howdy kids.
i'm a new member here, but i've been lurking for a while. a friend and
fellow list member encouraged me to become 'official'.
i'm tech savvy, but only to a point. and i'll do my best to not to be
a nag. so having said that, i have a small, but irritating problem.
due to cash flow issues, i'm very limited with the gear i can use. i
just picked up a microtrack on ebay. a few friends of mine have them
and love them. prior to this i had been using a tascam da-p1 and a
bunch of sharp ms 722s. the tascam is big and slow, and the sharps are
really, really, really fragile. compared with those, i love how clear
and clean the microtrack sounds and it's compact size is great for on
the fly recording. (i tend to record while backpacking.) my biggest
problem is that the user interface is pretty terrible. unless you
leave 'hold' on you'll be knocking buttons while recording. but what
really bugs me is how the device monitors levels.
i've been reading up on the archives about this - apparently most
people are taking issue with this. first, the lack of a proper
vu-numbering system is a real drag. i know the fellow over at sonic
studios has created stickers you can use to help with this problem.
but even more annoying is the lag and inconsistency in the actual
readings. a sound event will occur, and it'll take the microtrack a
moment or two to register the level. it's definitely not "real time"
monitoring.
this is a major concern for me - my recordings are turning out too low
or too high because i'm not quite sure what the multitrack is telling
me. i'm seriously thinking about switching over to the edirol r-09
because of this. i'm also really interested in the new fostex fr2-le.
my only issue with that is it's size. it seems to be only marginally
smaller than my tascam da-p1. the main reason my da-p1 sits around is
because of i find it to be too large for my purposes. in fact, i may
sell it and use that to fund the purchase of the new fr2-le.
anyways. the long and the short of this. how are people dealing with
the monitoring on the multitrack, and how do you like it compared to
the edirol...? i may just keep it at this point. i got a great deal,
and i could easily use it as a spare recorder for my band. but still,
i don't have enough cash sitting around to throw it around on more
than one recorder. my general thoughts on equipment is this -
versatility, and if the products features are conducive to me using it
often. i could buy the raddest recorder in the world, but if it's too
big and awkward for me to use, what's the point...?
ok. any opinions / thoughts are welcome. i've been reading tons of
microtrack vs edirol messages on here. i'm more concerned about this
whole monitoring thing. really bugs the heck out of me.
cheers.
-joshua...
www.roadsidepicnic.com
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