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small digital recorders-TASCAM DR03



i will agree w/ ed's comments on the dr03. i really love it. i've been listening to my playing, and i tend to just do freeform stuff, but have been liking the results. the funniest thing is that i'm finding that my amp sounds different on the recorder (which is basically in front of the amp for the most part) than what i hear when i sit on the side of it. but i think it sounds better than what i'm hearing! ha!
 
i will agree that the one thing i don't like about the dr03 is the lack of the "PAUSE" button. seems odd. but the small size and the results of what i've recorded, i'm loving it. need to sit down and load some stuff up on the computer. may have to break out the manual (dread-the horror!!!!!)
s---
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ed Durbrow <edurbrow@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 11:32 PM
Subject: Re: small digital recorders-TASCAM DR03
To: Loopers-Delight@loopers-delight.com


When my R-09 fell apart a while ago I bought a DR-03. It has a couple of nifty features the R-09 didn't have, but then time has marched on quite a bit since the R-09 first came out. I often use it in the car to listen to lectures, so one thing I like is the ability to increment the play speed by 10% intervals. This is handy if I've listened to a lecture but didn't put my full attention into it and then listen again at say 140%. Another feature that at first I could see no need for, but  later found out  could be very useful, was made clear to me when I went to a concert of a singer songwriter. There is a pre-record function. I can put it in record pause while the performer is futzing around and tuning, but not have to worry about missing the start of the tune because it records 2 seconds BEFORE I hit the record button!

Negatives:
Infuriatingly, it does not have a pause button. This actually made me decide to pay to get the R-09 repaired instead of throwing it out. When I'm composing, I might stop and think about where I'm going or try different chords. Without a pause button, every time I stop it creates a new file. This also seems to be a "feature" of most digital movie cameras these days. I don't understand the logic of this at all. Also, there seems to be only one speed to fast forward or review. At least you can go backwards past the beginning of a file to the previous file, which you cannot do on the R-09 (at least not on my version -the original). However, the R-09 would go faster the longer you held the FF or REV button. Listening to lectures, I often want to hear one sentence again. I often don't hit it just right and it goes to the beginning of the file (another infuriating thing). If it is a 1/2 hour or 45 minute file, it takes forever to find the place I was just listening to.

I've got both the R-09 and the DR-03 with me on this trip to America (as well as my RC-2, to stay relevant). I just have to say that these devices have changed my life. If I have an idea in the middle of the night, instead of having to boot a computer, turn on mic pres, mixers, wait for the DAW to fire up and then save a file before I can even record, I just turn one of these guys on. Four second boot up time for the R-09, seven seconds for the DR-03. Love 'em. Saves heaps of space too because I just keep all my ideas as mp3s in iTunes.


On Mar 3, 2011, at 7:46 PM, Scott Hansen wrote:

i ended my search, bought a tascam dr03.
saw they were on sale at MF for $79, they honored the $15 gift card from GC (my local GC didn't have it), & i had a 40$ gift certificate too. so i didn't pay much for it.

should note i had been debating either the olympus dm420 or ws700-small digital voice recorders...but then saw the tascams in my MF catalog...
i originally wanted to get the DR07,but both GC & MF were out of them, and come to find out, it's discontinued...it looks a little bigger, think it has a few more options. besides the price, a few reviews i read basically said it's an EASY recorder to use, which i wanted (i'm dumb & lazy).

FIRST REACTIONS-when i got it on tues, the box WEIGHED NOTHING. when i took it out of the mailing box, the packaging weighed less than NOTHING. i wondered if anything was in there. when i took it out, i couldn't believe how small & light it was. i also thought it looked kind of cheap/plasticy, wondered how it will last, but i figured i didn't pay much for it...i was bummed it had no headphones w/ it (the olympus recorders come w/ some). wed night i did a cursory read of the manual (barely)-just checked to see which option for recording, i set it on one of the higher MP3 settings (they start it at highest PCM recordings-which gives the 2mb memory card about 2 hrs of recording)-and the recording time went to 14 hrs, which i thought was plenty of time for my need-i really wanted to just record my practice/playing time and listen back to try to work on my playing technique. have no illusions of recording anything masterpiece-ful to wow anyone--really just wanted to hear my playing to work on things.
i recorded 2 little sessions on wed, one thursday morning, one thur afternoon. i was a little scared to listen back. wasn't sure if i'd just hear that i SUCK, or if the sound would suck, etc (should note i've done recording on my old 4 track tascam, my digital cd recorder, & my digital fostex 8 track). i think some reviews of people saying small recorders have crappy sound was in my head, and i figured the stereo mics in the thing were probably not great. well, after listening to the stuff i recorded, i'm really blown away by the sound. honesty really captures my sound/ playing i thought (warts & all). so far i've had it about a foot away from my fender amp a bit off to the side. it's a nice little recorder. i won't say that it will compete w/ any more expensive digital recorder (the $200 or $500 & up ones), but for $80 it's decent. certainly for capturing ideas it's easy to use, especially for me. the funny thing i've learning in my playing: i'm always STIFF in the beginning, and things sound better when i'm playing against my drum machine...at least so far....the other thing i like is it is small, not hard to carry to and from work which is part of the time i use for listening....
 
i'm finding in all my stuff so far once i get loosened up, i've done some little loop things w/ my digitech DL8 and played over it, textures, noise, lots of my FUZZ MACHINE use
w/ my swollen pickle stuff, little processing from my korg kaoss pad 2....i really love it. don't know if it will meet everyone's needs, not sure how it
compares w/ the zoom ones, but i like this one.
happy looping.
s---