[RWP] Zoom H6

Tue Aug 13 03:25:27 EDT 2013

Hi,

I started recording with the H4, then LS-11 and now LS-100. What I dislike
on Zoom is the many many features and the bad usability. This might be
better in current versions, but on older ones I got much features, but not
quite good at all. It's a really all-in-one but with no clear focus on one
situation. The Olympus devices have speech output, that's an unique feature.
TheLS-10 gives in my opinion a clear, different sound and a good depth of
the recording. However, it is right that they are not really wind resistant
but Olympus gives a shield as an accessory which makes a very great job. The
140 DB in loud situations is much better than the mics in the LS-11. But the
device uses a special battery, is larger, nothing for the pocket. The only
things I don't like is that you can only make stereo recordings or
multitrack recordings in stereo using either the internal mic, the 3,5 jack
or the XLR/6,33mm jacks. So you can't get 4 simultanious parts in one file.
The usability of the 4-track is not good without sight, but all other
features are nice to use. Olympus presents regulary firmware updates so they
listen for their customers which is not usual for each brand.

However, we say that the musicians will find in Zoom devices more features
for their needs as well as good sound. The H6 I think will be a good device,
but it costs much lower as really good mics. So if you want to have
professional recordings, you should spend more money in good microphones.
However, expensive devices will surely not as sounding better as the price
difference is. Good DACs and ADCs take much place so that they never get as
portable as the recorders are. In a test of a company for example the more
expensive SONY D50 is not much better than the LS-100. Or think about
Marantz PRD-620 which is a nice device, but with usual and not really good
microphones.

So if you decide in purchasing an audio recorder you should at first think
about what you will do with it. If you want to take recordings in a
professional way, spend more money in microphones. If you need a small
all-in-one solution, I think that Olympus and Zoom can fit your needs.

Viele Grüße

--
Stephan Merk, www.merkst.de

-----Original Message-----
From: RWP [mailto:rwp-bounces at reaaccess.com] On Behalf Of Patrick Perdue
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 5:29 AM
To: Reapers Without Peepers
Subject: Re: [RWP] Zoom H6

The LS100 is a very clean machine. The internal mics, when taken
individually, are pretty nice, but I don't particularly like the image they
give, and they are in bad need of a windscreen, purchased separately, of
course.
They are, however, rated at 140DB SPL, and I can very well believe that. 
It's got plenty of headroom. It's probably the best portable recorder you
can find in terms of self-noise until you get to the multi-thousand dollar
Sound Devices recorders.
It's XLR inputs are quite nice as well, which I can't say for the H4N.
It's a little on the power hungry side when compared to some of the smaller
recorders, and it runs on a LI50B battery, 5 volts, I think.
It, like everything else, has it's quirks as well.

