Do you recommend the R16 for laying down song ideas over the h4n?
This will be my birthday present and the extra $50 for the R16 won't matter.
Please tell me which one you feel is better and why.

Thanks in advance,Ricos

[Jamon]

For me the R16 blows the H4 away for writing songs.

The main reason is because the R16 has physical controls instead of a tiny thumbwheel. That thumbwheel slows down workflow and stifles creativity. It's much faster to push on a slider, click some buttons, and spin a wheel.

The other reason is that 4 tracks is not enough. You can bounce down, but in practice that takes way too long to keep up with the writing process.

With the R16 you're hitting large buttons to stop/rewind/play/record, and moving faders to mix tracks. Click, spin a wheel, and you're panning. Hold down, spin again, and your vocals have reverb. It's fast enough to allow creativity to flow.

There's some problems, but when they are fixed the R16 will be an extremely amazing device. For individual recording artists the R16 replaces the role of the PC. Just plug in some instruments or use the mics and you're all set.

It's surprising how little talk there is right now. It's like a secret no one seems to know. For most of those people sitting in their rooms using a PC to record, the R16 is a dream machine. It feels so much better to flip a switch and be ready to go, rather than hunting around with mice.

It'd definitely make a great birthday present for any recording artist.