Edirol R-44 compact four channel field recorder

Got myself one of these recently - http://www.edirol.net/products/en/R-44/ tells all.

It's pretty damn good.  I think this is the last location recorder I'll ever need.  Four very nice mic preamps (individually switchable phantom) writing to SDHC cards in wave and BWF formats.  Pull the mains adapter lead out and it switches to internal batteries without missing a sample.    Long pre-record buffer, which enables you to press stop, then press record again (eg between movements) and only 0.1 secs of audio are missed.  Buttons illuminate in the dark.  Analogue limiter which really does work.

Only downside is that the monitoring options do not provide for panning, so if you have a stereo pair plus a spot, you can't monitor the spot in its correct placement left to right.  However, there are four track outputs which you can connect to a baby Behringer mixer, and use that for a monitor mix.  But without that, you can at least monitor each track in mono alone to ensure that there's nothing crackling or humming.  Or monitor as two stereo pairs, etc etc.

An odd thing - the markers that it writes into the files show up correctly in the freeware Wavosaur editor, but not in Audition, where they all appear at zero time together with some garbage.  Pity.  Not sure whether Audition is at fault or Edirol.

For more detailed comments by me, see http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,97214.msg1375815.html#msg1375815 and later posts.

Ozpeter --

Have you any additional findings about the markers showing up at zero on the timeline in AA?  I just did a bunch of recordings (voiceovers to be used in online training) and noticed that they each had a couple of dozen markers in them -- all at zero time.  Odd thing is, I never pushed the button to put a marker into the file when making the recording.  I don't know what the R-44 is adding to the file that is being interpreted by AA 3.0 as a marker; while it only takes a few seconds to select them all from the marker list and delete them, I think it's odd.  I haven't tried to open the files in anything but version 3.0, so I don't know if all versions would react the same way, nor have I deliberately tried to insert a marker with the R-44.

BTW, so far I'm very pleased with this new toy/tool.  My biggest problem with it is getting the SD card out of the slot with my pudgy fingers and short nails.

The R-44 seems to create 99 markers at zero time (or even negative time) then gives them a time if you press the mark button during recording.

I've not heard from Edirol on the issue, although the local rep did pass on my email on the matter to HQ, from where I've had responses on other matters.

Meanwhile, Wavosaur will read any markers you do use - the trick seems to be to open the file in Wavosaur, move the markers a tiny bit, save, and then Audition will see the markers which Wavosaur has now correctly written.  Or, depending on the scenario, use the R-44 pre-record feature, do a quick stop/start at points of interest eg between movements of a classical piece, and you'll only lose about a tenth of a second of audience shuffling noise, as when you press stop, the R-44 almost instantly begins pre-recording.  Thus you'll have separate files for each section of the performance, no need for marks.

Thanks;  being able to use Edirol's markers effectively would be nice, but for me probably not important enough to involve another audio package.  BTW, AA3 at least lets you move the zero-time markers around, and save;  when opened again they are in the new locations.  AA version 1.5 acts the same, although they are labeled as "cues" instead of markers, as you might expect.  So their behavior at least appears "normal" once you get past the oddity of their existence in the first place.

And thanks for the tip about the quick and (mostly) clean stop/re-start when recording.  That pre-record capability could be a lifesaver in some situations.  I hope to do some good-quality 4-track choral recordings in the next few months, where I can better utilize some of the R-44 capabilities.

being able to use Edirol's markers effectively would be nice, but for me probably not important enough to involve another audio package.

I know what you mean but Wavosaur is such a little thing that it hardly counts.    Even when one has Audition, it's another handy little tool for quick and simple stuff.