On 8/12/2013 11:22 PM, Goldfinga Productions wrote:
> Okay.
> I guess I could work with that
 I learn more about the stuff every day.
> Is the LS 100 any good?
>
> On Aug 12, 2013, at 11:17 PM, Patrick Perdue <patrick at pdaudio.net> wrote:
>
>> They're a little noisy, but it's the general sound of them that gets me
more than the noise. And mic noise won't be so much of a problem in those
types of environments anyway.
>>
>> Also, I've never seen a point in recording any higher than 48 khz with
any of these recorders. Bit depth matters more than sampling rate for
dynamics, which is why I was particularly annoyed to find that I couldn't
record at 48 khz in 24-bit land with the LS14. So, my LS14 pretty much stays
at 88.2 khz, 24-bit stereo most of the time, because that is the most
conservative version of 24-bit it offers. Sure, I could record at 24/96 all
the time and get away with it, I have the card space, but that's even more
processing to deal with for frequencies it probably doesn't pick up anyway.
>>
>> Everything does HCSD these days, even the H1. I have 32GB cards in both
my LS14 and LS100, and they can both take up to 64GB, possibly even 128GB.
There are 128GB SD cards around, not sure about MicroSD in that size.
>> I don't need a card that big though.
>>
>> On 8/12/2013 11:09 PM, Goldfinga Productions wrote:
>>>
>>> The bit rate and all of that doesn't really matter, as long as I can get
44.116 I'm good.
>>> I will more than likely use 2496 though.
>>> Are the Mike's very noisy on it?
>>> I will most likely be recording rehearsals and/or gigs with it anyway,
so I really just need something that can handle a lot of bass.
>>> And I usually recording wave and then bring it home and process it as
needed, so something that can hold I high-capacity ST card would be pretty
cool.
>>>
>>> On Aug 12, 2013, at 10:37 PM, Patrick Perdue <patrick at pdaudio.net>
wrote:
>>>
>>>> If the Olympus LS14 had better internal mics than it does, I might
recommend that. I don't particularly like them, but maybe they would work
for you. These things are all so subjective.
>>>> It runs forever on a pair of AA's, much longer record time than the H4N
or H1. My biggest complaints about the LS14 are the following:
>>>> No 24-bit recording under 88.2 khz. In otherwords, you have five
options -- 44,100 hz, 16-bit stereo, 48000 hz, 16-bit stereo, 88,200 hz,
24-bit stereo, 96000 hz, 24-bit stereo, or 44,100 hz, 16-bit mono. I would
rather record at 48000 hz, 24-bit stereo, but this particular unit doesn't
have the option. Also, the headphone output is pretty weak, so in my case, I
have over-compensated with input gain a few times thinking it should be
louder than it needed to be. It does have a pretty good mic preamp though.
>>>>
>>>> Tascam and Roland's recorders all seem to feature omni-directional
capsules, yielding very little image. However, the Tascam DR100 has both
omni and cardioid microphones, as well as XLR. I've not used this recorder,
and haven't heard anything from it, but it looks interesting.
>>>>
>>>> I guess it depends on which set of issues you're willing to deal with.
Nothing is perfect.
>>>>
>>>> On 8/12/2013 10:16 PM, Goldfinga Productions wrote:
>>>>> So Patrick, what do you suggest I look into? I want something with
internal mics. I don't really feel like carrying a whole lot of extra gear
with me. I just want to grab my recorder, point, and shoot.
>>>>> I had an H2, and didn't really care for its interface.
>>>>> The h1 seems a little cheap and plasticky to me.
>>>>>
>>>>> I would like something kind of small and pocket-sized, but if I have
to go with something a little, bigger, it's all good.
>>>>> On Aug 12, 2013, at 8:07 PM, Patrick Perdue <patrick at pdaudio.net>
wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> I had a Zoom H4N for about six months. Made it go away because I was
so disappointed about how noisy the XLR mic inputs on it are. Having come
from the original Zoom H4, that part of it really was quite a downgrade. I
eventually replaced the H4N with an Olympus LS100, which, granted, costs
about as much as the H6. I didn't buy the H4N to use it's internal
microphones. Same for the LS100. Most people I know who are happy with their
H4N's just use the internal mics, and nothing else. Those mics sound pretty
good, but they're a little noisy, more of an issue if you want to capture
quiet/detailed stuff. You won't notice or care if you're, say, recording bar
gigs.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The 3.5mm input on it is OK if you want to use plugin powered mics or
whatever, but honestly, that part of the recorder is almost identical to the
much cheaper and floppier Zoom H1.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I've heard the H6, and I'm not a fan of it's included mics, either. I
can't call them internal, because they're technically not. The fact that it
has four xlr/phone jacks, and you can use it as a multi-channel or stereo
USB audio interface with the ability to mix levels and pan on the unit
itself would be kind of nice in certain situations, but I don't think I
would personally need something like that enough to justify buying one, at
least not at the moment.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Also, one really bad thing about the Zoom H4N, which could have been
fixed with a firmware upgrade but wasn't, is that the bigger your SD card,
and the more stuff you have on it, the longer it takes to boot. Then, on top
of that, the longer it takes to actually start recording when you press the
record button. Sometimes it could take nearly a minute from cold boot to
recording if you had, say, a nearly full 32GB SD card. A great way to
potentially miss things.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I really wanted to like the H4N, but I just couldn't.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 8/12/2013 6:55 PM, Kevin Brown wrote:
>>>>>>> OK,...The "Zoom H4N" is going for $270...At "American Musical 
>>>>>>> Supply", you can setup a "3" payment plan for $90 per month...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> The "Zoom H6" is going for $399,...You can setup a "3" payment 
>>>>>>> plan at "American Musical Supply" for $133.33 per month...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I usually get all of my gear from "American Musical Supply", 
>>>>>>> because they have an extensive payment plan that won't break the
bank...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> RWP mailing list
>>>>>>> RWP at reaaccess.com
>>>>>>> http://reaaccess.com/mailman/listinfo/rwp_reaaccess.com
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>> RWP mailing list
>>>>>> RWP at reaaccess.com
>>>>>> http://reaaccess.com/mailman/listinfo/rwp_reaaccess.com
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> GF
>>>>>
>>>>> Check me out on twitter
>>>>> http://www.twitter.com/goldfingas
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> RWP mailing list
>>>>> RWP at reaaccess.com
>>>>> http://reaaccess.com/mailman/listinfo/rwp_reaaccess.com
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> RWP mailing list
>>>> RWP at reaaccess.com
>>>> http://reaaccess.com/mailman/listinfo/rwp_reaaccess.com
>>>
>>>
>>> GF
>>>
>>> Check me out on twitter
>>> http://www.twitter.com/goldfingas
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> RWP mailing list
>>> RWP at reaaccess.com
>>> http://reaaccess.com/mailman/listinfo/rwp_reaaccess.com
>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> RWP mailing list
>> RWP at reaaccess.com
>> http://reaaccess.com/mailman/listinfo/rwp_reaaccess.com
>
>
> GF
>
> Check me out on twitter
> http://www.twitter.com/goldfingas
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> RWP mailing list
> RWP at reaaccess.com
> http://reaaccess.com/mailman/listinfo/rwp_reaaccess.com
>

_______________________________________________
RWP mailing list
RWP at reaaccess.com
http://reaaccess.com/mailman/listinfo/rwp_reaaccess.com