Anyone know anything about digital (audio) recorders?

[MajorFubar]

This is probably the wrong forum being a HiFi forum, but it's difficult to know what the right forum would be.

My sister plays keyboard and she wants to record herself. She also wants to show her recordings to my elderly dad who's housebound.

She really does not 'do' computers, so forget telling her to hook up a laptop to her keyboard and record herself using Audacity etc. You may as well ask her to read Swaheli. Not too long ago, I would have tought her how to hook-up her keyboard to her HiFi and record herself to cassette, but my dad no longer has a cassette player, he has a Windows XP media centre with USB and SD slots.

So, ideally I need something digital, stereo, which offers 16/44 or at least 16/32 recording, and which can save recordings to a USB stick or SD card. Oh and I don't really have more than £100.00 to spend. Is that asking too much for too little? The 'inferior' and 'obsolete' cassette could have done it for that price with change to spare (millions of used cassette recorders available for £100 or less). Is this too much to ask of the mighty digital? :?

 

[jerry klinger]

I use an Edirol (Roland) R09 - brilliant machine. There's a cheaper on the R05 (I think). Several others including Marantz and Tascam. Shop around (try ebay). They record to SD usually, so easily transferrable between media.

 

[MajorFubar]

Thanks Jerry but evey the R05 is massively over budget, I assume Marantz and Tascam equivalents will be around the same price? Looks like there's a gaping hole left by cheap stereo cassette recorders which hasn't been filled by any digital equivalent. :doh:

 

[MajorFubar]

think I might have found something...Alesis TwoTrack: within budget and seems to offer what I need. Surely they can't be the only people offering simple, affordable, digital recorders?

 

[jjbomber]

Yes, it is asking too much for too little. But a second hand Edirol R-09HR. Simply stunning recording quality. You can get one for about £150 and it will be the best money you have ever spent. I know it's a little over budget, so add a few houses to your paper round

 

[MajorFubar]

No flexibility in the budget I'm afraid.
I've ordered a TwoTrack, see how good that is. I found a place selling it for under £50 delivered.
Times move on and cassette has been completely usurped by digital. All except, it seems, at the budget end of the recording market, where I can buy any number of 2nd hand premium-brand (Pioneer/Sony/Technics etc) cassette recorders for under £50, but I struggled to find any half-competent stereo recorder (used or new) for anything under three figures.

 

[The_Lhc]

where I can buy any number of 2nd hand premium-brand (Pioneer/Sony/Technics etc) cassette recorders for under £50

Hmm, that's something I've been looking at but as it'll be a bit of a thread hijack I think I'll start a new thread on the subject rather than divert this one.

 

[MajorFubar]

I will be happy to hele. Hope you're buying one to play and not record: new sources of decent blank tapes seem to be drying up by the day. Last I heard even TDK have completely stopped production in Europe. Not sure how true that is.

 

[The_Lhc]

Yeah I want to rip some stuff onto the PC, I've got albums on cassette that I can't find on CD (or even vinyl) anywhere (and some live bootlegs). I've had a search through the forums and got a few answers (which is why I haven't started another thread yet), just trying to find some good quality tape decks outside the Nakamichis (I am interested in those as well but the prices for anything decent are pretty silly).

 

[MajorFubar]

Look for mid-range or top-end examples of players from the late 80s and early 90s which don't seem to have been thrashed and you'll be ok. Anything good from Akai, Denon, Technics, Sony, Pioneer, Kenwood; the typical crew. Maybe even NAD: some NAD cassette decks had a 'play trim' feature which boosted/cut the treble response ahead of the Dolby decoder, which is handy for bringing dull tapes back to life by preventing Dolby mistracking.

If you're ripping tapes recorded from lots of different machines (which you will be if you're ripping commercial tapes), buy a cheap set of jewelers screwdrivers so you can adjust the azimuth correctly for each tape before you rip. It might even be slightly different from side A to side B. (Setting the azimuth on most three head decks is a PITA so avoid those). Oh and expect to end up cleaning the heads once every tape, as old cassettes are often found to be shedding quite badly.