Zoom H1

[marty bradbury]

Hi Folks. Thoughts on the Zoom H1 recorder?

Thanks for any advise

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by marty bradbury

Hi Folks. Thoughts on the Zoom H1 recorder?

Thanks for any advise

I had a H1 and it produced good recordings but I did not like using the menu system, it was more complicated than what it needed to be. It had several of the controls on the sides, which was awkward to use. I also thought it felt cheap.

I sold the H1 and bought a Tascam DR-05 which was simpler to operate, didn't have the awkward controls on the sides, and felt solid and much higher quality. The H1 has been re-designed since my purchase, so I can't relate on improvements since owning mine.

I've owned my Tascam DR-05 for several years and still use and love it.

[marty bradbury]

I will have to check out the Tascam. Thank u

[marty bradbury]

I will have to check out the Tascam. Thank u

[DupleMeter]

I can't speak on the H1, but my wife got me an H6 for Christmas to use for grabbing recordings on the run. It feels well built & the recordings that I've made so far all seem to be very good quality.

[dnf777]

If you have one, or can get one for a good deal, they are perfectly fine for basic audio recording. Having said that, there are much more capable recorders out there now, in a similar price range. While you may not need multi-tracking, on-board effects, or 32bit float, they are fun, useful, and pretty good for hand-held size.

[marty bradbury]

Thanks guys. On the hunt now,

[TBman]

I have a Zoom H5 (two built in mics, two XLR inputs) and a Zoom F3 (two XLR inputs). The F3 is a 32 bit recorder - no input gain settings necessary. I use them as stand alone recording devices and then transfer the files to my PC for editing and EQ. Both devices can act as a recording interface for a PC. The F3 cost a bit more than the H5, but the recording quality of the F3 is better than the H5.

[BillyH]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

I can't speak on the H1, but my wife got me an H6 for Christmas to use for grabbing recordings on the run. It feels well built & the recordings that I've made so far all seem to be very good quality.

I've got the H6 as well and its great for capturing impromptu's

Billy

[jontewright]

Can't speak for the H1 but I have a H2 that I like. It's easy and intuitive to use and decent for recordings on the fly.

[mike o]

Same for me.

Originally Posted by jontewright

Can't speak for the H1 but I have a H2 that I like. It's easy and intuitive to use and decent for recordings on the fly.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by marty bradbury

Hi Folks. Thoughts on the Zoom H1 recorder?

Thanks for any advise

Hi marty
Mine is always close at hand when practicing…and it's great for capturing ideas of sharing them with students or friends.

It's a great little unit, with above average fidelity & flexibility…it can be mounted on a camera tripod (or with the aux handle put in a mic stand).

Being a photographer, I just put a tripod mounting plate on mine, and I'll grab whichever tripod is appropriate for the situation.

If I were starting from scratch, I'd jump on the Zoom R4 these days. Only $200 and it's does 32bit float…(do your own research on this wonderful feature).

And it's built for multi-tracking.

[dnf777]

Originally Posted by ljguitar

If I were starting from scratch, I'd jump on the Zoom R4 these days. Only $200 and it's does 32bit float…(do your own research on this wonderful feature).

And it's built for multi-tracking.

That's what I was alluding to in my comment as well. I'm not starting from scratch, but the little R4 has all but replaced my Zoom R20 and certainly the Tascam DP008. Its portable, unlike the R20, and does everything better and easier than the DPoo8. Still getting used to the 32bit thing, but so far its really delivered on its hype. I also have a Tascam DR40 that is now collecting dust. I thought I liked the dual condenser mics, but honestly, if I want stereo recording with better mics than the R4's single mic, then I'm plugging in a pair of SDCs anyway. Eagerly awaiting Rudy4's review of the R4....

[fazool]

I had one. Problem I had was that it auto adjusted the volume levels. My band would play and I tried recording our performances. It was fine once it adjusted but the first note of EVERY song was overdriven and distorted.

I stopped using it.

I didnt miss it when our videographer's assistant took it by accident and they never found it again

[Rudy4]

I'll just jump in to say that the R4 is a different animal from what we home recordists are used to. It does not "auto adjust" input volume levels, but it may seem like that if you're used to working with conventional gain setting. In order to do its 32 bit float thing it will require a bit of re-thinking how you record. It actually feeds the input to two A to D converters that handle low level and higher level inputs and selects the proper range automatically. The "distorted" portion of the WAV file can be lowered in editing to remove the distorted portion of the file with no degradation of sound quality.

I have not done editing of any material recorded on mine yet, so I'm a bit away from commenting on that. Since Zoom solidly states that the A/D converters cannot be over-driven that means that in a situation where the "start" of every song is "over-driven" then the start of those wav files will need to be adjusted by editing in your DAW.

This new 32 bit float technology isn't going to be a "set and forget" portable recorder, and Zoom or other 32 bit float recorder manufacturers aren't making that claim.

It's almost like users need to be warned that they aren't using a cassette recorder, but perhaps they are assuming too much about those who are new users to 32 bit float. I definitely fit that category, so I'll reserve my comments at present.

What do I think so far?

This is a very cool recorder, and laying down many tracks is effortless. At present I'm recording 4 tracks, doing a "bounce", recording 4 more tracks, combining the 4 new tracks with the previous bounce to make a new bounce, and adding a few more. I don't need to do more, as it is pretty obvious you could do this MANY times without any difficulty.

The REAL beauty is exporting all those individual tracks to your DAW for actual mixdown. Do be aware that you pretty much have to do this, as there are no provisions for topping / tailing mixes to eliminate count ins and excess material at the end of a "song"

Zoom obviously assumes the user will be exporting tracks to a DAW for anything beyond basic rough mix work.

Zoom has incorporated some popular pres and compressors as models to use on the channel 1 input, and also a bunch of effects that are fun to play with. I did a bit of playing my electric guitar through the R4 today, running the output to my amp. The pitch shifter does a pretty cool "baritone 12 string" when you set the tracked pitch to -12. Ther's also some good distortion and chorus patches for those who are "effect curious".

A complete pdf listing all of the effects is available on the ZOOM USA website, but it was a bit hard for me to find.

At this time I'm NOT suggesting that newbies to MTRs rush out and get an R4, but I think it's going to be very useful if you are moving beyond a "push one button and you're done" recording mindset.