Hi all,

I am looking at location recorders and have got myself a short-ish list. However they will always be used in the field with one or two shotgun mics (maybe more)

And looking at the following. (I have browsed various threads and still non the wiser)

1. Roland R26- the extra built in mics may be useful with a fluffy windstopper.. It seems the headphone out is a little weak from what is being sad.. Anything else I should know?


2. Tascam DR-100 MKII - Seems well laid out but don't know how the Mic Pres sound.
No sign of a case with shoulder strap so far either so whatr are the options?

3. Fostex FR2 LE- Been around for awhile and not seen any bargain prices for it here in the UK. Plenty of good things being said and I really like the idea of the Tamiya battery instead of lots of AA batts..

4. Tascam DR-680 - This seems to be the strongest contender so far, but may be out of my proce range. Not seen a retailer list the specific case for it as shown on Tascam's website.
Again anything I also need to consider with this recorder.

I know my way around memory cards, so they are not important right now.

Any suggestions for mic cables that have 90 degree plugs for the recorder end too.

Many thanks..

I use little hand held recorders often in the field, but for use with the shotgun mic I like my Tascam HD-P2 a lot.

Its nice to be able to use the hardware switches & see at a glance what settings are. Even the very great sounding & rugged Sound Devices could have more hardware operations & less menus.

Try Redco for your right angle cables;

http://www.redco.com/shopdisplayprod...n+Custom+Cable

I agree. I love the sound and functionality of my SD702, but I wish that at least the filters were hardware switches instead of buried deep in the menu.

Hold down the brightness key and tap the corresponding soft keys (menu=input 1, hdd=input 2) and they'll switch on/off. Or you mean the actual settings themselves? That bits annoying indeed.

I've grown so used to the 744T menus that they don't bother me even for things like low rolloff, output levels and routing, etc etc and I like how simple the interface is. The single list and single knob make finding things pretty fast once you know what region of the list they are in.

phil p

Both on/off and settings. A few hardware mini switches would do the trick.

+1

This is a great little recorder and you can find them pretty cheaply used on eBay. I like mine a lot too.

Cheers!
-MIke

Yes, my HD-P2 is getting long in the tooth (as am I) but real time Low Cut & such hardware switching of things like Low Cut, and a nice big level knob...

How many times have I looked at the DR-07, DCM50, H4 or ___ and tried to recall what the low cut was set at ....

Maybe I should upgrade to a Nagra 4S soon

Many thanks for replies. I think Sound Devices and the HD-p2 are beyond my budget right now..

Seems there are options with all devices I mentioned though and one or two have worse drawbacks than others.

Well in the end I went with the Tascam DR-680 with the Rode NTG-2 and blimp, with a Jez RileyFrench contact mic and a binaural setup

Some examples are here. Sounds-and-images's sounds on SoundCloud - Create, record and share your sounds for free

I prefer using my Tascam DR-40 for non timecode two track projects. I use a Sound Devices 302 as my front end.

I use my Sound Devices 702T when doing any timecode two tracks.

I use my 744T for 3-4 tracks and then my 788/cl8 for anything over 5 tracks.

I like having options.

Nicole

I have a DR-680, picked it up used on ebay for $500. The 6 mic preamps was why I went with it over anything else. If I only needed a 2-track I would find a Fostex FR-2 (the non LE model, which had analog-side limiters).

@nicole - the 788 is great but costs more than both of my cars combined, so that might have to wait. The DR-680 seems like 7/10ths the recorder for 2/10ths the price.

Glad it worked out for you.

Nicole

My appologize, I don't want to start a debate. But this is just for the sake of information. I really can't recommend to invest on Tascam HD-P2 anymore, as it has the same mic pre circuit from the DA-P1 (DAT Recorder). In my experience, it has some problematic distortion characteristic that make the recorded sound thin and peaky.

The newer Tascam unit (including the DR-680) is better--but still not as good as the one found in Sound Devices class. You really need to hear it in the big speaker (dubbing stage). You can definitely hear the difference.

I strongly recommend buying used new stuff rather then cheap old stuff.