customer reviews
159 People rated this product :
6 out of 10
15 People wrote reviews
8 out of 10
"Headphone recording '1-man-band' guys, walk-in-closet sized recording studio, budget minded starving artists, this is the one fo"
Feature:
Built in effects, built in drum machine programmable with touch sens pads. C'mon, what's not to like? The editing interface is a bit tricky and the drum machine is far from 'easy' to step record patterns with, but does sound nice when thrown in a mix. A one gig card will give you all the room you need to work on projects.
Only 2 inputs means it will not be a good tool for recording a band playing together. Everything will have to be tracked. If you want a good 2track 'room' recording I would suggest that little micro handheld thingy with the built-it condensers that they have been pimping for the last few months... either that, or you will have to get some mics that cost almost as much as this thing. The 2 inputs are (I assume) intended for if you have a stereo input source, not to get a good live mix of an entire band. This thing is meant to be tracked 1 thing at a time.
Quality:
I just rented one for a while to make a few songs on, so I don't know what its long term durability is, but it seems kind of fragile. Not something I would take on the road.
Value:
Look at what this is meant for: not the center of an extravegant recording setup, but for a lone guy in headphones in a dorm room or a bedroom, able to layer himself and back up himself with drums and multiple tracks and effects to play around with all in one unit. It's worth it for that.
Desirability:
I have a bit of a fetish for compact multi-function little toys like this. I already have a recorder though, but if I find one used I would absolutely pick it up. The more gizmos we have in our lil' home studios the better.
Sound:
Okay first off... it's not a complete mastering supercomputer, but for basic good sounding recordings it is just fine. I have always liked the Zoom drum machines they have very articulate 'realistic' sounds, and their effects are a bit brittle and digital sounding (obviously) but overall extremely good for amp modelling. I think they use a lot of the same effects algorhythms as they did on the old PS-04 that I used for years. The 'mastering' and 'send' effects presets are nice, and while some of the guitar insert effects are a bit silly, there are some gems in there. I just tweaked it out a bit to get the sound I wanted, wasn't difficult. Convincing once a final mix is laid out.
Ease of Use:
I really can't be unbiased on this, because I have used many similar zoom products over the years. Half the stuff you just instinct, and the other half is why you keep a manual around for referrance. Zoom is not always very intuitive since it's all menu driven interface, but once you get used to it it's not too difficult.
Support:
Zoom is cool. They are helpful and I have used many many of their products. Never had a problem. My Z9000 finally died about 3 years ago and I had had it since 1993
Overall:
I only rented this for a month, and had previous experience with other zoom recorders, so had no problem figuring it out. It does what it says it does... Drums, effects, mastering, mixdown. It is overall a nice little machine, and you can make a wall of crashing drums and thundering bass and gigantic guitars and concert hall vocals with just a pair of headphones and a mic. Definitely a good buy for a home recordist who doesnt want to buy all those modules separately.
Submitted: 6/18/2008
Style of Music: alternatafunkapunkafolkaxperimentia thrashslashrockhop accoustic dance trance etc
9 out of 10
"Great machine for a solo musician/singer song writer."
Feature:
This is a small personal studio, it is not meant for recording more than one instrument at a time. Stating this... I found the features to be great. You can do most "anything" within this recorder. If I had to say something negative... it would be that you can only record to the SD card. They are inexpensive nowadays, and a one gigabyte card will give you the abilty to record several "complete" songs, but you will have to take the files to your PC/Mac and download the software to convert to a .wav file. This is slightly inconvenient, but understandable due to the size of the unit. I tried to download the software to my Mac, but my OS (10.4.8) is higher than they recommend. It may work, but I needed to unstuff the file and my Mac, recently bought, does not have that ability I suppose. I would have to purchase something to unstuff the software apparently. Works fine with Microsoft XP. The non converted file is proprietory, so the software from ZOOM is needed. The external microphone is sensitive and works well. I have used this option and it does work fairly well for laying down inspiration quickly if need be, but it is not my preferred method of capturing something. Mastering within the machine is an excellent feature. Adding recorded songs to a sequence play is very nice too. The virtual tracks, though common in all digital machines, it a wonderfull way to get something good without having to re-do a track. I use this feature all the time. Though you have to choose the best take, with bouncing and the virtual tracks combined, this enables you to layer pretty deep. An undo button would be great on any recorded track though. It may be just me but it doesn't seem to let you use the drum machine and add personal hits with the drum pads at the same time. It is easy to multitrack though, so perhaps that is what the thinking was.
Quality:
I think it is very well made. It has hit the floor a couple of times.... sorry ZOOM, but all worked fine afterwards, thank goodness. Very reliable. I have taken it to band practice, so it is very portable. I am impressed overall.
Value:
I think it is worth more than the going price. It is an excellent value. Works very well. For a single musician, you can record complete songs that sound very good.
Desirability:
How it looks is secondary to me.
Sound:
My experience is that the recorded track sounds exactly like how it went in. Clear definition between the tracks. The internal effects are not too bad, especially if you tweak them some. I am very happy with the sound quality.
Ease of Use:
It was tough to do anything deeper than just laying down tracks from the get go. The manual was difficult to understand. But... since owning this machine for a year, I do not know what my problem was and it didn't take a year to figure it out. There is still options I haven't used. I now find it relatively easy to record the tracks and add effects and do a master track. The bounch function works well. Track 7 and 8 are stereo tracks so there is only really 4 "single" tracks. For most of my needs, I just bounch the recorded tracks to a stereo track and instead of wiping out trackes 1-4 to gain more space for recording, I use the vitual tracks to add to the mix. Seems obvious I know, but it opens up the machine for lots of layering.
Support:
I emailed Samson about my the stuffed file and OS system I have, and never got a reply. Samson was the only contact I could find. The ZOOM website sent me there.
Perhaps my email didn't go through. Perhaps the answer was so self evident (too high an Mac OS and I need stuffit delux/expander or something..duh!...so they didn't reply. Regardless, a response is always appreciated no matter how weak the question.
Overall:
I have had it for a year and was planning on using it as long as it worked. I now have the funds to upgrade, which I will do, but it isn't because there is something wrong with this machine. Funds were limited first time around and this was a great deal. Given the same initial circumstances, I would buy it again. My uprade will be another ZOOM machine and basically I want to upgrade because a internal CD burner and the abilty to record more than one instrument at the same time would be very nice. Never having used a competitors digital recordert, I can't offer comparisons. Since I "know" ZOOM's logic, so to speak, I am sticking with ZOOM with my next purchase.
Submitted: 3/14/2007
Style of Music: Alternative Rock. Accoustic with electric guitar mix and keyboards.
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