Quote:
Originally Posted by dnf777
I opted for the R20 over the 12 for the larger touchscreen. I find it not as useful or friendly as hoped for. Much of the “pinch squeeze” functions I find tedious on that sized screen, and prefer using my laptop’s full screen and mouse or trackpad. If I want delicate fingerpicking, I prefer a guitar over any device! Cell phones are different. Slightly larger, but for me the real difference is holding it in one hand and pecking with the other. Makes it much easier that laying stationary on a desk and pecking and pinching…
The R4 did away with touchscreens, and is all mechanical interface. I suspect that was customer survey and market analysis driven.
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I think you're 100% correct on that.
I previously owned the Zoom R24, primarily for being able to record small acoustic bands. The 8 inputs are very useful, if not essential, for that use. I purchased the R20 to serve that same purpose as well as doing a few of my own projects. The R20 has better lower noise preamps, a very nice feature, but there's another feature that I think the display is hugely helpful for. That feature is the visual reference for "ghost fader" positions for the additional channels beyond the "eight" that are presently selected. How Zoom uses faders to control additional "banks" of channels often causes users confusion, even up to the point of thinking their recorder is malfunctioning! It's necessary to own and use one of these machines to easily grasp why an actual alternate bank channel has no relation to the actual fader position, but I digress. The new display shows all those previously "invisible" positions in the mixer mode screen, something that makes the new display truly worth the money.
The new display is also useful to "slide" a newly recorded track to a new track position, meaning you don't have to physically move your cables to a new input for overdubs. That's also a big plus, but ends up being a different method to do the same thing I previously used their simple "track swap" buttons for.
I see both advantages and disadvantages to the Zoom R4, but I see a lot of usefulness for my variety of "easy chair recording" that I'm fond of doing. I would always end up transferring tracks to my PC for editing / mixing in my DAW. I like that Zoom assumes that is how most users will end up using the R4.
The single omni mic actually sounds pretty good on the demo videos I've seen it used on, so it would be really easy for someone to use the built in omni mic for their guitar while using another mic for vocal in input nimber 2. This would be a really inexpensive way for a new recordist to play with seperate guitar / vocal recording, or even stereo guitar micing.
In any case, I'm looking forward to you getting some more time with your R4 and reporting back on your likes / dislikes.
