Yes, designing such a complex electronic unit is surely a challenge.
It is therefore not surprising that the designers have to struggle
with various problems. So, it is very unlikely that the first
prototype of a newly designed unit functions perfectly. It is usually
necessary to re-iterate the design and test process several times and
optimze various things until the final mass production can start.
However, this process can become very expensive for the company. They
might therefore try to shorten that process, which can then lead to
such deasasters as the noise problem in the ZOOM H4 or the fragile
microcphone input jack of the Edirol R-09.
Raimund
> It's not only that:
> The designers at Samson, making the ZOOM H4, probably know much more
> theory than you and I together. Still they make a machine which
> produces a 600 Hz tone when you use the internal batteries! What a
> terrible surprise for someone in charge! Harakiri, perhaps?
>
> But it is quite natural that it becomes that way!
> I often buy an IC which has been released on the market. I read the
> data.sheet and it's mostly very accurate.
> But it is not until I start working with the IC, that I discover
> it's limitations and partly awkward characteristics! The designer
> who plots the entire PCB with a computer, he never discovers that.
> I believe that the Samson people had planned to make a more expensive
> recorder. It has four tracks, balanced and fairly good inputs, a
> clean phantom power and surprisingly low noise internal cardioids.
> (Not good enough for naturesound, though) But they never discovered
> the error with the 600 Hz tone until it was too late. The production
> was already going behind the point of no return.
>
> The Samson people are no idiots. Not the Fostex people either, or
> Marantz, with their noisy inputs. It goes wrong anyway, sometimes.
> It's much more than theory.
>
> Klas.
|