neat new Zoom 16 track Recorder/USB Interface

[Tony Prior]

http://www.samsontech.com/products/prod ... rodID=2009

16 tracks, 8 inputs, portable, batteries or AC power, rec. 8 channels at one time, SD card ( up to 32 gig) Memory Stick, USB, effects..records in 24 bit Wave which makes all tracks compatible with pretty much any PC/MAC software..etc...

Also serves as a USB Interface for MAC or PC software. Now that's interesting.

Sells for around $399.

After reading about this around the planet it appears the main issue it presently has is a some sort of latency between manually layered tracks, recording one at a time. I guess if you record 8 tracks, the last few have a noticable delay. There is a so called work around but I guess those in the know or have desire to get one should probably wait for a firmware fix, because latency on a standalone , build your tracks one at a time unit, is a deal killer !

But, I am thinking this will get resolved, and this is a very interesting concept, 16 track portable recorder and USB Interface for PC /MAC based software in a small package.

"Welcome to the Future"

t

[Bob Martin]

I have a feeling that as soon as they fix the bugs with a firmware upgrade these things will sell like hotcakes. At 399.00 MSRP they no doubt will be had for less than that price. I think it's a great deal most usb surface controllers alone cost more than this one does and I love the sd card portability and ease of use. I look many home users to start using these if they get all the kinks ironed out and knowing zoom as I do I'm sure they are working on it as I type if not already done Thanks Ken great info here.

Bob

[Steve Morley]

My son and I each have one of these; I'm in the States, and he is in Europe using the same one with an EU plug converter.

I haven't done much tracking with it, but I can't detect any latency problems, yet. The issue, as stated in the manual, is that when two are connected together for 16 inputs/32 channels, there is a 1-2 ms latency. Perhaps it is too new, but not much is mentioned about this in any of the other forums.

The built-in mics are OK for area recording, although I have been using my condenser mics and direct instruments.

I'll probably set this up to be a control surface for Reaper this week, which uses the Mackie set-up I hear.

Overall, it is easy to use. So far, so good.

I bought through one of Amazon's sellers (Unique Squared), and they were terrific. Zoom/Samson was also very good about prompt replies to my questions via e-mail.

[Tony Prior]

The discussions on the forums only relate to multi-tracking, building songs one track at a time. It appears that the latency is low on the first few tracks but once you get into a higher number of tracks the later tracks are not in sync with the early tracks. I read this on the Zoom recording forums. There is a work around which can fix all the tracks, something to do with reviewing the time stamp for each track and lining them all up at the same starting point. I think I read where it is 1.2 ms latency per track, which gets you 16 ms for the last track compared to the first.

I still have a strong interest in this unit, it fascinates me with the full blown feature set. Perhaps Zoom will come out with a firmware update for this or a make sense work around. I can see me getting one of these down the road.

t

[Bob Martin]

Sweetwater has a floor model on sale now for 359.00 I really like the idea of using it as a recorder and a controller as well. I won't be getting one anytime soon but at some poing I'd like to get one.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/R16d

Bob

[Allan Thompson]

Just got one of these units and so far no problems. It is great using sonar and having the use of faders instead of a mouse. Will report back after a few weeks use.