But there certainly might be other considerations. The R16 is nice to work on, with bigger controls and such. But the H4n is more portable and I preferred the sound of the H4n built-in mics. You might find the H4n mics more than adequate for your project and save a bunch of hassle and setup time not to mention cost.

Fran

If you had to record only 2 tracks (spoken word) using an external condensor mic, and your primary criteria was sound quality, would you use the H4N or R16?

thanks

Fran

I wonder, the if i can keep the r16 channels separate and load them into my PC without having to mix down to 2 channel?

My last Cd was recorded on an m-audio audiophile 24/96.
I’m very happy with it but looking for something mobile and with more inputs.

Will also look into buying a Firewire/usb interface as well.

keep well

peter

I have an R16 and am quite impressed. I haven’t done a careful comparison to my main recording rig, but it works pretty nicely just to listen to it. The last few videos in my slack key channel on YouTube were recorded with the R16. http://www.youtube.com/franguidry

The best low(er) cost recorder I’ve discovered in my searches is the Fostex FR2-LE. I sold mine fairly shortly after I did this blog post because I just never used it, but the preamps were quieter and cleaner than anything else under $1000 USD.

Fran

I have a pc based studio at the moment, it’s all in one room ( can nearly always hear the computer at some point)
Looking for something to record on then I can edit etc. on the pc.

All solo acoustic guitar.

regards
Peter

Whenever you connect a couple of professional Canon Mics and use it in PHANTOM +48 MODE, your H4N recording will record a 45db buzz noise on both channels that will enable you to APPRECIATE standard power 50 Hz buzz. This apparatus won’t perform a professional recording. Apparently there is no attenuator of such a problem and filters to stop this Buzz.

Rechargeable Batteries on the other hand, that will solve the problem temporarily, will last one hour maximum in phantom mode.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Shall I flush them in the loo?
I bet they are not waterproof either….

Jedi

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I bought a Zoom H4n and attempted to install the included Cubase LE4 software this weekend. The package insert told me to go to the Zoom site, download and install the ASIO driver before installing the Cubase software. I downloaded the driver and attempted to install it on my Windows XP desktop with no luck.
Every time the result is exactly the same… have tried this several times. The install appears to go normally, and after clicking Next on the screen that states ‘the driver will now be installed’ I immediately get an error stating that the software ‘could not find any compatible devices’ It then tells me the device could not be installed. It does show up on add/remove programs in the control panel.
After that happens, I uninstall the portion of the software that did install, reboot, and try again but the results are always the same.
Is there a driver availible specifically for the H4n?

We’ve just bought an H4n to permanently connect to a mixing desk for use by many different people. So we’re using the AC adaptor, and switching on/off at the mains which switches all of our equipment (including the H4n) on/off in one go.

The trouble is, after switching on at the mains you also have to switch on manually at the H4n. That’s tolerable, but more scary is you also have to remember to switch off manually after powering down the mains because otherwise the batteries kick in and leave the H4n switched on – and then the batteries run out and you lose all your settings!

Am I missing something? I hope so

Thanks a lot

Ed