Edirol R44 alternatives

[makus]

Hey slutz,

just a quick question to people who might know if there is a competitive alternative to Edirol's R44 unit? Basically main things in R44 I count on are 48 kHz recording (R44 is capable to record up to 192 but I won't really need anything more then 48), weight and price (up to $995).

ps my first topic, don't bit to hard (it seems this kind of signatures work there)

[Ozpeter]

The Tascam DR680 is currently tempting R-44 owners to switch.

[Celloman]

Just got my DR-680 today. After some minor testing, I find it to be quite decent. No surprise though that the mic pres are not as good as the DAV and the AD is not as good as my Lavry

Mike

[mathieujm]

Do you need 4 tracks ?

[makus]

Thanks for the replies so far. DR-680 looks really nice. i looked through Tascam.com, but somehow missed this model... Also, the preamp quality isn't really that important for the needs they will need - recording tvc's for ukrainian tv. since we still have mono sound there, and many people mix using Audigy's, you can imagine

Originally Posted by mathieujm

Do you need 4 tracks ?

Yes, I need 4 tracks of simultaneous recording. More then that won't fit into the price range, however, I won't need more .

[Tommy-boy]

Any reason you wouldn't buy the R-44?

[makus]

Originally Posted by Tommy-boy

Any reason you wouldn't buy the R-44?

well, i'm just a starter in the location recording profile. i was looking for something mobile, but not so limited as these low-budget zoom/boss/korg portastudios. R44 is fine (I saw it not so long ago while we shoot McDonalds TVC recently), though i wanted to know if there are any alternatives.

[A3rd.Zero]

I have an R44 that I'd be willing to part with. I like it, but I need more channels and a smaller package.

Pros:
It has Oade Brothers Premium Mod
It's dead reliable, seriously I strapped this thing to an F1 car and it recorded happily all day.

Cons:
It doesn't clip elegantly.
The level controls take some getting used to.

It's a pretty good unit. If I was doing dialog in production, or anything else in terms of reasonable level recording then I'd get it again in a second. However I seem to either be recording extremely quiet things or extremely loud things and in those two areas it leaves a little to be desired.

milotrain at gmails dots the coms. if you are interested.

[Chadfish]

Do you still have the R-44? I have a few questions.

• When you say it doesn't clip elegantly, is that with the limiter on? I mean nothing digital clips elegantly, so I was wondering what you meant.

• Oade Brothers lists the "Concert" and the "Super" mod, but no "Premium". What mod do you actually have.

• What price are you looking to get for the R-44?

Thanks man.

Chadfish

Originally Posted by A3rd.Zero

I have an R44 that I'd be willing to part with. I like it, but I need more channels and a smaller package.

Pros:
It has Oade Brothers Premium Mod
It's dead reliable, seriously I strapped this thing to an F1 car and it recorded happily all day.

Cons:
It doesn't clip elegantly.
The level controls take some getting used to.

It's a pretty good unit. If I was doing dialog in production, or anything else in terms of reasonable level recording then I'd get it again in a second. However I seem to either be recording extremely quiet things or extremely loud things and in those two areas it leaves a little to be desired.

milotrain at gmails dots the coms. if you are interested.

[A3rd.Zero]

Do you still have the R-44? I have a few questions.

• When you say it doesn't clip elegantly, is that with the limiter on? I mean nothing digital clips elegantly, so I was wondering what you meant.

• Oade Brothers lists the "Concert" and the "Super" mod, but no "Premium". What mod do you actually have.

• What price are you looking to get for the R-44?

Thanks man.

Chadfish

Yeah I still have it.
• There is a difference between clipping preamps and clipping the DA. Sound Devices preamps clip elegantly with the limiters off. In fact I often run a 722 to clipping for things with huge transients. You cannot do that with the R-44, it doesn't sound good when it clips.
• Super Mod, sorry just checked the invoice.
• I'd like to get $800 for it with the hard-case that I have for it. (But email me because this isn't the classifieds section)

I don't think there is another 4 channel rig with preamps and phantom on all four channels that is this small and can run off such a range of power sources. Also there is no other 4 channel rig with preamps, phantom and MS decoding on the two pairs.

Apologize for the sales conversation, I included it because of the preamp comment which might be useful to others.