Hi Raimund
Thanks for that info, I mentioned the Hi-MD as up
until now it seemed to be the only 'reasonably' priced
unit on the market that offered anyone interested in
nature recordings good mic pre-amps for a fairly small
outlay. All the other devices of a similar price that
were based on CF cards seemed to suffer from mic-pres
with noise. Unless you spent a lot of money that is!
But it would appear that the Fostex FR2-LE is going to
offer those on a 'tight' budget a really top-notch
recorder for a reasonable outlay. I mentioned about
the Art Phantom II as I know there are some recordists
out there who do use such set-ups of Hi-MD and Art
Phantom II or the Rolls equivalent. See Rob's site:
http://www.uwm.edu/~type/audio-reports/HiMD/index.htm
I agree with all your thoughts, but for some using
these 'consumer' grade devices was until now the
'cheaper' option as there was nothing else at that
price point. But the Fostex would seem to have changed
all that. So I will certainly be investigating getting
one of the new Fostex FR2-LE's.
One thing that I have read elsewhere and is a bit of a
concern is noise from the headphone amp? I have read
in another 'review' that they were conscious of 'hiss'
when monitoring the recording that was not there when
they played it back on another system. Leading them to
believe that the headphone amp of the FR2-LE was
producing this noise. Is that something you are aware
of?
Phil
--- Raimund Specht <> wrote:
> Hi Phil,
>
> Unfortunately, I have no experience with the current
> Sony Hi-MD
> machines. I only tried an older Sharp MD machine a
> few years ago.
>
> If you intend to use phantom-powered microphones and
> also require a
> reasonable level of ruggedness, reliability and
> usability in the
> field, then I would try to avoid a combination of a
> such a compact
> (and fragile?) consumer-grade MD recorder and an
> external phantom
> power unit.
>
> Here are some thoughts:
>
> * Operating two separate units (with two separate
> sets of batteries to
> care for) in the field probably involves more hassle
> than one single
> integrated unit.
> * The tiny 3.5 mm microphone input connectors can
> potentially cause
> more trouble than the more rugged XLR input
> connectors.
> * The large record / pause buttons on the more
> professional recorders
> are much easier to operate than the tiny buttons on
> a consumer-grade
> unit.
>
> There are also a few things on the FR2-LE that are
> not optimal:
>
> * The headphone monitor level control knob might be
> a bit too small.
> * The two additional and independent mic input
> control knobs can not
> be linked. However, this is not a major issue,
> because it is probaly
> not necessary to adjust them very often.
> * The LED peak level display on my unit is a bit too
> dark. This is
> perhaps a fault of my individual unit and actually
> no problem because
> there is still the additional recording level
> display on the LCD panel
> that can be read reliably even when the sun is
> shining directly on it.
> * There is no mono recording mode (I hope for a
> future firmware update
> that adds this feature).
>
> There have been reports that the menue system was
> difficult to use.
> However, I feel that it is actually very easy to use
> once one has
> understood its general principle.
>
> I certainly love the option to use large capacity
> 7.2V/3000mAh NiMH
> batteries. Until now (after using it for about 3
> hours), it was not
> neccessary to charge the batteries.
>
> Regards,
> Raimund
>
>
> Philip Tyler wrote:
> >
> > Hi Raimund
> > The Fostex FR2-LE has some great figures, and
> judging
> > by your last recording the phantom power would
> seem to
> > be fine as well on the machine. But then one would
> > hope that they learn from past experience.
> > So if you were to add the cost of say an Art
> Phantom
> > II to the price of a Sony Hi-MD machine you are
> > starting to get very close to the cost of the
> FR2-LE.
> > So this may be the way to go as the recording
> machine
> > at a reasonable cost?
> > Thanks for producing the figures.
> > All the best.
> > Phil
> > --- Raimund Specht <> wrote:
> >
> > > I just measured the Equivalent Input Noise (EIN)
> of
> > > the new Fostex
> > > FR-2LE and KORG MR-1000 recorders:
> > >
> > > http://www.avisoft.com/recordertests.htm
> > >
> > > While there is absolutely no reason to worry
> about
> > > the performance of
> > > the FR-2LE preamplifiers, the KORG MR-1000
> > > preamplifiers are only as
> > > good (or bad) as those of the M-Audio MicroTrack
> > > 24/96. This is still
> > > good enough for many applications, but it is
> quite
> > > disappointing for a
> > > unit that is advertized by slogans such as
> > > 'pristine' and
> > > 'uncompromising, future-proof fidelity' that can
> be
> > > found on their
> > > website.
> > >
> > > Raimund
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >=20=09=09
> >
>
>
> > All New Yahoo! Mail =96 Tired of unwanted email
> come-ons? Let our
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>
>
>
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