I started off on a laptop. Took entirely too long to setup. Plus you had =
to tear down and setup again if you changed rooms. Battery life sucked. A=
nd you're not likely to even be able to see the LCD in direct sunlight. Bu=
t mainly that you couldn't press record until the laptop booted and the aud=
io application launched. Lead me almost instantly to a field recorder setu=
p. 15 seconds from the time the mic stand hits the ground, I'm recording. =
Factor in unlevel ground where a laptop is highly likely to slide off of a=
surface and go crashing to the ground... Or just rain and other environme=
ntal conditions.
The one thing I did like, was that within 30 minutes of hitting stop, I cou=
ld have an optical media disc in hand of the content to play in the car on =
the way home. Not really ideal as no one wants to wait for you to burn a d=
isc. And modern car stereos have ipod and other inputs now.
- James
--- On Sat, 9/4/10, Scott Fraser <> wrote:
> From: Scott Fraser <>
> Subject: [Nature Recordists] Re: MOTU Traveler. Was "Mic arrays and M/S b=
ehaviour"
> To:
> Date: Saturday, September 4, 2010, 9:42 AM
> <<To have a computer as part of
> the gear is an attractive idea as it=C2=A0
> can be a tool
> to sort thingsout, therefore organize the recordings on
> set, plus the=C2=A0
> whole lot
> of things a computer can do other than being a recording
> media. But I=C2=A0
> suppose
> that the mechanical HD=E2=80=99s aren=E2=80=99t sturdy enough for
> outdoor adventures>>
>
> I occasionally use the internal laptop drive for recording
> & even at=C2=A0
> 5400 rpm it has provided no problems. For more ambitious
> track counts=C2=A0
> an external bus powered FireWire 7200 rpm drive has been as
> robust as=C2=A0
> I ever need. The kind of location situation where I would
> be reluctant=C2=A0
> to trust a mechanical drive, i.e. recording during run
> & gun over the=C2=A0
> shoulder documentary style sound gathering, is one where a
> laptop=C2=A0
> would not be applicable anyway. The internal & external
> drives I rely=C2=A0
> on for multitrack concert playback with the string quartet
> I tour with=C2=A0
> are subjected to approximately 150 flights & baggage
> handlings per=C2=A0
> year & have always performed flawlessly. My
> understanding is that in a=C2=A0
> hard drive, upon powering down, the head & its servo
> are locked down=C2=A0
> magnetically & thus don't flop around during any
> 'normal' handling.
>
> << and the ones equipped with SSD Hard drives are
> still too expensive=C2=A0
> for me at the moment. >>
>
> According to the laws of consumer computer capability vs
> pricing, this=C2=A0
> will be changing rapidly in the near future. I think in a
> few years=C2=A0
> the fact that we relied on spinning disks with physically
> moving=C2=A0
> playback heads will be seen as impossibly quaint. Like
> wired=C2=A0
> telephones with mechanically ringing brass bells.
>
> Scott Fraser
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> "While a picture is worth a thousand words, a
> sound is worth a thousand pictures." R. Murray Schafer via
> Bernie Krause
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
> =C2=A0 =C2=A0
>
>
>
|